DOOM: The Immersive Battlefield

Laurel Planas

The classic FPS, or “First-Person Shooter”, Doom, was not among the first of its kind to fully immerse gamers in its admittedly violent world. However, it is considered a groundbreaking game due to several elements that set it apart from its predessessors. Updated graphics, the ability to explore, “secret” items and levels, less repetitive gameplay, a modern soundtrack that fit the times, a system that was easily modded, and a seductively hardcore sensibility made Doom a much-revered game that is still played and released today.

XBOX Arcade Live Trailer:

Video Games | DOOM | Xbox Live Arcade Trailer

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

“Press Start To Play” podcast: Doom. Includes some interesting history.



The plot of Doom is simple: you play an unnamed Marine whose only mission is to exterminate the legions of Hell with extreme prejudice. While the settings and enemies seem fanciful, the gameplay has a strong militaristic bent to it. Emphasis is put on how well the player can move about the battlefield, how fast they can assess a situation and react, and how accurate they can be with their shots. Doom quickly became popular due to its exciting, fast paced gameplay, as well for its customizable coding. Players could make their own versions of Doom, changing the enemies to Storm Troopers or Simpsons characters and creating their own maps. There were multiple homemade modified versions of Doom, from Super Mario Bros. themed maps to eerily accurate layouts of high schools and colleges.

Unsurprisingly, Doom attracted much controversy when it was released, due to its violent gameplay and highly moddable engine. The fact that it was a game considered to be attractive to school shooters attracted the attention of the media, as well as parents.

It also attracted the attention of the US Military, who saw it as a new venue for training. The US Military had a history of keeping tabs on gamers, especially those that played militaristic games such as Battlezone and the Castle Wolfenstein series. In Ed Halter’s book From Sun Tzu to XBOX: War And Video Games, he details how the military sought to attract gamers to their ranks through the medium they loved the most. Gamers were wanted for their heightened observation and reaction skills, which had been honed in the arcades and at home.

The military often used “recruitment games” that mimicked popular games such as Wolfenstein or Battlezone. With the release of Doom, however, the military began to look at games as a way to train their own people as well. Doom’s moddable engine allowed the military to create their own scenarios, leading to the creation of Marine Doom, a mod campaign created by four military officers. Unlike Doom’s solo-centric gameplay, its emphasis was on teamwork and cooperation. Players had to rely on each other in order to survive—powerups were completely removed, as were the futuristic weaponry. It was later released to the public, certainly as another attempt to entice gamers into joining up. Interestingly enough, it was also played by businessmen and office workers as a kind of teamwork exercise.

“Marine Doom” Campaign being played by management consultants:



Looking at Halter’s findings, it is interesting to see how the military used a source of interactive entertainment as a way of furthering its goals. The military’s relationship with the gaming world is one that extends further back then one realizes, right back to the pinball era of gaming. It’s a sobering thought, especially when “war games” and FPS franchises are still being made today. Doom helped usher in a whole new era of gaming—but at the same time, it brought the military further into the gamer’s world.