In my unprofessional life, one of the communities that I am the most active in is the source modding community. What that means will require an explanation, as from the view of an outsider, there is no context given from the name alone. Enter game development studio “Valve Software”, who created this game engine to facilitate development of their own titles, going by the moniker “Source Engine”. A notable characteristic of this game engine is that user generated content for it is comparatively simpler to make and install than other flagship engines of the time, or even game engines that are mainstream today. The company behind it has a positive attitude towards the content created by their users, giving their community the blessing to use it as a creative outlet as well as occasionally greenlighting their content, giving them the opportunity to sell it for real money.
This acceptance, combined with the sheer amount of titles produced by Valve to use as playgrounds, created a cult following behind this source engine. The term for this activity is colloquially referred to as modding, and modded content can vary in many forms. From new models, to sounds replacers, to levels, to completely new games being built on the base of an existing title. Ostensibly, any element of the game can be changed to user preference, provided they will take the time to learn. I am among this group of people, from my fledgling years to now, I have consumed and created a variety of content for these games.
Starting simply, my campaign began with the creation of sound mods. Time progressed, as did my exposure to the work of others, which drove my interest in learning to use more complex tools for the sake of changing my experience as well as others. I began picking up more advanced methods of modifying the game, such as texture work and more recently, 3d modeling through blender. This was important for my formative years, as without the interest created from seeing the work of others, I would not have taken the time to learn these skills for myself. While my use of them was entirely for the entertainment of myself and my peers, they have additional value in professional environments. Studios and even individual people will pay for 3d artists, level designers, programmers, and audio engineers.
This has manifested in my own aid of the modding community as a whole. A choice few people took interest in my specialty, 3D modelling, just as I took interest in the work of others. They offered me ideas for what I should create next. Overtime, my work met the standard of quality where I could even comfortably make money off commissions. It is still uncommon, but people will consult me and offer money in exchange for my implementation of an idea that they do not have the skill set to execute on their own. I am very grateful for the opportunities that these people provide me, and it makes me extremely happy to know that by me simply performing the same modding rituals I was before, I can appease others and see their ideas come to life. My work nowadays is mostly tweaking existing models or rigging a model from another game to work in a Source title.
The work I do in this field, however, isn’t very related to the work I intend to do going forward. 3D modeling has no direct application in Network Security. To me, that does not mean that my experiences there are irrelevant. I am to adapt the philosophy I gained in source modding community to my field of choice. The act of passionately learning the use of tools for my own use and helping others much the same way can also apply for the many networking utilities that exist in the security world. There is much to be said about how communication and implementation is important to that profession, and I have the source modding community to thank for my flexibility in that regard.