Posted in: Games, Movies, Video Games | Tagged: doom, entertainment, games, id software, john romero, mods, video games

Doom Creator Says Modders Should Be Paid For Their Work

Despite Valve pulling their paid mod support last week, the discussion about whether or not modders should be compensated for their work rages on. I've pointed out my stance, that I think they absolutely should be, but I understand the other side of this discussion.

Doom creator John Romero has now waded into the argument, saying that not only should modders be paid, but his old developer id Software tried to implement it way back in 1995. Speaking to GamesInduatry.biz, Romero explained:

I've always believed that mod makers should be able to make money from their creations. In 1995, while we were making Quake, we had the idea to start a company called id Net. 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.

He then explained that this wasn't pursued as all resources were going into Quake. He did add though:

I still believe that creators should be rewarded for their hard work. That's what we do in our game companies, why would it be so different for outsiders?

This debate is going to wage on for a while longer. I wouldn't be surprised to see a service implemented in new games, just from the outset and with better policing. I absolutely think we will be seeing this in the future. It's just a matter of in what capacity.

Thanks to VG247 for the heads up!

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