How to have more fun in DooM??

Lately I havent been having that much fun in doom anymore but not because the game is bad but because of me. The reason I dont really enjoy doom is that I save scum too much and if I take even 1 dmg I load my save to try to take no damage. So how do I get out of that bad habit?

Just now, VICE said:

>OP has a problem
>Successfully identifies the behaviour that is the root of the problem
>Needs someone to tell them to abstain from the behaviour

Just play without using save files dude.

Indeed. Its really hard to break habits so I'll try REALLLY Hard.

Try giving yourself a challange and do a save-less run of Doom E1, one difficulty lower than what you're used to.

Should still be more fun than constantly saving and reloading.

some people give themselves rules for exactly where or how often they can save. like at major objectives (keys, weapons), or a certain amount of times per level.

habits that are just "stop doing something" can be hard to break. "do something different instead" usually works more easily. so try seeing if rules like that work for you. be flexible with whatever you go with, because any rules will have levels that are a very poor fit for them.

Take a break from the game.

New rule:

you can save, only at the start of a new level.

It's a password system now, like the good old days, now you are going to worry about being shot.

I have a variety of ways to tackling this. Save every 10, 20 or even 30 minutes if you're feeling bold, but it will depend on the map size and difficulty of said map if you are restarting too much or it's too high risk to go long periods without savegames. I typically strive for a middle ground via 20 minutes. Failing time elapsed I use the percentage in the stats in Nugget Doom (they're also in Woof!) to give myself a milestone for kills reached, 50% 75% and 90%. You could choose to only go for one or all three, think of it like Doom 2016 where you're informed about the demonic infestation's current status to inform you how many more baddies you'll have to go through before you're done. Alternatively; and encouraged is to reach milestones altogether, via all kills, all items or all secrets and save your game when you do. Never save during fights as you run a very high risk of screwing yourself over, plus you'll take the fun and excitement out of enduring and overcoming the challenge. Key saves are too risky to do as the majority are trapped.

The problem that you stated isn't that you save too much, it's that you load too much. Of course playing without saves is one way to deal with that since you've got nothing to load, but you don't have to go that far either. I generally try not to reload unless I die, even if I take way more damage in a fight than I should have. Most maps, I find, give enough leeway to make mistakes like that.

It may help to have something else manage your saves automatically so your mind isn't constantly occupied by these saves as a point to return to. More often than not, I play without actual save files and rely on dsda-doom/Nugget Doom's rewind system to carry me back to the beginning of a fight when I die. In GZDoom you can use the Autoautosave mod to create saves according to certain rules, including many of the suggestions people have listed in this thread such as time, key pickups, kill thresholds, etc. and also skip saving at critical health so you don't automatically save yourself into a corner (there's a lot of options so if it's overwhelming just start simple and save based on time only or something).

1 hour ago, Homer_hardware said:

Lately I havent been having that much fun in doom anymore but not because the game is bad but because of me. The reason I dont really enjoy doom is that I save scum too much and if I take even 1 dmg I load my save to try to take no damage. So how do I get out of that bad habit?

 

 

try challenge yourself to do a whole level without saves! it can be rewarding if you practice the routes

Just remove your f9 key from your keyboard

Honestly, it depends on the level! Some levels are like DOOM and should be easily done without saving, but others like Hell Revelations/Sunder I'd expect to save multiple times!

Hurt Me Plenty with Fast Monsters is an option

Try the Icarus.wad??  I save/load alot too, I save every couple of steps (I have quicksave on Space key) and I load alot if I took damage or the hit I got was too annoying.  What makes the game feel new to me is reading about the game online, trying different music packs for the game.. gave loads of fun for me and might to you.

I havn't played in sometime now though.. trying to look for a Wolfenstein 3-D with a doom hud online. 

Play Deathmatch

My general tactic is YOLO. Play as far as you can on one life regardless of damage taken. You die, you decide if you're done for that play run.

If you're not doing it already, try doing Pistol start with every map. Once I started doing that, Doom (both the base game and custom WADs) became a lot more challenging and fulfilling for me, regardless of how much I saved. And if I get myself into an unwinnable situation, welp, guess it's time to start the map over and try again! The game is often much better that way, and gives you a better appreciation for the gameplay balance and design of every level. I'd suggest playing Pistol start unless the readme of a particular WAD states it's not designed for it.

Become a speedrunner. Be warned though, it is highly addictive and time consuming way of gambling.

For me? Mods! LaTailorGirl, Angelic Aviary, Brutal DooT (though Project Brutality is better :3), etc...

@Homer_hardware  Here is some challenges for you that could spice things up a bit.

1.  Tackle your WAD of choice Pistol Start only with NO SAVES.  Instead of worrying about not getting hit just try to beat it Pistol Start.

2.  Find a great exploration level and let yourself get sucked into the map itself rather than focusing on kills and rushing through focus on the environment.  Some great maps for this would be (Eviternity Map19 Dehydration) // EARTH.WAD any level // The Unholy Trinity.

3.  Try and get the GOOD ending on MyHouse.pk3 (Download Link)  (This WAD has multiple endings depending on your actions.  I won't spoil anything just know you've reached the GOOD ENDING when you see the GOLDEN SUNSET).  To help with this just know there are if I remember correctly 16 collectibles to find and they are displayed as you locate them on a picture somewhere in the house.  So you can know what you've found and how much is left to be found.

These are some cool challenges or ideas to try.  Let me know if any of them are fun for you my friend \m/ 

A couple of folks have pointed this out already, but IMO the best "hard rule" re: saving one can set for themselves that will make the biggest impact is "don't save during a fight" -- give that a try. Set a savegame before a big fight (or before venturing into an unknown area) and see what happens -- before long, you'll be overcoming your old habit by virtue of not wanting to reset your progress if you're doing well, and a total botch won't set you back to the very beginning of the level so it's not so brutally punishing.

It depends exactly. I definitely agree that you should probably avoid saving every two seconds just because you take lots of unearned hits, but if you play it all the time, that just might be a sign that taking a week or two break is in order.

Add: Saving during a fight should be fine if you can find a safe location, although perhaps only do it if the challenge is significant enough

1 hour ago, LadyMistDragon said:

Add: Saving during a fight should be fine if you can find a safe location, although perhaps only do it if the challenge is significant enough

Yeah, taking shelter every so often during the finale of Sunlust's God Machine is an exception to the rule I'd say, good enough to do the fights themselves without saves but not confident enough to do the entire thing without dying.

It's good that you've identified the problem and that you're asking for help. No matter what anyone says, you should not feel ashamed, your habit does not hurt others in the community. But as someone who has suffered from this problem in the past, you really need to do whatever it takes to stop. Pretty soon you'll be unable to enjoy anything at all. At the height of my saving addiction, I was scumming over 300 times a minute, and it didn't stop until my parents found me with the syringe still in my arm. Ask yourself if this is the kind of future you want for yourself.

3 hours ago, VICE said:

You just spiced up my Heretic playthrough, thank you

Mods

23 hours ago, URROVA said:

Just remove your f9 key from your keyboard

I use F2

18 hours ago, LegendaryEevee said:

Try and get the GOOD ending on MyHouse.pk3 (Download Link)

My gzdoom just dies after going down to the basement after flooding the house bcus I think its because it takes more than 5 seconds to load the game after crossing the waterfall?

Sometimes you just have to accept you’re burnt out on it and take a break. When you feel the urge to play again, that’s when you’ll know it’s time to try again.