Home Gaming Id Software wanted to pay for mods back in 1995

Id Software wanted to pay for mods back in 1995

1 min read
36

IDLC

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

36 Comments

  1. John Romero. Doing it before it was cool.

    Reply

    • 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.

      Reply

      • Skoobaz

        May 5, 2015 at 11:05

        + 10!

        Reply

        • Hammersteyn

          May 5, 2015 at 11:06

          XD

          Reply

      • Admiral Chief

        May 5, 2015 at 11:11

        Dat RAR to stiffy!

        Reply

        • Hammersteyn

          May 5, 2015 at 11:23

          XD

          Reply

        • Blood Emperor Trevor

          May 5, 2015 at 11:24

          RAR lol. Whatanoob! ARJ was the boss.

          Reply

          • 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

          Reply

      • 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

        Reply

  2. 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.

    Reply

  3. 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

    Reply

    • Pariah

      May 5, 2015 at 10:45

      We did indeed. 🙂

      Reply

      • 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.

        Reply

        • 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.

          Reply

          • 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

  4. Admiral Chief

    May 5, 2015 at 10:44

    “What year is it?” joke comes to mind

    Reply

  5. 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………

    Reply

    • Pariah

      May 5, 2015 at 10:45

      *fallen

      Reply

      • Admiral Chief

        May 5, 2015 at 10:55

        FFS, I really should not be at work, I’m as sick as the gaming industry

        Reply

        • Pariah

          May 5, 2015 at 10:58

          I’m at home atm, also sick. I hate being sick. 🙁

          Reply

    • Skoobaz

      May 5, 2015 at 11:06

      Apart from Eskom? Lolz

      Reply

      • Admiral Chief

        May 5, 2015 at 11:38

        Oh, that as well, huehuehue

        Reply

        • Skoobaz

          May 5, 2015 at 11:43

          You mean “Hehehe…” as Al-Prezzidente pushes glasses up his nose with index finger?

          Reply

  6. Prrtipap

    May 5, 2015 at 10:49

    Isnt Skyrim on Steam only? How do you not have Skyrim anymore.

    Reply

    • Pariah

      May 5, 2015 at 10:49

      XBox, PlayStation?

      Reply

      • Prrtipap

        May 5, 2015 at 11:13

        Ah! True didnt think of those

        Reply

      • Lord Chaos

        May 5, 2015 at 11:20

        What are those? 😛

        Reply

        • Blood Emperor Trevor

          May 5, 2015 at 11:23

          Expensive door stops.

          Reply

          • 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

  7. 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…

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Check Also

Microsoft officially owns Bethesda now after $7.5 billion deal gets approved

It’s official! ZeniMax, parent company to Bethesda and other subsidiaries, is officially o…