Editing Doom (1993 video game) (section)

===Community===
{{see also|Doom modding|l1=''Doom'' modding}}
''Doom''{{'}}s popularity and innovations attracted a community that has persisted for decades since.<ref name="community1"/> The deathmatch mode was an important factor in its popularity.<ref name="MOD182184"/> ''Doom'' was the first game to coin the term "deathmatch" and introduced multiplayer shooting battles to a wide audience.<ref name="community1"/><ref name="Community2"/> This led to a widespread community of players who had never experienced fast-paced multiplayer combat before.<ref name="community1"/>

Another popular aspect of ''Doom'' was the versatility of its WAD files, enabling [[user-generated content|user-generated levels]] and other game modifications. John Carmack and Romero had strongly advocated for mod support, overriding other id employees who were concerned about commercial and legal implications. Although WAD files exposed the game data, id provided no instructions for how they worked. Still, players were able to modify leaked alpha versions of the game, allowing them to release level editors within weeks of the game's release.<ref name="MOD167169"/>

On January 26, 1994, university student Brendon Wyber led a group to create the first full [[level editor]], the Doom Editor Utility, leading to the first custom level by Jeff Bird in March.<ref name="MOD167169"/><ref name="ESCModHistory"/> It was followed by "countless" others, including many based on other franchises like ''[[Alien (franchise)|Aliens]]'' and ''[[Star Wars (film)|Star Wars]]'' [[total conversion mod]]s, as well as DeHackEd, a patch editor first released in 1994 by Greg Lewis that allowed editing of the game engine.<ref name="MOD167169"/><ref name="RPSModHistory"/> Soon after the first mods appeared, id CEO Wilbur posted legal terms to the company's website, allowing mod authors to charge money without any fees to id, while also absolving the company of responsibility or support.<ref name="MOD167169"/>

''Doom'' mods were widely popular, earning favorable comparisons to the official level additions seen in ''The Ultimate Doom''.<ref name="PCZTUDreview"/><ref name="JSTUDreview"/> Thousands of user-created levels were released in the first few years after the release; over 3000 such levels for ''Doom'' and ''Doom II'' were included in the official retail release ''Master Levels for Doom II'' (1995).<ref name="DoomMaster"/> [[WizardWorks]] released multiple collections of mods of ''Doom'' and ''Doom II'' under the name ''D!Zone''.<ref name="Dragon217"/> At least one mod creator, [[Tim Willits]], was later hired at id Software.<ref name="MOD212"/> Mods have continued to be produced, with the community Cacowards awarding the best of each year.<ref name="Cacowards19"/> In 2016, Romero created two new ''Doom'' levels: E1M4b ("Phobos Mission Control") and E1M8b ("Tech Gone Bad").<ref name="NewLevels"/><ref name="RomeroLevels"/> In 2018, for the 25th anniversary of ''Doom'', Romero announced ''[[Sigil (mod)|Sigil]]'', an unofficial fifth episode containing nine levels. It was released on May 22, 2019, for {{€|6.66}} with a soundtrack by [[Buckethead]], and then released again for free on May 31 with a soundtrack by James Paddock. A physical release was later produced.<ref name="Sigil1"/><ref name="Sigil2"/> A sixth episode, ''Sigil II'', was released on the game's 30th anniversary, December 10, 2023, again for {{€|6.66}} for a digital copy with a soundtrack by [[Valient Thorr]], as well as physical editions on [[floppy disk]].<ref name="SigilII"/>

In addition to WAD files, ''Doom'' includes a feature that allowed players to record and play back gameplay using files called [[Game replay|demos]], or game replays.<ref name="SnyderBook"/> Although the concept of [[speedrunning]] a video game existed before ''Doom'', its release coincided with a wave of popularity for speedrunning, amplified by the [[Virtual community|online communities]] built on the nascent Internet.<ref name="wired culture"/> Demos were lightweight files that could be shared more easily than video files on internet [[bulletin board system]]s at the time.<ref name="SnyderBook"/> As a result, ''Doom'' is credited with creating the video game speedrunning community.<ref name="SpeedrunOrigin1"/><ref name="SpeedrunOrigin2"/> The speedrunning community for ''Doom'' has continued for decades. As recently as 2019, community members have broken records originally set in 1998.<ref name="SpeedrunLongevity1"/> ''Doom'' has been termed as having "one of the longest-running speedrunning communities" as well as being "the quintessential speedrunning game".<ref name="SpeedrunLongevity2"/><ref name="SpeedrunLongevity3"/>
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