How is Doom Dumb?

I keep hearing and seeing the word "Dumb" and "Simple" to describe Doom and I'm trying to understand why these reviewers and journalists think this, as I find those words to be VERY unfitting to the series. the funny thing is, is that I'v always played doom for it's tactile strengths and resource and crowd managment, Doom's one of the most intelligent First person Shooters the way I see it, What am I missing?

Uh, Doom is very dumb. An unstoppable space marine killing demons, I mean come on, this is not high art.

MrGlide said:

I keep hearing and seeing the word "Dumb" and "Simple" to describe Doom and I'm trying to understand why these reviewers and journalists think this, as I find those words to be VERY unfitting to the series. the funny thing is, is that I'v always played doom for it's tactile strengths and resource and crowd managment, Doom's one of the most intelligent First person Shooters the way I see it, What am I missing?

Critics don't actually care about the game, they just play through it fast and on easy so they can make their reviews quickly so they can make their monies faster.

Some reviewers don't like Doom. Big deal. If you like the game, what other people think is (or should be) completely irrelevant.

Linguica said:

Uh, Doom is very dumb. An unstoppable space marine killing demons, I mean come on, this is not high art.

Nah, that's not necessarily dumb, just simple. I think it takes a certain wit and savvy to play and design for the game really well. The ones who say that games (even action ones) are "mindless button mashing" wouldn't last a few minutes in Nightmare with that attitude, even if you made it easy on them and gave them weapon cheats and walkthroughs. Dumbasses may Doom, but probably not nearly as well.

Unless you're just talking about the game's premise/story, in which case, yes, dumb as fuck. And I LIKE EHHHHHHHT

Grazza plays Doom. Grazza is not dumb. Be like Grazza.

doom ruined gaming forever

Well, Doom is good, so...

Wovenloaf said:

The ones who say that games (even action ones) are "mindless button mashing" wouldn't last a few minutes in Nightmare with that attitude, even if you made it easy on them and gave them weapon cheats and walkthroughs.

It doesn't matter because this has nothing to do with being smart or dumb (and I don't really understand my own argument here because I don't really believe those words have a real useful meaning, because you know, people are good at different things, not stupid) but rather how much they've practiced. You can put anyone in that position with a lack of experience and they'll perform just as bad, regardless of their smarts.

But yeah Doom is really dumb. But it requires reflexes, which requires you to be human, but that's about it.

It's dumb in every single way, but it's in fact so dumb it's good.

EDIT: No wait, it's so dumb it's fucking great.

I guess, game reviewers use these words to tell their readers, that you haven't all that modern mechanics. No lurking around corners, no iron sight, no jump and duck, no autoheal. Just straightforward action.

Or sometimes they just get it.

Is it really simple and dumb? No, knowing your arsenal and your enemies is just as vital as your movement and fast reflexes. Otherwise you have no chance, at least at higher skill levels. Choosing the wrong weapon is sometimes fatal. Provoking monster infights can save a lot of ammo. Stuff like this makes Doom far from dumb or simple.

Doom isn't exactly Dumb.

"Doom" and "dumb" are pronounced the same*.


(* Your mileage may vary depending on accent. Consult your phonologist before pronouncing Doom and dumb.)

Linguica said:

Uh, Doom is very dumb. An unstoppable space marine killing demons, I mean come on, this is not high art.

Well, I can't argue with that haha.

Linguica said:

Uh, Doom is very dumb. An unstoppable space marine killing demons, I mean come on, this is not high art.

Couldn't you say that about pretty much anything fictional where some imagination and bending of reality is required, though? Mind you I'm not claiming Doom is high art, but almost any piece of art that doesn't pose deep philosophical questions and make you question life itself and whatnot would be considered dumb, then. I guess I could get behind that to a degree though, there's really nothing wrong with something just being dumb but fun.

I really don't care about what those game reviewers got to say about the Doom franchise, you can navigate around gamespot.com and see for yourselves that they gave Doom II a 6 in their review. Why? To summarize they basically said that it's more of the same, well... Who cares, I'TS FUN.

Better words to fit Doom games: Innovative, addictive, fun as hell(pun intended).

Realistic games "ARE" the dumb, i mean what the hell ... If i wanted realistic shit i'd just go outside, such games (like H1Z1, DayZ or ... Minecraft) kill you with bore, Collect Resources, Build Houses, Walk too slow, get tired, Starve, I Like some things about these games but they should not forget that after all these are just "Games", they shouldn't take the "Realism" thing too serious .

Not to mention Movie simulator games such as Call of duty or ARMA 3, the games look fun from trailers, but if you actually play them all you get is Cutscene after cutscene, Even people nowadays are Judgemental, I Have a brother disgusted of Doom, saying it's simplistic, not realistic, too old ... even Doom '16 couldn't change his mind, So i just decided to stop suggesting him to play it .

Even i don't play Classic Doom that much, but at least It's a game, Not a Movie or Real life simulator, Although i like some of New gen titles like Hitman, GTA V, COD BO3 (Last great COD) .

Click-bait titles. Well guess they perfectly managed to click bait you.

People usually want to believe that their preferences make them smart. Of course, it's much easier when you like something with an intricate story, a lot of buttons, maybe even some puzzles (age range: 9-11).

I've seen JRPG fans say that old-school shooters are dumb.

The story is dumb, but so are most narratives in gaming. It's the gameplay that's smart, because it requires constant combat improvisation and the ability to understand visual cues.

DMGUYDZ64 said:

Realistic games "ARE" the dumb, i mean what the hell ... If i wanted realistic shit i'd just go outside,

Flawed argument, because "realistic games" - although they're often gameplay-wise inferior in comparison with gameplay-oriented games - still have clear advantages over "just going outside". For example access to (virtual) things, locations and situations that you you couldn't access in real life, that are generally "cooler" than your accessible real life ones, and that you can do anything with them without real consequences. I agree with your general idea though.

Who said it's dumb? Never read a single sentence containing "Doom" and "Dumb", well until I saw this thread.

Doom is really dumb. You can't even talk the evil guys out of being evil and shit. Hell, you can't even bang ugly alien chicks and dudes in it.

I know everything about doom but when I played doom 2016 for the first time I felt like a retard because there was so much text on the screen and I was too impatient to read anything so I ended up throwing grenades at the floor and not knowing how to change weapons or do stuff with the praetor suit tokens.

HorrorMovieGuy said:

Doom is really dumb. You can't even talk the evil guys out of being evil and shit. Hell, you can't even bang ugly alien chicks and dudes in it.

The modding scene truly transcended the original game in the latter case. Too bad that people more or less stopped there after just one simple wad (merely a proof of concept, really) and returned to their senseless shooting.

RightField said:

It doesn't matter because this has nothing to do with being smart or dumb

(and I don't really understand my own argument here

because I don't really believe those words have a real useful meaning, because you know, people are good at different things, not stupid)

But yeah Doom is really dumb. But it requires reflexes, which requires you to be human, but that's about it.

Lol

but rather how much they've practiced. You can put anyone in that position with a lack of experience and they'll perform just as bad, regardless of their smarts.

Not necessarily, because someone with better foresight, learning speed, and awareness is likely to adapt and improve quicker. I'm not saying a better Doomer is necessarily smarter -- as you touched on, we each have our own attributes and fortes -- but I'm just not convinced that a dumbass is capable of ever Dooming that well, having observed a good share of dumbasses over the years and how they tend to fall short. I suppose I mainly take umbrage with people who lean on the tired old cliche of, "It's just button-mashing." Any time I've done a Nightmare run or played a challenging level on UV for the first time, I've had to be constantly aware of proper maneuvring, my immediate surroundings, open routes of escape, weapon choice, conservation, etc, and falling back on auto-pilot "reflexing" just won't work. Obviously Doom isn't an outright strategy game, so the thinking isn't as long-term, but the shorter-term is immediate and must be properly acted on fast, which makes it a whole different beast. I certainly didn't get where I am now by shutting my brain off. Of course, a detractor would probably just counter with, "But u hav 2 focus hard bcuz ur retarded, proly cuz u play doom n fry ur brain." Whatever.

You know what's dumb?
Call of Duty and other realism games, yeah i said it, go grab your pitchforks i dare ya!
Doom ain't dumb, because you can gib enemies, watch them fall apart like shit cookies and the best part is, you have Revenants in it!

J.B.R said:

You know what's dumb?
Call of Duty and other realism games, yeah i said it, go grab your pitchforks i dare ya!
Doom ain't dumb, because you can gib enemies, watch them fall apart like shit cookies and the best part is, you have Revenants in it!

I wholeheartedly agree, real life is pretty dumb. Worst realism game ever.

Zed said:

Some reviewers don't like Doom. Big deal. If you like the game, what other people think is (or should be) completely irrelevant.

ah na, the reviews I saw/read wern't bashing the game, I'll link them when I get home from work, and then I'll have fun with some of these silly comments XD.