Anyone else just sorta "zone-out" when playing old-school Doom?

[CasualScrub]

Despite being an "action-packed hardcore" FPS, Doom is one of those games that I end up just sorta zoning out when I play for a while and finding myself in a relaxing state. I'm not sure what it is, but it's just one of those games where I don't need to really think about it much when I'm playing, I can just load up a WAD and go.

 

Anyone else gets what I'm feeling or know what I mean?

[FractalBeast]

Only after I've 100%/100%/100%'ed a map recently.

 

I cannot relax knowing there are still items and secrets to be found, and monsters to be killed.

[Devalaous]

I zone out in the hyper-focus kinda way. Once I start playing it, I tend to be at it till the episode is over, or until a very good chunk of the game is done.

[LadyVader1138]

I know what you mean. I can just happily tune everything out while playing through "Knee-Deep in the Dead" for the 50 millionth time.

[BigBoy91]

I try not to play absentmindedly, but I know what you mean. It's just a relaxing game even with all the action. Perhaps you aren't challenging yourself enough? Try maxing each level.

[JadingTsunami]

Yes, absolutely, I know this feeling. I find it relaxing once I'm in a sort of "flow" while playing.

[SuperCupcakeTactics]

Yeah I just use Doom to do a sort of in-game pacing to think about things sometimes.

[seed]

Yup, happens to me sometimes, particularly when I run into a map that's more difficult to navigate when I kinda just turn on autopilot and it takes care of the rest until the progress and killiing finally starts.

[PasokonDeacon]

If a map's really got me hooked but resists straightforward completion, I tend to enter a hyper-focused trance until I'm thoroughly satisfied. Easier maps/packs can slip me into the zone, as well. I need one extreme or the other to really feel like this; middle-ground design and difficulty keeps in an odd limbo that's still comfortable, just a little more conscious than I'm used to.

[DynamiteKaitorn]

This mostly happens when I know the layout of a map like the back of my hand. In that case I just try to find the silliest ways to finish a level.

[Arrowhead]

I've always found Doom weirdly meditative. Assuming you meant 'zoned-out' in a good way.

[OliveTree]

im sort of the same with bullet hell games.

 

I guess in a way you could argue doom sort of is a bullet hell game, what with all the bullets, and the hell (and ofc you're spending a good amount of time dodging projectiles)

[Hartwolf]

Not usually, but that's really only because I'm only intimately familiar with Knee-Deep in the Dead, which isn't really a long enough set of episodes for me to get into that state. The other games (Doom II, TNT, Plutonia, etc.) I really only play in short bursts right now, but once I've become more familiar with the levels, I imagine going through them in a marathon would induce the effect.

[Maser]

As great as the music is for the most part, the game is insanely relaxing when the music is turned off. 

[Noiser]

Doom have a very nice flow that relax me even when I'm concentrated. It just feels natural in some way.

[Maximum Matt]

I play Doom in the lotus position, hovering several inches above my chair

[SchwTrdLeenW]

As others have noted, this occurs when the routes and tactics to play a specific map are burned into my muscle memory. In this case i'm able to sink into a physical flow, almost like an inner rhythm formed by the steady melody of shotgun blasts and dodging projectiles, instead of focussing on pure survival. First attempts on new maps are almost always very stressful for me.

[vanilla_d00m]

It happens to me alot in E1M1.  I played that level somany times because I'm still trying to get my body to adapt to these type of games.

 

Trying not to get dizzy..  the game is worth it. 

 

I'm barely hanged on when I completed sigil.