cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ninja/post/10393
“Boomer shooter” is the latest term to follow the likes of “Roguelike” or “Soulslike” in the realm of hyperspecific gaming subgenres. It applies to first-person shooters that intentionally harken back to the classic PC games of the late ‘90s like Doom and Quake.
Millennials? No way. The oldest millennials were 11 when Doom came out.
It is most definitely a Gen X game. It has all the hallmarks of mid 90s GenX culture: unapologetically rebellious, anti-establishment, edgy and violent. The developers are also all oldish GenX-ers (Adrian Carmack, John Carmack, John Romero, Dave Taylor) or young Boomers (Sandy Petersen and Tom Hall)
A lot of us older Millennials still grew up playing these games as they came out.
But you’re right, they are thoroughly a product of '90s Gen-X culture.
Of course. Especially the ones that came after Doom I guess. I listened to a lot of older music at the time too (like 80s new wave or 70s hard rock and punk), but that doesn’t make it “GenX” music.
Yeah, Doom, Quake, Duke et al are like ‘90s GenX culture personified for me. Millennials’ era (and this is sort of in the name) is ca. 2000 and afterwards, and gaming had already shifted to something else by quite a bit by then.
I am a millennial who was 13 when Doom came out but go off
Somehow I had 1991 in my mind for Doom’s release date, but it’s 1993. That’s my mistake.
In any case, if you were 13 when Doom came out, you were born in 1980 or 1979, so you’re still not a millennial, but GenX. The cut-off point for millennials is usually put around 1981-1982.
Even so, Doom’s target audience at the time, with all the satanic and gore content, was most definitely not 13 year olds although it’s possible you played it on your Boomer or GenX dad’s PC of course.
I’m a GenX-er from 1975 by the way, so I was “there” when all this happened.