Can Dogecoin perform ‘Doom’? Yes, it is – and better than on Bitcoin

“Can it run Doom?” It’s a question that’s been delighting the online masses for years, as techies attempt to play the influential 1993 demon shooter on a variety of different devices and platforms.

The last? It’s Dogecoin. Yes, Dogecoin runs Doom.

A pseudonym Dogecoin ecosystem contributor named Pimax, also known as “Mini Doge”, has added a playable copy of Fate to the Dogecoin blockchain via its NFT-like protocol known as “Doginals.”

Doginals are something like that Bitcoin ordinal numbers, allowing users to “subscribe” or add any media or content they want to the smallest fractions of the currency, effectively adding it to the blockchain as an impenetrable artifact. In the case of Dogecoin, these fractions are known as ‘Shibes’.

A quick playthrough of Dogecoin’s Doom shows that it’s just like the 1993 version, complete with body shields and different difficulty settings. It takes a little time to load, but it’s fully playable in a web browser, regardless of whether you’re using a Mac or Windows PC.

“What is especially remarkable is the scale of the game,” Pimax said Declutter via email. “At 4.2 MB, this is a feat that is not currently achievable on Bitcoin, but we have proven it is possible on Dogecoin.”

On Bitcoin, 400KB is the maximum size for an Ordinal without a Bitcoin miner. Although with the help of a miner it is possible to create a single inscription on Bitcoin up to 4 MB. In any case, it can be very expensive to subscribe to Bitcoin due to the high network costs.

“The ability to write more data on Dogecoin at a fraction of the cost compared to Bitcoin’s Ordinals opens up huge possibilities,” Pimax told us. Declutter via email.

“Enrolling a game like Doom on Dogecoin paves the way for a variety of interactive Doginals and applications to be hosted directly on the blockchain, ensuring sustainability and accessibility,” he added. “This certainly points to the potential for a burgeoning new kind of gaming ecosystem, GameFi, [and] metaverses directly on Dogecoin, and even more practical applications that we have yet to discover.”

Bitcoin Ordinals have gained significant popularity since the protocol’s launch in January 2023. More than 56.7 million different pieces of data – typically images, GIFs, short videos or even games like Doom– have since subscribed to Bitcoin, per Dune dashboard.

Like Ordinals, Doginals have seen hundreds of thousands of dollars in collective trading volume since their inception, with top projects like ‘Doginal Dogs’ over $220,000 in the total volume traded to date.

Why is Doom on Dogecoin important? Well, for proponents of the meme coin, this is another example that Dogecoin is more than just a coin on a blockchain with a dog’s face.

Like Bitcoin, the arrival of Ordinals technology means Dogecoin is now developing a more robust selection of on-chain apps and media – with NFT-like assets, its own crypto tokens (DRC-20s) and now even retro games like Doom.

It’s also a running joke among developers and tech enthusiasts that virtually any device can run Doom since developers released Doom’s source code in 1997. In the past, Doom has been implemented to varying degrees on Bitcoina pregnancy testa tractor computerinside Minecraftand on one McDonald’s cash registerto name just a few of the most surprising examples.

But the version of Doom that was subscribed to Bitcoin via Ordinals early last year was a generic clone – an imitation that mimicked Doom’s basic mechanics but looked nothing like the original. Dogecoin now has an edge over Bitcoin, at least for now.

What about a possible future of a Dogecoin-based gaming ecosystem? Pimax told Declutter that he would like to create an on-chain game.

“While this represents a significant technical challenge, I believe it is feasible, and I am currently working to explore these possibilities,” he said.

Edited by Andrew Hayward