Doom (1993 video game)
The ability for others to create custom levels and otherwise modify the game using WAD files turned out to be a popular aspect of "Doom". Gaining the first large mod-making community, "Doom" affected the culture surrounding first-person shooters, and also the industry. Several future professional game designers started their careers making "Doom" WADs as a hobby, among them Tim Willits, who later became the lead designer at id Software.
Doom (1993 video game)
"Doom" was influential and dozens of new first-person shooter titles appeared following "Doom" release, and they were often referred to as ""Doom" clones" rather than "first-person shooters". The term ""Doom" clone" was used to describe the style of gameplay in "Doom"-like games. While the term was initially popular, it was, after 1996, gradually replaced by "first-person shooter", and the phrase "first-person shooter" had firmly superseded ""Doom" clone" around 1998. Some of these were certainly "clones", hastily assembled and quickly forgotten, while others explored new grounds of the genre and were highly acclaimed. Many of the games closely imitated features in "Doom" such as the selection of weapons and cheat codes. "Doom" principal rivals were Apogee's "Rise of the Triad" and Looking Glass Studios' "System Shock". The popularity of "Star Wars"-themed WADs is rumored to have been the factor that prompted LucasArts to create their first-person shooter "Dark Forces".