Without doom '16/eternal would the doom community have fizzled out?

[permacucked]

How would the doom community be doing now without the success of the new games?

[Redneckerz]

Well, it managed fine before and after release of Doom 3, so the same would apply here.

 

Perhaps some of the mechanics/game design on display in these games would not be providing inspiration for recent releases, but that's about it.

[Eurisko]

Not a chance in Hell. Pun 100% intended.

[Mystic 256]

I was born after doom but i was into Doom long before Doom 2016 (mostly because my dad showed me and let me play the game when I was 10 or 11 in like 2006/2007ish)

It does show that new people can get into the Doom Community without being around when it came out

I think the community would still be alive even if 2016 and Eternal didn't happen

Doom/Doom 2 are great games and are important in gaming history with one of the most dedicated modding communities out there and Doom/Doom 2 itself are extremely moddable, probably the most moddable games in existence I think

[WH-Wilou84]

Judging by the massive amount of PWads being released to this day, yeah, the community would still be alive without Doom 2016 / Doom Eternal.

[Jello]

It would've been just fine. It had been going for 23 years before Doom 2016, it survived the mediocre sequel that was Doom 3. Really the thing that re-animated it was the source ports that allowed for more complex graphics and level design. Jdoom, then Zdoom, then GZDoom, then Zandronum. Despite differing opinions, Brutal Doom helped quite a bit as well. I think classic Doom 1 and 2 would've been just hunky dory without Doom 2016 and Doom Eternal. However, it's the people that created the source ports and level editors that kept the game alive. Without those, I don't think it would still be around today; at least not nearly as prolific as it is.

 

And iD releasing the source code under GNU GPL; that helped quite a bit as well.

 

Alright, last edit: It helps that the community is so friendly. We all love the game, and we love content for it, so we love it when we can help people out. I have to say that this is one of the friendliest online communities I've ever been part of. Once in a while you'll encounter an ass, but the far majority of people around here are just friendly and helpful. And if they can't be helpful because they don't know, at least they're friendly.

 

Very last edit: Dangit, just realized I said the Doom source code was released under GPU, not GNU GPL. Had to fix that. /Slaps head in shame

Edited September 8, 2020 by Jello

[Mr. Freeze]

Nope. The Doom community was active from 2004-2014, a full decade with little to no new information or releases. 

[Cruduxy Pegg]

Classic community are too busy making wads or fighting over worst thing in the game to notice the new games. 

[Zulk RS]

No.

[smeghammer]

Very unlikely.

 

I didn't actually get D2016 until about a year ago, 'cos I didn't have a box that could handle it, and I suspect that many others also may not have had kit that would run it properly.

 

I'd never really stopped looking for new WADs and playing the game over the last couple of decades. TBH, "real life" is probably is more of a threat as older doomers have less time to play/be involved due to family/job commitments etc.

 

The whole COVID-19 thing has obviously skewed any stats about this, but I have noticed that since I joined DW last year, many new members have appeared and a lot of these seem to be younger people. I strongly suspect (though don't have any evidence) that this trend holds true outside the DW community, and would have also been true (though perhaps not as pronounced) if COVID-19 had not happened. There is a lot of anecdotal evidence right here in these  fora that seem to refute the OP proposal - I have read may posts either talking about the young 'uns or by young 'uns. Therefore, younger people are constantly coming to the game and it is not just the 'old guard' slowly fading away as we get older. Which is very cool.

 

I would also suggest that perhaps D2016 and Doom Eternal were in fact inspired by this community (read - a target market was identified) and perhaps they may never have happened if it was not so vibrant.

[Gez]

No.

 

While the new games probably did bring some new people in, one would think that most of the NuDoom players who weren't already part of the community here are too busy playing NuDoom to, well, join the community here. Besides being in the same franchise, the games are very different, not just from 20+ years of technological advances and increases in development team size and development length; but also fundamentally in how they play.

 

The things without which the community would have fizzled out, IMO, are #1 the simplicity of the game data formats allowing for very easy modding; #2 the release of the source code back then allowing the creation of a plethora of source ports pushing the game's limits and increasing its modding potential in every directions while keeping the game running smoothly on every modern operating system; and #3 some dedicated long-timers who have helped preserve the rich history of Doom modding while many other games have had their modding scenes lost into the aether as hosting sites closed, taking away a lot of content with them.

[Doomkid]

Best thing about the New Dooms is that they brought more people over to the Old Dooms. I think we'd still be going strong even if the Doom series was never soft rebooted in 2016, as plenty of others have mentioned it was going strong before Doom4 even was announced, let alone released. With that said, there is definitely a large contingent that are only here, either directly or indirectly, due to the new games.

[Nevander]

No way. The Doom community will never fizzle out. It's the strongest one in existence in my opinion.

[seed]

No.

 

The new games might have brought some new people to the commu ity, but it was very much alive and fine without any new games. Besides, some very much would have liked the series to stop then and there anyway.

[NoXion]

No, I think the classic Doom community has by now gained its own momentum, that will ensure that it keeps going for a long, long time yet.

This isn't to say that I think the swell of fresh blood that the NuDoom brought to the community won't be an interesting chapter in its history. I look forward to what the next generation of WAD authors can create.

[Hunting4r2d2]

No, as many others had said the community was going strong before any of the newer games were announced. However, I would say they strengthened the community since they brought in a lot of fresh blood and introduced new ideas that would influence certain mods like D4T.

[Final Verdict]

I think it would have been fine. From 93 until today, there has always been a strong community that circles it.

 

I will say this however, I think 2016 and Eternal helped to bring in younger Doom fans. This is definitely a good thing as they can pick up the torch and carry it into the future. If you want something to outlast its creator then you better make sure you have replacement parts.

 

I suspect it also helped to bring many of the older fans back to the fold, regardless of whether they liked the new Doom games or not. It acted as a reminder.

[Chip]

I still would have been here. I played the Unity Ports that got me into DOOM. Although, I'm not sure if they would have existed without 2016. But, most of the people on Doomworld discuss DOOM 1993, so I'm not sure.

[PasokonDeacon]

The attention that the new Doom games has brought to the community is awesome and very welcome, but it's not the major source of growth for Doom modding. Enough are getting into classic Doom via the Unity port, popular ZDoom-based mods, and influencers like decino, Vinesauce Joel, and others raising its profile. Getting the same kind of treatment for Heretic, Hexen, Strife, and even HacX would be nice too, but Doom through Final Doom get the lion's share of attention nowadays.

What got me into Doom was my childhood memories of my dad playing through it with me, coupled with /vr/'s Doom threads and my own exposure to multiplayer mods in the middle days of Skulltag (aka playing too much Mega Man 8-Bit Deathmatch). I can only hope players digging into the scene now are pulling from a variety of inspirations such as those.

[TheMightyHeracross]

Lowkey another "Doom is DEAD!" thread :P

 

I think the simple answer is that if the Doom community was fizzling out without the new Doom games, we probably wouldn't have the new Doom games in the first place. Why make such a big budget game with no audience to sell to?

[Smoothandz]

I was only 5 when Doom came out. I didn't have a computer until 13 maybe 14 and Doom was one of the first games I got. I remember playing it, but I wasn't into it like some other games I had. (StarCraft, Decent and Quake come to mind) It wasn't until maybe around 2009 or 2010 that I got really into Doom. I discovered the modding community and custom maps. It was at that time that I really got deep into Doom. I now have tons of different maps, mods and anything that looks like fun downloaded and I play Doom on the regular. (I must apologize for my lack of contribution to the community, but you guys have my undying support) 

 

Long story short, I feel like I came into the game late, but that shows that even years after this game came out, it still attracts new people. I guess you could say the Doom community is... eternal... 

[Xerenogan]

That's like asking, If it weren't for Steam Proton, would the Gnu/Linux gaming community "have fizzled out?"

Short answer: no.

Long answer... ^^^

[Lila Feuer]

Doom will never die, only the players.

[Doomer9000]

For me the new games (D3, 2016/eternal) made no difference. What keeps me coming back is doom/2 and the community but most of all the source ports.

I played the shareware version of dooms 1st episode as a kid with my mate on his dads work pc (that had a 500mb hard drive). 7I first played doom properly in about 1997 on my uncles PlayStation. When I went to university in 2005 I finally played the pc games via steam for the first time and found out about skulltag and doom builder and was hooked. Plus the pc versions were better than psx as they had more levels, the archvile, extra monsters per level, extra levels and were hard as hell. I think the ai algorithms were different as the psx was more of a cakewalk even on ultra-violence. 

When D3 came out it was okay but I carried on playing Doom/2 through zdoom. So thats about 15 years worth of playing/modding the original games. I watched videos of doom 2016 and eternal when they came out but haven't played either yet and it didn't affect my interest in doom/2. (I love the 90s gaming era on pc so also play alot of Age of empires, command and conquer, civilization, Duke nukem, serious sam etc anyway)

I think the community is stronger than ever.

[Gunstar Green]

I'm not sure how much of an effect the new Doom games have had on the classic Doom community. It probably created a lot of new casual fans who picked up the Unity ports out of curiosity and also people who played two seconds of Doom then installed Brutal Doom and never looked back because it's closer to what they expected after 2016.

 

That said Doom is like Super Mario Bros. It's a classic and historic evergreen title that people are going to continue to discover long into the future with or without new entries. The number of people who have become new fans of classic Doom through the new games definitely isn't zero but I think it's less than the number of people who become fans of Doom by just discovering the original games on their own (especially considering it still enjoys widespread availability on modern platforms).

Edited September 4, 2020 by Gunstar Green

[Kokoro Hane]

Considering the popularity of classic DOOM, I think this community would still be going strong even without the new games. I myself haven't even gotten a chance to play 2016 or Eternal (even though I really want to someday even if I have to wait years for it to reach GOG). The fact the sourceports are all well maintained and people keep making awesome wads, there's an endless stream of content for classic DOOM nobody is ever gonna get bored of it! There's just some games that are too classic to die. 

Edited September 4, 2020 by Kokoro Hane

[bfredric]

 

Edited September 5, 2020 by bfredric

[DooM Bear]

Na it would have still been plodding along fine thanks to all the amazing modders out there :-D

 

That said, DooM 2016 and eternal definitely helped renew interest in the originals and seems to have brought in a lot of new players / brought back a lot of old players :-D

 

 

[Pirx]

classic doom would be just fine. as people are still playing classic doom with 2016 + eternal around.

 

however, the new games might have sparked interest in classic doom.

[Antkibo]

You got it backwards. It was Doom's community seemingly-infinite passion that made 2016/Eternal even possible.