The Controversy Surrounding 'Doom' Multiple Choice Quiz

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. When the 'Doom' franchise was unleashed into the public domain its revolutionary concept shocked, appalled, fascinated and enthralled. The game set the benchmark for what a really great game should be. What style of game did the 'Doom' franchise develop to the next level?

Answer: First-person shooter

'Doom' really did set itself apart from other games and was in many ways the first great success in the first-person shooter genre. Who would have envisaged back in 1993 that by the end of the first decade of the third millennium the genre would be one of the most, if not the most popular genre in video gaming history.

The premise behind the first-person shooter is straightforward, you see what the character sees and thus you shoot the enemies from his/her, and therefore your, perspective. This went a great way towards solving the problem of integrating the player into video games; the problem of involving the player so that they can experience the game, not just play it.

2. There is no doubting that there was a massive interest from the gaming world about the revolutionary concept that was 'Doom' but it also attracted interest from the non-gaming public and not all of it was positive. Which of the following was present in the 'Doom I' game that caused uproar in conservative religious "circles"?

Answer: Pentagrams

Scrawled over the walls that shaped the maps of each level on 'Doom I' was the signature of the devil, the Satanic pentagram. The essence of the game isn't necessarily one of anti-religious leanings, rather it attempts to emphasize, through pictorial references such as that to Satan, the hellish nature of the game. Nevertheless with the general public never really exposed to a game such as this before, protestations and objections are bound to be expected when the inertia is upset as strongly as it was due to the force of 'Doom'.

My rather useless clue there was a reference to geometry, I hope it helped!

3. Much stronger than the religious objections to 'Doom' was the protestations over the violence presented. It is true that the 'Doom' games came up with many ways, some more graphic than others, to deal with your enemy. Which of the following is a way to kill your enemy in 'Doom I', something many people would have objected to?

Answer: Death by chainsaw

The most common way to kill your enemy on 'Doom' is by use of your weapons which range from your fist through plasma guns and heavy artillery. In your arsenal you will eventually find a chainsaw and you can saw your way to the end of the map if you so choose. With the graphics being relatively poor when compared to more modern standards it is surprising that there would be such uproar to the images of blood spillage and exploding bodies. Though it is important to place such things in the context of its time, and when that is done one really can visualize how the nature of 'Doom' back in 1993 would have been considered graphic and shocking.

4. In many respects the 'Doom' games were an attempt to lift video games to a brand new sphere of interest and excitement and to do that they had to make you, the player, feel part of the game. Various tactics such as not naming the protagonist and allowing you to view the game through your perspective were used to make the player feel involved. However, many people at the time thought it went too far and unnecessarily provoked the deepest phobias of the individuals playing or watching. Which of the following could be seen in 'Doom I'? (I just had to "squeeze" in this question).

Answer: Ceilings that lower

There is no doubting the fact that 'Doom' was one of the first video games to successfully make the player feel in control but did it sometimes go too far? On some levels there are ceilings that descend upon you and if you don't happen to get out of that area in time you will be crushed to death. I'm sure that those suffering from claustrophobia wouldn't exactly appreciate that particular aspect of the game. To maintain the graphic theme here, if you die with the camera at the right angle you can see the pool of blood that was once you!

5. It is quite extraordinary to think that a video game could have such an effect on populations to the extent that some companies began introducing official policies banning the playing of the 'Doom' games during work hours. Which of the following companies, known for its Pentium microprocessor, implemented such a policy?

Answer: Intel

When I came across this information I rather embarrassingly giggled to myself and got a weird stare from another person in the room! The humour of this is in knowing just how addictive the game is. One of my childhood memories is playing 'Doom I' on the PS1 with my family (some of which should have been in work!) for hours on end.

It is entirely believable therefore, even if amusing, that people working for Intel, as well as for Lotus Development, would be playing the game at work. According to Wikipedia, the directive was required due to downloads of 'Doom' slowing down the company's computer network! The more serious element to this is the decreased productivity and economic loss. 'Doom' sure did make its mark!

6. It appears that objections appeared from all sections of society regarding the 'Doom' games and the military was no exception. Lieutenant Colonel Dave Grossman who is known for writing books on the psychology of killing was a major protester. Games such as 'Doom' would fall right into his area of interest and the psychology of killing would became known as what?

Answer: 'Killology'

A major part of Lt. Colonel Grossman's theory in the field of 'killology' is that first-person shooter games such as 'Doom', where there is the potential to kill thousands of enemies, desensitizes those who play the games to murderous acts. He claims that 'Doom' and other related games tend to mimic the way in which the military teaches its troops to be psychologically distant and immune from the mental effects of killing.

7. The year 1999 brought the 'Doom' games into the spotlight when two people embarked on a killing spree inside a Colorado school. What was the name of this event that got all of the US debating over various social issues?

Answer: Columbine High School massacre

This extremely sad event, the Columbine High School massacre, led to the deaths of fifteen people (this includes the two individuals responsible for the crime) and injured more than twenty more. The local community, the state of Colorado and even the rest of the USA were in shock at the events and part of the blame was placed firmly on the doorstep of first-person shooter games such as 'Doom'.

It is alleged that one of the perpetrators of the Columbine High School massacre said it, the crime, would be "like...'Doom'". Of course he is alleged to have said it complete with expletives.

8. The perpetrators of the killing spree of 1999 that took place in a school in Colorado, USA, are believed to have been "inspired" by the 'Doom' games. One of the killers created his own 'Doom' maps and it was rumoured that he had created one which was very similar to the design of the Coloradan school. What are these player-created maps of 'Doom' called?

Answer: WADs

WAD stands for 'Where's All the Data?' and they are modifications of the existing 'Doom' database such that new levels, and in some cases new games, can be created by users. This was the beginning of the now hugely popular concept of mod-making in the video game world.

The most terrifying aspect of the rumours circulated about the use of 'Doom' was that the killers would use their modification of the game, which was supposed to be a level that had a very similar design to Columbine High School, to practice killing the enemies. If this rumour is to be believed (there has been no concrete evidence however) then those 'Doom' enemies would become real people; a rumour, whether true or false, that brought massive controversy to the idea of first-person shooters.

9. Many researchers who were involved in criminology and profiling took on the task of trying to determine a correlation between playing games such as 'Doom' and a likelihood of school shootings. Did the researchers come to the conclusion that exposure to games such as 'Doom' was a major factor in the likelihood of being a perpetrator in a school shooting incident?

Answer: No

The Greater Good Science Center (situated at University of California, Berkeley), researchers from Harvard Medical School and the US Department of Education all came to the conclusion that playing first-person shooters was not correlated with school shootings.

They suggested that a more likely profile is a male with documented depression. In many of the cases studied it was ascertained that the killer had no real interest in violent video games.

10. 'Doom' became so influential, whether one had a positive or negative view about the game, that it became a piece of core software. This meant that the 'Doom' games were made to be compatible with a myriad of games consoles. What is the name given to a piece of software such as this?

Answer: 'Killer app'

The term 'killer app' is very appropriate when referring to 'Doom' given its status as one of the greatest of the early first-person shooter games. To give some sort of indication of the success of the game, you could play the 'Doom' games on PlayStation, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo 64, Xbox and Game Boy Advance.

This list is by no means exhaustive but it does show that despite the controversy surrounding the 'Doom' games, it was a runaway success and even by 21st century standards, 'Doom' is still voted as one of the greatest games of all time.

Source: Author jonnowales

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor kyleisalive before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

The Controversy Surrounding 'Doom' Quiz

'Doom' really did revolutionize video gaming and due to such pioneering qualities it was certain to stir-up controversy. Good luck with the quiz and keep an eye out for a few hints! (Any specifics of gameplay will refer to the PS1 console).

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