The Rise of Case Modding, Again – Part 2

In our previous article we talked about two of the things I think that have helped case modding rise to the top once again. There are many reasons and I am sure we can all make a list of what those are, but these are my thoughts. If you have any idea or a rebuttal please say something in the comments section at the end of this article.

Here are the topics I will be talking about in this article.

1. Influenced by others
2. Manufacture support
3. Ease of purchasing products

Influenced by others

Inspiration has been the factor for many of the items we see and used to in our daily lives. A lot of this is do to the fact we have been influenced by peers or people we admire. This same idea holds true for case modding. Those of us that have been enjoying the hobby since the beginning looked to each other to see what the next guy was doing and what we could do to take it to the next level. With this kind of fellowship and creative competition pushed the hobby to grow. Back then forums were the sources to get ideas and facts for you current or next build. Tons of information was shared and questions would be asked that would allow everyone to help find the answers. Today people are in the here and now and expect to get the answers yesterday. To many people message and email the modders direct for questions, suggestions and general information and then get pissed when they do not respond right away or if at all. All the modders do the best they can to answer all the questions, but we cannot get to them.  Look people it is time to get back to the place where you can find the information, see how someone did it and crowd source the answers. Check out our case modding forums for a wealth of information.

Manufacture support

Manufacture support has been on the rise. They have finally caught onto the idea that the people they support today are the ones that help can change what they sell tomorrow. This process goes way back in my day where automobile manufactures were trying to sell cars. Back then the cars that manufactures raced had-to-be the same car you buy and drove. This required them to supply the local drag racers with cars and parts, you see what they found out was what won on Sunday sold on Monday. These were also the guys that did modification to the cars and engines to make them go faster, which in turn the automobile companies would implement into the next generation of cars. This has happened with the case modding craze. Modders have become the designers and R&D for a lot of the case makers. So it is a very smart move on the part of the manufactures to invest time and money to people that are helping drive innovation and sales. Another way that manufactures are supporting the case modding community is through contest. The manufactures and sponsors are putting up $1000 of dollars of prizes and money just for the fact to see what kind of awesome case mods you can create. Back in the day you might have one a year, now there seems to be one just about every other month. There is nothing wrong have a lot of contest as there are times were the timing for one contest might not meet your schedule and you can enter another one. Also do not forget about the Modders-Inc US Case Modding Championship that we host every year at QuakeCon.

Ease of purchasing products

With the above statements we can now look at how this has changed modding for the masses. With case modding driving after markets sales it makes sense that manufactures would produce the products you need and use. Today you can go online and purchases just about anything you need to do a computer case mod. Anything from lighting, sleeving material to hard core water cooling. So many online stores now sell everything and with these off-the-shelf items you can make yourself a really nice looking PC. This is ideal for those that do not have the knowledge, availability of tools or a work space that is required to do fully custom pieces. Old timers like myself used to have to figure everything out ourselves, run around town and actually go to real stores to find what we needed or hopefully be creative enough to make something work. For those of us that were old “Hot Rodders” and worked on cars recognized that some of the times that we used on cars could be used on computer mods. I was sleeving and covering wires way before any one thought about doing it today. Back then the idea was to reduce the number of wires that was shown so you bundled them together, not the individual sleeving you see today… which I STILL do not understand, but that a whole different rant.

In the next article we will take a look at Social Media such as YouTube, Facebook and what effects good or bad it has had on the hobby. I will also look at the other things I can think of, but if you have a suggestion or comment please do so and I will address it in the next article.