What happens to this community after Doom 4?

[rabidrage]

I know it's a bit hysterical, but it has occurred to me that with the next Doom being titled simply "Doom", as a reboot of the series, the community of fans who mod, map and play classic Doom will become buried on the internet. I'm sure that those of you who are into it right now will stick around, but how will new people find us? Since Doom 4 even has a streamlined level builder built in, Google will be filled with Doom 4 WADS that push classic Doom wads down into obscurity. How do we keep the dream alive?

[yakfak]

if some old player suddenly thinks "wow, Doom, I remember that", they currently end up discovering Brutal Doom without ever visiting this forum >:3 I think the level of Doomworld's visibility will remain roughly unchanged

[Xaser]

Hmm, did Doom 3's release come with a spike of new user activity? I remember folks expecting it but I don't remember whether or not such a thing occurred. Anyone got some forum activity data handy?

If so, maybe similar activity spike will happen, but Doom 4's release will certainly not correlate with a forum/wad exodus.

[Angry Saint]

I think that "old" Doom wads and Doom 4 mods will not fight for the same internet space, so there will be space for both.

I don'teven think that from one day to the other we all will start mapping only for Doom 4. Doom is here and here it will remain.

[scifista42]

Xaser said:

Hmm, did Doom 3's release come with a spike of new user activity? I remember folks expecting it but I don't remember whether or not such a thing occurred. Anyone got some forum activity data handy?

Regarding post count: Here.

Regarding user registration: Just go to memberlist, sort it by "Date Joined", and semi-randomly browse through the vast list to estimate how many people registered around 2004.

[Soundblock]

I've got a box of shotgun shells saying that Doom 4's editor won't hold a green torch to old Doom's:
- staircase design
- size-of-space versatility
- authorship signature

...to mention 3 cool things on the top of my head.

[Jaxxoon R]

Seeing as Doom 4's Snap Map will probably have all or most mods downloaded in-game, and that any really extensive mods that might come after the release of more advanced tools will probably be about as rare as mods for Doom 3, and that there exists a stupidly huge supply of classic Doom wads that go back like, 25 years.

Probably not.

[gemini09]

Snapmap looks cool and it's a great evolution, but--

Soundblock said:

- authorship signature

--yeah.

Ol' DOOM and the hand-drawn nature of ye' old days is emerging as a legitimate art form in contrast to the direction of Snapmap and similar.

At this point we should be free to proudly put a "Hand crafted of the finest materials" stamp on our wads :)

[TMD]

Wait and see. tee hee hee.

[40oz]

DOOM 1 and 2 is not in any danger, I'm sure.

[rabidrage]

Well, I'm glad to see that everybody's so confident. I'm finally a year into making my first WAD after wanting to complete one for more than 15 years! I mean, I never had the resources or at least didn't think I had them. Over time I came to understand that it's not that hard if you apply yourself. But I'd like for there to be a community to release it to when it's finished!

[scifista42]

Speaking for myself, I won't stop enjoying wad editing and playing wads after Doom 4's release. I suppose that if enough people from this community feel the same, and I believe they do, the community's future is safe. During my mere 3.4 years of participation on this forum, I've seen really many newcomer mappers coming in, some of whom became rather remarkable personalities in the community and/or competent wad creators. All of this happened without any particular motivating cause from this community itself, other than that the community simply keeps existing, engaged in its own interests. Taking that into account, I don't see why Doom 4's release should reduce the number of future newcomers rather than potentially increase it.

[Pure Hellspawn]

rabidrage said:

I know it's a bit hysterical, but it has occurred to me that with the next Doom being titled simply "Doom", as a reboot of the series, the community of fans who mod, map and play classic Doom will become buried on the internet. I'm sure that those of you who are into it right now will stick around, but how will new people find us? Since Doom 4 even has a streamlined level builder built in, Google will be filled with Doom 4 WADS that push classic Doom wads down into obscurity. How do we keep the dream alive?

The original DOOM series will always be the original DOOM. Period. If anything, it'll probably cause the community to grow. Just like DOOM 3 did.

[Gez]

What happens to this community after Doom 4? Well, the dark lord Flubalapo will rise from the abyss and devour everyone who ever played an id software game.

More seriously I expect Doom 4 to have less of an impact on this community than Doom 3 had. The kind of people who'd be lured away by a more modern game with more modern graphics and more modern gameplay, well, they already left long ago. People who play classic Doom in 2015 do so because they like that game as it is, in all its vintage pixely glory, and regardless of whether or not they'll also play Doom 4 they will continue playing classic Doom.

[Doomkid]

Yeah I'm looking forward to having Doom4 to compliment my mapping urges, but certainly not replace them :)

[RestlessRodent]

Well if there is a rapid influx of Doom 4 users to these forums then a new forum section could be opened containing Doom 4 stuff. Then once all the Doom 4 hype dies down it can all get moved back to a single forum.

[rabidrage]

Gez said:

What happens to this community after Doom 4? Well, the dark lord Flubalapo will rise from the abyss and devour everyone who ever played an id software game.

More seriously I expect Doom 4 to have less of an impact on this community than Doom 3 had. The kind of people who'd be lured away by a more modern game with more modern graphics and more modern gameplay, well, they already left long ago. People who play classic Doom in 2015 do so because they like that game as it is, in all its vintage pixely glory, and regardless of whether or not they'll also play Doom 4 they will continue playing classic Doom.

Well, I definitely prefer the classic gameplay. But anything that ups the graphics and makes it less pixelated actually makes me happy. The second part is why I'm glad source ports exist. The first part is why I'd rather follow this scene than the mainstream scene that only follows official games. Both have evolved, but in my view, taking the original and adding to it is much better than rebuilding from scratch over and over again.

[kmxexii]

the doom community will still be here, making maps and mods for the best damn modding platform in history

[DeltaValkyrie]

Nothing will happen lol

The original Doom will always be something special since it came first. Something that Doom 4 will never be xD

[mrthejoshmon]

We could probably get some fresh meat but nothing important that I would give a shit about.

[Dave The Daring]

rabidrage said:

I know it's a bit hysterical...

Please form an orderly queue.

[VGamingJunkie]

If people wanted a more modern level editor, there are plenty of options to choose from like Hammer for Source and the UDK engine. People stay with (GZ)Doom Builder mainly for its simplicity, there's a benefit to Doom being technically a 2.5-D engine.

[Job]

There will be more

Spoiler

jet pack

revenant memes.

[Chezza]

I suspect a spike of people joining DoomWorld or at least checking it out, possibly out of googling names of creatures, maps and references which would lead them here. Then they will start asking questions with obvious answers, state opinions that differ from the purists and ultimately get shunned out of DW and all will remain the same.

[Lila Feuer]

Doom is all over the internet. It's not going anywhere unless the internet goes first.

[Aaron Blain]

I've been watching the Myth World Cup 2015 lately. Broodwar lost a lot of steam after SC2, but there's still plenty of high-level matches to watch. Warcraft 2 still has a fairly active community. There's new stuff coming out for Age of Kings. There are some Rome Total War projects I'm checking up on several times per week.

Nothing compares to Doom. Where else can you find users expressing their displeasure because a map contains architecture that is insufficiently understated? "Mmmm very cheeky, I say, but aren't the sector toilets a bit gauche in this day and age?"

Title conflation can be a real bitch, though.

[Jon]

I don't think the new Doom will have anywhere near the impact that the classics did, even best case, so there's no risk of the 21 years of accumulated classic doom culture disappearing. It's a juggernaught.

[DoomGater]

Doom(4) will come and six month later Doom(4) will go.
(Classic) Doom will stay.

Doom(4) will bring new forum members. Some of them will be interested in (classic) Doom and will try it out. And very few of them will stay.

[MFG38]

rabidrage said:

Doom 4 WADS

Uh... I'm not so sure Doom 4 maps/mods will be called wads...

[LogicDeLuxe]

Cyanosis said:

Doom is all over the internet. It's not going anywhere unless the internet goes first.

Sadly not true at all. Take a look at this thread: Disappearing history