Masters of Doom (38 page)

“Doom babies”: “Legions of Doom,”
Wired,
March 1998, p. 157.
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“the new Hollywood”: “Why the New Hollywood Is in Texas,”
Boston Globe,
November 23, 1997, p. N5.
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Of the $3.7 billion generated: “Gamemakers Feeding Growing Appetite for Fun,”
USA Today,
June 19, 1997, p. 4D.
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“The PC gaming boom”: Ibid.
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“You can’t keep up with Carmack”: “Knee Deep in a Dream: The Story of Daikatana,”
GameSpot,
May 2000,
http://www.gamespot.com/features/btg-daikatana/index.htm
.
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“Hi . . . I’m here to tell you”: “John Romero—Artiste,”
Penny Arcade,
November 25, 1998,
http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date
=
1998-11-25
.
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But when a gaming magazine: “John Romero Killed at Age 30,”
Adrenaline Vault,
August 28, 1998,
www.avault.com
.
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“Either people who are no longer”: “Stormy Weather,”
Dallas Observer,
January 14–28, 1999, p. 45.
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FIFTEEN: STRAIGHT OUT OF DOOM

He made amateurish mods: I downloaded and played Eric Harris’s mods.
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“Whatsup all you doomers”: Text included with Eric Harris’s U.A.C. Labs mod posted
online.
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“It’s going to be like fucking Doom”: “The Columbine Tapes,”
Time,
December 20, 1999, pp. 40–51.
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“Several readers have written in”: “Doom in the School,”
Blue’s News,
April 21, 1999,
www.bluesnews.com
archives.
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The Simon Wiesenthal Center: “Doom Level a ‘Dry Run,’ Rabbi Suggests,”
Denver Post,
May 4, 1999, p. A10.
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“dark, dangerous place”: “Social Outcasts Built Fantasy World of Violence,” Washington
Post News Service, April 22, 1999.
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“widen the hole in any kid’s soul”: “Sow Cultural Violence and Reap Death,”
Newsday,
April 22, 1999, p. A57.
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“murder simulators”: “Who’s to Blame?”
60 Minutes,
April 25, 1999.
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Even President Clinton chimed in: Cited in “Clinton Sees Violent Influence in Three
Video Games,”
Los Angeles Times,
April 25, 1999, p. A12.
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Marilyn Manson: “The Trouble with Looking for Signs of Trouble,”
New York Times,
April 25, 1999, Week in Review, p. 1.
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banned trench coats: “Dress Rehearsal for Death,”
Daily Record,
April 23, 1999, p. 8.
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Disney World and Disneyland: “Disneyland Disarms Some Video Games,”
Los Angeles Times,
May 14, 1999, p. 1A.
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In an April 28 statement: Statement of Senator Joseph Lieberman Calling for a White
House Summit on Media Violence, April 28, 1999.
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“How many of us accept”: “Violence Engendered by the War,”
Baltimore Sun,
May 23, 1999, p. 3D.
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“There’s more to learn”: “Harris and Klebold,”
Good Morning America,
May 24, 1999.
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As Jones noted: Jones,
Killing Monsters,
pp. 37–38.
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Researchers since the 1980s: “Personality, Psychopathology, and Development Issues
in Male Adolescent Video Game Use,”
Journal of American Academic Child Psychiatry
24, 1988, pp. 329–333, as cited in Herz,
Joystick Nation,
p. 184.
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An academic study in England: “Cyber-Games Make Children Brighter,”
Sunday Times,
July 22, 2001,
http://www.sunday-times.co.uk
.
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In Finland, researchers used computer games: “Computer Game Helps Dyslexics,” BBC
News Online, August 20, 2001,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1496000/1496709.stm
.
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“Violence in film”: Stuart Fischoff, “Psychology’s Quixotic Quest for the Media-Violence
Connection,” American Psychological Association Convention, Boston, 1999; as cited
in Jones,
Killing Monsters,
p. 28.
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“This is so crazy and hysterical”: “Video Games, Net Unfairly Blamed for Kids’ Violence,”
San Francisco Chronicle,
May 5, 1999, p. B1.
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“Violence has always been”: “A Room Full of Doom,”
Time,
May 24, 1999, p. 65.
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“The video game ‘Quake’ ”: “The Violent World of Video Games,”
Insight on the News,
June 28, 1999, p. 14.
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“more fun than shooting”: “Do Kids Buy Into Violence? Clinton Orders Inquiry into
Marketing Practices,” Gannett News Service, June 2, 1999.
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a $130 million lawsuit: “A Game Boy in the Crosshairs,”
New York Times,
May 23, 1999, sec. 6, p. 36.
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“come hell or high water”:
PC Games,
February 1999, as cited in “Knee Deep in a Dream.”
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“the place where the ‘designer’s vision’ ”: “Stormy Weather,”
Dallas Observer,
January 14–28, 1999, p. 38.
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“Shut up and finish the game”: “Knee Deep in a Dream.”
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“For those of you”: Source, Interactive Digital Software Association.
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“Online gaming is still a small segment”: “Don’t Shoot While I’m Talking,”
Forbes,
October 18, 1999, p. 158.
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“Aaaaarrggggggggh!”: This and other scenes at Ion Storm are drawn from my two-part
article “Hearts of Darkness” and “How Do Game Developers Hack It?”
Salon,
March 7, 2000,
http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2000/03/07/romero/index.htm
and
http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2000/03/08/ion_two/index.htm
.
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SIXTEEN: PERSISTENT WORLDS

Katherine Anna Kang was called a banana: “Interview with Anna Kang,”
Domain of Games,
November 9, 2000,
http://www.domainofgames.com/?display
=
interviews&id
=
annakang&page
=
index.htm
.
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selling only 41,000 copies: NPD Group, 2002.
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“a disaster”: “Sworded Affair,”
Entertainment Weekly,
June 13, 2000, accessed online at
www.ew.com
.
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“signals nothing more remarkable”: Daikatana Review,
PC Gamer,
August 9, 2000, accessed online at
http://www.pcgamer.com/reviews/archives/review_2000-08-09am.htm
.
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“Yep . . . it stinks”: “Yep It Stinks,”
Computer Gaming World,
November 2000, accessed online at
http://www.zdnet.com/products/stories/reviews/0,4161,2667023,00.htm
.
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an estimated $6 billion history: Datamonitor, 2002.
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“an amoral little jerk”: Interview with John Carmack,
Slashdot,
October 15, 1999,
www.slashdot.org
.
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EPILOGUE

$10.8 billion in the United States: NPD Group, 2002. This number reflects sales of
video game console hardware, video game console software, and PC software.
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surpassing box-office receipts . . . music: According to the Motion Picture Association
of America, moviegoers spent $8.4 billion at U.S. box offices in 2001, and the Recording
Industry of America put music sales at $13.7 billion in 2001.
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An estimated 60 percent of all Americans: NPD Group and Interactive Digital Software
Association.
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“This was a tragic situation”: “Parents of Students Killed in Kentucky Lose Lawsuit,”
Associated Press, April 7, 2000.
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“video games drive the evolution”:
Technology Review,
March 2002 cover.
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one of the few pocket PC games: “Hyperspace Delivery Boy,”
Pocketgamer,
January 8, 2002,
http://www.pocketgamer.org/reviews/action/hdb/
.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY

These books were helpful in my research.

ab Hugh, Dafydd, and Brad Linaweaver.
Doom: Hell on Earth.
New York: Penguin, 1995.

Campbell-Kelly, Martin, and William Aspray.
Computer: A History of the Information Machine.
New York: Basic Books, 1996.

Dear, William.
Dungeon Master: The Disappearance of James Dallas Egbert III.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1984.

Dungeon Master Guide: Advanced Dungeons and Dragons.
Renton, Wash.: TSR, 1995.

Freiberger, Paul, and Michael Swaine.
Fire in the Valley: The Making of the Personal Computer.
New York: McGraw-Hill, 2000.

Gibson, William.
Neuromancer.
New York: Berkeley, 1984.

Grossman, Dave, and Gloria DeGaetano.
Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill: A Call to Action Against TV, Movie, and Video Game
Violence.
New York: Crown, 1995.

Hafner, Katie, and Matthew Lyon.
Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins of the Internet.
New York: Simon and Schuster, 1996.

Herman, Leonard.
Phoenix: The Rise and Fall of VideoGames.
Union, Nev.: Rolenta Press, 1997.

Herz, J. C.
Joystick Nation: How Video Games Ate Our Quarters, Won Our Hearts, and Rewired Our
Minds.
New York: Little, Brown, 1995.

Huizinga, Johan.
Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play Element in Culture.
Boston: Beacon, 1955.

Huxley, Aldous.
Brave New World.
New York: Harper and Row, 1946.

Id anthology. id Software, 1996. (Specifically, the story about id that accompanied
this boxed set of games.)

Jones, Gerard.
Killing Monsters: Why Children
Need
Fantasy, Super Heroes, and Make-Believe Violence.
New York: Basic Books, 2002.

Kent, Steven L.
The First Quarter.
Bothell, Wash.: BWD Press, 2000.

Kidder, Tracy.
The Soul of a New Machine.
Boston: Little, Brown, 1981.

Leukart, Hank.
The Doom Hacker’s Guide.
New York: MIS Press, 1995.

Levy, Steven.
Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution.
New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell, 1984.

———.
Insanely Great: The Life and Times of the Macintosh, the Computer That Changed Everything.
New York: Penguin, 2000.

McLuhan, Marshall.
Understand Media: The Extensions of Man.
New York: McGraw-Hill, 1964.

Mendoza, John.
The Official Doom Survivor’s Strategies and Secrets.
Alameda, Calif.: SYBEX, 1994.

Packer, Randall, and Ken Jordan.
Multimedia: From Wagner to Virtual Reality.
New York: W. W. Norton, 2001.

Player Handbook: Advanced Dungeons and Dragons.
Renton, Wash.: TSR, 1995.

Poole, Steven.
Trigger Happy: Video Games and the Entertainment Revolution.
New York: Arcade, 2000.

Quake Authorized Strategy Guide.
Indianapolis: Brady, 1995.

Rheingold, Howard.
The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier.
New York: HarperCollins, 1993.

Rucker, Rudy, R. U. Sirius, and Queen Mu.
Mondo 2000: User’s Guide to the New Edge.
New York: HarperCollins, 1992.

Salzman, Marc.
Game Design: Secrets of the Sages.
Indianapolis: Brady, 1999.

Sheff, David.
Game Over: Press Start to Continue.
Wilton, Conn.: GamePress, 1999.

Stephenson, Neal.
Snow Crash.
New York: Bantam Spectra, 1993.

Turkle, Sherry.
Life on Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet.
New York: Touchstone, 1995.

White, Michael.
Acid Tongues and Tranquil Dreams: Tales of Bitter Rivalry That Fueled the Advancement
of Science and Technology.
New York: HarperCollins, 2001.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

A BFT (Big Fucking Thanks, if you need to know) goes to everyone I interviewed while
living in Dallas, traveling the country, and phoning or e-mailing from Brooklyn. Your
recollections brought the past to life.

I’d like especially to thank the Two Johns. I had no idea how they would feel about
answering all my questions, but they remained nothing less than gracious throughout
our many late nights. John Carmack was as generous with his thoughts and memories
as he is with his code. He also took me out to launch rockets and let me experience
the turbo Ferrari firsthand; thanks for the ride. John Romero was always willing to
dig into his vast archives of
everything
: games, art, comics, Burger King receipts, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. He and
Stevie even let me crash at their ranch to dig for myself; I’m grateful.

Thanks to all my magazine editors who believed in (and assigned) stories over the
years.

I’m-not-worthy bows for my unbeatable clan: my agent, Mary Ann Naples at the Creative
Culture, Inc., my editors, Jonathan Karp and Timothy Farrell, Jon’s assistant, Jake
Greenberg, my production editor, Benjamin Dreyer, and everyone else at Random House.

And thanks to my family and friends, for help and inspiration along the way.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

D
AVID
K
USHNER
has written for numerous publications, including
The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Wired, The Village Voice,
and
Spin
. He has also worked as a senior writer and producer for the music website SonicNet.
He lives in New York City.