This is actually how old Quake III-era FPS maps used to be. I played Star Trek: Elite Force (and Elite Force II), which were Star Trek-based Quake III games that supported third player multiplayer maps.
You had plenty of maps where the creators tried to match the game's feel, and so many that were completely unrelated. Giant bathrooms where you are the size of a mouse was one of the standouts I remember.
This level of customization is often just something businesses have moved away from allowing. And considering the "condo" problem with Roblox, it's understandable why: https://www.fastcompany.com/90539906/sex-lies-and-video-game... (The bathroom map I recall above, had a photo of a topless woman in a hidden area.)
Padman maps were the ones where you were shrunken. They are one of my all time favorite FPS experiences. The homogenized nature of modern games really makes me miss all the modding that went on. When I was a teenager we made our own maps in Doom1-3. I dabbled in Q1-3 maps but it got a lot less accessible due to learning curve. Doom was perfect because it was 2D.
The Doom mapping/modding community is still very active. I recently played an incredible 'megawad' called Ancient Aliens that includes this wild level that uses the Build engine trick of simulating a two-story level with silent teleporters: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_WxLORClZg&list=PLFK2eL5cls...
I had no idea. Maybe I should pick it back up. I remember buying the Deth editor and it came on a few floppies. It was a lot of fun . We made our middle school and high school into maps (didn’t everyone?).
I am glad my kids have Minecraft, but there was something special about that era in my heart. It really taught me the joy of building things I intrinsically value.
The problem is many modern games are designed for maximum monetization and a shelf life. You want a community enough to keep people playing til [game name +1] but not past that so people all buy the next one. Allowing players to make custom maps and modes would let them bypass the carefully crafted progression and DLC systems put in place to extract more time and cash.
Now I'm having flashbacks to the Battlefield mod community from HS and college. Pirates, Galactic Conquest, Desert Combat, and so many other amazing ones that had a ton of players because of lack of server monetization and developer lock down.
You had plenty of maps where the creators tried to match the game's feel, and so many that were completely unrelated. Giant bathrooms where you are the size of a mouse was one of the standouts I remember.
This level of customization is often just something businesses have moved away from allowing. And considering the "condo" problem with Roblox, it's understandable why: https://www.fastcompany.com/90539906/sex-lies-and-video-game... (The bathroom map I recall above, had a photo of a topless woman in a hidden area.)