: Spending resources on (scales of abstract->realistic):
: A) Photorealism (rendering/visual technology)
: B) Physics (feasibility in asset interactions)
: C) Asset design (everything as close to real-world believability as possible;
: environments, life, architecture; aesthetic?)

And just to be clear - there are great games across the spectrum of varying combinations of these points. These aren't scales of 'good<->bad', just design and art decisions. The size of the scale for each would be dependent on technology and tools. As technologies improve, those scales get longer and longer, close to realism. It'll never hit 100% real though (as if I recall touched on elsewhere in this thread). AFAIC, Doom went as far to the real end of the scale for A, B, and C as limited technology/budget at the time could allow. Maybe a little less on the C since the humans, though appearing realistic, were still drawn, not digitized from photos or models :P but the realistic intent was there.

Man, I loved Doom.