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Released in 1993, ''Doom'' was the first game to introduce modding to a wider audience due to the degree of depth it allowed its modders.<ref name="auto" /><ref name="routledge chp31">{{cite book |last=Voorhees |first=Gerald |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781136290510 |title=The Routledge Companion to Video Game Studies |date=2014-01-03 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-29050-3 |editor-last=Perron |editor-first=Bernard |edition=1st |pages=251–258 |chapter=Shooting |doi=10.4324/9780203114261 |editor-last2=Wolf |editor-first2=Mark J.P.}}</ref> With ''Wolfenstein 3D'', players had to erase game code to replace it; this destructiveness concerned Carmack and Romero. When developing ''Doom'', Carmack purposely separated the [[game engine]] files from other assets, including [[Level (video games)|level]] architecture, graphics, and audio,<ref name=":2" /> which were stored in a "WAD" file (an acronym for "where's all the data?").<ref name=":28" />{{Reference page|page=134}} While the system was also motivated by the game industry's push towards realism that required larger storage, it was specifically intended to make modding easier.<ref name=":2" /> With ''Doom'', modders only needed to change which WAD file the game would reference,<ref name=":28" /> meaning that custom assets could be modified and distributed without sharing the game engine itself.
Nearing the official release of ''Doom'', Carmack sent emails to ''Wolfenstein'' modders, detailing the game's new modding capabilities. He also uploaded the [[source code]] for the game's [[level editing]] and utilities programs.<ref name="routledge chp31" /> Weeks after the release, hackers developed level and map-editing programs to modify existing ''Doom'' levels or make other minor adjustments.<ref name=":28" /> In 1994, the Doom Editor Utility was created by an international team of modders led by a student at the [[University of Canterbury]], greatly lowering the skill threshold required to make a mod and advertising the ability to create entirely new levels.<ref name=":29">{{Cite journal |last=Kücklich |first=Julian |date=2005-09-05 |title=Precarious playbour: Modders and the digital games industry |url=https://fibreculturejournal.org/fcj-025-precarious-playbour-modders-and-the-digital-games-industry/ |journal=Fibreculture |volume=5 |issue=1}}</ref><ref name=":28" /><ref name=":25" /> The DeHackEd from a [[University of Michigan]] student was released in the same year, which additionally allowed users to modify the [[executable file]] of the game.<ref name=":28" /> Later, in 1997, id published ''Doom'' as [[open source]], allowing a greater customization of mods with the source code available.<ref name=":29" /><ref name="routledge chp31" /> The open nature of ''Doom'' inspired a flood of creativity,<ref name=":25" /> with modding tools promising to "do almost anything to any level".<ref name=":28" /> Another factor in the popularity of [[Doom modding|''Doom'' modding]] was the increasing popularity of the Internet and the advent of the [[World Wide Web]], which allowed modding communities to form.<ref name="auto3" /><ref name=":2" /> Using online forums, modders were able to pool their knowledge and findings for the game.<ref name=":2" />
At a time when the video game industry guarded their [[intellectual property]] through copyrights and [[Patent|patents]], id Software's willingness to share details about their game's files was novel.<ref name=":28" /><ref name=":25" /> Companies like Atari had sued modders in the past for [[copyright infringement]], including a pair of MIT students who had sold modded circuitry intended for the Atari arcade game [[Missile Command|''Missile Command'']].<ref name=":25" /> The release of the source code for ''Doom's'' editing software caused debate amongst the team at id, with Carmack's actions being supported by Romero.<ref name=":28" /> In exchange for the technical foundation for modding, id requested that mods should only work with the retail version of the game (and not the [[shareware]] version),<ref name="routledge chp31" /> benefiting the company commercially.<ref name=":23" /> Later [[first-person shooter]] developers, such as [[Valve Corporation|Valve]] and [[Epic Games|Epic]], consistently include level editing tools with their games, and it is common for [[Role-playing video game|role-playing]] and [[Strategy video game|strategy games]] to make a level editor available.<ref name="routledge chp31" />
By encouraging player-driven content, id created channels for entry into the video game industry for ''Doom's'' modding community. [[Final Doom|''Final Doom'']], released by id in 1996, integrated fan-made levels, with a share of the profits going to the modders involved.<ref name=":23" /> In 1995, id hired [[Tim Willits]] as the first employee from the ''Doom'' modding community, who later became studio director of id's parent company [[ZeniMax Media]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Chalk |first=Andy |date=2019-07-18 |title=Tim Willits is leaving id Software |url=https://www.pcgamer.com/tim-willits-is-leaving-id-software/ |access-date=2025-08-25 |work=PC Gamer |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":28" />
=== Valve, ''Half-Life'' (1998), Steam ===
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