Doom

About

Doom is a first-person shooter video game series created by id Software. In the game, the player assumes the role of a space marine who fights against hordes of demons to thwart an invasion from Hell.

History

The first title in the Doom series, Doom, was released on December 10, 1993.^[1] On September 30th, 1994, a second installment, Doom II: Hell on Earth, was released.^[1] On August 3rd, 2004, Doom 3 was released, which takes place in a separate story arc from the previous titles.^[1] On October 20th, 2005, the motion picture Doom was released. On October 12th, 2012, a remake of Doom 3 titled Doom 3: BFG Edition was released.

Doom 4

In May 2008, Doom 4 was officially announced as being in production by id Software, though without any detailed information on the scheduled release date of the title. Since the initial announcement, the production of the game has reportedly faced numerous setbacks, with Bethesda Softworks stepping in as the new publisher of the game in 2011. On February 19th, 2014, after several rounds of sweeping changes in the development team and the concept for the game, Bethesda Softworks announced its plans to release a multiplayer-only limited alpha of the game for select participants under the revised title Doom. On June 10th, 2014, an extended teaser trailer of Doom was simultaneously unveiled at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2014 and on the newly launched official website for the title. On May 18th, 2015, another teaser trailer was unveiled on YouTube, which garnered more than 1.4 million views and 1,600 comments within the first month (shown below, left). On June 14th, the first trailer featuring actual gameplay footage of the game was shown at E3 2015, which was met by generally positive reception (shown below, right).

On December 3rd, 2015, Bethesda opened up a limited, multiplayer-only alpha version of Doom for select participants, which ran for three days and ended on December 6th. On March 31st, 2016, the first closed beta of the game was released for a three-day period, followed by an open beta which took place between April 15th and April 17th, 2016. After years of a long build-up in anticipation, Doom was released for PC on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on May 13th, 2016.

Online Presence

On June 15th, 1995, the domain Doom.com^[11] was registered, which currently displays the teaser trailer for Doom 4. On January 3rd, 1998, the fan site DoomWorld^[8] was launched as a resource for information about the video game franchise. On June 6th, 2009, the /r/Doom^[9] subreddit was launched for discussions about the series. On February 17th, 2012, the official Doom Facebook^[10] page was launched, which gained over 340,000 likes over the next four years.

Reception

Fandom

Doom has a large fanbase on the internet, stretching back to the release of the first title in 1993. Because of the game’s easily modifiable nature, players have created level editors and forums for sharing modified content. Custom content is downloaded and added into game files through PWADS, custom patch files that could be acquired through downloading from a ‘bulletin board system’^[3] and purchasing on CDs at game stores. Later on, players could download files directly from id Software’s FTP servers. The idgames archive^[12] currently houses more than 14,500 PWADS created over the years. On February 9th, 2013, YouTuber TJ Townsend uploaded a speed art video creating a high resolution digital recreation of a Doom screenshot (shown below).

Controversies

While Doom was widely praised for its innovation, its intense focus on Satanic imagery and graphic depiction of violence drew strong criticism. Many religious organizations denounced the game for its portrayal of demons and related imagery, and was even referred to as a “mass murder simulator” by Killology research group founder David Grossman^[4].

Columbine High School Massacre

On April 20th, 1999, two students attending Columbine High School in Jefferson Country, Colorado carried out large scale mass murder at their high school. The students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, were avid players of the Doom series, which led to speculation that they used the games as “training”. Eric designed several levels, sometimes placing messages in the text files of his PWADS asking for praise and recognition.^[5][6] One particular rumor surrounding the shooting was that Eric had designed levels based off of his school’s floor plans, with enemies representing Columbine’s student body, a rumor that was later discovered to be false.^[6][7]

Related Memes

IDDQD

IDDQD is the god-mode cheat code in the original Doom title. It has found a fair amount of use as an internet slang term, typically used when explaining how a seemingly impossible task was accomplished. It also finds use as a caption on images depicting people such as Chuck Norris, and others renowned online for their herculean abilities.

BFG

The BFG (short for “Blast Frequency Gun”) is a fictional plasma weapon featured in a wide range of first-person shooter video games, most notably in the Doom and Quake series. Since making its first appearance in 1993, the weapon has spawned a number of reiterations in other games under the fan given nickname “Big Fucking Gun,” as well as a growing collection of fan-made replicas modeled after the original design.

DOOM: Repercussions of Evil

DOOM: Repercussions of Evil is a fanfiction set in the Doom universe. It has garnered cult status due to its abysmal grammar and style, much like My Immortal. As with My Immortal, Repercussions of Evil has spawned a great deal of fanart, and several dramatic readings. There have even been a number of fan dramatizations of the fic. Arguably the best-known phrase from the fic is “The radio said “No, John. You are the demons” // And then John was a zombie.”; it has been used in a variety of image captions and macros relating to the fic.

“Rip and Tear”

“Rip and Tear” is a popular catchphrase from the 1996 comic book adaptation of Doom which was released exclusively as a free gift at select gaming convention. In the book, the phrase is uttered by the protagonist while under the influence of a “berserker power up,” a physical performance booster that provides the player with full health and extra strength when attacking enemies, during a confrontation against Cyberdemon, one of the more major enemies featured in the game. On forums and image boards, both the quote and the illustration have been used to express intense hatred towards any given subject.

Doom Cover Art Parodies

Doom Cover Art Parodies are photoshopped renditions of the official box art for the 2016 reboot of Doom in which the logo and the title are replaced with those of other popular video games to mock the underwhelmingly cliche aesthetics of the package design that has been overused in many other modern first-person shooters.

Search Interest

Since 2004, Google search queries for “Doom” soared in June 2004 after the release of _Doom 3, followed by another spike in October 2005 with the box office premiere of the live-action film adaptation.

External References