Make a possible canonical explanation for deathmatch's existence in the Doomworld!

[TheRevenant212]

Title is self-explanatory! Come with a creative reason for deathmatch to exist in the world of Doom!

 

(Yes, I know that the developers definitely weren't thinking about storyline when creating deathmatch, but I still think it may be fun.)

[Xerenogan]

Well ya see, all the marines were taking some much needed R&R from demonic cleanup, when red guy knocked over grey guys bowl of cheerios.
Guy-with-smiley-face-for-a-head saw it happen. Shenanigans ensued.

[Klear]

Quake III Arena.

Edited March 20, 2023 by Klear

[RonnieJamesDiner]

There's a reason that among the legion of corpses Hell has repurposed for its army, you never see a "former marine" in the mix. Former humans, yes; former sergeants and commandos, sure - but never marines. Those who fell recently may still be found strewn across the battlefield, but their bodies will not lie there for long. Soon they will be dragged to the Deathmatch Pits, imprisoned for their infamy and awaiting a special kind of punishment. Down here they shall be reanimated, set against their brothers and locked into unending, respawning combat for the sick sport of their captors. "Capture the Flag", oh yes, good fun. Did they tell you the flag is made of flesh from your fallen comrades? Probably not, and it's better this way.

[Stupid Bunny]

After defeating Hell, Doomguy repurposed the now hellspawn-free locales from his previous escapades as arenas for his Doomguy Internship Programme where he makes all his Doomguy apprentices murder each other but then uses magic he learned from some archviles to respawn the dead ones and let the training continue 

[spineapple tea]

Some drunk-on-the-job marine slept on the crusher in MAP06 and some equally drunk marine turned it on because he thought it'd be funny (the UAC does not obey OSHA standards of safety). When the guy unexpectedly respawned, they decided to kill each other for fun. Thus, deathmatch was born.

[fai1025]

here's a very boring one

 

it's a virtual combat training

[Murdoch]

The UAC attempts to clone it's best soldiers. Like everything they do, it ends badly. Seriously how did these idiots get to the position of power they are in?

[heliumlamb]

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Tangra]

Dethmatch is actually the standard marine training in a simulated environment.

[Fiber Wire]

There are multiple Earths and in each a Doomguy exists, and these earths are within alternative space. Yeah, ripping off DC here. Anyways, there was once only 5 Earths, 4 of which are the earths of each of the 4 OG Doomguys: Green, Red, Brown, and Indigo (Gray/Grey). The 5th earth is the damned world, where the 4 heroes had been sent to battle it out and come out as the victor. With victory they can be free from the forces of Hell (they all went to hell like in the end of E1M8, so their souls are tainted unless they can redeem themselves by winning this battle). These four marines fought so vigorously that they fragmented the 5th world and opened up portals to various dimensions. As time went on, more and more marines have entered in on the fight for their freedom from hell. The battle still rages on, because little do any of these marines realize.. there’s no escaping. They’ve been cursed to fight on the damned world forever and ever. Because of their permanent limbo, they’ve made the ultimate sacrifice, and their worlds can all be saved. They just don’t know it so they aren’t smug about it.

Edited March 20, 2023 by Fiber Wire

[NiGHTS108]

Probably not the most creative thing in the world but seeing this thread the first thing my mind went to was "Battle training simulator"

[Cammy]

Before he kills THE demons, Doomguy must first kill HIS demons.

[eanasir]

4 hours ago, RonnieJamesDiner said:

There's a reason that among the legion of corpses Hell has repurposed for its army, you never see a "former marine" in the mix. Former humans, yes; former sergeants and commandos, sure - but never marines. Those who fell recently may still be found strewn across the battlefield, but their bodies will not lie there for long. Soon they will be dragged to the Deathmatch Pits, imprisoned for their infamy and awaiting a special kind of punishment. Down here they shall be reanimated, set against their brothers and locked into unending, respawning combat for the sick sport of their captors. "Capture the Flag", oh yes, good fun. Did they tell you the flag is made of flesh from your fallen comrades? Probably not, and it's better this way.

That actually makes sense, I suppose. Why wouldn't they use the marines when they're basically stronger, faster, and better with weapons?

[eanasir]

4 hours ago, fai1025 said:

here's a very boring one

 

it's a virtual combat training

"Just like the simulations."

[Noiser]

Doom marines are chaotic evil, like the demons

[Sena]

As the green Doomguy, you have to execute all the red Doomguys, because they've gone rouge. Gone rogue I mean.

[Insaneprophet]

Ive always viewed it as the virtual combat training with the additional idea that ALL death matches ever take place before the games begin because only the final man standing, the best death match player ever is the person who ends up being Doomguy.

[Quill]

Adding to the simulation theory: All of the arenas are based off of UAC's schematics. However, those were accidentally made public. (some including important classified buildings!) Hell stole some schematics to base their hellscapes off of those just for Doomguy.

[Sneezy McGlassFace]

Doom marines are not from earth, their home is planet Doom. Doom used to be a very prosperous colony, raising great number of top tier soldiers for the galactic war against the hell spawn. But internal conflicts resulted in a planet sized armed conflict between two factions over the optimal approach to combating hell's forces. It quickly escalated to weapons of mass destruction. Shortly after, all the air was poisoned, and land irradiated. Vast majority of the population fell in one short day. But the combative inhabitants of Doom dug deeper into the dead soil to protect themselves from the elements, wearing combat armour and gas masks are necessary for survival. The surface is inhospitable, with vast nothingness in all directions, except for the long abandoned tech bases and ruins of Doom's past glory. But still, the conflict rages on, the marines keep fighting among themselves until they're called in action against the demon hordes. 

Edited March 20, 2023 by Sneezy McGlassFace

[TVdinnermasterchef]

Post-Earth invasion, Greg the imp, Esq. finds himself with 2 weeks of leave but little to occupy his attention. As he rounds the corner of the downtown plaza a bright neon sign draws his attention. 

 

'Total Recall?' he mutters to himself, his mind wandering to all the scenarios he can imagine himself in. 'Perhaps I'll give this place a try'... 

[Codename_Delta]

It's a combat simulation.

Intended for training or something.

Wait fuck someone already mentioned it.

Uh uh uh, maybe the demons are the friends we've made along the way.

Edited March 20, 2023 by Codename_Delta

[Denim Destroyer]

According to Inferno (the poem not episode) the fifth circle of Hell contains the wrathful locked in perpetual combat with one another. It is in this circle that deathmatch occurs. It turns out the UAC Marines are pretty damn anger in their first life but it does explain how Doomguy stays motivated!

[Gez]

9 hours ago, fai1025 said:

here's a very boring one

 

it's a virtual combat training

Note that this is canon in Doom 2016. To the point that there even was an in-game system to "cheat" (not real cheating as far as the actual game was concerned, but it represented that in-universe) with hack modules.

 

 

As for in classic Doom... Well, the simplest way to explain deathmatch and its peculiarities is that the deathmatchers are damned souls, condemned to fight and die repeatedly against their fellow damned, for all eternity.

Edited March 20, 2023 by Gez

[yakfak]

it's doomguy's titanic PTSD as he lies in a quarantine bay, constantly experiencing the dread of being this monstrous killing machine, trying to excuse himself from it or deny it or to kill the memory of it :3 signed Neil Gaiman

[Helm]

All doomguys are the same doomguy. They are a Moorcockian Eternal Champion. It means all the wads are canon and he's been travelling around this wad multiverse for 30 yrs.  If wadverse is a multiverse, eventually doomguy runs into other doomguys and they do a bit of deathmatch. Now, what happens to a doomguy when they die, and where do more doomguys come from... not sure.

[Sneezy McGlassFace]

26 minutes ago, Helm said:

where do more doomguys come from... not sure.

Then we find out that demons are actually trying to stop the invasion of doomguys

Edited March 20, 2023 by Sneezy McGlassFace

[Gez]

11 minutes ago, Helm said:

Now, what happens to a doomguy when they die, and where do more doomguys come from... not sure.

When Doomguy dies, he is sent to another layer of Hell. Since all levels are actually layers of Hell, that means whenever Doomguy dies, he pistol-starts another level. And the Doomguys that respawn in the level have actually just arrived from another level where they died.

 

Now the thing is, all the Doomguys are actually the same Doomguy, but Hell is a place where timey-wimey shenanigans occur, and so that's how Doomguy can end up fighting himself. Doomguy's timeline is extremely complicated and actually looks like a particularly messy five-dimensional fractal.

[Peccatum Mihzamiz]

In 2291, in an attempt to control violence among deep space miners Mars colonists
the New Earth Government UAC legalized no-holds-bared fighting.

Liandri Mining Corporation Demonic creatures from Hell, working with the UAC,
established a series of leagues and bloody public exhibitions.

The fight's popularity grew with their brutality.
Soon, Liandri the Demons discovered that the public matches were their most profitable enterprise.

The professional league was formed;
a cabal of the most violent and skilled warriors in known space,
selected to fight in a Grand Tournament.

[Test Tickle]

"Hey can you turn down that boombox?"
"No. *punch*"