Fictional all the way. Though the longest to develop they have the potential to reach a level of creativity and innovation that no other can match. However these mods are the most difficult and most time consuming to make.
Expansions are very common and helps a game live longer but doesn't add much into the story and sometimes, expansions can be quite silly and dumb depending on how you work it.
Modern Combat is an overused subject that shows very little creativity or innovation in any way given that it has already been done hundreds of times. We all have seen it, heard of it, and know it all too well. This can end up being a very boring mod unless it is one seriously innovative mod. Other than that it lacks a great deal of creativity.
Past Wars type are equally used as much as modern combat. Maybe even more. However this holds a great deal more potential as there are many wars out there that have not been made into a mod. One can even make a fantasy mod based off historic legends.
Fictional types, as I said, have the greatest potential out of all of these. These mods posses innovation, creativity, and originality that none of the others can really match at all. However these are the hardest to make as everything has to be made by you. This is what many game devs do and many come up with excellent fiction.
Solutions:
Modern Combat may be an overused subject however this can be avoided. For instance: Look at the Ace Combat series. They are all modern semi science fiction games however rather than base it off real life, they made a completely different planet. These fictional powers can be similar but very different. If one were to approach modern combat like this then we can expect a greater amount of creativity and innovation.
Past Wars are indeed often used however one doesn't have to follow history. Look at Resistance Fall of Man. They altered the timeline to make the story convenient to the situation. This offers a tremendous amount of creative freedom as we no longer have to obey what has happened or will happen.
We are the modders. The Artists of gaming. If we want to do something, then we CAN. If we want to make something that doesn't follow history, then we can.
Edited by Vengence, 06 May 2007 - 20:35.