Map names I don't realize

I know they're just names and don't matter anything but wonder how the designers came up with these following names for maps:

Doom1 - E3M9: Warrens

Doom2 - MAP04: The Focus, MAP17: Tenements

TNT - MAP05: Hanger, MAP06: Open Season (strange name for a processing themed level), MAP10: Redemption, MAP26: Ballistyx

Plutonia - MAP07: Caughtyard, MAP12: Speed, MAP18: Neurosphere, MAP27: Anti-Christ, MAP29: Odyssey of Noises
(There are other strange map names but I don't feel up to list them all)

Heretic - E4M3: Ambulatory, E5M5: Hydratyr

Note that English isn't my native language so I don't know if some of these names are puns or jokes.

Warrens

Tenements

Ballistyx (Ballistics)

Ambulatory

Hydratyr


Honestly, most of the map names don't hold any real meanings (they can be made up), or if they do, the maps don't necessarily look like what the map name implies. Of the ones you posted, I think Caughtyard (a wordplay on Courtyard, perhaps), Neurosphere, Hanger (a play on Doom's "Hangar"?), and Hydratyr aren't actual words or correspond to actual places. Of all the map names though, "Oddysey of Noises" I find to be the most interesting.

Warrens is pretty self explanatory.

'The Focus', for me, symbolizes fighting in a narrow spaced corridors and generally being compressed and somewhat under pressure by the map/evil forces... so somewhat along evil focusing it's perverted reality on you.

Could also be just that it sounded cool to Gee.

I thought "Hangar" was the proper spelling for "En Garde", and I found it very fitting for the first map to be called like that.

Just what is "Command Control"? Sounds too cumbersome: control of command? WTF? Was it meant to be "Command & Control"?

Both "Command Control" and "Central Processing" sound like computing/automatic system terms. Then Doom 3 comes with two maps called "CPU". Is there a human (bureaucratic) equivalent to machinery that has the CPU name?

"Computer Station". WTF. Do they only have computers there?

"Containment Area". I don't know how to interpret and translate this one. Wiktionary says that "containment" is "3. a physical system designed to prevent the accidental release of radioactive or other dangerous materials from a nuclear reactor or industrial plant" so I assume the boxes contain bad stuff.

"Spawning Vats". I always thought the vats are responsible for materializing the two tower maps (E2M8 and E2M9). There's a yellow matter moving from the dome-like building to the two evil towers.

"Warrens" sounds like those holes in the skull tower...

I know the following are from the bible and I know the verses but:

"They Will Repent". Who will repent? The wretched demons?

"And Hell Followed". Where did it follow? Into its own defeat (cue Doom 2 and soon UDoom ending) or into the cities (cue Doom 2 climax)?

"Unto the Cruel". The cruel boss of the episode?

"The Gantlet". I always found gauntlet/gantlet (when not a glove) to have a nasty meaning. It totally fits with the main Chaingunner yard.

"Nirvana". The definition sounds frighteningly similar to an euphemism for death. Dead people don't suffer at all.

"Barrels o' Fun". Is there an amusement park ride called like this?

"Monster Condo". I know what's a condo, but before I knew, I thought I was supposed to encounter a big yeti-like powerful undocumented boss. In any case, the map is a monster.

"The Living End". What does it mean?? It sounds poetic. It makes me think of an intense/climactic ending, which fits with the following MAP30.

Interestingly, before I played them I noticed (thru BOOMDEH.TXT) how TNT.WAD has mostly military/technological names, while PLUTONIA.WAD has rather mystical/demonic names.

I've always just taken TNT's "Hanger" as the blatant misspelling it is. That's a rather unfortunately common mistake.

Regarding "The Living End", I've always seen it as a neat twist on the common phrase "dead end". Take that as you will for the penultimate map. :P

printz said:

Just what is "Command Control"? Sounds too cumbersome: control of command? WTF? Was it meant to be "Command & Control"?

Command Control isn't a location, it's an order! Now get to it :P

caughtyard? because the map feels like that, you're caught in a square yard with mancubi, and chaingunners sniping from the walls.

open season? hunting season for imps and other critters.

neurosphere? a nightmare in the player's mind?

many maps in doom don't look much like what they're supposed to be anyway, or have names that just sound cool.

Some names could refer to something like the E4 map names.

Doom Wikia:
''Kurt Cobain, the leader of popular rock band Nirvana, died by committing suicide with a shotgun blast the same year Doom II was released, and since a double-barrel shotgun is found at the first sector, it may be somewhat of an homage of that event.'' (MAP21)

Some of the Heretic maps are named after a minor section of the map like E5M4: Courtyard which has a small outdoor area at the end. This makes one think that they gave the names for their maps after they got finished. Propably they didn't plan the names and themes beforehand for those maps. Also E3M6 (The Halls of Fear) has an unfitting name. The map is bright and reminds me of a swimming hall or bathhouse, like the other E3 Maps.

ASD said:

Doom Wikia:

Don't use the old Wikia version of the Doom wiki. Use the doomwiki.org version - this is the new, properly maintained site that the community moved to.

''Kurt Cobain, the leader of popular rock band Nirvana, died by committing suicide with a shotgun blast the same year Doom II was released, and since a double-barrel shotgun is found at the first sector, it may be somewhat of an homage of that event.'' (MAP21)

Sounds like bullshit speculation by a Nirvana fan that should be removed from the page. In fact, I just checked and it's already been removed from the new wiki.

printz said:

I thought "Hangar" was the proper spelling for "En Garde"

lol

'Hangar' comes from Frankish 'haimgard' and would basically be "ham yard" (using ham in the meaning of village/town, like in Birmingham; not in the meaning of delicious pork). Just a communal area to store stuff.

'En garde' comes directly from French and means basically 'in defense', as a way to tell someone to assume a defensive position to get ready for the fight.

printz said:

Just what is "Command Control"? Sounds too cumbersome: control of command? WTF? Was it meant to be "Command & Control"?

Both "Command Control" and "Central Processing" sound like computing/automatic system terms. Then Doom 3 comes with two maps called "CPU". Is there a human (bureaucratic) equivalent to machinery that has the CPU name?

Processing can be of anything. It's just the act of making stuff follow a process. I mean, a microprocessor processes instructions, but at the same time, SPAM is processed meat. "Central Processing" sounds industrial, as it's the place where the various resources are affected towards the various departments that need them.

"Command" in military jargon refers to "secondary headquarters". Like the UAC would have had Mars Command (where the marine was stationed), Phobos Command and Deimos Command; and their HQ is on Earth. "Command Control" sounds like the place where the local command can control the local facilities; sending messages to the intercom, emergency switches for cutting or rerouting power, etc.

Xaser said:

I've always just taken TNT's "Hanger" as the blatant misspelling it is. That's a rather unfortunately common mistake.

You mean, it's not the place where UAC personnel suspend their coats? :p

I think the whole building of "Computer Station" might be some sort of a large, bizarrely shaped supercomputer.

"Odyssey of Noises" is the biggest (geometrically) and longest (timewise) map in Plutonia (so "it surely was an odyssey", as Peo wrote), and represents a noisy town.

For me it's harder to realize names like "Limbo" or "Impossible Mission". Limbo is the first circle of hell, but in Doom, a map with such name is placed right before the last circle called "Dis". And Plutonia MAP22 is obviously way too easy for its name, even easier than many other levels in Final Doom.

printz said:
Both "Command Control" and "Central Processing" sound like computing/automatic system terms. Then Doom 3 comes with two maps called "CPU". Is there a human (bureaucratic) equivalent to machinery that has the CPU name?

In Doom3 they refer to an actual physical CPU that runs the Mars base.

"Computer Station". WTF. Do they only have computers there?

Probably

"Containment Area". I don't know how to interpret and translate this one. Wiktionary says that "containment" is "3. a physical system designed to prevent the accidental release of radioactive or other dangerous materials from a nuclear reactor or industrial plant" so I assume the boxes contain bad stuff.

That is correct, but I would speculate that it was just a pun based on "container" due to the large number of crates. It also sounds more exotic than "Warehouse"

So how about TNT map23 "Lunar Mining Project"? The map do looks like a spaceship or something. And E1M9 Military Base? I can't see any tanks!

I used to think a warren was some kind of military storage outpost as that was the impression Doom gave me of the name.

fraggle said:

Sounds like bullshit speculation by a Nirvana fan that should be removed from the page.

You seem rather offended that someone made that speculation :)

So you have a shotgun in a sector and that's about enough to link it to some douche who blew his brains out. Think about it.

That really isn't all that different from suggesting the Mancubus might be a tribute to El Duce.

Makes sense to me! On a related note, I always thought it was pretty tasteless to for id to pay homage to the World Trade Center bombing in the original Doom by including explosive barrels.

Daiyu_Xiaoxiang said:

So how about TNT map23 "Lunar Mining Project"?

Most of TNT is set on a moon of Jupiter, so I guess any mining they do would be lunar by default.

printz said:

"And Hell Followed". Where did it follow?

In the Revelation it followed Death, so the name could be taken to mean that the Doomguy's like death incarnate to the demons.

printz said:

"The Living End". What does it mean?? It sounds poetic.

It was used in an episode of The Simpsons to mean "the life of the party," but given that the speaker was a gay cliche, that might be a reference to the film instead of being real slang. But then again, the film's title might be based on the slang.

Anyway, I've noticed some dissonance between Plutonia map 6 and its name: Baron's Lair contains no Baron of Hell.

Porsche Monty said:

So you have a shotgun in a sector and that's about enough to link it to some douche who blew his brains out. Think about it.

Even if it wasn't intentional it's still kind of a funny coincidence.

There's also a hanging corpse not far from the shotgun.
Hanging = suicide metaphor.

Has anyone tried to play the music backwards yet? ;)

Splatter said:

Anyway, I've noticed some dissonance between Plutonia map 6 and its name: Baron's Lair contains no Baron of Hell.

I think the Guardian mentioned in the intermission text after MAP06 (Plutonia's first cyberdemon) has the Baron title.

Vordakk said:

You seem rather offended that someone made that speculation :)

Well, I wouldn't really say offended. It's annoying though when people use a source of information like the Doom wiki, or Wikipedia, and abuse it to promote their pet theory that they probably thought up in the shower one morning. Ultimately I kind of see it like a form of vandalism of the page, though the suggestion that MAP21 includes a shotgun as some kind of sick tribute to Kurt Cobain's suicide is a particularly repellent notion.

I agree that putting your stupid notions up there is vandalism and should be kept out of sites like this. But I think a "sick tribute" like that wouldn't be too far of Romero's and the other guys' sense of humor, especially at that time.

Yeah, I wouldn't be at all surprised if there was some truth to that wacky speculation.

But there's a shotgun in basically every map.

Quite clearly every map is a tribute to Kurt Cobain. Especially the maps made before his suicide.

esselfortium said:

But there's a shotgun in basically every map.

Well it's right at the beginning. And the map is named Nirvana. There are some other slight things you could pick out though that might be too far into crazy conspiracy territory.

I don't think anyone is saying id went and said "let's make a map that's just one stupid Kurt Cobain joke". I'm just saying I wouldn't be surprised if maybe they'd already named the map Nirvana and Sandy was starting it and maybe Romero was behind him like "hey this map is named Nirvana why don't we put a shotgun right as you start the map" and Sandy's like "lololololololololololol".

Also,

There's also a double shotgun immediately at the beginning of The Waste Tunnels, Bloodfalls, and The Abandoned Mines, and there's a standard shotgun at the beginning of The Factory, Industrial Zone, and The Catacombs. So what? :P

DuckReconMajor said:

Well it's right at the beginning. And the map is named Nirvana. There are some other slight things you could pick out though that might be too far into crazy conspiracy territory.

I don't think anyone is saying id went and said "let's make a map that's just one stupid Kurt Cobain joke". I'm just saying I wouldn't be surprised if maybe they'd already named the map Nirvana and Sandy was starting it and maybe Romero was behind him like "hey this map is named Nirvana why don't we put a shotgun right as you start the map" and Sandy's like "lololololololololololol".

I don't even believe that Nirvana the band was put into any thought at all in creating the map. The name of it fits with the general Doom themes of death (though it is somewhat inappropriate in Doom without some crazy ideas of the Doomguy beginning to find peace in killing all the demons :P), and personally I never made any connection to that particular map and the band until this very thread.

I'm siding with essel: there's a shotgun in basically every map. One appearing in a map named Nirvana specifically doesn't particularly evoke any special meanings.

I always thought 'Redemption Denied' was a pretty wicked name, I don't remember the level but the name is fitting for a last level.

esselfortium said:

But there's a shotgun in basically every map.

Yup, there is a shotty in almost every map. But there's only one map named "Nirvana", a word which has little or nothing to do with the plot of DOOM 2.

I really have no clue how wikis are "supposed" to work, and if putting that speculation up was akin to vandalism, then that's bad. I kinda saw it as harmless though, because the person said it may be an homage, not it was an homage.