YOU LET YOUR YOUNG KIDS PLAY DOOM?!!?!

[Azuris]

Not old enough, i think :D

I was about 7 or 8 when i first played Doom, it was together with Doom 2 on a CD a Uncle burned for me and my Cousin and i can't remember when i first played any Videogame, could be seriously be about 2 (without having any Idea how it works properly, i also remember sending the Harvesters in C&C to the Enemy Base, because it is big and has to be strong).
So i never had Issues separating Reality from Games or Movies.

 

So, let her go for it haha
Doom has some very similiar Design Choices to Mario World, searching around the Level for Secrets as an Exemple.

Finding out about such Stuff is great for Kids.

[Chezza]

I don't have kids, but if I do have them some day - I won't them do their homework until they play at least 30 minutes of Doom.

[Doomkid]

My little cousin who was 7 visited with his uncle a year ago, and he liked various “not that kiddie” games, so I thought he might like Doom. He seemed to be enjoying himself, wanting to keep exploring, but I interpreted the look on his face as being scared. I asked if he was and he said no (and like I said, keen to keep exploring) but I didn’t want to scare him, so I turned it off after a bit and switched to a Mario game. He didn’t protest, but I could tell there was something about Doom that made him want to keep playing. Next time I see him he’ll be 9, I think he might be ready to play a little longer by then.

 

I was so curious how a reasonably intelligent and well mannered  little boy would react to Doom in the current era, and I was glad he liked it while at the same time feeling a little tense and uneasy. In a way, that’s part of the thrill. Not everything can be sunshine and roses, and frankly even kids get a bit bored of the G rated stuff after a while.

 

The Daisy ending scared me as a kid, but I wouldn’t change that memory for the world. Pretty sure that jumpscare caused my first ever testicle hair to sprout! 😂 It didn’t take long for me to look back on that jumpscare with a strong degree of fondness - almost like I wish I could feel such a strong emotion again from a silly game or movie. Something lost, something gained.
 

I don’t exactly know how related it is, but - There’s times where being able to keep my cool in a scary situation has benefitted me greatly, and I partially thank scary stuff I saw as a kid for that - like it helped me grow out of the reaction of “fall over and suck my thumb” when something intense starts going down, you know? 
 

If things like Doom and other media hadn’t already “scabbed over” the more sensitive side of me, maybe I’d never have grown out of that desire to collapse into a helpless heap when something gets the adrenaline flowing. It’s as if that scary imagery as a kid almost prepares you (in some sense) to deal with seeing something even worse in the future. Who knows..

[OniriA]

Quote

YOU LET YOUR YOUNG KIDS PLAY DOOM?!!?!

 

Offcourse.

 

How do you think I started?

[Clippy]

My cats play doom

[gwain]

1 minute ago, Clippy said:

My cats play doom

elaborate Im invested now

[dasho]

Just because a child CAN be resilient enough to be exposed to something doesn't make it a good idea. If you have a kid in that age range, would you truly have no reservations about sitting them in front of Doom 2 and warping them to MAP30?

[rzh]

Lots of people sharing their experiences here, so I'll share mine.

My dad used to own a regional electronics/ hardware distribution company, so he decided to gift me a computer when I was less than a year old.

 

When I was 2 I knew how to start up the computer and how to run some games, by 3-4 years I already understood how to play some of them, either on my home computer or the one at my kindergarten, which had even more questionable games installed on it. Around 3-6 years is the golden age, so to speak.

 

I distinctly remember having Heretic, Hexen, Descent, Age of Mythology and Zoo Tycoon at various points in time on my home PC (I was really into Greek mythology, dinosaurs and animals at the time), and for some reason the kindergarten PC had the DOS Prince of Persia (the 2D platformer), Virtua Cop 2 and Duke Nukem 3D (?!?).

 

Still, I remember watching the demos of the Heretic (non-Shadow of the Serpent Riders version, that's the one I had for sure, because the demos were not desynced, I remember the Corvus title screen and killing D'Sparil ending the game) and Hexen over and over, but I hated the Effluvium one because my favourite character was the Cleric and I was very afraid of murky and deep waters, so seeing Parias get mauled by stalkers caused me nightmares (in my imagination they pulled you under the water to bite, claw and drown you). The other thing that caused me nightmares was the Iron Lich.

 

The Heretic E1M8 MIDI has been stuck in my brain till about 2017 when I finally replayed Heretic all the way through.

 

I kept bugging my mom and with her help I was able to beat Heretic on the easiest difficulty, but we only got to Shadow Wood in Hexen, even though I liked it more.

Essentially we played keyboard only, she either controlled the movement and I did the action, which I preferred or sometimes we'd switch. In Hexen we got stuck in the Seven Portals for a really long time, I think maybe a month. We used to take notes and draw maps of where we'd been and what we've done.

Finally, we get to Shadow Wood and I thought the game was almost over by that point. Anyways, we only used one save slot, and as we opened the way to the Wastelands, when we tried to make our way back through the platforms, Parias missed one of them and started falling to his death into the lava.

We tried to load the game as he was falling but we rushed and accidentally saved instead of loading. That was the end for Hexen for a really long time.

Other stuff, not Doom related:

Spoiler

I really liked Descent 1's aesthetic, we never got past the Moon levels though. We did finish Age of Mythology as well, and the expansion. Since these games were impossible to find in our country they were all 100% pirated, and I remember nagging my dad constantly when either he or my mom told me that there's a new expansion for the game that I wanted to play with the new stuff and he ended up going through dozens of torrents, filled with malware, just to find a clean pirated copy. Almost every day it was a vicious cycle for him: download game -> burn CD -> give me the CD to install the game -> realize his computer had viruses -> realize mine had viruses -> spend the entire day fixing both computers -> repeat.

 

We did buy games, but at that time most of the market consisted only of gaming magazines that came with demos/ shareware/ freeware releases or educational games aimed at children. I played so many German and Polish games it's unreal. They were all officially licensed products but only the educational games were dubbed (which was the only form of translation available). That's also how I learned English so fast, because at least the other ones had English as an option most of the time.

 

[Kor]

1 hour ago, Doomkid said:

My little cousin who was 7 visited with his uncle a year ago, and he liked various “not that kiddie” games, so I thought he might like Doom. He seemed to be enjoying himself, wanting to keep exploring, but I interpreted the look on his face as being scared. I asked if he was and he said no (and like I said, keen to keep exploring) but I didn’t want to scare him, so I turned it off after a bit and switched to a Mario game. He didn’t protest, but I could tell there was something about Doom that made him want to keep playing. Next time I see him he’ll be 9, I think he might be ready to play a little longer by then.

 

I was so curious how a reasonably intelligent and well mannered  little boy would react to Doom in the current era, and I was glad he liked it while at the same time feeling a little tense and uneasy. In a way, that’s part of the thrill. Not everything can be sunshine and roses, and frankly even kids get a bit bored of the G rated stuff after a while.

 

The Daisy ending scared me as a kid, but I wouldn’t change that memory for the world. Pretty sure that jumpscare caused my first ever testicle hair to sprout! 😂 It didn’t take long for me to look back on that jumpscare with a strong degree of fondness - almost like I wish I could feel such a strong emotion again from a silly game or movie. Something lost, something gained.
 

I don’t exactly know how related it is, but - There’s times where being able to keep my cool in a scary situation has benefitted me greatly, and I partially thank scary stuff I saw as a kid for that - like it helped me grow out of the reaction of “fall over and suck my thumb” when something intense starts going down, you know? 
 

If things like Doom and other media hadn’t already “scabbed over” the more sensitive side of me, maybe I’d never have grown out of that desire to collapse into a helpless heap when something gets the adrenaline flowing. It’s as if that scary imagery as a kid almost prepares you (in some sense) to deal with seeing something even worse in the future. Who knows..

Your comments remind me of when I was 13 (1996) my brother and I showed a kid, probably seven or eight, Doom and Wolf3d.  It was at a college graduation celebration for my other brother.  When the kid played Wolf3d, his dad came over and said "see the Nazi?  Shoot the Nazi!"  When he played Doom he was a bit scared.  But he liked it and bravely keep playing.  Then one of us typed in the idfa cheat and got the kid the BFG.  He was unsettled by how it tore imps and zombies to shreds.  But he kept firing away.  I wonder if he ever got into the game again.  

Edited May 18, 2022 by Kor

[StalkerZHS]

4 hours ago, hobomaster22 said:

The funniest thing to me is she is very afraid of poison damage

When I played doom at the age of 6 (with no monsters), the killing floors were always the scariest.

I always called the green floors "acid"

[Btyb88]

I played at 5 and I totally intend to have my daughter play as soon as she's able, so maybe like at 3???

[Faceman2000]

I reckon when my kids are first old enough to play, I’ll use @HorrorMovieRei’s bloodless sprites to make a gore-free addon they can play till they’re a little older.

Edited May 19, 2022 by Faceman2000

[Alex S.]

I started at 7. I was that kid. No harm done. If I had kids, they'd grow up on Doom, Heretic and Hexen too.

[rivethead_]

I was never raised on Doom, mainly because my family didn't own a PC (or have an internet connection for digital console purchases) until I got my first laptop at around 12 or so, but when Doom 1/2 was ported to Xbox One I had a fun time bonding with my dad over some co-op Doom 2.

I don't think I'll ever have kids, but I'm gonna make damn sure to show my younger bro Doom when he's old enough.

[Blzut3]

I have no idea when I started playing Doom since that's behind childhood amnesia.  Not entirely sure when I started making mods for the game, but I think it was around 1997 or 1998 so that would have made me 4 or 5.  I was 10 when I started playing Doom online, and started contributing to ZDoom when I was 14.

 

For some reason despite that, my mom thinks it's weird that my nephew is allowed to play Doom.

[Dark Pulse]

12 hours ago, Lol 6 said:

In a nutshell, I got home in my birthday and found my dad with a Classic XBoX playing Snes Doom. One day I asked "Can I play, daddy?". He said Yes.

If ONLY this were Wolf, instead!

 

Anyway, I think my first exposure was some brief exposure to the PC shareware in school (!) at 9-10 years old, but the first copy I owned was SNES Doom at 10.

 

I rather enjoyed telling Randy Linden that it was his game that made my step-grandparents discover I knew swear words. :)

Edited May 19, 2022 by Dark Pulse

[xX_Lol6_Xx]

21 minutes ago, Dark Pulse said:

If ONLY this were Wolf, instead!

 

Yeah, if only this were Wolf...

 

Now that I think about it, the first time I played Wolf 3D was also through the Snes port. Damn that XBoX pretty much introduced me to the classic shooters

[MrGigglefingers]

There are nickelodeon cartoons more traumatizing than classic Doom, I would have no issue letting a kid play it. It's just some very mild cartoon bloodshed with the occasional gory prop.

[Captain POLAND]

On 5/18/2022 at 1:11 AM, Cheesebone said:

She calls them "The Sunshine Boys". I laugh every single time she says it.

 

Remind me to use that as a title for a map featuring a lot of Arch-Viles.

 

 

[Ludi]

21 hours ago, Grain of Salt said:

Most things in doom aren't remotely scary, however I don't think you should show children the end screen of doom 1. I think kids should play a version with the rabbit edited out or something. Perhaps replaced with a sign that says "we've invaded already hahaha -- yours sincerely, demons"

 

I can make a WAD with a new BOSSBACK if there's enough interest :)

[Toilet_Wine_Connoisseur]

hell yeah my kids play doom(and other boom shoots)

 

When my oldest was four he would sit on my knee and help me play and Beat Doom and Duke3D

[Martin Howe]

Doom is E C Tubb's "Tell the Truth" turned up to 666 :)

[out_of_service]

I was eight years old when I first played Doom all the way back in '93 when it originally came out. It was my older brother who got me hooked on Doom. I would spend countless hours playing Doom blasting demons. Our elder sister would look on with disapproval lol. She would always comment about "how can you play such violent video games?!" despite the fact she's a confirmed horror addict. My parents were cool with it. Nearly almost all of the games I played were violent besides Doom - Mortal Kombat, Resident Evil etc etc etc.

Edited May 19, 2022 by Piper Maru

[Merry Widow]

The last time someone asked me if i let my kids play Doom I said yes. Was told that kids should NOT play it. Up to them and their kids, not me.

[smeghammer]

I would if they asked...

 

My 10y/o daughter much prefers Portal1/2 and my 6y/o son kind of follows his sister. Thank fuck they are not *ing Minecraft obsessed any more! 

 

They are both quite interested when I am building maps - there is a wealth of kids educational online stuff - provided by the school - that has rudimentary game building, so they get that. Hopefully, one or other will ask about doing that at some point. I do consciously emphasize that the monsters are all demons though - particularly the former humans - so they are fully aware that is it not simulating killing people. 

[ImproversGaming]

Three daughters (7, 9 and 11) that have been enjoying Doom for a couple of years. They follow my playthroughs of Doom and we watch Zeromaster, Decino and Dario Casali's playthroughs together. Good times.

 

They play some as well. When younger it was more Dark Forces focused as that is a bit more tame, but moved on to Doom. I keep them on the original games for now - which are pretty mild. It is funny how much they know about the game monsters, weapons and mechanics now.

 

They also love Portal, have an unhealthy interest in Minecraft (I hear ya @smeghammer) and have an eye on half-life for the future.

[SirPootis]

I mean, that's how I learned about Doom. I'd say when they understand it's a game and not real then they're mature enough to play it.

 

I think Civvie says it best:

"If I ever have kids, they're gonna come out circle-strafing."

[RockyGaming4725]

If I have kids, they'll be sleeping with a super shotgun.

[Eurisko]

I have two boys 11 and 9 and yes they play Doom. Yes it’s gory and violent and all the other  non PC things you could say but lets be honest, theres worse things they could be viewing on Youtube. 
 

 

[mankubus]

I may have been around 7 when I played Duke Nukem 3d as well as Carmageddon and Doom, good times.