For me they were a great asset , I think even Oleg would agree the one area the game was lacking in ,was sound, mabe not in the early days but later with other less detailed but better sounding games hitting the market , hence the huge migration to sites offering a sound mod.
Without the sound mod I dont think I would have continued to make movies
from this game , I only hope we see vastly improved sounds in BoB in fact Ill ask him this next time he's about 1C.