Editing Id Software (section)

=== ''Doom'' ===
''Doom'' was notorious for its high levels of [[Graphic violence#Internet|gore]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=Entertainment Software Rating Board |title=Game ratings |url=http://www.esrb.org/search_results.asp?key=doom&x=0&y=0&type=game |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060216031317/http://www.esrb.org/search_results.asp?key=doom&x=0&y=0&type=game |archive-date=February 16, 2006 |access-date=December 4, 2004}}</ref> and [[occultism]] along with [[Satanism|satanic]] imagery, which generated controversy from a broad range of groups. [[Yahoo! Games]] listed it as one of the top ten most controversial games of all time.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ben Silverman |date=September 17, 2007 |title=Controversial Games |url=http://videogames.yahoo.com/feature/controversial-games/530593 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070922155732/http://videogames.yahoo.com/feature/controversial-games/530593 |archive-date=September 22, 2007 |access-date=September 19, 2007 |publisher=[[Yahoo! Games]]}}</ref>

The game again sparked controversy throughout a period of [[school shooting]]s in the United States when it was found that [[Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold]], who committed the [[Columbine High School massacre]] in 1999, were avid players of the game. While planning for the massacre, Harris said that the killing would be "like playing ''Doom''", and "it'll be like the [[1992 Los Angeles riots|LA riots]], the [[Oklahoma City bombing|Oklahoma bombing]], [[World War II]], [[Vietnam War|Vietnam]], ''[[Duke Nukem 3D|Duke Nukem]]'' and ''Doom'' all mixed together", and that his shotgun was "straight out of the game".<ref>{{Cite web |last=4–20: a Columbine site |title=Basement Tapes: quotes and transcripts from Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold's video tapes |url=https://columbine.free2host.net/quotes.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060223025846/http://columbine.free2host.net/quotes.html |archive-date=February 23, 2006 |access-date=November 15, 2005}}</ref> A rumor spread afterwards that Harris had designed a ''Doom'' level that looked like the high school, populated with representations of Harris's classmates and teachers, and that Harris practiced for his role in the shootings by playing the level over and over. Although [[Harris levels|Harris did design ''Doom'' levels]], none of them were based on [[Columbine High School]].<ref>{{Cite web |first=Barbara |last=Mikkelson |website=[[Snopes]] |date=April 24, 1999 |title=Columbine Doom Levels |url=https://www.snopes.com/horrors/madmen/doom.asp |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220731185036/https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/the-harris-levels/ |archive-date=July 31, 2022 |access-date=November 7, 2008}}<!-- The archived content does not match the live url content. The archived content shows David Mikkelson as the author and has the date August 8, 2008. The archive url has "the-harris-levels" in the link, while the live url content does not. Both have the title "Columbine Doom Levels". Before my edit, this citation showed no author name, had the date as 2005, and had the title as "The Harris Levels". --></ref>

While ''Doom'' and other violent video games have been blamed for nationally covered school shootings, 2008 research featured by [[Greater Good Science Center]]<ref>[https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/greatergood/2008spring/Smith744.html Playing the Blame Game] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203054843/http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/greatergood/2008spring/Smith744.html |date=December 3, 2013 }} article from [[Greater Good Science Center#Print and online publications|Greater Good magazine]]</ref> shows that the two are not closely related. [[Harvard Medical School]] researchers Cheryl Olson and Lawrence Kutner found that violent video games did not correlate to school shootings. The [[United States Secret Service]] and [[United States Department of Education]] analyzed 37 incidents of school violence and sought to develop a profile of school shooters; they discovered that the most common traits among shooters were that they were male and had histories of depression and attempted suicide. While many of the killers—like the vast majority of young teenage boys—did play video games, this study did not find a relationship between gameplay and school shootings. In fact, only one-eighth of the shooters showed any special interest in violent video games, far less than the number of shooters who seemed attracted to books and movies with violent content.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Final Report and Findings of the Safe School Initiative |url=http://www.secretservice.gov/ntac/ssi_final_report.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090804232200/http://www.secretservice.gov/ntac/ssi_final_report.pdf |archive-date=August 4, 2009 |access-date=November 29, 2013}}</ref>