Editing Id Software (section)

== Controversy ==
id Software was the target of controversy over two of their most popular games, ''[[Doom (1993 video game)#Controversies|Doom]]'' and the earlier ''[[Wolfenstein 3D]]''. More recently in 2022, id Software found themselves mired in a controversy concerning libel against [[Doom Eternal|Doom Eternal's]] composer.

=== ''Doom'' ===
''Doom'' was notorious for its high levels of [[Graphic violence#Internet|gore]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=Entertainment Software Rating Board |title=Game ratings |url=http://www.esrb.org/search_results.asp?key=doom&x=0&y=0&type=game |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060216031317/http://www.esrb.org/search_results.asp?key=doom&x=0&y=0&type=game |archive-date=February 16, 2006 |access-date=December 4, 2004}}</ref> and [[occultism]] along with [[Satanism|satanic]] imagery, which generated controversy from a broad range of groups. [[Yahoo! Games]] listed it as one of the top ten most controversial games of all time.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ben Silverman |date=September 17, 2007 |title=Controversial Games |url=http://videogames.yahoo.com/feature/controversial-games/530593 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070922155732/http://videogames.yahoo.com/feature/controversial-games/530593 |archive-date=September 22, 2007 |access-date=September 19, 2007 |publisher=[[Yahoo! Games]]}}</ref>

The game again sparked controversy throughout a period of [[school shooting]]s in the United States when it was found that [[Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold]], who committed the [[Columbine High School massacre]] in 1999, were avid players of the game. While planning for the massacre, Harris said that the killing would be "like playing ''Doom''", and "it'll be like the [[1992 Los Angeles riots|LA riots]], the [[Oklahoma City bombing|Oklahoma bombing]], [[World War II]], [[Vietnam War|Vietnam]], ''[[Duke Nukem 3D|Duke Nukem]]'' and ''Doom'' all mixed together", and that his shotgun was "straight out of the game".<ref>{{Cite web |last=4–20: a Columbine site |title=Basement Tapes: quotes and transcripts from Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold's video tapes |url=https://columbine.free2host.net/quotes.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060223025846/http://columbine.free2host.net/quotes.html |archive-date=February 23, 2006 |access-date=November 15, 2005}}</ref> A rumor spread afterwards that Harris had designed a ''Doom'' level that looked like the high school, populated with representations of Harris's classmates and teachers, and that Harris practiced for his role in the shootings by playing the level over and over. Although [[Harris levels|Harris did design ''Doom'' levels]], none of them were based on [[Columbine High School]].<ref>{{Cite web |first=Barbara |last=Mikkelson |website=[[Snopes]] |date=April 24, 1999 |title=Columbine Doom Levels |url=https://www.snopes.com/horrors/madmen/doom.asp |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220731185036/https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/the-harris-levels/ |archive-date=July 31, 2022 |access-date=November 7, 2008}}<!-- The archived content does not match the live url content. The archived content shows David Mikkelson as the author and has the date August 8, 2008. The archive url has "the-harris-levels" in the link, while the live url content does not. Both have the title "Columbine Doom Levels". Before my edit, this citation showed no author name, had the date as 2005, and had the title as "The Harris Levels". --></ref>

While ''Doom'' and other violent video games have been blamed for nationally covered school shootings, 2008 research featured by [[Greater Good Science Center]]<ref>[https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/greatergood/2008spring/Smith744.html Playing the Blame Game] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203054843/http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/greatergood/2008spring/Smith744.html |date=December 3, 2013 }} article from [[Greater Good Science Center#Print and online publications|Greater Good magazine]]</ref> shows that the two are not closely related. [[Harvard Medical School]] researchers Cheryl Olson and Lawrence Kutner found that violent video games did not correlate to school shootings. The [[United States Secret Service]] and [[United States Department of Education]] analyzed 37 incidents of school violence and sought to develop a profile of school shooters; they discovered that the most common traits among shooters were that they were male and had histories of depression and attempted suicide. While many of the killers—like the vast majority of young teenage boys—did play video games, this study did not find a relationship between gameplay and school shootings. In fact, only one-eighth of the shooters showed any special interest in violent video games, far less than the number of shooters who seemed attracted to books and movies with violent content.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Final Report and Findings of the Safe School Initiative |url=http://www.secretservice.gov/ntac/ssi_final_report.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090804232200/http://www.secretservice.gov/ntac/ssi_final_report.pdf |archive-date=August 4, 2009 |access-date=November 29, 2013}}</ref>

=== ''Wolfenstein 3D'' ===
As for ''Wolfenstein 3D'', due to its use of Nazi symbols such as the [[swastika]] and the anthem of the [[Nazi Party]], ''[[Horst-Wessel-Lied]]'', as theme music, the PC version of the game was withdrawn from circulation in Germany in 1994, following a verdict by the Amtsgericht München on January 25, 1994. Despite the fact that Nazis are portrayed as the enemy in ''Wolfenstein'', the use of those symbols is a federal offense in Germany unless certain circumstances apply. Similarly, the [[Atari Jaguar]] version was confiscated following a verdict by the Amtsgericht Berlin Tiergarten on December 7, 1994. The [[Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle]] lifted the outright ban in 2018 in favor of analysing depictions on a case-by-case basis, and the international version of the game was removed from the list of banned titles in 2019.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-45142651 | title=Germany lifts total ban on Nazi symbols in video games | work=BBC News | date=August 10, 2018 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.gameswirtschaft.de/marketing-pr/wolfenstein-3d-bundespruefstelle-bpjm/ | title=Wolfenstein 3D: Bundesprüfstelle hebt Indizierung auf | date=November 22, 2019 }}</ref>

Due to concerns from Nintendo of America, the [[Super Nintendo Entertainment System|Super NES]] version was modified to not include any swastikas or Nazi references; furthermore, blood was replaced with sweat to make the game seem less violent, and the attack dogs in the game were replaced by giant mutant rats. Employees of id Software are quoted in ''The Official DOOM Player Guide'' about the reaction to ''Wolfenstein'', claiming it to be ironic that it was morally acceptable to shoot people and rats, but not dogs. Two new weapons were added as well. The Super NES version was not as successful as the PC version.{{citation needed|date=August 2012}} <ref>{{Cite news |author1=Shaun Prescott |date=2019-01-01 |title=This Wolfenstein 3D mod brings the SNES port to PC |url=https://www.pcgamer.com/this-wolfenstein-3d-mod-brings-the-snes-port-to-pc/ |access-date=2024-01-27 |work=PC Gamer |language=en}}</ref>

=== Soundtrack dispute ===
In May 2020, after the Doom Eternal Original Soundtrack was released,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Doom Eternal's Delayed Soundtrack Is Now Available For Collector's Edition Owners |url=https://www.gamespot.com/articles/doom-eternals-delayed-soundtrack-is-now-available-/1100-6476229/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221110140736/https://www.gamespot.com/articles/doom-eternals-delayed-soundtrack-is-now-available-/1100-6476229/ |archive-date=November 10, 2022 |access-date=2022-08-27 |website=GameSpot |language=en-US}}</ref> there was a serious backlash to the Doom Eternal OST and accusations of low quality work that did not match composer [[Mick Gordon (composer)|Mick Gordon's]] usual standards. On April 19, Gordon confirmed on [[Twitter]] that it was not his work,<ref name="MickTwitterpost" /> and Marty Stratton subsequently posted on May 20 a 2,500-word [[open letter]]<ref name="redditOpenLetter" /> on [[Reddit]] blaming Gordon for everything that went wrong with the process of creating music for the soundtrack.<ref name="MickTwitterpost">{{Cite tweet |number=1251828567882600448 |user=Mick_Gordon |title=I didn't mix those and wouldn't have done that.}}</ref><ref name="redditOpenLetter">{{Cite web |last=Stratton |first=Marty |date=May 4, 2020 |title=DOOM Eternal OST Open Letter |url=https://www.reddit.com/r/Doom/comments/gdg25y/doom_eternal_ost_open_letter/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200505220052/https://www.reddit.com/r/Doom/comments/gdg25y/doom_eternal_ost_open_letter/ |archive-date=May 5, 2020 |publisher=Reddit}}</ref> Following this, public outcry against Gordon reached a level where he received explicit death threats and graphic messages of intent to harm him and his family. Gordon's message accounts, servers, and phones were allegedly inundated with abuse to extreme levels, seriously impacting his mental health.<ref name="wagiehate">{{Cite web |last=Valentine |first=Rebekah |date=November 9, 2022 |title=Doom Eternal Composer Alleges Unpaid Wages and Abuse in Lengthy Soundtrack Controversy Response |url=https://www.ign.com/articles/doom-eternal-composer-alleges-unpaid-wages-and-abuse-in-lengthy-soundtrack-controversy-response |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221110225947/https://www.ign.com/articles/doom-eternal-composer-alleges-unpaid-wages-and-abuse-in-lengthy-soundtrack-controversy-response |archive-date=November 10, 2022 |access-date=12 November 2022 |website=IGN}}</ref>

On November 9, 2022, Mick published a 14,000-word article on [[Medium (website)|Medium]]<ref name="realcallout">{{Cite web |last=Gordon |first=Mick |date=November 9, 2022 |title=My full statement regarding DOOM Eternal |url=https://medium.com/@mickgordon/my-full-statement-regarding-doom-eternal-5f98266b27ce |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221110192728/https://medium.com/@mickgordon/my-full-statement-regarding-doom-eternal-5f98266b27ce |archive-date=November 10, 2022 |access-date=12 November 2022 |website=Medium}}</ref> explaining his side of the story as a defensive rebuttal of the nine outlined accusations in Stratton's post (described as "an extensive series of lies"), substantiated with various forms of evidence including photographs of emails, receipts, and file metadata to verify his claims.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gordon |first=Mick |date=November 9, 2022 |title=2. The OST was delayed before I was under contract |url=https://medium.com/@mickgordon/my-full-statement-regarding-doom-eternal-5f98266b27ce#b7e0 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221118015434/https://medium.com/@mickgordon/my-full-statement-regarding-doom-eternal-5f98266b27ce#b7e0 |archive-date=November 18, 2022 |access-date=November 18, 2022 |website=Medium}}</ref><ref name="wagiehate" /><ref name="ign-9nov2022">{{Cite news |last=Valentine |first=Rebekah |date=November 9, 2022 |title=Doom Eternal Composer Alleges Unpaid Wages and Abuse in Lengthy Soundtrack Controversy Response |work=[[IGN]] |url=https://www.ign.com/articles/doom-eternal-composer-alleges-unpaid-wages-and-abuse-in-lengthy-soundtrack-controversy-response |url-status=live |access-date=November 9, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221109204222/https://www.ign.com/articles/doom-eternal-composer-alleges-unpaid-wages-and-abuse-in-lengthy-soundtrack-controversy-response |archive-date=November 9, 2022}}</ref> It included claims that Gordon had yet to receive over half of his payment for his work and awards from the soundtrack's nominations at [[The Game Awards 2020]] Stratton had reportedly claimed to deliver on Gordon's behalf; that his name had been listed on the OST's pre-order for weeks before Bethesda had contracted him to work on it just 48 hours before the game's release; Mossholder had been composing an alternate version of the OST as early as August 2019, and in response to request from Gordon's lawyers for Stratton's Reddit post to be removed, Gordon was offered six figures in exchange for a lifetime gag order, but never the possibility of Stratton's defamatory post being removed.<ref name="realcallout" />

On November 16, 2022, [[Bethesda Softworks|Bethesda]] released a statement backing Marty Stratton, Chad Mossholder, and everyone in the id software team. Their statement further claimed that they had evidence to rebut Gordon's claims, without releasing mentioned evidence, and expressed concern that his statement enticed harassment and violence towards the team.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-11-16 |title=Bethesda says Mick Gordon's Doom Eternal soundtrack allegations are one-sided |url=https://www.gamesindustry.biz/bethesda-says-mick-gordons-doom-eternal-soundtrack-allegations-are-one-sided |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221117045641/https://www.gamesindustry.biz/bethesda-says-mick-gordons-doom-eternal-soundtrack-allegations-are-one-sided |archive-date=November 17, 2022 |access-date=2022-11-17 |website=GamesIndustry.biz |language=en}}</ref>