Slashdot Asks: What's Your Favorite Doom Story?

I remember loading Doom for the first time from a 3.5-inch disk back in 1994. In 1997 the source code for Doom's Linux version was released just before Christmas. A hidden Doom level appeared in Microsoft Excel, and a Doom video was also used to promote Windows 95. By 2004 a drummer from Nine Inch Nails was recording the theme song for Doom 3...

There was that weird movie with The Rock and Karl Urban. Last year Doom was inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame. This January John Romero created a new level, and this weekend's release of a new Doom also featured a mod with one of the the original Doom II levels from 1994.

After a storied history, millions of frags, and thousands of hours of in-world gameplay, Doom holds a unique place in both the history of gaming and geeks. So share your favorite stories in the comments. What's your personal best-loved story about Doom?

Comments

I paid for a 10 floppy distribution of the source

[Cyberax]

I remember paying my month's worth of pocket money back when I was at school to get a book which described the inner workings of Doom. It came with 10 floppies with the Doom source code and tools.

Incidentally, the book was quite good. It described in details the BSP algorithm used to compute the visible areas, fixed point math and the way Doom used non-standard VGA modes to do backbuffer flips. This book got me started on computer graphics (though I haven't used it much in my career).

Re:Can an ad be more blatant?

[UnknownSoldier]

Well Doom and Quake were the (3D) killer apps that drove thousands (millions?) of gamers to upgrade their hardware. 386 to 486 in the case of Doom, and 486 to Pentium along with the 3Dfx graphcis card in the case of Quake.

While Wolf3d and Duke3D are an important part of gaming history, no other shooters even come close to the same impact as Doom + Quake which defines the FPS genre for decades. (Although Counter-Strike deserves a honorable mention.)

Re:Can an ad be more blatant?

[stealth_finger]

Because there's a new one out obviously. Just talking about a thing that exists doesn't make advertising.

Marathon

[Pfhorrest]

My favorite Doom story is about when Bungie released a much better game around the same time.