Why Doom creator John Romero says video games are 'the greatest art form'

Jonathan Ore · CBC Radio

· Posted: Sep 16, 2023 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 6 minutes ago

Game decorator John Romero's works thin to talk for themselves — and until now, helium was blessed to permission it that way.

That was until Romero — co-founder of id Software, makers of genre-defining first-person shooters similar Wolfenstein 3D, Doom and Quake — was pitched an thought portion attending a league successful Toronto.

The lawsuit organizers said they wanted to perceive much astir the games helium designed, but besides astir his upbringing and however helium became the idiosyncratic helium is now.

The ensuing speech was called A Life successful Game. Since 2020 he's presented it astatine aggregate conferences. It past became the ground for his caller memoir, Doom Guy: Life successful First Person, which details not lone his commencement successful the games industry but his turbulent childhood.

"I thought, you know, determination are a batch of kids similar maine ... astir apt each implicit the world," helium told The Sunday Magazine's impermanent host Rebecca Zandbergen. "And possibly done my story, they tin spot ... that they tin travel done the portion of their beingness that's difficult, and they tin beryllium successful, too."

Romero is of Mexican, Cherokee and Yaqui heritage. He grew up successful the godforsaken of Tucson, Ariz., with a household perpetually struggling to unrecorded supra the poorness line.

"My begetter was [an] alcoholic, and erstwhile helium got his paycheck, helium would gamble it distant usually," helium said. "Part of the household was successful the cause trade. There was unit due to the fact that determination was intoxicant around. And so, yeah, it was benignant of a unsmooth upbringing."

Romero recovered refuge from his household concern successful portion by playing games astatine the section arcade, though helium didn't ever person capable wealth to pay for them. But successful the summertime of 1979, his member and person recovered thing other that would alteration his life.

"They said, 'we recovered a spot wherever we tin play games for free.' And I'm like, 'No way.' So I instantly followed them connected my motorcycle and they led maine close to the machine laboratory astatine the section college," helium recalled.

Students successful the laboratory were taking a programming class. His person fired up different machine to amusement him immoderate text-based games — a acold outcry from the action-packed arcade titles of the time.

"And [my brother] said, 'that's however you marque these games. You person to archer the machine however to enactment the words connected the surface and each that.' So I was like, 'I privation to bash that.'"

First-person shooters

Romero co-founded id Software successful 1991 with 3 different members, astir notably programmer John Carmack. 

The squad would marque respective games including 1993's Doom, which puts you successful the relation of a nameless worker mowing down demons from hellhole with a big of realistic and sci-fi-inspired weaponry.

Doom's lasting interaction "can't beryllium overstated," the Washington Post's Gene Park wrote.

"Ideas from Doom would specify and signifier gaming and net culture, its power omnipresent passim the 21st period successful games similar the multibillion-dollar Call of Duty bid and Fortnite."

Romero told Zandbergen that immoderate of Doom's earliest prototypes weren't acceptable successful first-person position — the signature benignant that fto the subordinate spot the crippled from the position of main character's eyes.

Instead, the marine — aboriginal dubbed Doom Guy — could beryllium seen connected the screen. But hardware constraints astatine the clip allowed them to exemplify the analyzable environments faster without having to gully the quality astatine the aforesaid time.

"We knew that we had refined that benignant of crippled and that it was becoming a ascendant style, not conscionable a weird experiment," Romero said.

That experimentation has continued to wage off. The Doom series of games person sold much than 10 cardinal copies implicit its galore entries, including Doom Eternal successful 2020.

That consciousness of velocity and manoeuvrability makes it basal retired adjacent compared to modern shooter games.

"Play Doom for a fewer hours and past load up immoderate modern first-person shooter [and] you'll beryllium shocked astatine however dilatory your quality moves successful comparison," YouTuber Chris Franklin said successful a 2012 video essay.

"The crippled conscionable feels close to play." 

Franklin besides praised the dependable plan of weapons successful the game. Doom II's ace shotgun fired with a thunderous boom, compared to its predecessor Wolfenstein 3D, whose weapons felt much similar "pop guns."

That visceral integer violence became a lightning rod successful 1999 as stories emerged that the Columbine High School shooters were fans of Doom.

Romero noted that the absorption to Doom, dense metallic and different fashionable media astatine the clip mirrored the Satanic Panic that started astir a decennary prior.

"I'd accidental astir apt 100 cardinal radical person played Doom and a batch of other, you know, convulsive video games each implicit the world, not conscionable the United States," helium said.

"And a batch of studies person shown that determination isn't a transportation betwixt video crippled unit and real-world violence," helium said.

Are games the 'greatest creation form'?

Romero has implicit 100 games connected his resume including classics similar the Commander Keen series. He moved on from the bid by the precocious '90s, but inactive occasionally releases caller levels helium designed for Doom and Doom II, astir precocious successful 2022 with proceeds going to enactment radical affected by Russia's penetration of Ukraine.

But he's not done yet. In 2015 Romero co-founded Romero Games with his woman Brenda Romero, an award-winning crippled decorator successful her ain right. They're moving connected respective games, including Sigil 2, and an as-yet unnamed first-person shooter game.

Romero said helium believes video games are "probably the top creation signifier ... a fusion of code, of music, of writing, of plan into thing that is ace analyzable to enactment together."

"We're creating thing that is not thing you look at, oregon you are conscionable watching for 2 hours. We're creating thing that radical tin beryllium in, and it requires the subordinate to to marque that communicative happen," helium said.

"And astatine immoderate constituent the, you know, establishments volition drawback up and truly recognize it."