Game Moment #13 - Doom
I haven't done one of these for a while. Another Game Moment is long overdue. So for lucky number thirteen, what better game than... DOOM?



Doom was released while I was finishing up college. The Internet was still in its polonged infancy, mainly TELNET and FTP, +finger, IRC, USENET, and a few more obscure utilities. Lucky for me, I didn't have to download Doom on a crappy 9600 baud modem connection like much of the world on the eve of Doom's release. As a computer science student, I could simply go to the computer labs, and join the zillions of other students downloading the game on our high-speed university connection.

Actually, I didn't have to even do that - about every computer in the lab already had the Doom installer downloaded and residing on the hard drive. We just had to copy it onto a floppy and take it home The lab assistants even encouraged us to see if Doom was already on the machine before downloading it. They knew, they understood. They were among the first people to download the game. They were biding their time, watching the clock until the time they could go home and play it. Actually, with winter break coming, they were anxious to literally go home - without the pressure of job or school for two weeks - and just play Doom.

It is very difficult now, more than a decade later, to explain the phenomenon that was Doom to someone who missed it. In many ways, it was a watershed event:

* It was part of the transition of games to mainstream. It was a computer game, and the first episode was absolutely free. So everyone with even peripheral interest in the game had a copy and had played it. The graphics were so much better than anything before it that it was a "must-have" title. Eventually, it garnered mainstream attention, and was mentioned on TV shows, shown in movies, and often noted in mainstream press that normally wouldn't touch gaming with a ten foot pole.

* It was also shockingly "adult" in its content. Games were still considered children's toys, due in no small part to Nintendo's very focused ad campaign (Sega had gained some upper hand marketing itself as the game system for "big brother.") Unfortunately, the perception is still with us, which is why many over-the-hill politicians believe that we're trying to sell violent frag-fests to 9-year-olds. But for most GAMERS, at least, Doom was clearly an action-game oriented towards older teenagers and grown-ups.

* The phenominal graphics established the PC as a game platform of choice for many people. It was quite simply something that wasn't possible on consoles of the time (though that didn't take long to change).

* It established multiplayer gaming as where it was at. It was hardly the first multiplayer game to exist on the PC, but it was the first (and only) one to bring down entire networks at companies and universities across the world. Though that was partly because of Doom's horrible net code.

* It established the "modding" scene. Again, Doom wasn't the first, but it had the biggest modding punch. Players were able to become game designers with the download of some other user-created tools. Doom's creators, id Software, not only allowed it, but actively encouraged it, and had created a game that was flexible enough to accept new, custom content with astonishing ease.

Before most of this became a big deal, my own "moment" with Doom was a quiet one. Well, it was supposed to be quiet. Naturally, I was addicted to the game from the first moment, even playing it in a tiny window on my 386/40mhz machine. I forget which level I was on, but it was one with a tight, constructed maze in the shareware version.

My wife had already gone to bed. I was playing in the next room wearing headphones so she wouldn't get disturbed by the MIDI music and the sound of monsters going "Ruaarrrgh!" all the time. It was well after midnight in the real world.

But I was somewhere else. I was holding the shotgun, panicky, hearing growls of monsters in this twisty darkened maze, not sure where they were but expecting them around every corner. To me, this was what made Doom great - not the levels of endless demons ready to be mowed down, but the tension of being trapped in a twisty maze of halls with something that was actively hunting YOU.

I knew the demon was close. I could hear it growling nearby. My health and armor were low. I couldn't take much more, and fanged death could be just around that turn. I flew around a corner and... nothing. Nothing at all. Where else could it be?

The roar of the predator came from immediately behind me, loud and very close in my headphones. I yelped in surprise, spun around, and managed to blow it away with the shotgun before it took killed me. My health was in the low teens, the ar,mor gone, but I was still alive. I was relieved.

A few seconds later, a new presence came behind me. This time, it greeted me not with a demon's roard, but with a concerned, "What's going on?"

I took off the headphones, instinctively glancing at the clock before facing my wife, standing in her pajamas with a groggy expression on her face. It was a quarter to three in the morning.

"Huh? I was just playing Doom."

"You screamed."

"What? Oh, that. I was attacked by a demon from behind. I guess I yelped or something. It surprised me. I'm sorry I woke you up."

"I woke up to hear you screaming."

"It was more of an 'mmnngaaaaah!' sound. But I'm sorry."

"It's almost three in the morning. Come to bed. RIGHT NOW."

"Yes, dear." I may have defeated the demon, but I knew when I had just lost the battle. I didn't even bother to save the game. (Besides, next time I'd get the drop on the demon!)

She still doesn't let me live that one down. But I DID NOT SCREAM. No matter what she might tell you.

(Vaguely) related things I've written:
* Game Moments Index
* Giving Me the Creeps! I Want More!
* Game Moment #14 - Wolfenstein 3D
* F.E.A.R. Mini-Review

Labels: Game Moments, Mainstream Games, retro

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 11:58 AM (Permalink)