--- title: A New DOOM-Themed CAPTCHA: Killing Monsters to Prove... description: Guillermo Rauch, CEO of Vercel, has introduced a DOOM-themed CAPTCHA where users must kill monsters in the classic game to prove their humanity. This new... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/a-new-doom-themed-captcha-killing-monsters-to-prove-you-re-human-shjyrm6ao twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: A New DOOM-Themed CAPTCHA: Killing Monsters to Prove You're Human | daily.dev og:description: Guillermo Rauch, CEO of Vercel, has introduced a DOOM-themed CAPTCHA where users must kill monsters in the classic game to prove their humanity. This new... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/a-new-doom-themed-captcha-killing-monsters-to-prove-you-re-human-shjyrm6ao og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/SHJyRm6ao.png og:image:alt: A New DOOM-Themed CAPTCHA: Killing Monsters to Prove You're Human og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # A New DOOM-Themed CAPTCHA: Killing Monsters to Prove You're Human **[Collections](https://daily.dev/sources/collections)** · 2 min read · 3 upvotes · 2 comments ## Summary Guillermo Rauch, CEO of Vercel, has introduced a DOOM-themed CAPTCHA where users must kill monsters in the classic game to prove their humanity. This new CAPTCHA aims to counter AI advancements that undermine traditional methods. It uses nightmare mode difficulty and employs Emscripten to compile DOOM to WebAssembly. Despite its innovation, the high difficulty and potential legal and accessibility issues may limit its widespread adoption. ## Content # A New DOOM-Themed CAPTCHA: Killing Monsters to Prove You're Human Guillermo Rauch, the CEO of Vercel, has introduced a unique twist on traditional CAPTCHAs by leveraging the classic game DOOM. In this innovative CAPTCHA, users are required to kill three monsters within the game to verify their human identity. This fresh approach has sparked a variety of reactions on Hacker News, particularly among developers who find this creative yet challenging. Traditional CAPTCHAs serve as a gatekeeping mechanism to differentiate humans from bots by presenting puzzles involving text recognition, image selection, or other tasks. However, advancements in AI have enabled bots to solve these puzzles faster and more accurately than humans, eroding their effectiveness. Rauch’s DOOM CAPTCHA aims to counteract this trend by introducing a more engaging and complex challenge. The DOOM CAPTCHA operates on 'nightmare mode', the highest difficulty setting of the game, making it a formidable task. The project employs Emscripten to compile a port of DOOM to WebAssembly, facilitating communication between the C-based game and a JavaScript-based CAPTCHA user interface. This allows for specific events such as player actions, kills, and enemy interactions to be tracked and processed. Despite its entertainment and technical merit, the DOOM CAPTCHA has practical limitations that may hinder widespread adoption. Its high difficulty level could frustrate users, and potential legal issues relating to the use of DOOM’s game data pose additional concerns. Moreover, implementing such a CAPTCHA could exclude non-gamers or individuals with disabilities, raising questions about accessibility and inclusivity. In conclusion, the DOOM-themed CAPTCHA represents an intriguing blend of retro gaming and cybersecurity, showcasing how creative approaches can reinvigorate traditional concepts. While it may not replace conventional CAPTCHAs, it provides a compelling example of innovation in the fight against bots and automated fraud. ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@ghost** · 3 upvotes > I got an idea for a harder CAPTCHA than playing DOOM on a mobile device: create a Next.js app and deploy it to a platform other than Vercel to prove that you are human. Nightmare mode. **@thr4sher** · 0 upvotes > Amazing. ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Don’t just attend KubeCon \+ CloudNativeCon, Merge Forward your experience\!](https://daily.dev/posts/don-t-just-attend-kubecon-cloudnativecon-merge-forward-your-experience--l0rpp73x8) · CNCF · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Announcing H2 2026 KCDs](https://daily.dev/posts/announcing-h2-2026-kcds-m96goajm1) · CNCF · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Two months of Open Community Groups](https://daily.dev/posts/two-months-of-open-community-groups-asf52zhbs) · CNCF · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [CNCF Unveils Schedule for KubeCon \+ CloudNativeCon Europe 2026](https://daily.dev/posts/cncf-unveils-schedule-for-kubecon-cloudnativecon-europe-2026-ikhcoa5cb) · CNCF · 2 upvotes · 0 comments - [CNCF Debuts KubeCon \+ CloudNativeCon Japan 2026 Schedule](https://daily.dev/posts/cncf-debuts-kubecon-cloudnativecon-japan-2026-schedule-xp5pyudub) · CNCF · 1 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#ai](https://daily.dev/tags/ai), [#cyber](https://daily.dev/tags/cyber), [#gaming](https://daily.dev/tags/gaming), [#webassembly](https://daily.dev/tags/webassembly) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/a-new-doom-themed-captcha-killing-monsters-to-prove-you-re-human-shjyrm6ao) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"A New DOOM-Themed CAPTCHA: Killing Monsters to Prove You're Human","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/a-new-doom-themed-captcha-killing-monsters-to-prove-you-re-human-shjyrm6ao","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/a-new-doom-themed-captcha-killing-monsters-to-prove-you-re-human-shjyrm6ao"},"datePublished":"2025-01-03T13:19:59.877Z","dateModified":"2025-01-03T13:20:12.713Z","description":"Guillermo Rauch, CEO of Vercel, has introduced a DOOM-themed CAPTCHA where users must kill monsters in the classic game to prove their humanity. 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Nightmare mode.","datePublished":"2025-01-03T14:24:39.809Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/SHJyRm6ao#c-t0jipwApT","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Deleted user","url":"https://daily.dev/ghost","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--hNIUzLiO--/f_auto/v1705327420/public/ghost_vlftth"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":3}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"Amazing.","datePublished":"2025-02-04T12:56:55.129Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/SHJyRm6ao#c-TydIgRY40","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Enrico Monzeglio","url":"https://daily.dev/thr4sher","image":"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a/ACg8ocKbIkCMxXbTQmI2l-YIyQgSBHxVYaPcavVG8__58QST-_Q=s96-c"}}]} ```