Most probably got a floppy at a local store for $9 or less that had the 1st 9 levels of Doom (basically paying for the disk/shipping, for a fee demo that was still a great game). Then you were supposed to pay full price for the rest of the disks/levels if you wanted the full game ($30-40 I think).

However, you could (though. Most didn't have the ability to) download the shareware for free on a BBS at dial up speed. Then up grade with the full game with the floppy disks/CD (or a copy... Yo ho).

I was just starting college in 95, had purchased my 1st real PC, and had access to university Internet. So I was one of the lucky ones that made copies for my friends, so we could play on LAN.

Also, Eventually the shareware version was also released on those CDs with a ton of free software demos and such that came with gamer/PC magazines back then.