It’s official: Doom can run for 2.5 years straight without crashing

The article discusses an experiment conducted by a forum user named "Minki" to test the stability of the classic first-person shooter game Doom. The experiment involved running the Windows 3.1 port of Doom on an ancient Asus MyPal Windows Mobile Pocket PC, which was powered by a constant 5-volt supply and an uninterruptible power source. The experiment aimed to determine how long Doom could run without crashing. Minki crunched the numbers and estimated that it would take the game 2.5 years to hit an overflow state from the game engine. To prove this, they set up the experiment and left the game running. After approximately 2.5 years, the game finally crashed, with the error occurring just hours after Minki's original time estimate. The article highlights the impressive accomplishment, both in terms of the computer science knowledge required to predict the game's behavior and the dedication to set up and see the experiment through to its successful conclusion.