I never really finished Half-Life when it came out in 1998. I'm not sure why, but I grew bored around the Blast Pit and stopped playing the single-player campaign. It just wasn't doing it for me.
So what made Half-Life so popular? Why is it widely known to be so good? It has an honest, solid, single-player campaign. It's marginally innovative, has a decent (though confusing and irreconcilable) story, and the physics engine is solid. The AI is certainly impressive, particularly given the release date in 1998.
These points make a respectable and highly successful game, but they don't make a blowout like Half-Life turned out to be.
My theory is that community mods made Half-Life. Action Half-Life, Science and Industry, Day of Defeat, Frontline Force, and of course Team Fortress Classic were, at the time, prime selling points for the game. I personally bought Half-Life because I wanted to play TFC, after all. Half-Life was just an add-on in my teen eyes.
After playing TFC competitively in a clan for over a year, I learned about Counter-Strike. It was in beta at the time, but you could tell it was going to be something special. As soon as 2000 rolled around and Valve started assisting with Counter-Strike development, the mod took off like a rocket. Today it's still one of the most popular multiplayer shooters out there. Gamers play it over Counter-Strike: Source, even.
Sure, Half-Life is a solid game in its own right. But it wouldn't have been a real blockbuster without its community mods. There's really something to be said for providing APIs and modding tools to your customers.
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