Opinion: DOOM is Exactly as Violent and Bloody as It Should Be

[Correal]

As stated before the execution animations will get old fast and the chainsaw looked to be a set auto kill animation in use. Hope it's not that way in the release version or at least some sort of option to disable them. The yellow filter in use though has to go as it ruins the looks of just about everything. I like my colours

 

[Skatologist]

... who said it was too violent? Well, other than She Who Shalt Not Be Named And Who Feeds Off Our Negative Energy? It didn't seem bloody enough to me. It was also too dark, needed to be brighter.The executions will get very tiresome as well. They need to come up with a way to do executions while still moving. Maybe lunging at a demon and using its face as a blood slick?

Well bloody =/= violent necessarily so I'm not sure why you're thinking it isn't violent enough. Many people criticized the palette. I was honestly surprised how Hell had looked so...plain.

And here's your daily reminder, it's games like DOOM that make certain people feel the "gamer" label can not apply to them because they don't enjoy FPSs that focus solely/primarily on killing.

snip

As for you, I'll leave the words of former staff member/EIC right here:

[tweet t=https://twitter.com/SusanArendt/status/610333540660543489]

[tweet t=https://twitter.com/SusanArendt/status/610334074373148672]


Needless to say I don't share your opinion on this. Whether it be the line of "global gaming self censorship", setting back the industry for not enjoying DOOM, bringing back boogiemen like Jack Thompson, or essentially saying "you're allowed to critique this new DOOM, but only if you're a fan of old DOOM", I'm no fan of this piece. That last one seems most ironic since you seem to want to get away from that gamer stereotype, yet when some within the industry don't have your opinion, well obviously they shouldn't be accepted within the industry in your eyes.

Despite criticisms people have levied at the new DOOM so far, some of which were beyond your view of people crying "ze violence!" some of which are also my own, I'm taking the stance of staff member [user]The Wooster[/user] and remaining optimistic for the game.

 

[lacktheknack]

People keep talking about the "Controversy around the old DOOM"...

...I'm sorry, WHAT controversy around the old DOOM? I'm pretty sure the mythical Nude Raider made a bigger stink than the original DOOM.

 

[teh_Canape]

... who said it was too violent? Well, other than She Who Shalt Not Be Named And Who Feeds Off Our Negative Energy? It didn't seem bloody enough to me. It was also too dark, needed to be brighter.The executions will get very tiresome as well. They need to come up with a way to do executions while still moving. Maybe lunging at a demon and using its face as a blood slick?

Well bloody =/= violent necessarily so I'm not sure why you're thinking it isn't violent enough. Many people criticized the palette. I was honestly surprised how Hell had looked so...plain.

Hell looked very much like more of an alternate dimension (which is what Hell is supposed to be in Doom canon) than, well, hell itself
but yeah it was very off-looking
hell, it was more like the fucking Fade from DA3, though I do wonder who goes around setting up all those chandeliers and carving those hell baron statues

 

[Something Amyss]

Anyone remember that episode of the Simpsons where Bart joins a boy band? For some reason, I'm reminded of the promoter trying to stir up controversy by telling everyone the Principal was against it.

People keep talking about the "Controversy around the old DOOM"...

...I'm sorry, WHAT controversy around the old DOOM? I'm pretty sure the mythical Nude Raider made a bigger stink than the original DOOM.

For basically that reason. The controversy surrounding Doom seems largely to be people disproportionately claiming their was controversy around Doom.

 

[Ihateregistering1]

People keep talking about the "Controversy around the old DOOM"...

...I'm sorry, WHAT controversy around the old DOOM? I'm pretty sure the mythical Nude Raider made a bigger stink than the original DOOM.

For basically that reason. The controversy surrounding Doom seems largely to be people disproportionately claiming their was controversy around Doom.

Being the old fart that I am, I know when the original Doom came out there really wasn't much controversy besides its use of Satanic symbolism, but that was basically the same people who complained that Magic: The Gathering was Demonic (ie. a really tiny minority). Doom came to the front page a whole lot more when the rumor got spread that Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris (the Columbine shooters) had created a Doom level of their high school to 'practice' for their massacre, and some rumor got spread that they had written or talked about committing the massacre and said it would be "just like Doom".

From what I've heard, neither story was actually true, but that didn't stop it from sending the usual suspects into a tizzy.

 

[teh_Canape]

It is not violent enough...

Come on, Quake 4 and Prey did more!!!

nah mate
Quake 4 was gory, but Prey was downright fucked up, jesus christ

 

[ryan_cs]

Graphics look pretty shit. But... Yeuy DOOM. People are still complaining about too much violence?

The graphics look great, it's aesthetics that look pretty shit.

OT: There were people that complained about the violence? Where? (Actually, now that I think about it, I don't want to know.)

 

[Infernal Lawyer]

I'm guessing that this video was shown the main stage at E3, which might explain why people who "aren't fans of Doom" might be complaining about it.

Anyway, my feelings are mixed. They're entitled to their opinion, though of course everyone else is entitled to THEIR opinion about their opinion. That and... well, it's not like this is anything new, is it? We've had blood and gore and execution scenes before.

Still, I have to laugh at the guy whining about "people cheering at the sight of bodies being cut in half." Er, even ignoring the fact that it's a GAME... we're talking about motherfucking DEMONS here. Are we REALLY protesting against violence towards the spawn of Satan?

 

[Something Amyss]

Being the old fart that I am, I know when the original Doom came out there really wasn't much controversy besides its use of Satanic symbolism, but that was basically the same people who complained that Magic: The Gathering was Demonic (ie. a really tiny minority). Doom came to the front page a whole lot more when the rumor got spread that Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris (the Columbine shooters) had created a Doom level of their high school to 'practice' for their massacre, and some rumor got spread that they had written or talked about committing the massacre and said it would be "just like Doom".

From what I've heard, neither story was actually true, but that didn't stop it from sending the usual suspects into a tizzy.

Yeah, I played the original Doom when it was new (ish) both on PC and (later) SNES. There were the usual questions of violent video games, but nothing really above and beyond.

One of the Columbine kids did make Doom levels, but there's been no evidence of the levels that resemble the school. It was, far as we can tell, a myth based on the existence of modified Doom levels. But it's an appealing myth, so it persists. Much like the epic controversy of Doom.

 

[LetalisK]

For basically that reason. The controversy surrounding Doom seems largely to be people disproportionately claiming their was controversy around Doom.

It's because we take social media, Twitter being the most apparent platform, far too seriously and exaggerate its impact. I feel like most gaming controversies in the past few years can be traced back to this principle.

 

[Strazdas]

I would like to thank the Escapist for clearly labeling these opinion pieces as opinion instead of news. This is very good.

Graphics look pretty shit.

How so? idTech 6 is looking pretty impressive, if you ask me. Certainly no less than what I've seen thus far from engines like Unreal 4, Frostbite 4, etc.

Personally i think it looks pretty bad due to lack of color palette. Some fans already took a few demons and colored them with more bright colors and they look much better that way. Its just too yellow-brown, really. Yeah, idTech 6 is pretty good engine there, its more the developers choices that look "pretty shitty"

 

[teh_Canape]

It is not violent enough...

Come on, Quake 4 and Prey did more!!!

nah mate
Quake 4 was gory, but Prey was downright fucked up, jesus christ

I dont care. I want more of that.

I want to feel sick when playing it.

Also Quake 4 took violence to a crowd pleaser level... so much ways to desecrate the human body...

yeah, the Strogg looked very messy for a cybernetic/AI driven species, you'd think they would be more practical, especially on the conversion process
the "massive doses of steroids" is neat and all but it doesn't stop the possibility that some soldiers might bleed out during the process and fuck up the strogg plans/flow

 

[MetalGenocide]

Opinion on the footage so far:

+/- Weaponwheel? Um, ok. I imagine it's for consoles.
+/- Snapmap. Like many things, it's quite up in the air. Hopefully, it will lead to a ton of good user created content.
+/- Crosshairs seemed set per weapon. Would definitely like to be able to set them universally.

- Despite looking big and vertical, there really wasn't anything to suggest the player can traverse up/down floors freely.
Except for a few tailored places. Thus it seemed linear. Really shouldn't be the case.
- Far too much sickly yellow. Even in areas with no molten metal. Needs more FIRE....and well... every other color.
- Teleportation/warping/summoning in of imps looks terrible, Doom 3 nailed it.
- NO ROCK/METAL OST. Some transformers industrial/techno shyte instead.
- Executions are mostly not mobile. Chainsaw paralyzes you. One must be able to run around and slash with it.
- Weapons seem very same-ish in visual design. Too much metal, needs more lights and such.
They sounded weak, and impotent too.
- Supershotty is only double-barreled. C'mon, it's 2015, QUAD-barreled is the bare minimum.
- Weapons appear only in the right hand. Was actually expecting to see them held in the middle.
- Hell looks more like a cultist infested mountain top than hell. Too. Much. Sickly. Yellow. WhereTF is the fire?
And no, fire in braziers does not count.
No disturbing crying/wailing ambiance. Or gruesomely torn bodies/crucifixions.
- Too few monsters in number. Hoping that is absolutely NOT the case in the final release. Please don't let it be....

+ No usable key cards in sight. Thank goodness. It was always a bothersome and obsolete mechanic. Ripping out arms fits perfectly.
It would make even more sense if we could just blow the obstructions/doors up.
+ Weapon upgrades ala Quake4(shotgun gains burstfire).
+ Dismemberment seems to be heading in the right direction.
+ Jetpack.
+ Enemies drop ammo. Most likely ate the people who had it. +1 for making sense.
+ Imps, are agile and throw fireballs on the move. Hell knights bull-rush. Cloaked pinkies!
+ The player can climb stuff.
+ "A boot to the head!"(zombie in facility and hell) "Eat your heart out!"(mancubus)
+ Design on the marine armor(especially arms) looks perfect.
+ NO WEAPON RELOADING.
+ Interactive panels are sexy as fuck.
+ Gory death when failing.
+ Railgun.
+ Explosive barrels! Would be great if there were other destructibles.
And even better if they can be picked up and thrown.

 

[Joos]

That trailer looks pretty rad. I'll play that for sure. I don't think that level of violence is particularly extreme, especially since it's all fantasy violence anyway.

 

[slacker2]

Nah not my criticism at least. My criticism are those forced pre-animated executions. Those are going to get SO tedious after a while, and it seems very disruptive to fast paced gameplay that you have to stop and watch the same execution animation over and over, and you just know you're going to get bored of seeing it after the 1000th time. It's the sort of thing that only impresses in trailers.

Also, from what I could tell, those execution animations are ALL THE CHAINSAW DOES. You can't rev up the chainsaw and run around cutting people up? Are you kidding me? The Chainsaw is a "watch this execution animation" weapon and it looks tedious as all hell.

And one last thing, I'm not a fan of this decolored/desaturated look that's going on. I can't quite put my finger on it, but there's a certain dulling of hue ala Man of Steel that just looks really bad. I guess they're trying to go for some photorealistic look but it's just drab.

Yesss thank you! They could have at least taken a cue from shadow warrior and let the player chop up enemies instead of forcing us to slog through what is essentially a glorified quicktime event. This game looks so sloooow

 

[Encaen]

[tweet t=https://twitter.com/SusanArendt/status/610333540660543489]

[tweet t=https://twitter.com/SusanArendt/status/610334074373148672]

I think perhaps I didn't adequately elucidate my point here, and I apologize for any misunderstanding. I wholeheartedly agree with Susan's sentiment here. We are a diverse group of people, and we *should* have different tastes in games. What we shouldn't be doing, however, is vilifying a developer (much less an entire fanbase) for not sharing your tastes. Some of those public reactions (some from very prominent, mainstream-recognized names) didn't say 'this isn't for me." They said "this shouldn't be for anybody." That's never okay.

 

[Something Amyss]

It's because we take social media, Twitter being the most apparent platform, far too seriously and exaggerate its impact. I feel like most gaming controversies in the past few years can be traced back to this principle.

Yeah, but I'm not sure how the original Doom got retconned into that. ihateregistering is correct in pointing out the overall lack of response when Doom dropped originally. There were a few "think of the children" groups, but you do not see this sort of response from the other properties they targeted. Even other game series--Pokémon, for example--which received similar levels of controversy did not see this sort of retroactive claim.

Some of those public reactions (some from very prominent, mainstream-recognized names) didn't say 'this isn't for me." They said "this shouldn't be for anybody." That's never okay.

Such as? Can you cite specific instances, preferably with links and/or direct quotes?

 

[kimiyoribaka]

Reading this article made me want to look up the word "violent". Honestly, that's not a word I've ever associated with Doom. Yes, it had violence, but was that really important? I guess it was significant that it showed creatures reacting in a believable way to being shot, but that's only in comparison to earlier games like duke nukem. My memories have faded over that last 20 years, but as a kid I mainly remember doom as just another one of the interesting challenges on my computer.

Regarding, that trailer though, I got the feeling of more over-emphasis on graphics (id being id I guess). Sure you have a lot of bits flying everywhere, but not much about the types of cool guns to use or the interesting environmental hazards or even much clear shots of the enemies to face. So yeah, it didn't give me the feeling of Doom at all.

 

[Encaen]

Some of those public reactions (some from very prominent, mainstream-recognized names) didn't say 'this isn't for me." They said "this shouldn't be for anybody." That's never okay.

Such as? Can you cite specific instances, preferably with links and/or direct quotes?

Absolutely, and I applaud a healthy dose of skepticism! https://twitter.com/femfreq/status/610271596675117056

"really troubling (and depressing) that audience is enthusiastically cheering..."
Which is exactly the same as "really troubling (and depressing) that audience [likes something I don't like]"

"troubling (and depressing)" suggests that the people who enjoy something that she doesn't enjoy is causing some kind of emotional trauma. Causing emotional trauma is universally recognized as a bad thing. Hence suggesting that people enjoying something she does not enjoy is a bad thing.

Good - "I'm not into this trailer. It's too violent for me."
Bad - "I'm not into this trailer, and other people enjoying it causes me emotional trauma."

I hope that makes sense, but even if you still disagree with my sentiment, I promise that I won't suggest that it causes me any kind of trauma.