Doom, Through the Lens of Video Game Tourism

[Maribo]

JP LeBreton (of Bioshock, Arcadia Demade, lots of other things) has a page regarding Tourism in video games, with "tourism" being defined as exploring a game without any intention of participating in the game's conflict systems, whether that be by disengaging from it, cheating past it, or disabling it (via the game's own built-in systems, difficulty settings, or modifying the game to remove these aspects). There are quite a few games nowadays that implement something I'd call a "super easy" mode, in which case the conflict is still present but heavily neutered, rather than cut out entirely. This is to be expected, though. After all, games are a kinetic medium. Most people expect some sort of standard gameplay loop, whether that loop is a very short and repetitive one (room-clearing roguelikes come to mind), or a long and complex one (strategy games come to mind). Stripping that core functionality from the game can leave you not only with a shell of a game, but a potentially dissonant one, where any threads that were linked between gameplay, world, narrative, and/or any other angles, no longer connect.

 

Doom is one of those games where the vast majority of people who play it are playing it because they like how it feels on a basic level, whether or not they mod the hell out of it to make it more enjoyable to their specific taste. They like to shoot demons. When they load up a PWAD, they expect there to be things to kill. From a mapping angle, you make rooms that you like, and then you put monsters in them to fill the space and give the player an objective, a threat to engage with, something to do. Sometimes you even construct the room a certain way because of the composition of monsters and geometry that popped into your head.

 

However, Doom also has a -nomonsters parameter. The TNTEM and IDCLIP cheat codes exist. You can turn any given map into a purely exploratory experience. This might even improve an experience that would otherwise have been negative for you: Hate slaughter, but love grand architecture? Bored to tears by IWAD tribute gameplay? Mapper spam too many Archviles? Just like the way Doom feels to run around in with no inhibiting factors? You can remove everything and take a walk.

 

I like to do this, I think video games are a really awesome thing because of the worlds that are constructed in them that you can move around in. There are more Doom WADs than any reasonable person could ever play through in existence right now, and the number only gets larger as the days go by. You can tour spaces built in Doom, probably for the rest of your life, and you will never stop finding new worlds, whether that is another E1 tech-base in someone else's eyes, a slaughter map with seizure-inducing lighting scripts, a larger-than-life magnum opus jammed into a random community project, etc.

 

Some things I have enjoyed through this lens of tourism:
- Lost Civilization // It is too pretty and greenery-filled to let the lackluster combat bring it down. It is a world in and of itself.

- Liminal Doom // This one might not be too surprising, considering the basis of the wad is "liminal spaces". Sometimes the silence is better, especially in a room with so many waterfalls.

- Gravity // Eternal is not bad at Doom combat, but walking around in Map02 of this WAD is like being shrunk down and given free play inside of a diorama.

- Boaty McBoatWAD // Consider it a trip to the world's most unhinged boat museum.

- El Viaje de Diciembre // A world deep in the autumn of its life, letting out a tremendous sigh.

 

There's also this part of a quote that I read a long time ago that has stuck with me, with key points highlighted:

 

"[...] Any notion of humanity left in Sunlust's world is actively malignant-- MAP29 for example, "Go Fuck Yourself", is uniquely human to the player in design, architecture, and title. The Archvile Carousel is too purposeless, too vexatious to be designed by any thing but a human. Yet, like with most challenge maps, it's made to be bested, but only by those willing to buy in and mortify themselves to gitting gud.

In fact, this idea of mortification, of purity through rigid self-discipline, is an idea that permeates not just in Sunlust but in the discourse of 'difficulty' in video games as a whole. For every new completion of Sunlust, there's a DOOMer out there who will remind you that you haven't really 'completed' Sunlust until you've done it with no savescumming, and there's a DOOMer above them that will remind you that only pistol start UV counts as completion, and so on and so on. Anyone who had the unfortunate luck to witness Souls "summoning discourse" can also attest to similar convos. It's eerily similar to where this mortification discourse actually comes from--Medieval Christianity. You aren't really free of sin until you've abstained from something important, until you've fasted, until you've lived ascetically, until you've self-flagellated, etc.

And while the merits and foibles of mortification are too big for this review, the takeaway shouldn't be to do away with the ideas of purity or self-discipline, but to take a more personal, existential approach to them. Play Sunlust, but don't feel the need to surrender to it's weight of difficulty or of being one of the GOAT WADs or anything else. noclip to admire the architecture, throw on godmode, try a UV run, make a save for the Cathedral fight to replay forever, do whatever--just make it challenging and purifying to you, and see where you land. [...]" - SimonDedalus

 

My referencing of this writing is not an invitation to discuss whether your playstyle is more or less valid than any other, nor is it a request for another tired save/saveless, mods/modless competition to determine who has the most fulfilling Doom experience or whatever. Not only can you make the weights lighter (play on a lower difficulty), you can take the weights off entirely. You can explore the spaces, free of stress, and maybe that will make all of the difference for you. What I would like is to hear about anybody else who just likes to walk around in spaces like these, and if you don't, then try it! Try it with your favorite WADs! Try it with something that has gameplay you consider horrifically difficult or boring! Try it with something you've never played before! Just go explore something in its most minimal form, and have fun with it.

[Explorer of Time]

I like to go wander around maps after I've killed everything in them, a lot of the time. It's relaxing to take a look at all the architecture and stuff in a safe environment once all the monsters are gone, and I often need to take a few minutes to relax after fighting difficult battles. (I also do this in a few other games where the enemies don't respawn.)

 

Occasionally I go back and replay an old level I've already beaten, without any monsters. Never before beating the level normally, though. I like to imagine that Doomguy himself is revisiting a place he's already made safe by killing all the demons in it.

[KeaganDunn]

Quote

Play Sunlust, but don't feel the need to surrender to its weight of difficulty or of being one of the GOAT WADs or anything else. noclip to admire the architecture, throw on godmode, try a UV run, make a save for the Cathedral fight to replay forever, do whatever--just make it challenging and purifying to you, and see where you land.

 

This is absolutely the truth. It always warms my heart to see people keep an open mind about certain WADs, mappers, or playstyles, instead of blowing them off because it's something they don't like, or it's something that's not "normal". (I am so damn tired of hearing Ribbiks' name and WADs being used as negative connotations and nothing more). I love to hear of those who try to find the joy in something they know they won't normally enjoy, whether that's through mods, -nomonsters, or - I don't know - playing a lower difficulty. 

 

Most of all, I love to hear of those that just give an honest shot at things. And if they conclude that it's not for them, they communicate that respectfully and still admire the work for what it is.

 

Tourism is something I've only done a few times, and it's pretty much been with the hardest and most notorious stuff out there, ie FCFF, Dimensions, Frog & Toad, the modern Sunder maps. Stuff that, even with copious use of saves, will still take a lot of time, skill, and mental fortitude. I've given these honest shots at a few points in time but have mostly admired them through other means - observing and learning the maps in UDB, -nomonsters, or watching others complete them. FCFF is a case where I don't feel I have the patience and technical knowledge to solve the puzzles, but I really admire how they work and it's a source of inspiration for me.

I firmly believe that it absolutely does not matter how one experiences something. It may not be the mapper's intention that you played FCFF map07 on ITYTD with a guide and several mods, or that you played Myhouse.pk3 with many visual/gameplay mods, but as long as you enjoyed it or got something out of it, that's all that matters, really.

Edited February 28 by KeaganDunn

[Maribo]

11 hours ago, Explorer of Time said:

I like to go wander around maps after I've killed everything in them, a lot of the time. It's relaxing to take a look at all the architecture and stuff in a safe environment once all the monsters are gone, and I often need to take a few minutes to relax after fighting difficult battles.

I would actually consider this a separate (but similar) practice, a bit of an examination of the aftermath. Something I think about on occasion is how Hotline Miami often has the player backtrack through the carnage they've just caused in order to exit the level. Some PWADs do this, but it's much more often implemented in the form of a natural loop that leads the player back to the start of the map, where the exit initially was, still killing things the entire time. There is a bit of a difference between a wholly empty world and a world that was once populated, but has been forcibly annihilated, if that makes sense.

 

8 hours ago, KeaganDunn said:

 It may not be the mapper's intention that you played FCFF map07 on ITYTD with a guide and several mods, or that you played Myhouse.pk3 with many visual/gameplay mods, but as long as you enjoyed it or got something out of it, that's all that matters, really.

I think these two maps are strikingly similar (I have written a little about this before) but go about their goals in different ways. At their core, they're both about: the map as a "living entity" and unraveling places that feel like they were never meant to be inhabited. I actually do not think it is a huge leap to say that people who enjoy one would enjoy the other, given they already have had their patience tested by one. And yes, all that really matters in the end is what it meant to you.

 

It slipped my mind when I was writing the OP, but I also think that valkiriforce's Oceanside (and many other real life-based recreations and/or "my house" type of WADs) is prime material for tourism. Walking around an apartment block, a neighborhood, a school zone, someone's house... seeing all the recognizable things, "demakes" of real life architecture/fixtures... it's just beautiful.

[esselfortium]

Every now and then I feel an urge to just spend an hour or so wandering around The Shrine, in nomonsters mode. It's very peaceful until some scripted monsters spawn in and give me a heart attack.

[Dusty_Rhodes]

Doom has a very interesting visual style that only gets more interesting with custom textures and sprites. I have walked through some empty levels before, and I always found it relaxing. 90s wads, specifically the shovelware stuff we used to play a lot in the DWSC, was always fascinating to run through in -nomonsters. The visuals were usually super surreal, sometimes horrible, but occasionally incredibly intriguing. As for other 90s wads, Eternal Doom is a favorite for tourism. The dark castles, swirling waters, sleek spaceships, and confusing locales, make for a really rewarding explore. 

[bioshockfan90]

Dobu Gabu Maru's Moonlight is a concept of maps I'd like to see more of, it tangentially relates to the OP but it is monsterless and focuses on puzzle-solving above all else. I feel like I'm blanking on another monsterless Dobu map that looks a lot less abstract and is fun to roam around in. 

 

Puzzle gaming is another one of my gaming 'likes' so it's cool that at least someone has tried making a pure puzzle map for Doom. 

 

Re: actual topic at hand, I cherish my combat too much but I like the quote echoed there and I can relate to it as someone that plays on lower difficulties now. I'm part of that mostly entire demographic that needs some combat going on, but what the hey - maybe I'll try roaming around in Avactor or something for the hell of it sometime. I recently beat Fire and Ice from Scythe for the first time and I love that adrenaline rush from getting something really hard done; challenge is part of the fun of gaming for me, but I admit in some of the really gorgeous combat-oriented WADs I often don't think much about the architecture due to monster corpses littering the landscape. 

 

Nice post!

[Xyzzу]

2 hours ago, bioshockfan90 said:

Dobu Gabu Maru's Moonlight is a concept of maps I'd like to see more of, it tangentially relates to the OP but it is monsterless and focuses on puzzle-solving above all else. I feel like I'm blanking on another monsterless Dobu map that looks a lot less abstract and is fun to roam around in. 

 

Puzzle gaming is another one of my gaming 'likes' so it's cool that at least someone has tried making a pure puzzle map for Doom.

 

That be this:
https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/95543-the-given-a-large-monsterless-puzzle-map-on-idgames/

I uh, also made one, too, but it's outdated.

 

Edited February 28 by Xyzzу

[Emperor S P O O N]

I concur with many of the points made here. There are a plethora wads out there with visuals and architecture that'll blast your balls off just as hard as it will literally, and sometimes it's worth it to adjust the game to your own liking so that it's enjoyable for you.

I would like to offer my perspective as a mapper. I can only speak from my own experience, so take my word with a truck of salt.

I made a map not too long ago that I felt proud of, yet for a not too insignificant number of people playing it blind was hell. I was fine with how the map turned out overall, yet a part of me felt as if I could've done better for the players that had a really bad first impression of it. A lack of light for almost the entire map is a good starting point, not to mention the literal maze that makes up the first half of the map and the scalding final fight that takes a while to chop down and if you squandered your resources for the fight you're basically starting over from the top. Yet, most of these elements, as pointed out by a few players after I first posted the thread, were integral to its atmosphere and horror. Subverting that for the sake of accessibility would jeopardize the entire point of the map. (The Parasite of Good Will is the map I'm referring to for those who hadn't picked up on it yet)

"That's fine," I think to myself. "I'll just provide information on the map in the thread and text file about what experience is intended, what won't work, and several slightly-cryptic hints about how you're supposed to approach the map and hope players will take note of that." Yes, that sentence is as naïve as it sounds; confirmed when I later watch players trying to blast through the map like it's literally any other map getting lost in the maze for longer than their patience can withstand before giving up at the final smack-down because they didn't grab any of the supplies from the areas leading up to that. "That's... Fine..." I try to tell myself internally. "It's intended for you to get smacked across the face by the final fight if you don't prepare beforehand. Surely they'll go back and rea-" They didn't. "Well, maybe if I was there to guide the-" Don't backseat players unless they ask. I learned that the hard way a long time ago.

It was at this point that I had to internalize something literally everyone will tell you when you feel like you didn't succeed as well as, or in the manner that, you had hoped: You cannot control how players enjoy your work. You will put up every warning, every contingency, every safeguard you can possibly imagine and maybe more, but it will not change how the player will play. You aren't gonna play leashed, and neither will the players. What I, as the mapper, had to process was that I have one goal and one goal only: Make a baller map. Whether or not it was baller is not for me to declare. My word isn't anyone's gospel. It's frightening, at first, realizing your work could be neglected or misunderstood and you have no right to change that. But, then again, why should that matter to you more than doing the work itself? The point is if you, as the mapper, feel okay with how it turned out artistically. Not culturally.
 

Spoiler

It just hit me now, but quitting tPoGW before beating it can be thematically relevant. I won't divulge anything further than that for the sake of my privacy and for the sake of the art. By that, I mean I think it's important for players to formulate their own narrative rather than follow one constant story that the author says is canon. I may have my own idea about what the map means to me, but I'm not gonna let my take spoil yours just because I made the damn thing. Hell, you can take what I'm saying and label it a red-herring, and I won't disagree. I just think it'd be more fun to debate what is and what isn't rather than the semantics of what is.

 

I hope that all makes sense (and is relevant). I know at some points it felt a little off-topic (or insane), but I tried to make this as cohesive as I possibly can.

TL;DR People will play your maps how they want, and that's fine. It matters more of what you got out of its creation rather than what the players got out of playing it.

[KeaganDunn]

7 hours ago, Emperor S P O O N said:

"I'll just provide information on the map in the thread and text file about what experience is intended, what won't work, and several slightly-cryptic hints about how you're supposed to approach the map and hope players will take note of that." Yes, that sentence is as naïve as it sounds; confirmed when I later watch players trying to blast through the map like it's literally any other map getting lost in the maze for longer than their patience can withstand before giving up at the final smack-down because they didn't grab any of the supplies from the areas leading up to that. "That's... Fine..." I try to tell myself internally. "It's intended for you to get smacked across the face by the final fight if you don't prepare beforehand. Surely they'll go back and rea-" They didn't. "Well, maybe if I was there to guide the-" Don't backseat players unless they ask. I learned that the hard way a long time ago.

 

This is all very true and relatable for sure, @Emperor S P O O N, I've been through the same sort of dilemma. There's a fine line to learn and walk between knowing what is inherently "wrong" with your map and knowing what is on the player. You build something for yourself first and foremost. If you want players to enjoy it, be it a wide range of players or a certain audience, then you start taking into account what to change and what to leave.

 

It is very funny as it is disappointing that there are indeed players out there who will not listen to a word you say anywhere, be it in the thread, the text file or even in the map itself. They might try the map, don't like it or get their ass kicked, then stop playing and air their grievances. They might not try anything else with the map (godmode, mods) or they won't keep an open mind about the difference between the map and their own preferences. They probably don't even realize that most of their struggle was by their own hand, ie completely blasting past obvious resources. They probably don't care what your intentions are (i.e. the map is meant to be a confusing, puzzle-centric monolith). Just "the map's bad and you should feel bad". In that case, take those players for the biggest volcano full of salt. I've had to do that myself a few times, but it does still get to me every now and then. While we are all entitled to our own preferences, we must know the difference between genuine, helpful feedback and "I hate it purely based on my own opinion". Both as a mapper and a playtester.

 

One of my releases, Violetshift, is geared towards the audience of more skilled and patient players. I had quite a bit of self-doubt and low confidence in the making of the set, but it wasn't until I started receiving feedback and even help with troubleshooting/balancing that my mindset improved. Where was it mostly from? My target audience for the set.

 

I often feel that, with the releases I made in my first year, I've scared off half of Doomworld, lmao. There is indeed an audience for every possible genre of Doom map, no doubt, but no audience is as big as the small-5-to-10-minute-techbase-maps-with-easy-incidental-combat-and-obvious-progression-with-no-hold-ups-whatsoever audience. I jest with that phrase, but as a mapper, it's super important to find players with similar tastes, especially for playtesting. Their feedback is often the most constructive and valuable. And unless you are mapping purely for yourself, it's just as important to think about those players' experiences. That is, the ones who are your target audience and will be of most help to you. :)

[Sneezy McGlassFace]

There is something awe-inspiring about walking around giant slaughter arenas with no monsters in them. Sunder for example is so profoundly lonesome when you're the only one there, walking through these massive spaces. City at the Mouth of Ire feels straight up haunted. Its architecture suggests it was once full of life, and now even the demons are gone. It's a similar feeling of walking through a dead mall, or sitting in an empty cathedral. You can just inhabit this space somebody deliberately crafted for a reason but what is it for now, when the monsters aren't there? Miasma or Fractured Worlds become entirely different without the inhabitants too. Highly recommended. 

 

I've had a ton of fun with oblivion as a kid, cheating enemies away using the console, and just wandering around in the overworld, chatting with people. 

[Gez]

On mercredi 28 février 2024 at 4:42 PM, esselfortium said:

Every now and then I feel an urge to just spend an hour or so wandering around The Shrine, in nomonsters mode. It's very peaceful until some scripted monsters spawn in and give me a heart attack.

That reminds me of going through ZDCMP2 and checking scripted monster spawning to make sure they respect sv_nomonsters -- so that no monsters are spawned in this mode, and that all the points that require killing monsters to unlock progression are just silently and automatically unlocked. That map fully supports "tourism mode"!

[esselfortium]

27 minutes ago, Gez said:

That reminds me of going through ZDCMP2 and checking scripted monster spawning to make sure they respect sv_nomonsters -- so that no monsters are spawned in this mode, and that all the points that require killing monsters to unlock progression are just silently and automatically unlocked. That map fully supports "tourism mode"!

Thank you for doing that! That's awesome.

[LadyMistDragon]

I'm not really huge with Doom tourism. A lot of maps are just abstract spaces with design that share the characteristics of their authors. So without combat, I just find them painfully boring.

 

However, the maps with vast natural landscapes such as Lost Civilization or the in-progress Irregular Entropy are something different. While those maps are large enough that I probably wouldn't bother walking in them, they are just so filled with detail filled out with what at least at first glance appears to be an actual place that if any maps feel nice to be in for 5-10 minutes, it's maps like these.

 

Although I also like exploring lived in spaces in general, for instance, the Mall Trip map that got released to moddb not so long ago does exactly what it says, inside quite a bright and colorful setting, kind of Five Nights at Freddy's-esque, for lack of a better descriptor at the moment.

 

Sigma, by Didy would certainly also qualify. Holy fucking shit, that underwater grotto is a real sight to see, let me tell you. The way the seaweed, coral, and marine life interweave together in an oddly nice harmony is definitely not something you see all the time!

[OniriA]

I'm usually much more immersed in more modern games á la Resident Evil, Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Ghost Recon, MGS, Silent Hill etc.

then with Classic Doom. The one exception is when I'm actually making the map, because then I'm also emotionally and mentally invested in it.

 

I literally watch the map grow and blossom from simple shapes into a believable space. Playing Doom just hasn't compared with that experience

for me yet.

Edited March 1 by OniriA

[OniriA]

So I thought a little bit more about wads that immersed me in such a way that would make me want to walk through them

and the last ones that managed to do that where (out the top of my head):

 

* Eviternity II

* Elementalism

* Lost Civilisation 1

 

Horror wads are another seperate category of wads that manage to do that.

Edited March 1 by OniriA

[bioshockfan90]

12 hours ago, OniriA said:

I'm usually much more immersed in more modern games á la Resident Evil, Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Ghost Recon, MGS, Silent Hill etc.

then with Classic Doom. The one exception is when I'm actually making the map, because then I'm also emotionally and mentally invested in it.

 

I literally watch the map grow and blossom from simple shapes into a believable space. Playing Doom just hasn't compared with that experience

for me yet.

Mapping is like that for me too, I literally start by making sure all the actions work in -nomo to begin before I check the combat and I get a huge ego boost from looking at what I've made (I don't spend that long on maps so it's impressive to me anyway). 

 

I guess I have a sort of detachment from modern games. I think the last game that made me immersed was Bioshock 2 and that was ages ago. Then again, I don't actively seek out new releases so maybe there's something I'm missing. I guess I played Quake for the first time last year - that was pretty atmospheric. 

[KeaganDunn]

Ahh, immersion. Something that I lost through Doom mapping and coming of age, and I wish I could have back.

 

When I first played Sunlust, literally a week after playing Doom for the first time, I was very deeply immersed in Sunlust's world. But thanks to Doom mapping, all I see in maps now is textures, flats, sectors, and linedefs. I can see all the misaligned textures in Half-Life 1 and GTA: San Andreas now. dear god it hurts can i go back pls

[Crusader No Regret]

Some random selections:

 

Tourism mode is how I chose to wander through the National Videogame Museum map.  It's modeled after a real location created by a tour guide who works there, with the map made at the behest of the owners.  Might take some effort to find an even more fitting candidate for that playstyle.

 

  Large city maps in general I'm likely to tourist mode them before trying to beat them for real.  It's how I was able to devise an approach to overcome the wall that is the start of Dawn of Reality.  Comatose is another map where I toured it without monsters to check out the sights before playing it for real (which I found stressful with all the partially invisible and silent monsters).

  Greenian also has some majestic views and I've already played through it so revisiting in a tourist context is how I'm liable to check them out again when the mood strikes.

[97th Century Fox]

Funny how the person who made a thread on game tourism made me a tourist lol. I gave I Can't Give You Anything a shot yesterday and found that trying to beat it normally is outside my abilities. The hordes are insane and the visuals disorienting. But I fell in love with the atmosphere instantly. So today I decided to simply turn on god mode and have at it. It was a good decision.

The atmosphere coupled with being able to participate in the insane spectacle without fighting for my life or savescumming like a lunatic makes for a genuinely meditative experience.

I immediatelly connected this kind of experience to Yume Nikki and it's countless fangames. These are all games known as walking simulators, and as the name suggests lack any kind of combat or conflict, save for a few "chaser" type enemies that trap you on contact. Yet they are able to offer some amazing experiences to those that engage with them.

Being a big fan of Yume Nikki, blasting through a wad like ICGYA on god mode is it's own kind of fun!

[Helm]

In principle I follow, yet in practice for all the years of saying 'perhaps I should iddqd through this or -nomonster just to check it out' I never do. 

I strongly empathize with the aspect of the analysis: there are so many doom worlds, more than I can visit in my multiversal travels in one lifetime. I am in awe and adore that, that every single mapset has unique geometry and meanings attached, waiting to be experienced first hand. I often still click on idgames random button, even though we have this vault of highly enumerated top tier experiences already, just to get that vibe of 'a teenager back in 1995 made these spaces, unconnected from nearly everything else'. More hauntology some times than anything else.

Where I diverge from the assumption is that exactly because there are more wads than I can play in my lifetime, to go through them the once or twice I touch them by ripping out the gameplay first, not even giving it a chance feels like the wrong sort of tourism for me, as much as such a thing can be in a digital realm. You can fly to a country and visit the museums and follow the tour guide, or you can immerse yourself in the culture, meet and help locals in their daily lives and get a deeper sense of existence in the space. I am not sure which of the two angles maps best to a -nomonster run or a UV MAX TRYHARD or whatever, your mileage may vary, but my ground level of respect towards a mapset as an artistic artifact, one of thousands, one that I may never play again is to try to play it as intended at a skill level that befits my mood (humans are a series of moods) and to try to take in as much as possible of the holistic vibe. 

Thought provoking thread, and big ups on JP LeBreton consideration, a beautifully intelligent mind in our broad doom sphere and a comrade to boot.