i have always been fascinated by the idea of virtual spaces, 3d ones in particular
games like doom create 3d spaces that exist only as 1s and 0s, but our credulous brains grant them the benefit of the doubt, interacting with these spaces as if they were real
a single hard drive can contain countless square miles of these virtual places. untold expanses
as time goes by fewer and fewer people visit, until places that may have been bustling once are akin to forgotten ghost towns
we create more and more of these spaces every year. there are so many to explore. so many sights to see
i remember the ones that strike me, as if it was a place i'd really been
it could be argued that in the greater scheme of things the majority of these spaces are not important. places to play at being space marines, or to go on a pretend quest
goddess knows i fret over wasting even more of my finite lifespan on videogames
even so, my fascination remains
i'm going to start a new streaming project in which i explore the ~2000 wad files of Maximum Doom, a compilation of levels from when id itself decided to jump on the doom wad shovelware bandwagon
https://doomwiki.org/wiki/Maximum_Doom
many of these maps suck. few are remembered. but that's part of why it's so interesting to look at these old virtual spaces some 20 years on