Strange habits

Do you have any strange habits when playing Doom? Back in the day when I first played the game (shareware), I used to collect all the ammo and guns in the maps by wasting ammo because I wanted to ''clean'' everything. It looked messy when many dead sergeants dropped their shotguns particularly in E1M6 and E1M7. I also liked the pick-up sound when getting their guns. I then stopped doing this since 1999-2000.
Nowadays I have the following habits:

-I use to straferun to the other side of the toxic river (the one that leads to the Supercharge) in E1M4 without any purpose, aswell as doing so in E1M9's exit room but explore the slime tunnel each time because I want 100% everything.

-In E1M8 I open the [unofficial] secret door in the right Baron shell and hit the switch but never use the elevator.

-E2M2 has two single-use elevators that reveal a plasmarifle and supercharge. I use to wait until they raise and hit the switch inside that lowers them down permanently, without any reason.

-I use to take a short step back when I open a door and then rush in.

Can't remember if I have more than these.

I like to stay in movement even when it's not needed, to the extent that I will sometimes miss shots I could have made if I stood still for a second, or I will run around the same places being lost whereas I could have probably puzzled it out if I stopped for a few seconds and studied the automap.

I avoid picking up stuff if part of it would go wasted. So if I have 81 shells and I see a box shells, I first look around to find some monster to shoot and then come back to pick it up. Same goes for all ammo, items, armor, powerups.. Unless I've already cleared the level and going for the exit.. then I just go around the level and collect whatever stuff I left for later, so that my character is all maxed for the next level start.

I have the strange tendency to never use the Plasma Rifle until I'm absolutely certain something horrible is about to happen, so in many levels I end up never using it at all.

Humping walls that look a little different than the rest, even if they're usually just decoration.

Going over an item even if I'm already full of that particular ammo / health / armor.

Avoid using RL, PG, and BFG even if I have plenty of ammo for it just in case I'll need it later. Usually ends up not being the case.

I glide into the exit while playing Map16, even if I have the red key. Often, this takes numerous tries, but I really don't care, it's just fun to do. That's all I can think of off of the top of my head.

Jimi said:

...if I have 81 shells and I see a box shells, I first look around to find some monster to shoot and then come back to pick it up.

It's not strange, it's sensible :)

If find a berserk pack in deathmatch, I'll ignore all other weapons and run around haplessly trying to punch everybody, especially when it's detrimental to my success.

Well if you count this as a strange habit...

I always open up XWE and look at the maps of megawads (without the grid so I can see the bare-bone structure more clearly) for inspiration on map structures. I've looked through Memento Mori, Memento Mori II, Requiem, Icarus: Alien Vanguard, Alien Vendetta, Cleimos II, etc. countless times. I really, really love looking at maps like this if even just for fun.

I try to collect every item, going as far as hurting myself for medkits.

I seem to compulsively check the automap sometimes. It's quite annoying, as I can find myself in the middle of an intense "dance-of-death" style firefight and after an enemy falls I may randomly open up the map just to see what direction I want to advance in next... even if there's still enemies there in close combat... and even if I know full well where I'm going. No idea what gets me doing it, but once I've started it takes a conscious effort to stop.

I also tend to dance on the spot by tapping A and D when in a close-quarters fight and needing to get ready to dodge, as if making the direction of their attack relative to my centre harder to predict magically makes it easier for me to dodge. :\

I also find myself going to some lengths to search out secrets, as if I'd somehow be missing out if I didn't get them all. This may even involve a quick trip to Doom Builder to work out what trick or clue I'm not seeing, but rarely. I'm alright as long as I've got a relatively high amount (say 1/2 or 2/4 could be enough, but 4/8 wouldn't seem as good, even though it's the same percentage).


Otherwise I'd deem most of what I do just fine, if sometimes a bit slow, stupid or flamboyant (pirouetting through a crowd of imps whilst dodging their fireballs just to get to the centre of the room whilst shotgunning a particular imp is surprisingly common...)

i slam myself into walls all the way when riding elevators or waiting for somehing to happen. dunno why, probably my utter disgust at the lack of action.

dew said:

i slam myself into walls all the way when riding elevators or waiting for somehing to happen. dunno why, probably my utter disgust at the lack of action.

Haha. I usually activate the lift then go grab an item and see if I can time it. Sometimes that just ends up wasting more time though :X.

I always like to take all ammo, or turning monsters to gibs by shooting barrels. Somtimes I also found it funny by punching monsters into flying gibs high above using cheats, I always done it in Doom 2 map15.

I usually map using as few sectors as possible. I'll almost always use extra vertices to manipulate the shapes of the rooms I'm working on before I start adding sectors. If I've got a room with multiple inset computer terminals with the same floor and ceiling height, I just merge em all together. My maps feel cleaner to me that way.

When playing in Zdoom or Skulltag I usually crouches right after opening a door so I can pass it more quickly. I'm very anxious, and waiting the whole door to open makes me fell that there is something wrong with it.

40oz said:

If I've got a room with multiple inset computer terminals with the same floor and ceiling height, I just merge em all together. My maps feel cleaner to me that way.

I do the opposite.. if I see any sectors that are merged together, I go around disjoining them. Only exception is traps and stuff like that, that need to be merged to some sector outside the play area, but even them I always try to place as close to the sector in the play area.

I'll avoid to the best of my abilities picking up ammo, health, or armour if I'm not able to get the full effects of them (because that particular thing is closer to max capacity than the pickup in question has in restoration ability).

Phobus said:

I seem to compulsively check the automap sometimes. It's quite annoying, as I can find myself in the middle of an intense "dance-of-death" style firefight and after an enemy falls I may randomly open up the map just to see what direction I want to advance in next... even if there's still enemies there in close combat... and even if I know full well where I'm going. No idea what gets me doing it, but once I've started it takes a conscious effort to stop.

Me too. I also nearly always force the automap to be fully zoomed out, and even when I'm pretty sure it is I still press 0 when I open it just to be on the safe side. :P

Jimi said:

I avoid picking up stuff if part of it would go wasted. So if I have 81 shells and I see a box shells, I first look around to find some monster to shoot and then come back to pick it up. Same goes for all ammo, items, armor, powerups.. Unless I've already cleared the level and going for the exit.. then I just go around the level and collect whatever stuff I left for later, so that my character is all maxed for the next level start.

This.
Dunno if it's strange, but I do it all the time. And I'm especially annoyed if I'm forced to pick up stuff I don't need.
"Lessee, I have to step across this 100-cell pack in order to proceed, and I've got... 595 cells. Damn."
(Dear map makers: Please don't force players to pick up big stuff or really useful powerups. Thanks. ;)

ASD said:

-I use to take a short step back when I open a door and then rush in.

Some people call this "door blazing." It gives you a slight speed advantage during a speedrun and it gives you a better look at the hazards behind the door during normal play.

Phml said:

I like to stay in movement even when it's not needed, to the extent that I will sometimes miss shots I could have made if I stood still for a second

Staying in constant motion is a good tactic, as it gives you some protection from projectile monsters. Even if you think you've cleaned the area there could be one you've missed.

Jimi said:

I avoid picking up stuff if part of it would go wasted. So if I have 81 shells and I see a box shells, I first look around to find some monster to shoot and then come back to pick it up. Same goes for all ammo, items, armor, powerups.. Unless I've already cleared the level and going for the exit.. then I just go around the level and collect whatever stuff I left for later, so that my character is all maxed for the next level start.

PRIMEVAL said:

Humping walls that look a little different than the rest, even if they're usually just decoration.

Careful ammo-preservation and secret-hunting leave your ammo and health in better shape, which promotes long-term survival.

In other words, if you want us to think you're strange you'll have to do better than that.

Staying in constant motion is a good tactic, as it gives you some protection from projectile monsters. Even if you think you've cleaned the area there could be one you've missed.

Most of the time. Sometimes, it's objectively useless and even detrimental. Don't make me dug up any of the numerous demos where I look foolish due to such a mistake just to prove that. :)

I sometimes get fancy when dodging and screw up, if that counts for a bad habit. I also add a little bit of mouse movement when I strafe out of the way of fireballs etc., doesn't really help much but it's instinctual. I've also taken to shaking the mouse to express frustration in an fda. Probably just makes it worse to watch heheh.

I also make really symmetrical rooms when mapping. Not layouts, just rooms. I can't make those crazy interconnected maps a lot of people seem able to do. Has something to do with my reasoning that every room has a purpose I can explain, even if it doesn't come through when playing.

I suppose I do 'Door Blazing' as well, that's the only thing I can think of that might seem odd to a spectator.

If we're talking about mapping too, then I just consider my entire mapping career as a collection of strange habits :P

Door blazing. I always was doing that and most doomers I guess. Interesting fact is that I never learned it by watching someone else play, it just came natural to me when trying to play fast.

Wasting ammo to collect ammo. I used to do it in the past too but it gets boring. Nowadays like others, I like to preserve ammo, trying not to trip on a shotgun shell if I have 99 shells for example or even worse trip in shotgun shell box. I hate when I waste 19 of them :P

When I play a new MegaWAD I want at least for the first few levels to find all secrets. I usually idbehold map to see what I am missing. If one makes it too hard, I'll open Doombuilder to understand how to trigger it. Much later I am bored doing this and so I miss some of the secrets.

I used to like making the Revenant homing missiles my satellite bitches.

ASD said:
-In E1M8 I open the [unofficial] secret door in the right Baron shell and hit the switch but never use the elevator.

Wow, I never knew this one existed. Wow!

Not overtly strange, but I get very irritated when my weapon frame gets locked into an off-centre position whilst firing. I will immediately release the trigger, regardless of any immediate threat, and allow the weapon to readjust itself before resumption.

If the wad I've just finished leaves me with spare rockets for Map02, I like to reduce these guys to piles of mush.



I also like to reveal every part of the map in the automap and not leave any ammo behind, even if it means trying to kill the nearest wall.

A testing session of my strife project always descends to me running around my town map slaughtering all of the peasants.

In zdoom on the ultimate doom e1m1 I keep trying to jump out of the window, not only in the starting room, but in the room where you receive the green armour - completely forgetting that I can't.