The Great Romero Rule is all way wrong

putting items and enemies out of reach would definitely trigger my autism or something. realism/immersion vs playability is the eternal balance to achieve in vidya games, but then again realism/immersion mostly became a thing after vidya games left their arcade roots, which people sometimes return to in a desperate attempt to remind themselves they're playing an actual game and not whatever a lot of modern vidya are
so yeah, most russian mappers are wrong

oh, so called "russian wads" is a whole different story. kind of wads which can be recognized almost instantly, and at least for me is something i'm dropping the second i recognized it. thank you, i am depressive enough person, i don't need even more depression, despair and loneliness. at least not in Doom. ;-)

I don't like bos stuff too
The maps aren't enjoyable for me

... huh?

Interesting point. I agree, that some of my favorite maps often have well decorated 'out of bounds' zones. Even though you can't go out and interact with it, the ability to see out into the distance can make a small map feel a lot bigger than it actually is, which I really enjoy.

I think the rule was meant for secrets, like powerups seen through windows or behind cages. I don't think I can jive with items and unalerted monsters being out in places you can't actually go.

Even then, John Romero didn't even follow his own rules. In earlier versions there was even a stimpack out here.

I think it's an easy distinction to make. Items/goodies should always be reachable. Don't be a dick and have players spend an hour trying to figure out how to get that megasphere, if it cannot be done.

However, making unreachable structures to add to the background, which make the space feel bigger, is OK and welcome in my book. With modern games it is very easy to make a beautiful and detailed background which is clearly distinct from the reachable world, but adds to the immersion. In the time of the original Doom, technology wasn't quite there yet (think of the primitive sky textures), so it would be OK to just have some far off area with structures that look just like those that you have around you, but are obviously out of reach. In fact, many maps, at least in community projects, have those.

This is a nice way to look at it. Does not go with my gameworldview, but I can certainly understand it.

On the subject of worldbuilding, many DBPs have had lots of environmental scenery like beer bottles, trash cans, milk crates and cardboard boxes. Man-made items that you could probably store in your inventory but have no reason to.

I think many players agree that seeing refuse leftover by people that once lived there absolutely does work at making a place feel real, and many mappers and players like to see it. If one makes the graphics for it, it kinda eliminates any need to use actual pick-uppable items for this purpose.

I like this Romero Rule but it's something to keep in mind, rather than do every time. E1M7 is really great how you can see across from one area to another through whatever windows or spaces in between, so I like to connect places like that when I can.

An absolutely ridiculously difficult to figure out secret dangling something in front of you all during a map is quite irritating though.

To be honest I think this rule is all relative to the kind of map you want to make. Nothing is really set in stone regarding this rule in particular. In some more modern maps it just doesn't make any sense to implement this - Miasma comes to mind. In Miasma there are all of these ledges with structures that you can never reach - obviously outside of the play-space and are meant for decoration only. Worldbuilding can be a great positive to maps.

I start to agree more with this rule when the map is more gameplay focused (basically all of my maps). If I put something somewhere in my map I think about some weird way you can get to it. I guess the earliest example for me is dimensions 03. The way you get to the first secret fight was me trying to make some weird experience for the player to add something maybe people didn't expect to the map.

When I tested magnolia map03 for ribbiks I was pretty adamant about being able to make it to the castle thing off in the distance (this ended up being the secret bsk? fight iirc). Magnolia map03 is such a gameplay focused map that I think it really makes sense to put a fight up there (I was also a bit salty about having another castle thing I couldn't get to - 20x7's map06's castle and sunder map05 upside down castle - I always wanted to see what was up with these structures in game). Admittingly I am still bummed that the fight in 20x7 map05 on that crazy looking structure where the beta's final fight took place was removed (can see it through the force-field in like the second room of the map).

Tbh I guess for me if it is a very detailed and moody map then I can go back and forth on it but I still will always want to be able to visit some cool structure in the distance no matter what. Gameplay oriented maps I think you are missing a golden oportunity to expand your map by not putting something in a cool looking area you made.

Demons, who built or infested the rooms, use ammo as decorations, and weapons are highest tier. Health is to prolong doom guy's suffering.

The potion on the top right in Prince of Persia 2 Level 10, is one example I remember where something unreachable adds to the immersion without endangering the experience.

First - for someone experienced with the game mechanics (as you would be by the time you reach level 10), it is quite obviously out of reach, so you would not spend many frustrating moments trying to figure out a path to it.

Second - it is not a very important item (merely a small potion restoring one life point, of which there are several other scattered around), so not very tempting to begin with.

Finally - its location next to an exit from a concealed passage (again, one that the player will have no trouble figuring out is decorative only) creates a very tangible sense of a "bigger world" outside the narrow path taken by the main character.