DeathMatch servers and liminal spaces

[ZOMILE]

Because of dooms age, there are millions if not thousands of dead servers, like on zandronum or odamex. Same for quake as well.

You remember a time when these were filled with people, packed into a space with only a shotgun and their wits, but now its just a barren wasteland. FTE quake seems to creep me the FUCK out. Dead doom servers also creep me out because of their lo quality, and emptiness. Quakes music does not help, and dooms music makes you feel like you are walking through a burning memory. Even if you find a regular deathmatch server with OH HOLY SHIT, HUMAN LIFE???!!! in it, it just does not feel right. It also makes for really good or bad liminal spaces, but hey, what the fuck am i talking about. 

[Dusty_Rhodes]

19 minutes ago, ZOMILE said:

there are millions if not thousands of dead servers

lol

 

Empty DM servers are spooky, but equally comfy.

[ZOMILE]

39 minutes ago, Dusty_Rhodes said:

lol

 

Empty DM servers are spooky, but equally comfy.

i hate to say this but

THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT

i mean sure they can be comforting at times but they just give me the SPOOKS

[Arrowhead]

It's really not that hard to find a game. Just takes a bit of waiting. I get games all the time. Just be patient - things aren't immediately creepy because there are servers that are empty...

 

Deathmatch is hardly dead - the scene has definitely slowed down, I won't deny that. Certainly seems to me like you've been having a difficult time finding a game. Also, about there being millions / thousands of 'dead' servers? That's just not accurate - it's more like a few hundred at this point...

 

53 minutes ago, ZOMILE said:

OH HOLY SHIT, HUMAN LIFE???!!!

It's really not that difficult to find a game! I'd say 50% of the time I jump on Doom Explorer, I see a small group playing GreenWar, or something similar. Hell, I've even stumbled across people playing my own DM megaWADs at random. Deathmatch is still relatively popular compared to, say, the current CTF scene. Just two hours ago there was a super busy DM server - look into WNDM if you're curious.

 

No idea what you mean by 'doesn't feel right' even when you're in a populated server...

[ZOMILE]

Thats just how it feels for me, i recently played a quake deathmatch and was creeped out a bit, a doom deathmatch is definitely liminal space material as long as you can get a good screenshot. sorry for the hostility when i replied 

[Decay]

On 11/16/2022 at 10:47 PM, ZOMILE said:

You remember a time when these were filled with people, packed into a space with only a shotgun and their wits, but now its just a barren wasteland. 

I like the exaggeration of number of servers. But this has always been true, even when there were lots of people playing online, most servers were empty, with people packed into a handful of the hundreds available.

 

On 11/16/2022 at 10:47 PM, ZOMILE said:

what the fuck am i talking about. 

Pretty much what I thought when I read your post.

[ZOMILE]

yeah i made this topic just to mention how weird they are

 

though doom and quake levels notably levels or areas most people dont notice or a custom level that is not well known would make an EXCELLENT liminal space or even a new backrooms level. I find Quaddicted levels such as Quake City from 2008 or dens den deathmatch levels. let me know what you think, i think its interesting and could have some potential. 

[Doomkid]

Every server you see on the server lists for Zandronum, ZDaemon and Odamex was probably started within the last few months, lol. No one pays to have a server up for that long without occasionally using it.

 

Even the most hardcore Doom deathmatch players only do a few hours a day, and even that is in just one server. Over the course of a few weeks one group of players might not ever revisit the same server twice, giving the impression that these are long abandoned, when in reality someone has at least popped their head into each of them every month or so.

 

Now, the creepy lonely feeling? When I start up old DM wads just to check them out in single-player, to scope out if they're worth playing with others, sometimes I do get that feeling of wandering abandoned old halls, because in some cases it really is the sitaution where no one has even loaded this wad up for 5+ years, and in some cases no actual DMs have been had on such maps for over 20 years.

 

As far as stuff hosted on servers though? You're never going to find anything truly abandoned, because someone out there is paying rent for it essentially, lol.