This post could've been done better in some ways (Potential errors and mistakes, grammar, missing/forgotten examples/info or proper context of specific info parts, etc) but it's mostly done because of how important or meaningful an audience or fanbase can be to a series.
Specially in a topic of "you don't need to a fanbase to get into a series", whether that revolves around simply recommendations or being interested by fanart or even the use of guides or software to experience something.
In a way, a justification for all of this is that Doom's main purpose was the impact it'd have over game design, the genre and technology which could explain its presentation and the size of the overall franchise.

Some of this stuff may seem trivial/basic/applies to other media, but there’s stuff that could be more meaningful/important or even affected Doom either as a series or just its image on the public.
So, anyway:

  • One of the most supportive/diverse modding scenes that kept the games relevant for years.
  • Source ports that allowed people to experience the games in different ways, even if just because someone thought that the vanilla games aged badly in some areas.
  • Considering the history behind the release of the code, there’s DOSDoom to consider which is like the first source port.
  • Doom is technically one of the most ported games ever because of unofficial ports on various types of machines, hence the “does it run Doom?” memes.
  • Even SnapMap as a concept was influenced by the modding scene and even Doom 3/Eternal have their fair share of mods.
  • Doom may’ve never been associated with being fast if it meant “Purists” wouldn’t treat ALWAYS_RUN as a vanilla part of the game (And also how Quake is essentially an evolution to Doom, whereas its gameplay could be seen as faster).
  • The nameless protagonist being called “Doomguy”, let alone “Pinky” and “Unmaker” for the pink bull-like demon and fleshy gun from 64.
  • Sites hosting wads, mods, mod assets, software, experimentations, wikis etc.
  • Doom 64's history of fanmade ports for PC before the official release, even if the latter could still exist without EX and others (But Kaiser's involvement is relevant).
  • Fanports/reverse engineering projects for stuff like the PS1 port and recently, the RPG id mobile series (So far, it's only Doom Resurrection that may be lost and depending on the future: Mighty Doom too).
  • FreeDoom, since it’s literally Doom in gameplay and code only but for free.
  • A mobile port of Doom by Carmack wouldn’t exist, since he used a fork of PrBoom once.
  • Maybe even SIGIL and Romero sharing unused sprites wouldn’t happen, even if about the latter he’s still restricted by ZeniMax from sharing more of it.
  • Final Doom, Master Levels and NRFTL may not have existed due to their relationships to wad culture.
  • And most of what happened to the Unity ports: not just the addons themselves but maybe even certain changes to the overall ports and updates.
  • (Fun fact: id made real life metallic coins for people that participated in the addons, granting them the title of "Honorary Doom Team Members"; These coins have a portrait of Doomguy's helmet on one side and the DOOM logo on another).
  • Even American McGee made a custom map before getting to work on Doom (IDMAP01 dot WAD).
  • Some actual games may not exist/be different since some devs moved onto other games and even modders got to work on their own games as well.
  • On the music side of things, even Mick Gordon did his own fan made Doom remix once and let’s not forget Andrew Hulshult’s track record of Doom remastered music.
  • Videos and articles would not be using fanart, fan renders or mod screenshots because Doom never had a lot of available concept/promo/official art for a long time.
  • Considering some render images, we also wouldn’t have rips of models or any ingame content, be it for content making or documentation and other stuff.
  • Fanart stuff also means we would not have Xous54’s Slayer and Daisy illustration show up in the Fortress of Doom.
  • The official Cosplay Slayer skin which looks close to a real cosplay costume by TheScarletImpaler.
  • The character of Doomslayer would not exist due to the outside sources: not JUST the 1996 comic book but think of recurring jokes/memes and arguments over power level and fights, with Death Battle and some screencaps of copypastas and webcomics being early examples of Doomguy being treated like Chuck Norris; Even Urban Dictionary had a goofy description about Doomguy in 2004, that exemplifies this.
  • We also wouldn’t have references to Doot or “Shoot It Until It Dies” (Or even some gifs and reaction images that are shared around uncredited, so nobody knows that a popular meme is otherwise made by a modder that made something more interesting).
  • (This part about memes may also reflect to a certain "meme heavy" section of the fanbase that some people are getting tired of lol).
  • Speaking of memes: the Shoot It Until It Dies/Protip meme, which was started by Linguica.
  • Even Slayer's Club once had a quiz game feature that used a fanmade reaction image/meme, that was actually based off a different game (Planetside 2) until someone edited/recolored/traced it to have Doomguy (Because you can see by the features of the armor design that it's barely meant to look like Doomguy).
  • IDSPISPOPD would not happen (And if i'm not wrong, this was before D1's release).
  • For better or worse, certain rumors/misconceptions/myths like “Doom was keyboard only”, “Doomguy’s real name is Flynn Taggart”, “Doom takes place in 2020” may not have happened but the same could go for the share of useful information and trivia like documentation behind the BFG 9000, real life things that led to ingame textures like gargoyle faces or how the “Blazkowicz family tree” is established from sources like the Wolf 3D strategy guide and obscure phone games.
  • Some mods, wads and assets were essentially fan attempts at “expanding the Doom setting” when they’re not revolved around crossovers/other media or pure original characters (In other words, would id create the Eternal design of the Baron if not for that one Realm667 variation?).
  • And then there’s mods revolving around cut concepts or fanservice.
  • I guess i could mention the Cacowards and stuff like that.
  • We probably wouldn’t have 2 wikis, with one being a replacement over another because most fans abandoned Wikia/Fandom.
  • Crossover stuff is obvious, from mods that make things more mechanial/literal to fanart.
  • Obviously any feedback/criticism that impacts the actual games (Believe it or not, the glowy pick ups in Eternal were a result of some people complaining that 2016 items blended over the environment).
  • The Hissy mascot (There's also an official Cacodemon plush merch that's like an Hissy version of the 2016 Cacodemon).
  • I also recall an official piece of advertisement for D2016 which compared the modern Revenant to the classic design and the sprite used may have been from Spriters Resource (Because at the time, Spriters Resource had rips that had subtle changes in the sprites, so nobody knew they were using edited rips until the site replaced them with clean rips; though one could also learn to use Slade lol).
  • When Doom Eternal was revealed at QuakeCon, id showcased concept art of new designs and the Possessed Soldier had an image of the D64 Zombiemen that was believed to be taken from the Doom Wiki (Wikia, sadly) because the screenshot of the sprite seemed to have been from an editor in something like Slade).
  • DWANGO as a whole, can't believe i forgot that until a while ago (To quote Doomwiki: Its Japanese subsidiary, which had earlier been spun off into a separate corporation, survived however with an evolving mission statement. It now runs the popular Japanese video sharing site Niconico and owns game developer Spike Chunsoft. Nintendo acquired a 1.5% share of the company in late 2013).
  • There could probably be more examples but still.

I don’t joke when i say that Doom is a series that is technically “fandom defined or carried” and even put it in the same spot as something like Touhou.
If anyone ever says something like “gee, Doom fans have the same unfunny jokes” or “look at how wholesome the Doom community is”, i feel like they'd still overlook the greater picture.
Even if this can come off as “ego boosting” to some specific people, i feel like saying certain attitudes and dramas can be disappointing, considering the good side of things.
Some people also imagine different things when hearing "fandom": Is it stuff considered cringe to be made fun of? Particular Tumblr stuff like AU's or ships? Stuff associated with brand loyality and modern nerd based consumerism?
Like i still think a post like this could have been done better by someone with greater knowledge and delivery, but i mostly make stuff like this out of interest, novelty and the fact some aren't doing it.

If someone else made a similar post, do let me know.

Edit
Pub: 31 Aug 2022 21:08 UTC
Edit: 19 Oct 2022 14:25 UTC
Views: 117