Update: RPS have spoken to both James Baicoianu and Major Arlene to get a bit more context as to how DoomScroll works, the concerns the latter had outlined, and how the site’s creators are planning to approach adding to/tweaking their browser bucket of fan-made levels going forwards.
Baicoianu confirmed that DoomScroll’s currently running on the Chocolate Doom port and that its client doesn’t have any specific built-in checks for vanilla-compatible mods which should work with that close-to-vanilla port of the shooter. The site sources its WAD levels from “various collections” on the Internet Archive. “I tried to stick with collections which had already done the work to make sure the WADs they included were permissively licensed, but with so many out there it’s certainly possible that some were included erroneously,” the software engineer explained.
In terms of the text files which serve provide info about each of DoomScroll’s levels, the site has a script which pulls out descriptions for each WAD from their existing text files when that’s possible, while “if there’s no information it generates a description based on whatever it does know about the WAD.”
Re-emphasising that he plans to add in a tool that’ll let users flag WADs which don’t work or which modders wish to have taken down from the site, Baicoianu said: “I’m considering it an ongoing process to keep adding to and improving our wad collection. Right now we’re just showing WADs made for Doom 1, but I plan to add new sections for other games like Doom 2, Heretic, and Hexen, as well as a special showcase for ‘total conversion’ WADs – some of those projects are among the best examples of what could be done by dedicated groups of modders back then. I’m also working on some general usability improvements – more tools for searching, filtering, and sharing, and potentially even support for multiplayer.”
Also speaking to RPS, Major Arlene outlined that abiding by the wishes modders outline in text files for their projects is “not a binding contract for whomever downloads the project” and instead a matter of etiquette. That said, the modder did rightly flag that “it’s worth bearing in mind the Doom community has also been around long enough that people have died since making their mods, and so they are not able to self-advocate if something is used or distributed against their wishes.”
In terms of Baicoianu’s plan to add in the option to flag WADs whose permissions aren’t being adhered to, Major Arlene suggested that adding an automated behind-the-scenes check which proactively weeds out mods with text files that specify they’re not to be distributed would in theory be preferable to having to flag a listing manually after the fact, but said she does “appreciate that some attempt is being made to get ahead of this”.
“I would like to be clear – I do not think the developers of DoomScroll have malicious intent. I do, in fact, love the idea – in theory. But there’s a lot of history, and especially recently, where mod authors are not kept in mind when projects like this get made,” the modder said in closing, pointing to the issues around copyrighted content and reuploads without permission that came with DOOM + DOOM II’s release. “I do think it’s lovely that projects are getting more exposure, but that should always be balanced with how the projects are being presented, and that, unfortunately, can be in very particular and confusing ways, which is why it’s difficult to make catch-all projects like this work without problems.”
Original story follows:
Amid the maelstrom of things happening last week, the original Doom blasted out the candles on a big cake commemorating its 32 years of demon destruction. As part of those celebrations, the shooter which can be played on (inhales) human test, lawnmower, electric toothbrush, tractor, the bad social media place, pregancy test, and gut bacteria – it’s gained another way in which to be appreciated. There’s now a website called DoomScroll which lets you dive into a bunch of fan-made level WADs via browser.
As spotted by Pewpew Caboom Gamer, DoomScroll’s the brainchild of software engineer James Baicoianu and internet archivist Jason Scott. Fire it up, and you’re served a list of DOOM levels folks have created over the years. You click into one, such as “Where? The Warehouse!” – created by Giant Bomb co-founder Jeff Gerstmann over 30 years ago – and there’s an info blurb about it presented via Doomified laptop screen. From there, you click the map’s spinning outline, then play, and the demon blasting commences.
Other levels on offer include Christmas Doom, Yet Another Doom Level, and Missouri Rat Light, just to pick a few at random. As you can imagine, the word hell crops up rather often in the list.
“Our goal was to make decades of work from one of the most creative communities in gaming history more accessible and visible to everyone,” Baicoianu wrote in a BlueSky post. “There’s so much stuff here – everything from simplistic maps made by kids just learning how game development works, all the way up through full total conversions with all-new music, textures, and sprites, made by volunteer teams that went on to become full-fledged game studios.”
It is worth noting that at least one of the WADs included in the site simply serves you with a black screen, rather than loading properly. This is the case with Army of Darkness, as Doom modder and YouTuber Major Arlene has pointed out in a reply to Scott’s BlueSky post announcing the site.
Major Arlene also raised the matter of whether all of the included modders’ permissions in terms of redistribution of their works and/or proper credit being given are being stuck to in every instance. Having scrolled through some of the entries, a number of the ‘read me’ files with info about each map do include guidelines on redistribution and written out web addresses detailing places you can – or at least could – get the WAD. The addresses aren’t hyperlinked up, and I’ve been greeted with a webpage that wouldn’t load in trying to test out following the one listed by Gerstmann’s level.
So, DoomScroll currently looks to be relying on the level of detail the old creators included in their old text files to do the legwork, which isn’t ideal. Baicoianu has said in a reply that he plans to add in “a ‘flag this wad’ option if you turn up anything that’s not supposed to be there” soon.
I’ve reached out to both Baicoianu and Major Arlene for comment.
Now, back to the less blasty form of doomscrolling.
