The phrase is no coincidence, since you still have to slay demons in id Software’s evergreen first-person shooters, but it’s something that might raise a few questions…

Last week we reported that DOOM + DOOM II had been released, bringing with it cross-platform multiplayer, a new official episode, and support for mods released over the last two decades. These mods can be searched and played using the in-game mod browser, making the experience more convenient for users. While this may sound good on the surface, let’s take a closer look at it, as the Mod Browser has its drawbacks.

Rock Paper Shotgun reported that you can upload any mod you want and even write that we made it. Apart from a mod report button, the DOOM + DOOM II mod browser has no authentication or moderation options. Quite simply, you can take any .wad file from Doomworld and upload it to a remaster of either game running on the KEX engine with a disclaimer that you made it… and unless the mod creator discovers the theft, it will stay that way.

Jean-Paul LeBreton, who worked on BioShock and Psychonauts 2 and is also a DOOM modder, wrote in Cohost that implementing a mod browser is a massive breach of trust and a sloppy thing for id Software and ZeniMax to do to a community that created the phenomenon they are now monetizing. In 2015, Valve shut down its experiment with paid mods on Steam Workshop after a short time because many people were stealing other people’s work. Then, a year later, mods appeared in the mod library of the console version of Fallout 4 without the creators’ permission.

Congratulations to whoever was so sloppy as to create the mod browser in DOOM + DOOM II…

Source: PCGamer, Rock Paper Shotgun, Cohost