Doom, released in 1993, let players connect over a modem or local network and shoot each other instead of monsters — and effectively popularized the multiplayer deathmatch.

id Software built networked play into Doom from the start, and the term 'deathmatch' became attached to its competitive multiplayer mode. Because a fast, low-latency connection mattered so much, players began hauling their whole computer towers to a friend's house to play over a local network instead of a slow modem — helping spark the LAN party, a ritual that defined gaming social life for the next two decades.