What's with all this fist-banging mania?

[MrrCaliber]

I mostly lurk around here, but this has been bugging me for some time. In almost every lmp, you can see the player flapping their fist incessantly when monster infights are in progress. Frankly, I don't have a slightest idea of what practical use that could be: I mean, in order to provoke a bunch of monsters, one needs to press attack only once. Still, the weird thing about it is that I do it too all the time. It just looks cool, maybe that would be the explanation? :)

[Memfis]

After infighting, if a monster ends up in a position where he can't see the player, he will stay dormant. So you make a sound with your first to wake him up again.

[Ribbiks]

It's a battle tactic! run around demons in circles flailing your arms at the air and they get so confused they kill eachother.


also what memfis said.

[cannonball]

flapping, or fapping, cause infighting gives you time
enough terrible answers. I always thought it mades monsters more likely to attack and hence increase the chances of infighting though now I think they only attack if you hit and cause their pain reaction. To be honest I do it because everyone else does (whoops that's a terrible answer)

[j4rio]

It has exactly zero effect in boom wads, but I do it in them for some reason anyway.

[vdgg]

I never do it. I always thought it is a reminder of Doom Honorific Titles, in the ancient times you performed a "dance" as an authentication.

http://www.doomworld.com/10years/demos/demos01.php

[Scypek2]

cannonball said:

flapping, or fapping,

...or banging...

[qoncept]

I want to know what Maes thinks.

[Xaser]

qoncept said:

I want to know what Maes thinks.

I don't think we have to ask what Maes thinks. I'm feeling queasy already. D:

[betabox]

Xaser said:

I don't think we have to ask what Maes thinks. I'm feeling queasy already. D:

Don't worry, Maes will make you feel better :) Maes, get in here!

[Avoozl]

The demons have such super hearing that they can hear you punching the air but they can't hear you walk. :P

[betabox]

Avoozl said:

The demons have such super hearing that they can hear you punching the air but they can't hear you walk. :P

Or how about they can hear you punching the air but can't hear your chainsaw buzzing.

[Quasar]

buttspit said:

Or how about they can hear you punching the air but can't hear your chainsaw buzzing.

This came up during the live speedrun on the AGDQ stream. I busted out laughing.

[Technician]

Would this be considered a bug or a "feature" so imperative to the game-play, that correcting it would totally diminish id's artistic vision?

[bcwood16]

Technician said:

Would this be considered a bug or a "feature" so imperative to the game-play, that correcting it would totally diminish id's artistic vision?

Me thinks its more of a bug then artistic vision!

When a monster gets hit and screams does it also awaken all monsters around you, like firing a gun? Other wise, sneaking up to a monster and beating him to death, allowing you to then move onto the next expected beastie (if you survivied the previous) and then beat him to death etc.

That may be quite fun, also showing you how hard core Doomguy is by using his fists to take down demons when the opportunity presents its self. Most monster see you coming anyway, so would not happen too much!

However, as it is now, moving the fists alerts everybody :(

[Maes]

"Shake that ass!"

[printz]

If monsters reacted to every sound, it would be more like Heretic (or some other similar game) where splashing on water or falling too hard (or just falling?) would alert them. Some parts of it definitely were happening under (G)ZDoom Heretic.

I hate how Strife handles stealth weapons (wrist dagger and poison bolts). They should probably be undetectable if missed, but if an Acolyte screams, that had better alert everyone else! — which it doesn't, at least when poison bolts are used.

[Avoozl]

I don't think it's a bug nor a feature, they probably didn't think to program the fists differently from the other weapons in that area.

[BaronOfStuff]

I'm fairly sure that the fist alerting everything in range like any other weapon does is an intentional feature; some IWAD maps rely on teleporting several Hellspawn to or near your location after you perform certain actions, and these Hellspawn are only activated by 'hearing' your attacks.

Having a silent weapon would allow you to bypass a lot of the intended skirmishes too easily, not to mention pick very specific fights in otherwise congested areas where you're supposed to get swarmed. Can you imagine how dull the game would have been if this became a primary strategy, because the conventional method of fighting everything at once seemed "too hard" to be possible?

[Memfis]

BaronOfStuff: Sounds more like an interesting choice between playing as a "fighter" (just kill everything) or as a "thief" (be quiet and sneaky, use only melee weapons). :)

[printz]

Wolfenstein handles it gracefully: just thrusting your knife is silent unless you hit an enemy. This prevents any bypassing of ambushes.

[Maes]

BaronOfStuff said:

I'm fairly sure that the fist alerting everything in range like any other weapon does is an intentional feature; some IWAD maps rely on teleporting several Hellspawn to or near your location after you perform certain actions, and these Hellspawn are only activated by 'hearing' your attacks.

That's how I managed the record time in Lost Days ;-)

[kb1]

Maes said:

"Shake that ass!"

That is fucking wrong...

[Avoozl]

BaronOfStuff said:

I'm fairly sure that the fist alerting everything in range like any other weapon does is an intentional feature

What I'm trying to say is using the fists without hitting or when out of range of a monster and still causing all the monsters in the area to be alerted in the process is neither a bug nor intentional but something overlooked by the programmers, I was never denying that the monsters were supposed to be alerted when you hit any of them in range.

[MajorRawne]

All of the previous answers are wrong. It's the Doom Marine provoking the demons by running round shouting "Wankers! Wankers!" and making the appropriate gesture. The demons are like some Doomworld forum trolls - they are incensed by British slang and immediately go on the attack.

[Maes]

MajorRawne said:

It's the Doom Marine provoking the demons by running round shouting "Wankers! Wankers!"

ΧD Couldn't stop thinking about this:

So Doomguy has a British accent? Scary...

[BaronOfStuff]

MajorRawne said:

All of the previous answers are wrong. It's the Doom Marine provoking the demons by running round shouting "Wankers! Wankers!" and making the appropriate gesture. The demons are like some Doomworld forum trolls - they are incensed by British slang and immediately go on the attack.

I knew this video would have a use one day: