Doomguy and the United States Marine Corps

Well, I'm obviously trying to read too much into what's essentially a silly plotline for an old school game, but I'm bored so I'll make an issue out of it anyway.

Doomguy is a US marine who is taking part in an international war. He assaults a superior officer who ordered him to open fire on civilians. As punishment, he's deployed to Phobos to look after UAC bases. Here's the thing. I'm not an expert on the military, but it's obvious that there's a considerable difference between regular marines and what we call "space marines". The only reason the word "marine" is used for interstellar soldiers is because we use a lot of seafaring terms for space travel (astronaut, starship etc). In fact, if need arose for interstellar warfare, they would be a whole new branch of the military. I guess you can call them "space marines".

So, was Doomguy a regular marine or a space marine. If he's a space marine, why is he taking part in an international war? If he's a regular marine, why wasn't he trained as an astronaut before being sent off to Phobos?

He's not a US Marine. He's a soldier of the United Nations Space Marine Corps. As far as I know there's no mention of an "international war," just that he assaulted a superior officer for ordering him to fire upon civilians. When and where that happened, or the nature of the conflict of the assignment is unknown.

We're given very little insight on what the political situation in Doomguy's time is, though it seems to follow the classic sci-fi scenario of "world federation" and "corporatocracy", and the fact that a private corporation like the UAC has effectively an army of its own or can use the official army as its lackeys, leans towards that direction.

The most probable "war" that Doomguy would be involved in while on earth, would probably be police operations against whatever underground resistance/dissidents that might still exist, or quelling one of the doubtlessly numerous protests, which would explain why it was not unusual having to engage civilians.

Nomad said:

He's not a US Marine.

Yeah. It's easy to infer that he's a US Marine, because the USA are the only country in the entire world to have marines (pretty much in the same way that they are the only country to have a navy, or cars, or planes, or the Internet); but the story (manual or text files) does not make any mention of anything that would allow to give a definitive identity to Doomguy. He has no name, no nationality, no affiliation. He is a white man and a soldier. This already excludes many people from fully identifying with him.

The idea was that the players would feel like they are Doomguy. The player is a Belgian? Then Doomguy is a Belgian! Why not?

That's why Doomguy isn't Flynn Taggart (stupid novels) or Buddy Dacote (discarded Doom Bible) or any other name that might have been invented for him. He is you. Id Software broke away from their previous games where the protagonist was identified (Commander Keen, B.J. Blazkowicz, etc.) Vague and generic became the keyword. Look at Quakeguy -- a similarly empty character. Instead of being Quake and hitting people with a hammer, you're a nameless Space Ranger and Quake is vaguely the codename given to the enemy.

I REALLY WISH DOOM 4 WILL ENLIGHTEN US ABOUT THIS, seeing as it takes place on Earth. I hope we'll finally find out if the world is a 'corporatocracy' as Maes suggests.

printz said:

I hope we'll finally find out if the world is a 'corporatocracy' as Maes suggests.

What else could it be? Certainly not like e.g. early 20th century Europe and isolationist USA. It's veering towards a dystopian bankocracy/corporatocracy as it is now, with the last vestiges of the mid-to-late 20th century welfare states being rapidly choked to death.

Maes said:

bankocracy/corporatocracy

A bankruptocracy.

You can bet the civilians Doomguy was ordered to fire upon where OWS protesters. (And the superior officer was Angela Merkel.)

Usurocracy?

Gez said:

You can bet the civilians Doomguy was ordered to fire upon where OWS protesters.

Or members of these forums protesting about the lack of replay value in Doom LXIX.

Gez said:

Then Doomguy is a Belgian! Why not?

THE DOOMGUY IS JEAN CLAUDE VAN DAMME

Despite what a few others have posted, the Doomguy's stated as being a member of the United States Space Marine Corps in the manual for Final Doom.

valhallaist said:

If he's a space marine, why is he taking part in an international war?

The "Marine" designation isn't about where they're deployed to, it's about where they're deployed from. A Marine is deployed from a ship, so a Space Marine would be deployed from a space ship.

I don't think Final Doom was really ever considered "canon" despite being an official game.

I would personally consider Ultimate to be more canon to the Doom and Doom 2 franchise than anything else with the Doom name slapped on it. Daisy and all. I didn't realize there was a true Doom canon. They all seem to make up their own.

Nomad said:

I don't think Final Doom was really ever considered "canon" despite being an official game.

Probably why id is excluding it from Doom 3 BFG edition.

Captain Ventris said:

THE DOOMGUY IS JEAN CLAUDE VAN DAMME

If he was Van Damme, you'd be kicking guys to death when you got the berserk pack.

Encryptic said:

If he was Van Damme, you'd be kicking guys to death when you got the berserk pack.

And he'd do it with both feet. Much like "Mighty-feet-Duke"

Captain Ventris said:

THE DOOMGUY IS JEAN CLAUDE VAN DAMME

I'd prefer a Steven Seagal Doom, with a face that NEVER changes. EVER.