314 Personal Content Experience: Managing Digital Life in the Mobile Age In between skins and total conversions, there are numerous forms of user-created modded content available. Typical examples for single- player games are levels, the defi nition of tasks that the player needs to complete before advancing to the next level, complete with environ- mental features. Likewise, in multi-player strategy games, user-created maps are often used. The computer game that arguably transferred the modding scene from a niche activity to mainstream was Doom by id Software in 1993. Additional tools allowed the users to produce their own levels, skins, and total conversions. Doom’s success can be considered to be greatly boosted by the rapid distribution of these mods through the Internet. Fan fi ction as such is not a new phenomenon. For ages, media fans have produced their own creations based on their favourite books, movies, or TV shows. What is new in modding is the digitalization of both the content and the distribution channel, making it a global prac- tice that is evolving rapidly. In a larger context, modding is an example of a participatory culture (Jenkins 1992), where the audience takes an active role in the circula- tion of media texts, blurring the boundaries between the audience and the content producers. This is closely related to citizen journalism (section 3.4). As far as the actions performed on modded content are considered, most GEMS phases can be identifi ed. Mods are created or down- loaded, and then enjoyed, either by playing the game, or by using them as a basis for further modifi cations. Finally, sharing mods is a common practice – in fact, sharing is the major motivation for creating them in the fi rst place. 7.4.4 Discussion What is worth noticing is the fact that unlike some other user-created content, there is often real money involved in game-related content creation. The fact that the user pays for the opportunity to create content is an interesting notion. Compare this to paying for each photo you take with your camphone! CRAP DE LA CRAP Eddie’s an on-off gamer. He likes to try out new game warez, but he’s not deep into it like some of the boyz in the ’hood. However, once he decides to get busy with a new game, he will really dig deep into it and only come out when he’s exhausted every possible twist that game has in store for him.