Why do people still mod Doom?

[Jaws In Space]

6 minutes ago, Doomkid said:

I can't seem to find 'about me', only on mobile? I might just be blind though..

This is what someone's profile should look like when they write an about me, shows up right next to Activity. To write one, just click the Edit Profile button at the top right corner of your header image. I'm going to say something on the forum bugs thread about them not working.

[Soundblock]

Unique spatial rendering. Consistent pixel ratio for one. Call it an OCD symptom, but I love the fact that Doom always stays 1:1. Almost no games do that anymore, even the games that directly followed on Doom, like those using the Build engine, strayed from this "rule". Quake kinda kept it, but the polygonal/true-3D gameplay was inferior for me. And for editing's sake - you need six times the number of lines in Quake to create a square room! True 3D gets messy quick. Doom stays neat. Noteably, Minecraft does the same 1:1 pixel thing...

 

For me, building something in Doom is just an itch that needs scratching from time to time, though years may go by in the interim. Its a mix of 90's nostalgia and the challenge of creating something brand new in a familiar space. The community expectations are always morphing, which keeps things from getting stale.

 

Its one of the quickest ways to get busy with the nuts and bolts of game design, allowing you to quickly see highly playable results.

[Doomkid]

sorry, my last post was terribly worded - I meant I can't find about me on mobile, only on desktop. (D'oh!)

 

edit: Ah, I see now, it's only visible to the account holder! lol, that must have just been an oversight

[Ed]

For creative reasons, I still mod Doom because it's the perfect amount of creative satisfaction for the amount of time invested.  Just in terms of time invested, I feel much more comfortable opening up a Doom editor and knowing exactly what to do and where to go to get the response desired.  

[PhillMcHogan]

In my opinion, I think that it is because those who have played it and still play it want to spice up their game, because playing vanilla doom 1 and 2 get really boring after playing them 50 million times. I have never personally made an addon for doom so I wouldn't know about that, but I have made wads and they sure do make the game a whole lot more fun.

[Scotty]

Because it's accessible and rewarding.

[Torturephile]

To add variety, which in turn could expand the community of the game.

[Necr0n0m]

Hey folks, I know that a few of you mentioned that your imagination is the only limit when it comes to modding Doom. Would you say that there are limitations when it comes to modding other games?

[Lila Feuer]

Working with Wolf3D from experience there's a lot more limitations in place due to the engine and its quirks, but it is very easy to see results fast. You need to have an even bigger imagination and more creativity to make truly interesting levels for that game though but it is possible judging from the talent in the Wolf community.

[Nine Inch Heels]

3 minutes ago, Necr0n0m said:

Would you say that there are limitations when it comes to modding other games?

I would argue it depends on the game in question, and on how much "wiggle room" modders have to realize their ideas. Some games are much harder to get into in terms of modding, others are built with modding in mind (reassembly for instance). More often than not, when a game is designed with modding in mind, the creators behind it also set certain boundaries in regards to what can be modded, and what cannot get touched.

[Albertoni]

Take Civilization V, known for its modding. It took more than a year to figure out how to make 3D leaders for the diplomacy scenes. Even with the tools we have now, it's still very difficult. You also cannot make maps where you start with anything but the usual settler, scout and warrior, to my knowledge.

 

Skyrim is another with a huge modding scene, and pretty much anything is possible. However, if you're trying to do anything the original game didn't have, like "does this enemy have line-of-sight to the player?" you're in for a world of pain and ugly workarounds. The way the AI is handled can also get VERY messy if you're trying to script cutscenes, which requires further workarounds.

 

Yes, Doom has many limitations as well, but since it's so much simpler than those games, the absolute number of limitations is smaller, even if the relative one is bigger.

[Albertoni]

Sorry for the double post, but I feel this insight is worth enough to deserve a notification.

 

Let's explain things in one word. Expectations.

 

What do you expect from a good Doom mod? A bunch of new monsters, or maybe some weapons, or some new maps. Join two of those and you get a Cacoward winner.

What do you expect from a good Civilization V mod? New balancing, somewhat different gameplay, some new dynamic in the game.

What do you expect from a good Skyrim mod? Either a completely new world or completely new game system. (Completely unrelated, but I'd like to leave a little advertisement for the best Skyrim mod I've played)

 

Here's the thing. For a damn good Doom mod, you don't expect much. Half a year of sprite work, map work and some effects. While for a Civ or Skyrim mod, you expect voice acting, music, balancing, etc. With how much mods like Guncaster, Trailblazer and Russian Overkill are popular, I don't think balance is important in Doom. At least, it feels like having a good time is way more important.

 

Of course, you can find examples of unbalanced fun for both of those games, but... Doom's community doesn't screams at a lack of balance. The little it does, it's both justified and way less than other communities would.

 

So, while other communities scream about out-of-lore armors and unbalanced civilizations, Doom just goes "Eh, is this fun to play with?"

 

Yes, it's not much about limitations or advantages of Doom, but I feel this got a good, hard point in here. The expectations of the community here are different, and as a result, we grow different from the rest.

[Necr0n0m]

There's something remarkable about a community still modding a game 23 years after its initial release. There are so many mods for Skyrim now and it feels almost over-saturated with small add-ons that are nothing but superficial changes that don't even come close to pushing the boundaries. Of course its much harder to do with more recent games due to how advanced they are. 

 

Expectations is a very interesting point. Thanks for highlighting this for me :)

 

[Angry Saint]

I find it interesting that Quake, which is also very moddable and was out few years after Doom, still has not a modding community as big as Doom. Why?

[Necr0n0m]

50 minutes ago, Angry Saint said:

I find it interesting that Quake, which is also very moddable and was out few years after Doom, still has not a modding community as big as Doom. Why?

I think @fraggle's post about Doom being the sweet spot between Wolf3D & Quake provides a really good explanation. 

 

[scifista42]

As mentioned above, it's a matter of the mapping process requiring more learning, effort and time to get results. If people want to have results quickly, they naturally prefer engines/editors that make this easier than other engines/editors.

[Necr0n0m]

There's so much research on the motivations of users modding games and a lot of it concludes that people make mods because they want to get into the games industry. I think this literature is becoming a bit dated and I believe there's more to it when you look at communities that have been running for a long period of time. It's more of a community-based venture.Which is why it relates so much to the FOSS movement.