Doom Community - Always Strong or Recent Resurgence?

[Gadbury]

It's great to join the Doomworld community; yes, I'm a new guy - hello all :) I don't (think I) know anyone here and I've not been around for long, so my thoughts might be a bit misguided or naive...

I've noticed while I've been here all of a week or so (!) a few members here who are very experienced with editing for id Tech 1. I get the impression Doomworld is THE place to be regarding Doom and other id Tech 1 editing stuff. However, aside from the veterans here continuing to put out work, I've also noticed novice mappers who are releasing stuff for the first time; very encouraging and healthy for the community. So I wondered if this is normal - are there usually new mappers appearing regularly and releasing for the first time and what proportion stay and develop further? Also, has there been a recent resurgence of interest in Doom and editing?

I did some stuff with DoomCAD (which came bundled on a PC magazine cover disc) a few years ago, creating basic rooms and trying some more clever things with triggers. I also had a play with GTK Radiant and knocked up some far-from-finished maps for Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory. Also played about with the Source engine's Hammer editor.

Anyway, I've decided to have a go at completing a complete level... eek! Doombuilder 2 is a brilliant editor, I must say, and it really helps me progress at a steady rate. I don't remember it being quite so straightforward (!) with DoomCAD. Doombuilder also encourages experimentation, as it seems stable, intuitive and mistakes can easily be undone. Anyway, progress is underway and I look forwards - in time - to sharing my efforts with the community.

I seem to go through this every five years but my recent Doom nostalgia trip, which seems particularly strong what with my general disatisfaction with modern games, has been inspired by having played Doom II on XBLA with my younger bro (who was born the year Doom released!). I managed to persuade him to get it for alcohol-fueled, co-op gaming! I've also fired up Doom on the PC again, started watching some 'Let's Play' series on YouTube, reading old interviews and listening to podcasts with Romero.

Eurogamer's Doom retrospective article also helped reignite my Doom love.

Always been an id Software fan. I guess I was one of the not-so-many that was excited about RAGE and bought it day 1.

Sorry, I rambled a bit... /end!

[Grazza]

I'd say it's been pretty consistent over the last decade, with a mix of new and experienced mappers and players, and no huge variations in the overall level of activity. There have been some pronounced trends, but no really massive upheavals.

Doomworld itself has perhaps become more important as other Doom sites have fallen by the wayside (NewDoom, DoomCenter, Compet-N), but that trend itself isn't so clear, as some ports (Zdoom, Skulltag) have developed their own communities to which some DWers have migrated or between which they share their time.

[Technician]

There's still a constant scream of Doom maps. This forum is still as active as it's always been, though some of the really oldies have left.

I don't think this place will ever be as active as it was when Doom 3 was still in the pipeline, but id has since jaded us, so Doom 4 isn't really all that exciting.

[Phml]

So I wondered if this is normal - are there usually new mappers appearing regularly and releasing for the first time and what proportion stay and develop further?

That could be a pretty interesting thing to track. I'd be tempted to do it but I just know once I'd spend a few hours doing it by hand, one of the bazillion computer geniuses around here would only take a couple seconds to whip up a script that did it all better.

[Ed]

In the late 90s - early 2000s, the Doom community was a lot louder. Source ports were still making major breakthroughs or have yet to do so. There were quite a bit more active fan sites. The front page was being updated multiple times a day. The forums could erupt into 5 page long flame wars over the most trivial of affairs.

Today, it's more quality over quantity and the mods themselves are more the focal point over the upcoming breakthroughs of newfangled source ports that were the lifeblood of the earlier days. /Newstuff nullified other review sites, but the format is really unbeatable. The mods that come out are better than anything that was going on back then. The quality of personal has gone up quite a bit as well.

[Enjay]

Doom was very strong on line right from the outset, before there was an internet as we know it (bulletin boards, Compuserve etc).

I guess the real heyday was the late nineties when, as Ed said, the source ports were coming out, pushing boundaries, opening up new possibilities and, of course, generating lots of interest in the game and modding for it.

The last decade has seen quite a bit of that interest slip away but it seemed to reach a fairly stable lower, but still healthy, plateau a few years ago and has kept going at that level since.

The arrival of Doom3 rekindled some interest in the game but I don't feel that it was a huge resurgence in idtech 1 interest and the effect was fairly short lived too.

[Porsche Monty]

The community is still going strong, but for the most part, it feels nothing like what we had back in the day.

There certainly is an influx of new doomers, but it kind of seems like they're merely experimenting with the retro stuff and that's why we get so many stupid, mediocre mods packed with poorly ripped sprites from shitty 80's-90's platformers.

Thankfully there's quite a few people keeping the old standard alive through quality vanilla-oriented source ports and wads. God bless them all.

One day we may witness a true "renaissance", perhaps when computers become powerful enough to handle something like those stunning 3D renders posted somewhere in this forum, but in real time.

[thelostsoul83]

I've been lurking on this site since at least 2000, and I finally registered the other day. IMO the community has always been strong. It isn't nearly as decentralized as the Quake community.

It also makes sense why people would still map for Doom, being so much simpler than modern games. Many of us have 0 experience creating content in a 3D world, and having to only worry about the top-down view (for the most part) helps folks ease into mapping. We get results faster with less headaches on Doom/Build games.

I've also played some awesome WADs, like 2002ado and Whispers of Satan.

[kmxexii]

From what I've seen it's as strong as ever, and I've been exposed to international communities I didn't really know existed until this year. And 2012 looks to be pretty exciting as well! It's a good time to be playing Doom.

[Bucket]

Technician said:

There's still a constant scream of Doom maps.

"DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM MMMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAPPS"