diff --git a/RandoSettingsManager/SettingsManagement/Versioning/NoVersioningPolicy.cs b/RandoSettingsManager/SettingsManagement/Versioning/NoVersioningPolicy.cs
index 4d0c5e3..19065d6 100644
--- a/RandoSettingsManager/SettingsManagement/Versioning/NoVersioningPolicy.cs
+++ b/RandoSettingsManager/SettingsManagement/Versioning/NoVersioningPolicy.cs
@@ -1,15 +1,22 @@
-namespace RandoSettingsManager.SettingsManagement.Versioning
+using System;
+
+namespace RandoSettingsManager.SettingsManagement.Versioning
 {
     /// <summary>
     /// A versioning policy that performs no version checking. Using this versioning policy
     /// implies indefinite backwards compatibility of settings and logic (failing to meet this promise
     /// may cause settings to fail to load or hash mismatches).
     /// </summary>
+    [Obsolete("This versioning policy is not recommended for most used cases. " +
+        "Consider StrictModVersioningPolicy if you're just looking for a simple-to-use policy.")]
     public class NoVersioningPolicy : VersioningPolicy<object?>
     {
         /// <inheritdoc/>
         public override object? Version => null;
 
+        /// <inheritdoc/>
+        protected override bool AllowsNullValues => true;
+
         /// <inheritdoc/>
         public override bool Allow(object? version) => true;
     }
diff --git a/RandoSettingsManager/SettingsManagement/Versioning/VersioningPolicy.cs b/RandoSettingsManager/SettingsManagement/Versioning/VersioningPolicy.cs
index 993016c..6eee50d 100644
--- a/RandoSettingsManager/SettingsManagement/Versioning/VersioningPolicy.cs
+++ b/RandoSettingsManager/SettingsManagement/Versioning/VersioningPolicy.cs
@@ -39,6 +39,12 @@ public abstract class VersioningPolicy<T> : ISerializableVersioningPolicy
         /// <returns>Whether the given version is allowed</returns>
         public abstract bool Allow(T version);
 
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Used to determine whether null versions can be allowed. By default,
+        /// only allows null if the version type is Nullable&lt;T&gt;.
+        /// </summary>
+        protected virtual bool AllowsNullValues => Nullable.GetUnderlyingType(typeof(T)) != null;
+
         string ISerializableVersioningPolicy.GetSerializedVersion(JsonConverter jsonConverter)
         {
             return jsonConverter.Serialize(Version);
@@ -60,7 +66,7 @@ bool ISerializableVersioningPolicy.AllowSerialized(JsonConverter jsonConverter,
             // if we're unable to recognize the type, of course we cannot allow the provided version
             if (ver == null)
             {
-                return false;
+                return AllowsNullValues;
             }
             return Allow(ver);
         }