DOOM was included in a popular publication’s list of the 25 most influential works, which is an outstanding achievement in many respects.

DOOM, the original first-person shooter created in 1993 by the young talents at id Software, is often referred to as one of the most influential video games of all time. However, The Washington Post, one of the country’s most prestigious newspapers, has elevated DOOM to an even higher level by selecting it as one of the 25 most influential works of American culture, representing the absolute pinnacle of its era.

Compiled to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States, the list spans an extremely wide spectrum, from Thomas Paine’s Common Sense and the Star-Spangled Banner to Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave; the Battle Hymn of the Republic; Levi’s jeans; Mickey Mouse; and the recordings of legendary blues musician Robert Johnson. It highlights the most outstanding works of each decade and includes a few honorable mentions. DOOM represents the decade from 1986 to 1995—taking the top spot ahead of notable contenders such as Amy Tan’s novel The Joy Luck Club, Spike Lee’s film Do the Right Thing, The Simpsons, Seinfeld, and MTV’s reality series The Real World.

“In December 1993, id Software released part of its new video game for free on the internet. College networks buckled under the traffic, and bulletin boards lit up as the game was eventually installed on more computers than Microsoft Windows 95. Doom was foundational to digital entertainment. It was a 3D world viewed in first person. It was self-published with no gatekeepers or retail stores. It gave rise to user-generated content years before anyone had a name for it. Programmer John Carmack handed the audience the tools to build their own corners of hell. Doom was blamed for the 1999 Columbine High School shooting in Colorado, ground zero of America’s ongoing nightmare. However, it was people with guns, not a game, that took lives. A grieving nation feared this new form of entertainment that it did not understand. Hearings were held on games and music—a template that has been repeated after nearly every mass shooting since then.”

The spirit of DOOM, rooted in the upbringing of designer John Romero (who is Native American [Yaqui and Cherokee] and Mexican), is one of sharing and community, along with its pioneering approach to guiding players through abstract environments in 3D space. “A lot of DOOM’s design, especially the level design, was influenced by that understanding of the environment and the world. That understanding comes from my dad, my grandma, and generations before them who lived on land they believed was shared,” wrote Gene Park, a video game critic for The Washington Post.

Romero himself seemed pretty excited about it: “What an incredible honor! DOOM is the only video game on the list. Congratulations to the DOOM developers, players, modders, and the entire gaming community. This one is for all of us. Thanks, Gene Park and The Washington Post!” His fellow id co-founder Tom Hall felt the same way: “Wow! DOOM was selected by The Washington Post as one of the 25 most influential works of American culture. I’m proud of id Software’s legacy and all the games we worked on. Congratulations to John Romero, John Carmack, and Adrian Carmack. And thanks to The Washington Post!”

However, the newer entries on the list seem more like pop culture trash than significant works. For example, Keeping Up with the Kardashians was selected for the 2006–2015 decade. The Post claims that this is not a “best of” list but rather a series of historical milestones, each of which defines its own era. “No decade can be summed up any more than a country can be, but if we wrote an autobiography not of words, but of works—books, music, art, ideas, dress, and culture—these 25 would be among the most momentous. These are not necessarily our proudest moments, but they are defining acts of culture. It is an imperfect and incomplete list, but then again, so is America,” wrote the Post’s culture critic, Philip Kennicott.

In May, the game’s soundtrack was added to the National Recording Registry of the U.S. Library of Congress.

Source: PCGamer, Washington Post