doom

I am twenty-two and just played Doom for the first time in my life. It is one of the few violent games I have ever played and I feel slightly disappointed. I started out slowly moving through the maze of walls and then learned to go faster and pick up tools to help me survive. Although I realize that Doom is the first first-person shooting game and therefore the graphics are basic and unrealistic, I did not feel pleasure or glee when playing this game. The demons did elicit emotions of fear in me, but mostly because they looked gruesome and moved rapidly towards me.  read more »

I just finished playing a few levels of Doom. It immediately reminded me of games like Zork and Photopia except way better.Playing those earlier games, you can see the evolution of video games. Doom is easier to get through and easier to control your character. The objectives are simple, you have to kill anything trying to kill you and get through the level.
I remember not being allowed to play "violent" video games like Doom and Duke Nukem when I was younger. But, looking at them now, it just looks silly. Violence can be so much more graphic in video games these days. Doom's violence is beautiful and old school. It's enough violence to get the message that you just blew the head off a monster but not so much that it's disgusting.
Another thing that I liked is the minimum amount of directions. You start out with a gun and a couple of clips. Your character is essentially dropped off in a location and it's up to you if you want to go around and kill every single monster, find every hidden door/secret, or just rush to the next level. I also liked that my game play is being judged and scored. I first argued that video games must have a score to be considered a video game.  read more »

In Avatars of Story, Marie-Laure Ryan writes that, "The drama of most games is only worth experiencing as an active participant; it is meant to be lived and not spectated" (117). So, why are almost all of my gaming memories of times when I was watching someone else play?

As I have said before, I didn't really play video games while I was growing up, so that is no doubt one of the biggest reasons. I never beat Dr. Robotnik, I only know that the princess was (not actually) in another castle because I heard it from a friend, and I have never watched a Sim of my own creation burn to death. Perhaps if I had played more games, I would have had more opportunities to become emotionally involved in actually playing them.  read more »

Doom, or DOOM as it may be typed (hmmm this and LOST, these titles really have big egos or something) sure was a trip back. I remember playing this game as a little kid and the narrative really isn't very hard to figure out in this game. It's the most basic run and gun type of action, and for that it can be some mind numbing fun- a chance not to think about the higher orders of life. The auto-aim really makes things a lot easier and unlike other FPS games that came later (like half-life) there is no ability to strafe, which makes things a bit more difficult. Speaking of Half-Life, wasn't Counter-Strike superb? Now there's a quality game. Anyhoo, I found that DOOM was a straightforward run and gun, with tons of fun.

short and sweet today I suppose.

over and out.

I guess I wanted to respond or further elaborate on ideas in Greg's Blog about DOOM, since I found his post rather entertaining. I have never played DOOM, but I've played other games of the same genre. Sill, I'm sure the experience cannot be equated, as I've heard horror stories about how DOOM frightened many children and also addicted them to gaming in general. Plus, I've also heard that the game is just incredibly hilarious at times.  read more »

It's weird thinking about it, but I've been involved with Doom most of my life. It's always been a loving relationship, though Doom sometimes comes home late from work without giving me a reason as to where he's been.

Seriously though, I wanted to discuss the level of immersion in Doom. In my "Magic Circle," while playing the original Doom on my laptop, I completely ignore all that is around me. My heart races at times, and when the game intentionally tries to scare me, I find myself falling right into it.

When I was much younger, I found a copy of Doom, and it was terrifying, and somehow exhilarating. My mother didn't quite appreciate me renting a game that had me carry around a chainsaw. She also frowned upon the game Quake because it had a nail-gun. (I could be wrong on that, but it was some game with a nail-gun, which is just unnecessary).  read more »