Grand Theft Auto 5’s long-lasting appeal via GTA Online has come from two things: endless updates and the endless roleplaying potential. Mods have helped to transform the game in inventive ways, providing unofficial new content and more flexible ways for players to inhabit the online world. But there are limits to the sorts of modding that Rockstar Games is willing to tolerate, and it’s reminding fans of them ahead of the release of Grand Theft Auto 6 with an updated set of guidelines .
Framed as a “keep it in mind” reminder for players after repeated clashes with fan creations and the closure of numerous online modding communities in the past year, these new mod policies explicitly remind players to “respect” Rockstar’s games, restricting the development of mods that seek to alter the established continuity or traits of its characters and stories. Here’s part of the text:
Respect Our Games. Rockstar Games creates unique worlds, characters, and stories, which form the official continuity of our games. Like all creators, we have the right to set limits on how others can use our games and brand.
- Do not expand or modify Rockstar Games’ official storylines, plots, missions, characters, or other elements of our established continuity.
- Do not make mods that combine maps, locations, characters, storylines, in-game assets, or other IP from one Rockstar Games title into another title.
- Multiplayer modding is limited to Rockstar Games’ official licensed Creator Platform or else as otherwise licensed directly by Rockstar Games.
- Do not modify our games to operate on consoles, hardware devices, or other platforms where they have not been officially released by Rockstar Games.
Other restrictions include prohibiting the introduction of third-party IP to the universe or modifying or reusing “voiceover performances from any game released by Rockstar Games” or using “any real-world person’s voice, image, or likeness without written permission.” Mods must also not engage in “unauthorized or abusive monetization,” and must not harm the creator community.
While some of these rules make sense (prohibiting the use of someone’s likeness without their permission is a positive choice), these policies may also prove to be pretty restrictive when it comes to just what modders can do with GTA 6. Of course, for now these rules only impact Grand Theft Auto V and earlier titles, as well as other Rockstar titles like Red Dead Redemption 2, but once Grand Theft Auto 6 arrives on PC (no PC version is announced as of yet but its arrival there feels inevitable), these rules may prevent as many creative ideas from being implemented by fans via modding as GTA 5 has benefitted from.