* Graphics updates with shaders for improved water and fog (which you can combine with much higher view distance), godrays, HDR, etc, improved meshes, improved grass, high resolution textures with normal maps, and PBR.

* Modernized UIs

* Multi-mark (extra marks as you level mysticism)

* Turn the books into audiobooks and add full voice acting if you're a mild heathen.

* Combat and leveling system overhauls if you're a full heathen.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=iFZm4VZnHy0

https://youtube.com/watch?v=9Hv-46CCd9I

https://modding-openmw.com/

[0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enderal

Reading between the lines I think OP is suggesting backwards compatibility is retained when publishing updates.

> Why would a game's developer's rights be restricted after they ship something based on how many people use it or how much society likes it?

I'm assuming OP's answer is something along the lines of "because it's good for society". Why shouldn't society do things that are good for society, even if they increase a burden on a profit making company? Obviously every case is different but the principle is sound, IMO. Like copyright expiry. At the very least it's an interesting thought exercise.

I understand OPs sentiment fully - and the response is probably "it depends" :D

Culture and Art is a volatile thing and let's assume a game and it's mods are a piece of culture and art. Then an update of the original that interrupts the original aspects is basically the destruction of art.

In olden times, in those 90s, when games were offline, you could mod to your hearts desire and nobody could take it away. And by now it's recognized as cultural heritage - even though those old games become less and less appealing to the audience that is used to better game ux (This is a bold statement by me. My generation grew up with those graphics and love them - our grandchildren will ask us why we did that like they will never understand why people used those loud noisy typewriters when you can tell your phone to write the text up)

Still - typewriters are still usable. But copyright law and online only games and forced updates really destroy that game you played 10 years ago as you cannot (legally) access it anymore. Mods can be updated but that requires recreating that art - if still possible with changed APIs.

But then game developers need to life off something and updating and improving games should always be in their right, see no mans sky and how it changed over the years to be a completely different game in a way that would not have been possible otherwise.

IMHO it would be simple to keep significant old versions available for the general public like WoW did with their Classic rollback (not sure if this is the best example) - or like system shock, there's the rewrite and there's the original and everyone can use that version they prefer without preventing the original developer from publishing and improving.