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Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture Most of us have heard the stories or, more accurately, the rumors and myths of how id Software came into being and how they produced some of the most influential games ever. Possibly this is why David Kushner’s Masters of Doom proves to be such a fascinating read but more likely because he takes a thorough look at the Two Johns: John Carmack and John Romero. I read through Masters of Doom in almost one sitting thanks to Kushner’s style and the tale he weaves, rendered all the more compelling as it’s true and exposes secrets I never thought I’d find answers for such as why Romero’s head’s on a spike in Doom 2 and what goes on behind closed doors at id. After putting the book down I couldn’t escape the idea that Carmack is a borderline psychopath with a high IQ – a real-life foil for Batman or James Bond – or some kind of advanced robot (powered by pizza and diet Coke) sent from the future to alter the past. Up until reading the book, I figured he was just a misunderstood artist/hacker, lacking social graces, that worked in programming languages instead of oils or clay. At times in Kushner’s book, Carmack takes on the dimensions of a paranoid Joseph Stalin, but suffers bouts of being a crybaby. On more than one occasion, Carmack threatened to walk – and take his latest graphics engine with him. Since he was the brains behind the coding, id could have quite easily sunk. Carmack’s passion is coding – making graphics move faster, look smoother and be more real-to-life. So much so, you get the impression he could easily crack the Matrix. The scary part is that I get the feeling he’s only scratched the surface of his abilities – just as long as he stays in gaming and doesn’t turn his attention to world domination. At first glance, Romero is completely the opposite. He comes off as a nice guy and knowing more about games than anyone else. Romero is almost too nice for his own good, unable to fire all but the biggest cretins (which is in part why Ion Storm collapsed, something else Kushner explores but only in broad details) . One of the biggest surprises is that Romero is a pack-rat, keeping anything and everything in his travels, which is in part why Kushner’s book is so complete. (Kushner also spent a lot of time interviewing Carmack, Romero and many other people connected to id.) The scope of the book is broad enough to include issues that have surrounded gaming for the longest time: violence stemming from videogames, supposed delinquency of minors caused by videogames (ironic considering Carmack spent time in juvenile hall for stealing computers in his youth), and how games (in general) are created, from coding to making publishing deals. Kushner takes us to places we’ve never been, like id’s early meeting with Sierra Online’s Ken Williams, before Castle Wolfenstein hit gaming. He also paints a pretty picture of what happened at a Microsoft press event as Bill Gates attempted to promote Windows95 as a gaming platform. In his taped address he sported a black trench coat and shotgun, which he used at one point to blow away an imp. Needless to say, Microsoft’s PR handlers scooped the tape (and probably buried it). The most striking revelation comes early in the book. Although a culminating event can never be traced back to one particular origin – cause and effect is never that simple – one can’t help but come away with the idea that Castle Wolfenstein, Doom, and Quake would not have come about without the world’s most famous plumber. In the earlier days of PC gaming, consoles were more advanced than PCs and it was the Super Mario games on the Nintendo Entertainment System that Carmack used as inspiration to create scrolling technology for the PC. Without that step, there would have been no Commander Keen, no Wolfenstein, no Doom, no Quake – quite possibly without Mario, Carmack may have turned his attention to global domination. (And the mainstream media is always making out videogames to be a bad thing!) Without a doubt, anyone even with a passing interest in gaming – PC gaming in particular – should read this book because it’s not just about two guy named John and their relationship, it’s about how games are made and presents the idea that every company and game out there has a history. On the whole, Masters of Doom is an invaluable resource and a good read. Definitely recommended. - Omni (June 8, 2003) |
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