Couple questions. Does anyone play Deathmatch anymore? If so, where? I want to play Deathmatch on Dwango5 Map 1

[DoomAficionado]

Info is in topic. I'm kinda old, so go slow with the info, hah. Some of my best times were with this map in deathmatch.

Edited January 25, 2024 by DoomAficionado

[OniriA]

There's some tournaments held by boomers here and there with obscure timezones but it's generally dead.

 

Deathmatch Doom is something of a bygone era, with the golden years peaking with Skulltag (including CTF, Domination tournaments, clanwars etc.)

 

PS: You could try Zdeamon to find some games if you're lucky.

Edited January 25, 2024 by OniriA

[Shepardus]

Check the multiplayer subforum. There aren't a whole lot of players from what I've heard, so you may need to arrange something with others to get a game going; check the multiplayer Discord servers listed here to see if anyone's interested.

[Doomkid]

You'll want the following programs to get the best chance of Doom DM, they're all relatively tiny:

- Doom Explorer (which lets you scroll through existing servers)

- ZDaemon, Odamex and Zandronum, the 3 multiplayer Doom ports.

 

This video should explain all you need to know in an easy way:

 

 

[Individualised]

Sadly casual Doom deathmatch (or rather Doom multiplayer in general) is pretty much dead now. People still host servers but they're either empty/filled with bots instead of real players, are running so many gameplay mods that it can't even be considered Doom deathmatch, or both. If you're interested in playing in events though, they seem to host those semi-frequently over in the Multiplayer Doom sub-forum.

Edited January 25, 2024 by Individualised

[Fonze]

It's been some years since I've been active so this may be outdated, but I always found the best way to get a match together is to either jump in one, wait, and pray (on a popular, public server cluster with good ping options for others), or head over to the various mp-oriented discords and network matches up there. Doomworld has never been a hub for mp activity and you'll likely be hard pressed to find any here.

Edited January 25, 2024 by Fonze

[No-Man Baugh]

I'd recommend checking out the discord server of whatever multiplayer port you choose, those servers have a function where you can get pinged if someone wants to play a game or @ for a specific game, and all these servers have a roles system so you can specify what kind of games you want to be pinged for (e.g. in Odamex you can pick between Deathmatch, Co-op, Duals, or Capture the Flag)

As for Doom as a dead MP game: it's kinda true. Most 24/7 active Deathmatch games on Zandronum are just Megaman Deathmatch. and there aren't even any bots to fill up Odamex, but in Doom you only really need 1 other person to have a fun DM game, and atleast in Odamex there's always that 1 guy whose gonna jump in on any given LFG (usually either me or Wileman)

[Arrowhead]

There's still a lot of people that regularly play D2 DM. You just gotta plan ahead, as some others have said here.

 

I've had tons of success in hosting a weekly CTF event on ZDaemon, but getting random DM matches? Not so much.

 

Most afternoons you can find a group playing GreenWar, though. Hell, there's 3 people playing UDMX right now as we speak, so it can't be that hard.

 

Anyway,

 

I'll make maps for DM until I'm dead. It's too much fun.

Edited January 25, 2024 by Arrowhead

[Argent Agent]

Generally, the primary way casual deathmatch is going to be played is if it is organized ahead of time such as for an event like the long-dead Friday Night Fragfest on Skulltag/Zandronum (rest in peace). To be fair, though, public deathmatch has lost its charm with communities becoming more disconnected and fragmented as it is way more fun to play deathmatch with a closed group of friends than with a group of randoms (at least in my opinion).

 

I think deathmatch is way less dead and still has more potential, though, than classic 1v1/duel, but the latter mode is usually only played nowadays by the same few dinosaurs who only want to play the same damn 3-5 maps and who only whine about new maps.

[prfunky]

Spoiler

 

In the above (you have to click "Reveal hidden contents") screenshot, you can see I did a filter in Doomseeker for "dwan" which yields 6

currently running servers. The top and bottom ones are both Zandronum with one bot shown in the top server. Generally, the host of the

server sets the bots to disappear once more than one player enters. In the meantime, you play against a script-y opponent(s). The

middle four servers are running Odamex. Doomseeker is great because you get both the Zandronum and Odamex hosted servers

listed. ZDaemon, however, is not available here as their servers won't accept a connection client other than the proprietary ZDaemon

Game Launcher. You'll be virtually required to bring a Windows machine to that scenario as there is no Linux ZDaemon client.

 

 

Alternatively, if you can tolerate fighting against monsters while waiting for others to play against you, you can try any number of my

servers. At this specific point in time, I have two running as can be evidenced by filtering Doomseeker for "monster w" where I always

put (monsters welcome) in the title for those types of servers. I try to keep several servers up and running but if nobody joins them,

eventually, the host servers kill my individual servers for "inactivity". Those servers are either [TSPG], -{EB}- or [ADR] prefixed. My

personal server, Chap Stallis doesn't have this issue but it's only one game server rather than a cluster.

Spoiler

 

Edited January 26, 2024 by prfunky
formatting/spelling issues

[EduardoAndFriends]

1 hour ago, Individualised said:

Sadly casual Doom deathmatch (or rather Doom multiplayer in general) is pretty much dead now. People still host servers but they're either empty/filled with bots instead of real players, are running so many gameplay mods that it can't even be considered Doom deathmatch, or both. If you're interested in playing in events though, they seem to host those semi-frequently over in the Multiplayer Doom sub-forum.

This has been my experience in recent times, sadly. There are so many extra mods needed just to jump in it’s a major turn off. Boo. :(

[EduardoAndFriends]

That’s general why I go with Quake deathmatch. My ping is still abominable but I can just jump into a game.

[AF-Domains.net]

2 hours ago, prfunky said:

  Hide contents

 

In the above (you have to click "Reveal hidden contents") screenshot, you can see I did a filter in Doomseeker for "dwan" which yields 6

currently running servers. The top and bottom ones are both Zandronum with one bot shown in the top server. Generally, the host of the

server sets the bots to disappear once more than one player enters. In the meantime, you play against a script-y opponent(s). The

middle four servers are running Odamex. Doomseeker is great because you get both the Zandronum and Odamex hosted servers

listed. ZDaemon, however, is not available here as their servers won't accept a connection client other than the proprietary ZDaemon

Game Launcher. You'll be virtually required to bring a Windows machine to that scenario as there is no Linux ZDaemon client.

 

 

Alternatively, if you can tolerate fighting against monsters while waiting for others to play against you, you can try any number of my

servers. At this specific point in time, I have two running as can be evidenced by filtering Doomseeker for "monster w" where I always

put (monsters welcome) in the title for those types of servers. I try to keep several servers up and running but if nobody joins them,

eventually, the host servers kill my individual servers for "inactivity". Those servers are either [TSPG], -{EB}- or [ADR] prefixed. My

personal server, Chap Stallis doesn't have this issue but it's only one game server rather than a cluster.

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

At the moment the ZDaemon client is primarily on Windows (though the most recent Mac build maintained by Lyfe is functional). However if you wish to use a launcher that is capable of querying all three (or four if you include DoomsDay) multiplayer sourceports, there is Doom Explorer.

 

The Windows ZDaemon client (and other tools) can also be run via WINE/Proton if there is a desire to give it a go under Linux.

[OpenRift]

The thing about a lot of older games is that if you want to play online with people, it's best to find a community on somewhere like Discord that either hosts events or that allows you to find other people and put together a match on your own.

 

I run a DOSBox multiplayer-focused community on Discord and we play Doom DM (and occasionally coop) every two weeks via a netplay guider called Classic Gaming Arena. It can require a little bit more setup than say Zandronum or Zdaemon, but CGA has made things much easier than it used to be and I've created some channels in my server that serve as tutorials and guides for getting the most out of your DOS experience. If you want that authentic old-school experience from back in the day, don't be afraid to stop by.

 

 

[OpenRift]

4 hours ago, Arrowhead said:

I'll make maps for DM until I'm dead. It's too much fun.

That's the spirit.

[Pokemanic33]

I play every now and again, it's a blast. You just have to be on at the right time, 95% of the time every server will be empty but every now and again you'll have a decently populated server. It feels unlike any other deathmatch shooter I've ever played.

[OniriA]

Doom Deathmatch players in 2024.

 

[Major Arlene]

We do a weekly multiplayer & deathmatch session at the Hellforge Studios discord server, most of our sessions are random rotations w/ Insanity Deathmatch but it's usually fun chaos

[DoomAficionado]

Wow! I certainly did not expect so many responses, thanks everyone! I will be home a little later to give these responses a little more attention and maybe a try a few of them out. I don't know how good I am anymore and I prefer 1v1 or maps I know how to play because if it's a team game, I don't want to drag anyone down but I also don't want to get stomped, like most people probably hah! I like to think I'm alright but I haven't played it since the 90s. I was never any good at Quake or any other arena games, save for maybe UT2004 onslaught mode.

 

Most new games, the players are just way too good for me, and, playing solo often feels demoralizing because you can't really get to know anyone or get a flow going because of match making, and people seem to take newer games a lot more seriously, although maybe that's just rose tinted glasses on my part.