The next Call of Duty, Black Ops III, will be quite different from the last few. Not because the story will suddenly be engaging, or because the multiplayer won't be full of the same assholes that it was last time, but because it will allow modding. That's right, user created maps, modes, weapons and more will be allowed in a game that has traditionally pushed as much DLC as any other major franchise.
Beyond that, players will be able to set up their own servers. They're going to be a server browser guys. You can choose who and how you play entirely.
That means that people will really be able to pull the hood off the new game and see what it can do, making bizarre new game modes and maps that give us new ways to play - like we used to have back in the good old days of Unreal Tournament, Quake and other classic franchises.
Remember?
Of course we shouldn't get too excited. This will perhaps be a modding system more in-line with a few assets and map frame works letting people shift around elements, rather than creating them from scratch, which has historically meant lots of penises on everything at least on one or two maps. It's not clear if Activision is cool with that happening.
Still those maps never last. What does are often new emergent ways to play, which is what modding should be all about.
Although Black Ops III will be out on November 6, the modding server system will enter alpha in March 2016, with a full release later that year.
