Valve’s idea to introduce payable mods was a noble concept. Unfortunately, like everything else in life that starts out with good intentions (Communism, democracy, WWE Pay-per-views), it quickly fell victim to human greed. The thing is I’d gladly pay for certain mods, but when you open the gates to thousands of would-be horse armour enthusiasts, you just know that there’ll be trouble knockin’ sooner or later. Valve unfortunately learnt that lesson the hard way. And that’s something that the co-creator of Doom, John Romero, totally gets.
Speaking to GI.biz, the Id Software founder explained how the company had wanted to pay Quake modders for their contributions to one of the classic FPS of the 1990s. “I’ve always believed that mod makers should be able to make money from their creations,” Romero explained, revealing how Id Software had intended to create a payout system called Id Net that would have sorted cash out for creators.
This company would be the portal that players would connect to and play other mod maker’s creations. It was to be a curated site, levels and mods chosen by us at id, and if we put your content on our network we would pay you an amount equal to the traffic that your content drove to the site. The idea was that players would log in and be in a big level that felt like a castle with lots of doorway portals and signage that explained where you were going and what was there.
So what happened? The idea was dropped, in favour of actually finishing development on Quake first. Because y’know, making an actual game that works from day one without the needs for patches or superfluous DLC, was all the rage back in the day. Still, Romero believes that modders should be rewarded for their efforts:
That’s what we do in our game companies, why would it be so different for outsiders?
As I said, good intentions can only go so far. But I’d pay plenty of cash for more WWE dragon mods if I still had Skyrim.
Last Updated: May 5, 2015
Pariah
May 5, 2015 at 10:35
John Romero. Doing it before it was cool.
Hammersteyn
May 5, 2015 at 10:48
I was still figuring out how to copy games to disk while he as making games that made my childhood awesome.
Skoobaz
May 5, 2015 at 11:05
+ 10!
Hammersteyn
May 5, 2015 at 11:06
XD
Admiral Chief
May 5, 2015 at 11:11
Dat RAR to stiffy!
Hammersteyn
May 5, 2015 at 11:23
XD
Blood Emperor Trevor
May 5, 2015 at 11:24
RAR lol. Whatanoob! ARJ was the boss.
Admiral Chief
May 5, 2015 at 11:26
Oh yeah, NOW I remember, damn stuffed head today.
Spelling mistakes, not remembering things properly, ugh, I need to get home
Thats_how_I_Troll
May 5, 2015 at 14:26
ARJ was boss… There was another one… Cannot remember the name anymore but the command was: uc es.
Blood Emperor Trevor
May 5, 2015 at 14:52
LZH maybe? Don’t remember either, but that was also popular for a while.
Thats_how_I_Troll
May 6, 2015 at 11:18
I think it was arc
But LZH also rings a bell
Lord Chaos
May 5, 2015 at 11:24
Nope, RAR isn’t that old. it was still .zip
RustedFaith
May 5, 2015 at 11:56
He was a great game designer but his head got to big. Gaming does owe allot to the guys who started ID.
John Carmack, technical director
John Romero, game designer, game programmer, level designer,
Adrian Carmack, artist
Tom Hall, game designer, level designer, writer, creative director
Blood Emperor Trevor
May 5, 2015 at 10:42
That doesn’t sound like a bad idea… because it has a very important word – CURATED.
Hammersteyn
May 5, 2015 at 10:42
“making an actual game that works from day one without the needs for patches or superfluous DLC, was all the rage back in the day”
We had it good
Pariah
May 5, 2015 at 10:45
We did indeed. 🙂
Hammersteyn
May 5, 2015 at 10:51
I’ll never forget the first time I saw Quake. Was on the way to the movies in Highschool and walked past a PC shop. Saw the demo in the window and my mind was blown. I thought that gaming couldn’t get any better now that 3D was here.
Pariah
May 5, 2015 at 10:59
I remember having to go to the local internet cafe and paying R5 for 30 minutes time with the game. When it was released, it was like the best thing EVER. Like Doom, but better. It was amazing.
Admiral Chief
May 5, 2015 at 11:04
We used to LAN for R15 for 60minutes at those cafe’s, good times
Pariah
May 5, 2015 at 11:14
I miss LANs a lot. Sure, we can play from our own homes, but it’s not the same.
Eric
May 5, 2015 at 15:46
I remembered thinking how I’m going to hide this shit from my parents, because they’d never let me play a game where you… shoot people :O
Admiral Chief
May 5, 2015 at 10:44
“What year is it?” joke comes to mind
Admiral Chief
May 5, 2015 at 10:45
20years. How far the industry has falled 🙁
Makes you think about something else that has also failed in the last 20 odd years………
Pariah
May 5, 2015 at 10:45
*fallen
Admiral Chief
May 5, 2015 at 10:55
FFS, I really should not be at work, I’m as sick as the gaming industry
Pariah
May 5, 2015 at 10:58
I’m at home atm, also sick. I hate being sick. 🙁
Skoobaz
May 5, 2015 at 11:06
Apart from Eskom? Lolz
Admiral Chief
May 5, 2015 at 11:38
Oh, that as well, huehuehue
Skoobaz
May 5, 2015 at 11:43
You mean “Hehehe…” as Al-Prezzidente pushes glasses up his nose with index finger?
Prrtipap
May 5, 2015 at 10:49
Isnt Skyrim on Steam only? How do you not have Skyrim anymore.
Pariah
May 5, 2015 at 10:49
XBox, PlayStation?
Prrtipap
May 5, 2015 at 11:13
Ah! True didnt think of those
Lord Chaos
May 5, 2015 at 11:20
What are those? 😛
Blood Emperor Trevor
May 5, 2015 at 11:23
Expensive door stops.
Prrtipap
May 5, 2015 at 11:27
Thats probably why he got rid of his copy. Skyrim on PC is hugely superior. and this coming from a PS fanboy
Greylingad
May 5, 2015 at 11:05
That, there, is why so many people love id. The best way to create new content would be to provide incentive for it, it’s as simple as that, find the passion behind it and reward people for it…