DOOMGuy and his Identity

So way back in 1993 doomguy was just doomguy but I wonder if the new doom will tackle his identity a bit further than that. According to bits of information scattered in some of the spinoff games like DOOM RPG, DOOMGuy and Commander Keen are both descendents of BJ from wolfenstein.

Im sure it doesn't have much of a place in the new doom, i wouldn't really want it to be a significant emphasis, but I think there is some merit to exploring who Doomguy is, even if its just in option text scrawls scattered throughout the game, similar to how dark souls filled out its universes lore.

Would anyone else be interested in seeing a few bits of information about who doomguy is? The id games are all supposed to be apart of the same universe, and the cyberdemon is supposed to even be the remains of an enemy originally defeated by the original BJ, stalking BJ's descendants to exact revenge for his initial defeat.

Just something I felt was interesting.

Doomguy is you. There is no identity but YOUR identity.

The protagoist from DooM rpg and the original Doom games are completely different. Doom 2 rpg is a sequel to Wolfenstien rpg while commander keen is an entirely different franchise. The references of commander keen are just references, not story relevant.

HellVain said:

Doomguy is you. There is no identity but YOUR identity.

The protagoist from DooM rpg and the original Doom games are completely different. Doom 2 rpg is a sequel to Wolfenstien rpg while commander keen is an entirely different franchise. The references of commander keen are just references, not story relevant.

According to the wolfenstein and doom wiki's [mod edit: Quasar would like you to know that there is no such information on doomwiki.org], the DOOM RPG's had this description on the website : "you reprise the role of the Doom Marine made famous in the groundbreaking id Software titles Doom, Doom II, and Doom 3."

which would mean they are the same person, possibly in alternate timelines but ultimately within the same universe. Then according to the lore within the DOOM RPG games, the marine you play - which is established as the same marine from the original doom games - you are also a descendant of BJ, which puts wolfenstein and doom within the same universe albeit hundreds of years apart seeing as BJ was ww2 era and UAC/mars events are in the distant future past the year 2100.

So, assuming these are facts DOOMGuy does have an identity even if the 1993 original put very little emphasis on it. We get some backstory in the doom comics and I would be interested to see more bits of info on him in the new doom.

How cool would it be to have an in-universe reference to Wolf TNO in the new doom game? maybe even hinting at their relationship. I would personally enjoy that as long as its an optional bit you have to go out of your way to find and not a focus element of the game.

Actually, William "BJ" Blazkowicz is Commander Keen's grandfather. It says so in the Wolfenstein 3D manual. But Doomguy is entirely unrelated, and I don't think he will have any identity in DOOM (2016). It isn't Doomguy who has been sent to the Mars UAC facility, YOU, the player, is the one going there.

As I understand it's YOU, the player, who is the space marine. Or whoever you'd like him to be. He could be George Costanza for all you know. And yes, these pretzels are making me thirsty.

I don't understand why people always feel the need to throw that out there every time someone asks this question.

Yes, we are all familiar with John Romero and the whole original iD squad's words surrounding the Doom marine: He's supposed to be you (us). But that doesn't take away the fact that his personality wasn't somewhat fleshed out with each installment. We all know he has a rabbit, has a strong moral compass, and absolutely hates demons and all Hellspawn.

Granted, those ARE all qualities (aside from the bunny, of course) most people possess; but it adds to his character, nometheless. And who wouldn't want to know a little more about our famous hero! At least I would. A little backstory never hurt nobody;-)

Personally, I'd like to think Doom marine is fighting for more than just all humanity (and Daisy:P). Maybe he has a girl back home; perhaps a family; or maybe he has alterior - sinister - motives. Who knows... But whatever it is, I want the option to learn more about it!

The character seems to be more vague now than ever before since you don't even see the person's face unless there's some shot I'm not aware of due to a lack of HUD face and, from what I've seen so far, no cutscenes that would actually show it. Heck, you could probably insert yourself entirely into Doom Guy, no matter what combination of diverse elements you are.

The Doomguy is clearly not 'me' because he isn't crying in a corner

I wouldn't mind seeing ID tackle the backstory of DoomGuy disobeying his command on Earth. Is Doom Guy the conflicted soldier with a strong moral compass? Maybe he is a disobedient brute? Or me, who sold kitchen appliances.

Chezza said:

I wouldn't mind seeing ID tackle the backstory of DoomGuy disobeying his command on Earth. Is Doom Guy the conflicted soldier with a strong moral compass? Maybe he is a disobedient brute? Or me, who sold kitchen appliances.

or maybe he's the janitor. here to clean up UAC's mess.

HellVain said:

or maybe he's the janitor. here to clean up UAC's mess.

Wrong Game.

Well he definitely isn't a teenager.

Whoever Doomguy is, I'm sure it is one thing: a human.
And since we are all humans, the fact that Doomguy is you, applies!

"Doomguy must kill the demons!"

"no, Doomguy is the demons!"

and then doomguy was a zombie.

I actually felt that the NuDoomguy isn't even related to anyone on a basic level, with words like "activated" being thrown around. Could be an android or a clone, or just some built from the ground up killer.

Military assets being "activated" is fairly common lingo, at least in fiction.

Clonehunter said:

I actually felt that the NuDoomguy isn't even related to anyone on a basic level, with words like "activated" being thrown around. Could be an android or a clone, or just some built from the ground up killer.

I was also curious he used this verb. Why not ordered, summoned, commanded, etc? I feel as if Stratton was hinting at something...

AirRaid said:

Wrong Game.

I actually thought about making a Doom mod where you've got classic Doom levels (Like E1M1) with just the remains of humans and demons and it was up to you, with your mop (Basically, taking the same mechanics) to clean up the mess and make the base functionally clean again.

He is a dummy.

Clonehunter said:

I actually felt that the NuDoomguy isn't even related to anyone on a basic level, with words like "activated" being thrown around. Could be an android or a clone, or just some built from the ground up killer.

The Division does the same thing; all the players are members of the Division, and they have all been activated to help out the disaster in New York.
Basically, drop everything you are doing, even if you have kids and are married and in a high up position; this takes precedence.

I'm sorry but this whole identity thing fits Halo better than Doom.

I like to think of Doom as an action packed game with some wits required too, so its not some sort trigger happy game.

Voros said:

I'm sorry but this whole identity thing fits Halo better than Doom.

I like to think of Doom as an action packed game with some wits required too, so its not some sort trigger happy game.

there is no reason doomguy can't have an identity in the new game. The game doesn't have to focus on story to have lore. It can be all guns all the time and without the need for cutscenes and still build his character.

Dark Souls handled lore better than any other game in recent memory in my opinion. The game is all action if you want it to be, you can run through the entire thing skipping all the cutscenes and paying no attention to any of the story elements, or you can slow down a bit and read all the optional lore in the descriptions of the items you pickup. You can observe the world and piece together bits of the story based on what you know and learn while playing, and a lot of the story telling takes place in the players head which makes it very powerful and effective.

in 1993 they made conscious decisions to focus on gameplay over story and character elements because of limited funding and technology. They don't have to make the same compromises in 2016 and DOOMguy doesnt need to be a super indepth character or have any real focus during the game on those aspects, but there are so many easy ways to include that type of thing in modern games without devoting hardly any resources to it.

even if its just bits and pieces of how he got there, what if they retold the story of the doom comics and we just learn how he ended up here. as others stated even the original doom had SOME elements of characterization - his pet rabbit daisy that encouraged him to take revenge on the demons for example and his motivations to go to earth and fight off the demons. In doom64 doomguy stays behind in hell to make sure no demons ever rise again and that is enough to say something about who he is.

there is plenty of room for character growth and even if its as simple as doomguy is a descendant of BJ and Commander Keen and is the ultimate badass for it based on his bloodline stopping aliens, nazis and demons then so be it.

Moon Marin said:

in 1993 they made conscious decisions to focus on gameplay over story and character elements because of limited funding and technology.

I'd recommend you do some research before you say things that are untrue.

HellVain said:

or maybe he's the janitor. here to clean up UAC's mess.

If only Maes were still here to post his doodle.

Technician said:

If only Maes were still here to post his doodle.

What do you mean by "still here"?

Jaxxoon R said:

I'd recommend you do some research before you say things that are untrue.

While the article is good, it does have some unsourced stuff. Saying Evil Dead II is a "B-grade horror movie" for example. :D

It is a B-Grade Horror Movie. Even with it's three and a half million budget, which is small compared to some productions.

Jaxxoon R said:

I'd recommend you do some research before you say things that are untrue.

one of the reasons the hub overworld feature that was originally intended for the game was dropped because of memory limitations. that as well as some other problems are direct technological limitations that changed the final design of the game, in a way that impacted how story was cut from the game.

edit : i concede that 'funding' as i stated was not part of it and that was my mistake in how i worded that statement. the only point I was trying to make in bringing up money as a factor is that at least for the new doom game budget is almost certainly not a limiting factor and so they can afford to make doom with a bit of lore/story element fleshed out even if the original was missing some of those elements.

Honestly, I just hope he still has a pet rabbit. Everything else about him can remain a blank slant.

I thought the reason the Doom Bible was largely scrapped was because they decided to go with quick gameplay over having a deep story. John Carmack even said a story in a video game was like a story in a porno, you expect it to be there but it's not very important. Doesn't sound like they really wanted a deep story but were marred by resources.

Jaxxoon R said:

I'd recommend you do some research before you say things that are untrue.

I don't see how any of what Moon Marine stated was untrue or incorrect. I've read Masters of Doom and it makes sense they toned down the content of the game for simplistic and technological reasons.

In fact, before they utilized the engine, John Carmack worked tirelessly to optimize it for use with - at the time - your typical at-home PCs; or, in other words, a regular PC, not one built specifically for gaming.