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Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture
Masters of Doom is the amazing true story of the Lennon and McCartney of video John Carmack and John Romero. Together, they ruled big business. They transformed popular culture. And they provoked a national controversy. More than anything, they lived a unique and rollicking American Dream, escaping the broken homes of their youth to co-create the most notoriously successful game franchises in history—Doom and Quake—until the games they made tore them apart.
Americans spend more money on video games than on movie tickets. Masters of Doom is the first book to chronicle this industry’s greatest story, written by one of the medium’s leading observers. David Kushner takes readers inside the rags-to-riches adventure of two rebellious entrepreneurs who came of age to shape a generation. The vivid portrait reveals why their games are so violent and why their immersion in their brilliantly designed fantasy worlds offered them solace. And it shows how they channeled their fury and imagination into products that are a formative influence on our culture, from MTV to the Internet to Columbine. This is a story of friendship and betrayal, commerce and artistry—a powerful and compassionate account of what it’s like to be young, driven, and wildly creative.
“To my taste, the greatest American myth of cosmogenesis features the maladjusted, antisocial, genius teenage boy who, in the insular laboratory of his own bedroom, invents the universe from scratch. Masters of Doom is a particularly inspired rendition. Dave Kushner chronicles the saga of video game virtuosi Carmack and Romero with terrific brio. This is a page-turning, mythopoeic cyber-soap opera about two glamorous geek geniuses—and it should be read while scarfing down pepperoni pizza and swilling Diet Coke, with Queens of the Stone Age cranked up all the way.”—Mark Leyner, author of I Smell Esther Williams
Americans spend more money on video games than on movie tickets. Masters of Doom is the first book to chronicle this industry’s greatest story, written by one of the medium’s leading observers. David Kushner takes readers inside the rags-to-riches adventure of two rebellious entrepreneurs who came of age to shape a generation. The vivid portrait reveals why their games are so violent and why their immersion in their brilliantly designed fantasy worlds offered them solace. And it shows how they channeled their fury and imagination into products that are a formative influence on our culture, from MTV to the Internet to Columbine. This is a story of friendship and betrayal, commerce and artistry—a powerful and compassionate account of what it’s like to be young, driven, and wildly creative.
“To my taste, the greatest American myth of cosmogenesis features the maladjusted, antisocial, genius teenage boy who, in the insular laboratory of his own bedroom, invents the universe from scratch. Masters of Doom is a particularly inspired rendition. Dave Kushner chronicles the saga of video game virtuosi Carmack and Romero with terrific brio. This is a page-turning, mythopoeic cyber-soap opera about two glamorous geek geniuses—and it should be read while scarfing down pepperoni pizza and swilling Diet Coke, with Queens of the Stone Age cranked up all the way.”—Mark Leyner, author of I Smell Esther Williams
339 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
1090 people are currently reading
19385 people want to read
About the author
David Kushner
27 books225 followersDavid Kushner is an award-winning journalist and author. He is a contributing editor of Wired, Rolling Stone, and Spectrum and is an adjunct professor of journalism at New York University.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,511 reviews
December 29, 2020
A hell of a good read, especially if you grew up playing id games and/or have a background in computer programming. The story has all the elements of a great Greek tragedy: the unlikely rise to success of two heroes, and the tragic flaw in each of them that ruins it. I wonder how many stories there are like this throughout the history of the business: Romero and Carmack, Jobs and Wozniak, Zuckerberg and Saverin, etc. It seems like a pattern that repeats itself: two friends that together propel each other to greatness, but whose success inevitably drives them apart. I'm sure the author takes a certain amount of creative license in telling the story, but it feels well-researched and factually grounded. I'd guess the honest truth of what happened during those days is all but lost, because the key players have rewritten it in their heads several times over. So it's all a matter of perspective at this point.
The only complaint I have with the book is that the author doesn't really make much of an effort at a conclusion. One could say that's because the story is still being told, but he could have tried to tie everything together by spending a final chapter looking back at where they started, or making closing observations on the character of each man. It's not an enormous flaw in the book, but it does leave the reader without a real sense of closure. Thankfully we have Wikipedia to use as a constantly updated epilogue.
The only complaint I have with the book is that the author doesn't really make much of an effort at a conclusion. One could say that's because the story is still being told, but he could have tried to tie everything together by spending a final chapter looking back at where they started, or making closing observations on the character of each man. It's not an enormous flaw in the book, but it does leave the reader without a real sense of closure. Thankfully we have Wikipedia to use as a constantly updated epilogue.
March 27, 2022
It's kind of stunning that even someone as sympathetic and breathlessly ready to take the Johns at their words in every situation as Kushner can't even begin to make John Romero and John Carmack appear remotely likeable. Literally nobody in this book is a good person (of course not, it's about video games), but Romero and Carmack come off as some of the worst people it's possible to be without killing someone.
Part of the issue is that Kushner himself is also a piece of shit* and so just doesn't know what likeable looks like, part of it might be that he went out of his way to portray Carmack as autistic (without using that word) while clearly only knowing autism from contemporary stereotypes and therefore making him much more of a sociopath than he probably is†—Romero is still a nightmare employee, a shit husband to two separate wives (at the time of writing (2003)—he's up to four now, I think? The timeline also strongly suggests he cheated on the second one while she was pregnant), an absent father to kids with both of them, an incompetent boss, a sportscar-obsessed man-child, and a narcissist with anger management issues; Carmack may only be half of those things, but that's certainly enough.
Worrying episodes are presented as amusing little anecdotes (Carmack killing his cat for peeing on his couch, Romero smashing hundreds of dollars worth of computer equipment in a video game-induced rage), acrimonious disputes—and there were a lot of acrimonious disputes—are presented at face value from the Johns' side (of course Tom Hall's leaving id was a mutual thing—that he refused to talk to them for ages afterwards despite Romero actively trying to make friends must just be a coincidence), and while all of the usual suspects make an appearance, you wouldn't know any of the technical employees at any of their companies did anything of consequence except be fired (at id) or quit (at Ion Storms);‡ the intersection of video games, celebrity culture, and hack journalists produced a true gem of a book.
I do think books like this do real harm, and not only because they pay bills for people like Kushner. Doom and Quake are almost single-handedly responsible for gamer culture becoming as awful as it did in the '90s, and rather than take a critical look at that, Masters of Doom is a celebration of its worst aspects. It's lazy, irresponsible journalism, and it materially contributed, in a small way, to the present reactionary mess that is video games.
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* People sensitive to transphobic language should be aware that American McGee's mother dated a trans woman after divorcing his dad, and Kushner describes her in terms that would make even Jon Stewart cringe.
† Though he did marry an objectivist, so who knows.
‡ Wait, no, Sandy Peterson designed some levels.
Part of the issue is that Kushner himself is also a piece of shit* and so just doesn't know what likeable looks like, part of it might be that he went out of his way to portray Carmack as autistic (without using that word) while clearly only knowing autism from contemporary stereotypes and therefore making him much more of a sociopath than he probably is†—Romero is still a nightmare employee, a shit husband to two separate wives (at the time of writing (2003)—he's up to four now, I think? The timeline also strongly suggests he cheated on the second one while she was pregnant), an absent father to kids with both of them, an incompetent boss, a sportscar-obsessed man-child, and a narcissist with anger management issues; Carmack may only be half of those things, but that's certainly enough.
Worrying episodes are presented as amusing little anecdotes (Carmack killing his cat for peeing on his couch, Romero smashing hundreds of dollars worth of computer equipment in a video game-induced rage), acrimonious disputes—and there were a lot of acrimonious disputes—are presented at face value from the Johns' side (of course Tom Hall's leaving id was a mutual thing—that he refused to talk to them for ages afterwards despite Romero actively trying to make friends must just be a coincidence), and while all of the usual suspects make an appearance, you wouldn't know any of the technical employees at any of their companies did anything of consequence except be fired (at id) or quit (at Ion Storms);‡ the intersection of video games, celebrity culture, and hack journalists produced a true gem of a book.
I do think books like this do real harm, and not only because they pay bills for people like Kushner. Doom and Quake are almost single-handedly responsible for gamer culture becoming as awful as it did in the '90s, and rather than take a critical look at that, Masters of Doom is a celebration of its worst aspects. It's lazy, irresponsible journalism, and it materially contributed, in a small way, to the present reactionary mess that is video games.
--------
* People sensitive to transphobic language should be aware that American McGee's mother dated a trans woman after divorcing his dad, and Kushner describes her in terms that would make even Jon Stewart cringe.
† Though he did marry an objectivist, so who knows.
‡ Wait, no, Sandy Peterson designed some levels.
May 28, 2015
There aren't many specific details from this book that I want to remember.
The dynamic between the two John's and the employer at which they met is interesting: the stealing the computers at night, working on company time, releasing a game behind his back, after all that being offered a deal by their old employer to finance their new company (he must have seen they were going places), and him having to take back that offer because of his other employees.
The fact that that the games were written by so few people is impressive.
It was neat that Deus Ex (a game I like a lot) was created by the functional branch of a very dysfunctional company (Romero's Ion Storm, which he founded after leaving Id and which was a typical tech bubble company).
Overall though, there aren't many specifics to take away and the overall lessons/themes were already known to me and, I think, pervasive in tech culture before this books creation. Those themes being that 10x the people doesn't entail 10x the work, that you should keep development cycles short and focus on shipping, and that being a good programmer doesn't mean you'll be a good manager. (Well, I don't know how pervasive the last lesson was before this book, but the others proceeded it with XP and maybe Agile).
Also, I was hoping for more details about the game development - that is the technical structure of the games, more details about the revelations had when creating them, etc. In general this book feels like a long magazine article - in talks about the personalities and events as caricatures but it never really delves into anything.
It's easy to see why Carmack is beloved by the community on Hacker News, etc. He seems awesome and presumably had some great incites (that I wish were talked about more in the book). I get the impression that Romero and others were lucky in that they got to use Carmack's engines which were the real driving force behind the games' success. The book tries to be diplomatic and say Romero's experimentation and finding out what was possible with the engines was also very important, but, I mean, what else is the book going to say? The authors not going to just screw his interview subject so he had to say something.
I binge read the book in <24 hours so it clearly isn't that bad. I wish there were more books about the development of pieces of software. With that said, there just isn't much takeaway from this one.
The dynamic between the two John's and the employer at which they met is interesting: the stealing the computers at night, working on company time, releasing a game behind his back, after all that being offered a deal by their old employer to finance their new company (he must have seen they were going places), and him having to take back that offer because of his other employees.
The fact that that the games were written by so few people is impressive.
It was neat that Deus Ex (a game I like a lot) was created by the functional branch of a very dysfunctional company (Romero's Ion Storm, which he founded after leaving Id and which was a typical tech bubble company).
Overall though, there aren't many specifics to take away and the overall lessons/themes were already known to me and, I think, pervasive in tech culture before this books creation. Those themes being that 10x the people doesn't entail 10x the work, that you should keep development cycles short and focus on shipping, and that being a good programmer doesn't mean you'll be a good manager. (Well, I don't know how pervasive the last lesson was before this book, but the others proceeded it with XP and maybe Agile).
Also, I was hoping for more details about the game development - that is the technical structure of the games, more details about the revelations had when creating them, etc. In general this book feels like a long magazine article - in talks about the personalities and events as caricatures but it never really delves into anything.
It's easy to see why Carmack is beloved by the community on Hacker News, etc. He seems awesome and presumably had some great incites (that I wish were talked about more in the book). I get the impression that Romero and others were lucky in that they got to use Carmack's engines which were the real driving force behind the games' success. The book tries to be diplomatic and say Romero's experimentation and finding out what was possible with the engines was also very important, but, I mean, what else is the book going to say? The authors not going to just screw his interview subject so he had to say something.
I binge read the book in <24 hours so it clearly isn't that bad. I wish there were more books about the development of pieces of software. With that said, there just isn't much takeaway from this one.
May 21, 2015
Executive Summary: This book is what I wish Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo, and the Battle that Defined a Generation would have been. As a huge fan of id games growing up, and a software developer this book really worked for me, but will probably be too slow for many people.
Audio book: I was doubly excited to do this book when I saw that Wil Wheaton was the narrator. He's a perfect fit for this book. He also does more accents and voices than I'm used to. Overall an excellent job.
Full Review
Doom along with a few other games defined my childhood and shaped my future in a way than the Nintendo games I played before them never quite did. PC games made me fall in love with the computer. It made me look at them as more than just game machines. I wanted to know how they work. I wanted to master them. John Carmack was one of my heroes. I wanted to make PC games for a living.
As with most childhood dreams, they rarely work out as planned. I did go on to be a software developer, just not for games. I am one of those Application developers the two Johns both loathed to be relegated to. I decided I'd rather play games than spend long hours making them. I'm grateful that they never gave up on the idea however.
I loved that this book not only got into the guys who made some of my favorite and inspiration games, but also quite a bit about the software process itself. No he didn't get super technical and talk about algorithms (much), but he did give insight to time, and skills and some of the big leaps John Carmack made along the way to cement his and Romero's names in history.
I will say that the software process stuff that I loved may have a negative effect on the casual gamer or even the more hardcore Doom/id fans that don't always have an interest in "how the sausage is made".
I think Mr. Kusher does an excellent job of balancing facts and dialogue in a way that you feel you're along for the ride without feeling like he's just making up conversations to fill pages which was my main issue with Console Wars.
Overall I though this book was quite excellent, but it won't be for everyone.
Audio book: I was doubly excited to do this book when I saw that Wil Wheaton was the narrator. He's a perfect fit for this book. He also does more accents and voices than I'm used to. Overall an excellent job.
Full Review
Doom along with a few other games defined my childhood and shaped my future in a way than the Nintendo games I played before them never quite did. PC games made me fall in love with the computer. It made me look at them as more than just game machines. I wanted to know how they work. I wanted to master them. John Carmack was one of my heroes. I wanted to make PC games for a living.
As with most childhood dreams, they rarely work out as planned. I did go on to be a software developer, just not for games. I am one of those Application developers the two Johns both loathed to be relegated to. I decided I'd rather play games than spend long hours making them. I'm grateful that they never gave up on the idea however.
I loved that this book not only got into the guys who made some of my favorite and inspiration games, but also quite a bit about the software process itself. No he didn't get super technical and talk about algorithms (much), but he did give insight to time, and skills and some of the big leaps John Carmack made along the way to cement his and Romero's names in history.
I will say that the software process stuff that I loved may have a negative effect on the casual gamer or even the more hardcore Doom/id fans that don't always have an interest in "how the sausage is made".
I think Mr. Kusher does an excellent job of balancing facts and dialogue in a way that you feel you're along for the ride without feeling like he's just making up conversations to fill pages which was my main issue with Console Wars.
Overall I though this book was quite excellent, but it won't be for everyone.
December 26, 2017
“Pizza” is mentioned 39 times. “Render” and “polygon” combined for 19. Would you read a book about Beethoven that only mentions how great were his symphonies and how everyone loved them without ever talking about what exactly made them great (and probably not even discussing Fidelio’s plot)? So what exactly were Carmack’s innovations in game engines? Oh, he was very smart and worked a lot; now let’s talk instead about his Ferrari (have I already mentioned that his office was full of pizza boxes?).
March 27, 2022
Masters of Doom, David Kushner tells the story of ID Games founders of classic pc games, wolfeinstien 3d, Doom, Quake their creators the 2 Johns, Carmack and Romero, both come across as rebelious anti social misfits but both bad ass game fanatical programers circa early 1990s. However the story is interesting for the comparison to watching a train wreck in slow motion, if only and what if 2 questions I wonder about these 2 guys. All the crazy memories some dated and forgotten some canon hard out, such as, dial up bulliten boards, shareware, open source, dial up ear aches with dodgy connections, ftp, warez, bitrates, network parties, boring politicians trying to ban violent games, settling for enforced age ratings for games, these little stories were mentioned a biggie was unheard of to let their games be open source which lead others to develope the Unreal engine, map editors game editors all grand daddy powerhouse programs for 3d game developers. Having played these games to death wasting countless hours consuming tons of sugary rubbish, I can say now looking back what the &*& was I thinking. Well I wasn't thinking just wanted to get my kills on and rank "suck it down". Even some tv series based loosely on these wild dudes back then. All now replaced by stuffy shirted know it all corporates. what do I know .....probably...
June 24, 2014
I decided to read this book based on seeing its title on the library shelves. Like many (most?) gamers of a certain age, I grew up with games from id software and its various offshoots, but until reading Masters of Doom, I hadn't realized how completely they had dominated my gaming background. Commander Keen; Duke Nukem (the side-scrolling platformer, not the FPS); the various Epic Megagames games like Solar Winds, Jill of the Jungle, ZZT, Dare to Dream, Ken's Labyrinth, and One Must Fall 2097; Rise of the Triad; Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold; and of course, Wolfenstein 3D and Doom, filled hundreds--honestly, probably thousands--of hours as a child. Most of them I got as shareware, through those shareware distribution discs that were everywhere in the mid-90s, and apparently that's another innovation that I can trace back to that cluster of companies. I owe a lot of my childhood gaming memories to the two men depicted here.
I also had forgotten just how much innovation PC gaming required back in the late 80s and early 90s. Now, in the midst of a decade-long period where PCs are the superior technical gaming platform due to stagnating console specs, where people can actually make a serious argument that Watch_Dogs was downgraded on PC in order to avoid showing up consoles, it's hard to remember that once it was simply impossible for computers to replicate feats that consoles did routinely. It's kind of astonishing nowadays that Carmack had to come up with a technical workaround just to allow the kind of side-scrolling on PC that Nintendo games routinely performed, and the various innovations were really interesting to read about.
That's the good part. Now, the parts that annoyed me.
The primary problem I have with Masters of Doom is that John Romero and John Carmack come across as thoroughly unlikeable people. Under the Kirk-Spock Theory of Dual Interpersonal Relationships, Romero is the Kirk and Carmack is the Spock. Romero apparently had a hard time committing to any one game for any length of time, preferring to chat to the press and wallow in the benefits of riches. He also comes across as a 90s version of the brogrammer, screaming obscenities at fellow employees while playing deathmatch with them, smashing monitors, keyboards, and mice when losing games, and letting the office devolve into a squalor of diet Coke cans and pizza boxes. Not to mention abandoning multiple marriages before turning 30. I've heard it said that nowadays you can make all the money you want by building your company around letting young white men avoid any of the responsibilities of adulthood, and Romero comes across as precisely the kind of customer that gives companies like this one their revenue stream.
Carmack, in contrast, is apparently an uber-programming savant who is incapable of understanding how human interaction works. He's perfectly willing to spend days or weeks sequestered in his office working on his next [hacked together/elegantly implemented] (choose as appropriate) graphics innovation, but he ends conversation in midsentence, has no sense of tact, and has a coldly utilitarian philosophy toward other people, where as soon as they are no longer of use to him he backstabs them or simply leaves them out in the cold. His response to office discord was just to vanish into his office or start coming in during nights to completely ignore it, which just let it fester until it exploded, and that's when he wasn't deciding that an employee had lived out their usefulness and firing them with no warning.
I keep saying "apparently" there because I'm not sure how accurate the book is. There are a lot of sources and interviews listed in the back, but the story slots far too well into the archetypical American tragic success story for me to be sure how much is pure truth and how much was massaged to fit the narrative. Two people come from troubled backgrounds, but through sheer grit, hard work, dedication, anda lot of luckeven more hard work manage to rise above their pasts and, spending long days and nights with their noses to the grindstone, fulfill their dreams and make it big. Soon, however, success starts to go to their head, and their once-strong partnership begins to fray at the seams. Increasing tension drives them apart, and it's soon clear that neither one alone is even half as good as the two of them were together. Then...
...well, they aren't dead yet, so the classic ending of reconciliation and catharsis can't come next. Instead, the book ends with a schmaltzy scene of Carmack having car trouble after a deathmatch tournament and Romero stepping in with jumper cables. D'awww.
Or something like that, anyway. The whole thing seems way too pat for me to do more than glance at it suspiciously, and coupled with the distaste I felt for both Carmack and Romero's behavior during the book, I spent most of it just shaking my head and hoping for the next scene of a technical challenge that needed to be overcome.
For the narrative and content I'd give it two stars, plus one for the warm, happy glow of nostalgia I felt while reading about 90s gaming. I do seem to be in the minority opinion on this one, though, so maybe other people read the portrayal of the Two Johns differently than I do or have less of a problem with unlikeable protagonists.
I also had forgotten just how much innovation PC gaming required back in the late 80s and early 90s. Now, in the midst of a decade-long period where PCs are the superior technical gaming platform due to stagnating console specs, where people can actually make a serious argument that Watch_Dogs was downgraded on PC in order to avoid showing up consoles, it's hard to remember that once it was simply impossible for computers to replicate feats that consoles did routinely. It's kind of astonishing nowadays that Carmack had to come up with a technical workaround just to allow the kind of side-scrolling on PC that Nintendo games routinely performed, and the various innovations were really interesting to read about.
That's the good part. Now, the parts that annoyed me.
The primary problem I have with Masters of Doom is that John Romero and John Carmack come across as thoroughly unlikeable people. Under the Kirk-Spock Theory of Dual Interpersonal Relationships, Romero is the Kirk and Carmack is the Spock. Romero apparently had a hard time committing to any one game for any length of time, preferring to chat to the press and wallow in the benefits of riches. He also comes across as a 90s version of the brogrammer, screaming obscenities at fellow employees while playing deathmatch with them, smashing monitors, keyboards, and mice when losing games, and letting the office devolve into a squalor of diet Coke cans and pizza boxes. Not to mention abandoning multiple marriages before turning 30. I've heard it said that nowadays you can make all the money you want by building your company around letting young white men avoid any of the responsibilities of adulthood, and Romero comes across as precisely the kind of customer that gives companies like this one their revenue stream.
Carmack, in contrast, is apparently an uber-programming savant who is incapable of understanding how human interaction works. He's perfectly willing to spend days or weeks sequestered in his office working on his next [hacked together/elegantly implemented] (choose as appropriate) graphics innovation, but he ends conversation in midsentence, has no sense of tact, and has a coldly utilitarian philosophy toward other people, where as soon as they are no longer of use to him he backstabs them or simply leaves them out in the cold. His response to office discord was just to vanish into his office or start coming in during nights to completely ignore it, which just let it fester until it exploded, and that's when he wasn't deciding that an employee had lived out their usefulness and firing them with no warning.
I keep saying "apparently" there because I'm not sure how accurate the book is. There are a lot of sources and interviews listed in the back, but the story slots far too well into the archetypical American tragic success story for me to be sure how much is pure truth and how much was massaged to fit the narrative. Two people come from troubled backgrounds, but through sheer grit, hard work, dedication, and
...well, they aren't dead yet, so the classic ending of reconciliation and catharsis can't come next. Instead, the book ends with a schmaltzy scene of Carmack having car trouble after a deathmatch tournament and Romero stepping in with jumper cables. D'awww.
Or something like that, anyway. The whole thing seems way too pat for me to do more than glance at it suspiciously, and coupled with the distaste I felt for both Carmack and Romero's behavior during the book, I spent most of it just shaking my head and hoping for the next scene of a technical challenge that needed to be overcome.
For the narrative and content I'd give it two stars, plus one for the warm, happy glow of nostalgia I felt while reading about 90s gaming. I do seem to be in the minority opinion on this one, though, so maybe other people read the portrayal of the Two Johns differently than I do or have less of a problem with unlikeable protagonists.
May 12, 2019
Kinda amateurish prose, everything "classic" and "legendary" in the same sentence.
It's saved by the singular, remarkable character Carmack. Neuroatypical, ascetic, principled, focussed to the point of dissociation. He slept on the floor for months, despite being rich, because he didn't see the need for comfort. An excellent example of what someone profoundly creative can do, if they also love work. (: All the glories of the species.)
Romero is less interesting, because he is a fairly ordinary tech startup founder (with a sicker sense of humour and less self-suppression), mendacious and loud. "To the outside world, Romero was id." He may have invented gaming smack talk, by screaming at people in LAN tournaments. If you've never been on Xbox Live, you probably haven't had a 9 year-old child scream that you're a faggot and a noob. The child is channeling Romero.
I concede that there would have been no Doom Moment without Romero's hyping it - that together these two men form one functioning human being.
Kushner occasionally adds value, e.g. when he notes that id were to gaming what technical metal was to music: the marriage of virtuosity with extreme content, "high technology and gruesome gameplay". To see how important skill is in selling a dark aesthetic, compare the Learjet-level success of fancy metal with the parochial subsistence of hardcore punk.
He also sees an entire type very clearly: the alpha nerd, with all his lofty contempt, Ferraris, workaholism, disloyalty, pranks, energy. This is much more common in life than in media.
Repetitive though; skim.
It's saved by the singular, remarkable character Carmack. Neuroatypical, ascetic, principled, focussed to the point of dissociation. He slept on the floor for months, despite being rich, because he didn't see the need for comfort. An excellent example of what someone profoundly creative can do, if they also love work. (: All the glories of the species.)
Romero is less interesting, because he is a fairly ordinary tech startup founder (with a sicker sense of humour and less self-suppression), mendacious and loud. "To the outside world, Romero was id." He may have invented gaming smack talk, by screaming at people in LAN tournaments. If you've never been on Xbox Live, you probably haven't had a 9 year-old child scream that you're a faggot and a noob. The child is channeling Romero.
I concede that there would have been no Doom Moment without Romero's hyping it - that together these two men form one functioning human being.
Kushner occasionally adds value, e.g. when he notes that id were to gaming what technical metal was to music: the marriage of virtuosity with extreme content, "high technology and gruesome gameplay". To see how important skill is in selling a dark aesthetic, compare the Learjet-level success of fancy metal with the parochial subsistence of hardcore punk.
He also sees an entire type very clearly: the alpha nerd, with all his lofty contempt, Ferraris, workaholism, disloyalty, pranks, energy. This is much more common in life than in media.
Repetitive though; skim.
July 23, 2007
The true story of John Carmack and John Romero and how they created Id software and became the most prolific computer game designers in the 1990s.
The story describes how two misfit geeks were able to follow their passion of games and through hard work were able to make impressive advances in game technology and get rich at it as well. It also shows the ravages of arrogance on business and how letting ego come into play can destroy friendships and companies.
The story uses an extended metaphor for the company with a dungeons and dragons campaign that the main characters were playing.
This book is very interesting. The writing style is journalistic and simple. This works, because the book is a quick read. The story is great, and the author does an excellent job of giving a human element to the story by describing the lives of the most important Id programmers and designers.
I read this book because I was a big fan of Id software and the games that it produced. Also, I had just started a job in the computer industry and I still had some sort of romantic notions of what it would be like.
The story describes how two misfit geeks were able to follow their passion of games and through hard work were able to make impressive advances in game technology and get rich at it as well. It also shows the ravages of arrogance on business and how letting ego come into play can destroy friendships and companies.
The story uses an extended metaphor for the company with a dungeons and dragons campaign that the main characters were playing.
This book is very interesting. The writing style is journalistic and simple. This works, because the book is a quick read. The story is great, and the author does an excellent job of giving a human element to the story by describing the lives of the most important Id programmers and designers.
I read this book because I was a big fan of Id software and the games that it produced. Also, I had just started a job in the computer industry and I still had some sort of romantic notions of what it would be like.
April 21, 2014
Incredible origin story of id Software
I love origin stories. Many are shallow or overly dramatic in an effort to tell a story rather than capture the essence of what happened and why it was so important. This one totally nailed it.
I love origin stories. Many are shallow or overly dramatic in an effort to tell a story rather than capture the essence of what happened and why it was so important. This one totally nailed it.
August 14, 2019
DOOM. Игра всех игр.
Сейчас читаю "Властелины DOOM: Как двое парней создали игровую индустрию и воспитали целое поколение геймеров", несмотря на то что игры для меня весьма важное действо (сейчас прокощунствую, но по воздействию в затягивании в свой мир, они гораздо превосходят книги, смогли меня затянуть в себя в таких ситуациях, где никакие книжки не справились бы) но данная книга оказалось первой, о них самих.
Перевод.
Рецензии на русском состоят процентов на 80% из жалоб на плохой перевод, и знаете это довольно-таки раздражает меня, как впрочем и всегда, как человека почти нормально воспринимающего google-перевод; ну написано там что-то с ошибками, ну и что? Лучше бы их не было, но подобная ситуация никогда не мешала мне оценить хорошую книгу по достоинству и порадоваться прибавлению информации в любой области (потому-что практически в любой области пробелы на русском огромны), совсем ужасным на моей памяти был лишь перевод романа «Из моря» Джона Уиндема, тогда я действительно думал, как вообще такое можно выдать, но, что характерно ни в каких других отзывах, эта проблема не поднималась.
Но, независимо от всего этого, подозрения по поводу правильности перевода пришли и ко мне, для этого даже не понадобилось открывать книгу, а только взглянуть на подзаглавие в названии: "Как двое парней создали игровую индустрию и воспитали целое поколение геймеров" оказались на самом деле "Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and ͟T͟r͟a͟n͟s͟f͟o͟r͟m͟e͟d͟ ͟P͟o͟p͟ ͟C͟u͟l͟t͟u͟r͟e͟", мне даже до проверки показалось ну практически невозможным использование подобного оборота западными журналистами (автора книги мне хочется отнести именно к этой категории, его стиль, манера звучит именно как журнальный лонгрид, а не биография), хоть лет 15 тому назад они не выпускали такой поток лживой ненависти по отношению к геймерам и играм, плохо замаскированной под "социальную справедливость" которую они выявляют сейчас, но представить что в книге посвященной игре, которую наравне с Мэрилином Мэнсоном многие никоим боком не причастные к игровой индустрии люди и "честнейший" сенатор Джозеф Либерман (ещё за шесть лет до этих событий устраивавший слушания федерального масштаба по поводу "жестоких" игр), обвиняли в стрельбе в школе «Колумбайн», представлялось ну никак не возможным.
И чтобы наконец-таки разделаться с темой перевода, стоит отметить что это не единственный громкий скандал с переводами книг на игровую тематику, год тому назад, на DTF вышла довольно разгромная статья; Кризисный аврал: почему «Кровь, пот и пиксели» не стоит читать в переводе «Эксмо»" с критикой книги Джейн Макгонигал, результатом которой стала капитуляция издательства, с предложением всем купившим первую книгу, оторвать обложку у своей книги, выслать её на адрес издательства и получить взамен исправленный перевод :-)
Легкие недостатки.
Мне немного не понравилось в книге беспрестанное описание конфликтов в команде id Software, постоянно кто-то с кем-то находится в состоянии либо назревающего конфликта, который на самом деле завершается увольнением лишь через три года (подобное отношение напоминает рассказы о друг друге супругов в разводе, "все было плохо, все ужасно, все к этому шло чуть ли не с первого дня брака и пр.", но если бы их опросили во время начала/середины таких ужасных отношений, то думаю все были бы награждены такими удивительными ответами как "все нормально" и "хорошо"), думаю большая часть времяпровождения сотрудников компании выпускавшей по 2-3 игры в год, состояла из беспрестанного написания кода, разработки движка, создания графики, и так день (и ночь) за днем, месяц за месяцем, но на таком материале много саспенса не выдашь, хотя буду честным, и подобных описаний рабочих горячек тоже хватает в избытке:
Я кстати тоже испытываю головокружение от игр, но только в тех случаях когда давно не играю и начинаю опять (когда я только начал играть тоже столкнулся с этим), и спустя примерно дня три, подобный эффект пропадает.
Игра.
Что такого есть в DOOM 3 (лично для меня именно третий, так как я в силу возраста пропустил первые две части, но охотно верю что они тоже шедевральны), что заставляет считать меня именно её игрой всех игр, как это вынесен�� в название рецензий? Не тоже любимейшую трилогию «Dead Space» (надеюсь я когда-нибудь смогу назвать её
квадрологией), не «BioShock» (именно благодаря которому я и узнал про Айн Рэнд, и пусть как я понял вся серия и была своеобразной критикой её работ, но какой критикой! После такой критики количество проданных экземпляров увеличивается как минимум в два раза), ни лучшую интерпретацию Алисы в стране чудес от Американа МакГи (тоже кстати сотрудника id Software в 90-х) под названием «Alice: Madness Returns», ни космооперу «Mass Effect», ни лучшую* индиану джонс от мира видеоигр — «Lara Croft: Tomb Raider» (*сноска не потому что я сомневаюсь в её качестве, а только потому что все очень хвалили и сравнивали с ней серию «Uncharted», но так как у меня нет PlayStation, то возражения не принимаются). Марс? Может быть, «Вспомнить всё» один из лучших фильмов для меня, да и карпентеровские «Призраки Марса» отнюдь не так плохи как можно подумать глядя на рейтинг кинопоиска, а если ещё и добавить абсолютно беспокойную «Третью экспедицию» от Рэя Брэдбери, то одно слово "Марс" должно пускать строй мурашек у меня по спине. Жанр? В игровых терминах это звучит немного по другому, но по сути это боевик+ужасы+фантастика, именно то сочетание что заставляет мое сердце замирать и стучать с удвоенной силой в предвкушении зрелища что надо. Оружие? Скажите, вы стреляли чем-то, по эффекту весьма напоминающем взрыв небольшой черной дыры? Я хочу услышать от вас только три слова — Биг Факин Ган, и да, это она BFG9000, и в этих славословиях я отнюдь не одинок. Демоны? В любом случае, эта серия чем стала тем стала, и не только для меня одного:
В этом случае, пожалуй отмечу что такого я не испытывал.
Книга.
Так что узнав изначально что книга была выпущена в 2003 году, и поэтому как раз не захватывает DOOM 3 вышедший год спустя, я был немного разочарован, но практически сразу же оценил что возможно это хороший знак, к сожалению чем ближе к нашим дням, тем больше вероятность словить в книге про игры "социальную" повестку навроде такой: «Rise of the Videogame Zinesters: How Freaks, Normals, Amateurs, Artists, Dreamers*, Drop-outs, Queers, Housewives, and People Like You Are Taking Back an Art Form» (*Dreamers, если кто не в курсе, это то как принято в определенных кругах, называть нелегальных мигрантов), странно, но почему-то ни один из людей этих категорий, не запечатлен на реальных снимках из 90-х.
Успех, и даже поклонение постигшее игры и самих Кармака и Ромеро
а ведь за ними ещё числилось создание таких отнюдь не последних серий как «Wolfenstein», «Quake» и наверное тоже хороший, но не получающий продолжений «Commander Keen», был закономерным финалом их недюжинных навыков, поглощающей любви к играм, новаторству, и разнице в подходе к созданию игр, к сожалению в конце-концов приведшей к тому что их дороги разошлись.
Но история DOOM'а на этом к счастью не завершилась. В 2016 году вышел перезапуск:
а в конце этого года, должно выйти продолжение - «DOOM Eternal», и вы только посмотрите на этот тизер, если это не лучше 99% пластиково-комиксных блокбастеров, и в отличии от их трейлеров, здесь будет все ещё в большем количестве, а не "мы собрали самые смешные шутки и самые взрывистые взрывы в один трейлер, все остальное в нашем кино почти не стоит внимание", то я не знаю что вам ещё нужно. Мне — ничего более.
DOOM Eternal – Official E3 Teaser
До последнего какодемона.
Сейчас читаю "Властелины DOOM: Как двое парней создали игровую индустрию и воспитали целое поколение геймеров", несмотря на то что игры для меня весьма важное действо (сейчас прокощунствую, но по воздействию в затягивании в свой мир, они гораздо превосходят книги, смогли меня затянуть в себя в таких ситуациях, где никакие книжки не справились бы) но данная книга оказалось первой, о них самих.
Перевод.
Рецензии на русском состоят процентов на 80% из жалоб на плохой перевод, и знаете это довольно-таки раздражает меня, как впрочем и всегда, как человека почти нормально воспринимающего google-перевод; ну написано там что-то с ошибками, ну и что? Лучше бы их не было, но подобная ситуация никогда не мешала мне оценить хорошую книгу по достоинству и порадоваться прибавлению информации в любой области (потому-что практически в любой области пробелы на русском огромны), совсем ужасным на моей памяти был лишь перевод романа «Из моря» Джона Уиндема, тогда я действительно думал, как вообще такое можно выдать, но, что характерно ни в каких других отзывах, эта проблема не поднималась.
Но, независимо от всего этого, подозрения по поводу правильности перевода пришли и ко мне, для этого даже не понадобилось открывать книгу, а только взглянуть на подзаглавие в названии: "Как двое парней создали игровую индустрию и воспитали целое поколение геймеров" оказались на самом деле "Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and ͟T͟r͟a͟n͟s͟f͟o͟r͟m͟e͟d͟ ͟P͟o͟p͟ ͟C͟u͟l͟t͟u͟r͟e͟", мне даже до проверки показалось ну практически невозможным использование подобного оборота западными журналистами (автора книги мне хочется отнести именно к этой категории, его стиль, манера звучит именно как журнальный лонгрид, а не биография), хоть лет 15 тому назад они не выпускали такой поток лживой ненависти по отношению к геймерам и играм, плохо замаскированной под "социальную справедливость" которую они выявляют сейчас, но представить что в книге посвященной игре, которую наравне с Мэрилином Мэнсоном многие никоим боком не причастные к игровой индустрии люди и "честнейший" сенатор Джозеф Либерман (ещё за шесть лет до этих событий устраивавший слушания федерального масштаба по поводу "жестоких" игр), обвиняли в стрельбе в школе «Колумбайн», представлялось ну никак не возможным.
И чтобы наконец-таки разделаться с темой перевода, стоит отметить что это не единственный громкий скандал с переводами книг на игровую тематику, год тому назад, на DTF вышла довольно разгромная статья; Кризисный аврал: почему «Кровь, пот и пиксели» не стоит читать в переводе «Эксмо»" с критикой книги Джейн Макгонигал, результатом которой стала капитуляция издательства, с предложением всем купившим первую книгу, оторвать обложку у своей книги, выслать её на адрес издательства и получить взамен исправленный перевод :-)
Легкие недостатки.
Мне немного не понравилось в книге беспрестанное описание конфликтов в команде id Software, постоянно кто-то с кем-то находится в состоянии либо назревающего конфликта, который на самом деле завершается увольнением лишь через три года (подобное отношение напоминает рассказы о друг друге супругов в разводе, "все было плохо, все ужасно, все к этому шло чуть ли не с первого дня брака и пр.", но если бы их опросили во время начала/середины таких ужасных отношений, то думаю все были бы награждены такими удивительными ответами как "все нормально" и "хорошо"), думаю большая часть времяпровождения сотрудников компании выпускавшей по 2-3 игры в год, состояла из беспрестанного написания кода, разработки движка, создания графики, и так день (и ночь) за днем, месяц за месяцем, но на таком материале много саспенса не выдашь, хотя буду честным, и подобных описаний рабочих горячек тоже хватает в избытке:
В начале декабря 1993 года работа над DOOM близилась к концу. Парни перестали уходить по вечерам домой и спали прямо на полу, диванах, под рабочими столами, в креслах. Дэйв Тейлор, которого наняли помогать с дополнительным программированием, даже приобрел репутацию человека, который тут же отключался на полу. Но, по его словам, случа��ось это не потому, что он настолько сильно уставал. DOOM влияла на него на биологическом уровне. Чем дольше он играл, тем быстрее проходил все бесконечные коридоры и тем сильнее у него кружилась голова. Через несколько минут столь стремительного бега Дэйв обычно ложился на пол, чтобы немного прийти в себя.
Я кстати тоже испытываю головокружение от игр, но только в тех случаях когда давно не играю и начинаю опять (когда я только начал играть тоже столкнулся с этим), и спустя примерно дня три, подобный эффект пропадает.
Игра.
Что такого есть в DOOM 3 (лично для меня именно третий, так как я в силу возраста пропустил первые две части, но охотно верю что они тоже шедевральны), что заставляет считать меня именно её игрой всех игр, как это вынесен�� в название рецензий? Не тоже любимейшую трилогию «Dead Space» (надеюсь я когда-нибудь смогу назвать её
квадрологией), не «BioShock» (именно благодаря которому я и узнал про Айн Рэнд, и пусть как я понял вся серия и была своеобразной критикой её работ, но какой критикой! После такой критики количество проданных экземпляров увеличивается как минимум в два раза), ни лучшую интерпретацию Алисы в стране чудес от Американа МакГи (тоже кстати сотрудника id Software в 90-х) под названием «Alice: Madness Returns», ни космооперу «Mass Effect», ни лучшую* индиану джонс от мира видеоигр — «Lara Croft: Tomb Raider» (*сноска не потому что я сомневаюсь в её качестве, а только потому что все очень хвалили и сравнивали с ней серию «Uncharted», но так как у меня нет PlayStation, то возражения не принимаются). Марс? Может быть, «Вспомнить всё» один из лучших фильмов для меня, да и карпентеровские «Призраки Марса» отнюдь не так плохи как можно подумать глядя на рейтинг кинопоиска, а если ещё и добавить абсолютно беспокойную «Третью экспедицию» от Рэя Брэдбери, то одно слово "Марс" должно пускать строй мурашек у меня по спине. Жанр? В игровых терминах это звучит немного по другому, но по сути это боевик+ужасы+фантастика, именно то сочетание что заставляет мое сердце замирать и стучать с удвоенной силой в предвкушении зрелища что надо. Оружие? Скажите, вы стреляли чем-то, по эффекту весьма напоминающем взрыв небольшой черной дыры? Я хочу услышать от вас только три слова — Биг Факин Ган, и да, это она BFG9000, и в этих славословиях я отнюдь не одинок. Демоны? В любом случае, эта серия чем стала тем стала, и не только для меня одного:
Боб сел за компьютер, решив пройти хотя бы уровень. И его жизнь изменилась.
Смертельные бои захватывали людей с головой. Фанаты оккупировали сети в своих офисах на все выходные, выгоняли детей из подвалов, чтобы соединить компьютеры и устроить себе новую арену сражений. Некоторые были настолько увлечены, что до победного конца откладывали поход в туалет, что для одного из игроков (подкреплявшего силы кексами Ding Dong во время такого марафона) закончилось весьма плачевно: он наложил в штаны прямо во время игры.
В этом случае, пожалуй отмечу что такого я не испытывал.
Книга.
Так что узнав изначально что книга была выпущена в 2003 году, и поэтому как раз не захватывает DOOM 3 вышедший год спустя, я был немного разочарован, но практически сразу же оценил что возможно это хороший знак, к сожалению чем ближе к нашим дням, тем больше вероятность словить в книге про игры "социальную" повестку навроде такой: «Rise of the Videogame Zinesters: How Freaks, Normals, Amateurs, Artists, Dreamers*, Drop-outs, Queers, Housewives, and People Like You Are Taking Back an Art Form» (*Dreamers, если кто не в курсе, это то как принято в определенных кругах, называть нелегальных мигрантов), странно, но почему-то ни один из людей этих категорий, не запечатлен на реальных снимках из 90-х.
Успех, и даже поклонение постигшее игры и самих Кармака и Ромеро
Ромеро всюду появлялся в этой футболке – в офисе, городе, на игровых конференциях. Она обладала «эффектом Моисея»: обнаружив в толпе Ромеро, геймеры расступались. Самые смелые, с потными ладонями и трясущимися от волнения руками, осмеливались приблизиться к своему кумиру. Впервые это случилось возле компании CompUSA: клерк робко шел по пятам за Ромеро, который садился в свою желтую Testarossa, а потом попросил у него автограф. Впоследствии такие вещи стали происходить регулярно, особенно после того, как Ромеро облачился в футболку «Автор». Геймеры начали не просто просить автограф, но в прямом смысле слова падать ниц и петь «мы недостойны»
а ведь за ними ещё числилось создание таких отнюдь не последних серий как «Wolfenstein», «Quake» и наверное тоже хороший, но не получающий продолжений «Commander Keen», был закономерным финалом их недюжинных навыков, поглощающей любви к играм, новаторству, и разнице в подходе к созданию игр, к сожалению в конце-концов приведшей к тому что их дороги разошлись.
Но история DOOM'а на этом к счастью не завершилась. В 2016 году вышел перезапуск:
У меня двадцать очков здоровья, патронов — на десять выстрелов из дробовика, и два барона ада несутся следом. Никаких задних мыслей. Никаких сомнений. Только движение. Давайте ещё. Давайте больше.
а в конце этого года, должно выйти продолжение - «DOOM Eternal», и вы только посмотрите на этот тизер, если это не лучше 99% пластиково-комиксных блокбастеров, и в отличии от их трейлеров, здесь будет все ещё в большем количестве, а не "мы собрали самые смешные шутки и самые взрывистые взрывы в один трейлер, все остальное в нашем кино почти не стоит внимание", то я не знаю что вам ещё нужно. Мне — ничего более.
DOOM Eternal – Official E3 Teaser
До последнего какодемона.
May 16, 2025
Amazing read.
May 4, 2013
First off, Wil Wheaton, one of the nerd gods narrates Masters Of Doom by David Kushner, so I just had to have it and listen to it. I also figured that Masters Of Doom would be a welcome change of pace – as it’s non-fiction about video gaming. I went in hoping for something a bit similar in tone and geekery as Ready Player One, which actually was kind of a false expectation, yet in all honesty that is exactly why I put this audiobook on my Audible app. Also, I totally used to have Doom but was awful at it, so I like reading books about people who excel in gaming.
Read the rest of my review here
Read the rest of my review here
December 31, 2020
During high school, I had a PC. I was a bit bummed by it (largely because it wasn't an Amiga) but that didn't last after, in my final years, Wolfenstein 3D came out. From id Software, the game saw you eventually kill mecha-Hitler in a Nazi castle. It was, arguably, the beginning of the wave of first-person shooter games that would come to dominate computers.
It was (in '92) the product, largely, of two guys: John Carmack and John Romero. They already had made a bunch of money through the shareware distribution of earlier games, but the duo were on the cusp of history. Just around the corner was one of the most influential and hated-by-politicians games ever: Doom.
David Kushner's Masters of Doom provides a rise-and-fall history of the Two Johns. Carmack and Romero's childhoods are covered, but the meat of the book is the story of the work they did together, mostly under the id Software banner. It's the sort of thing that a fan of Doom in all its demon-shotgunning glory, would be happy to inhale over the course of an afternoon, because it offers an excellent (though not highly technical) description of the development of the game, the company, and ultimately of ructions that would end the pair's partnership in acrimony.
While I'm sure there's a certain amount of vaseline applied to the lens aimed at the software company's early days - working in a shithole on stolen computers, and endless amounts of crunch are viewed fairly rosily - there's a lot of interviews gone into the creation of this book, and it doesn't seem aimed at making either of the game's progenitors sound like they're great humans.
It could well be reductionist, but Kushner presents Carmack as robotlike, a coding genius with zero social abilities, while Romero is a long-haired showman who loves the limelight more than the grindstone. They both love Ferraris (which they can afford in spades, such are their profit levels). The book, while ostensibly presented as a history, is really more closely related to a tragedy: we see two heroes built up and brought low by their assorted failings. Their differences are the fuel for success and the kindling for destruction, and it's interesting to a fan of their games to be a fly on the wall when the shit goes down.
If you've ever played a Carmack or Romero game - even Daikatana - then you'll enjoy this. This is not a worthy story - it's a story of excess and gibs, of broken keyboards and shouted insults - but it is told in a manner that doesn't pander to its key figures. Kushner provides a considered look at a particular period in game development, and it just happens to be extremely my shit.
It was (in '92) the product, largely, of two guys: John Carmack and John Romero. They already had made a bunch of money through the shareware distribution of earlier games, but the duo were on the cusp of history. Just around the corner was one of the most influential and hated-by-politicians games ever: Doom.
David Kushner's Masters of Doom provides a rise-and-fall history of the Two Johns. Carmack and Romero's childhoods are covered, but the meat of the book is the story of the work they did together, mostly under the id Software banner. It's the sort of thing that a fan of Doom in all its demon-shotgunning glory, would be happy to inhale over the course of an afternoon, because it offers an excellent (though not highly technical) description of the development of the game, the company, and ultimately of ructions that would end the pair's partnership in acrimony.
While I'm sure there's a certain amount of vaseline applied to the lens aimed at the software company's early days - working in a shithole on stolen computers, and endless amounts of crunch are viewed fairly rosily - there's a lot of interviews gone into the creation of this book, and it doesn't seem aimed at making either of the game's progenitors sound like they're great humans.
It could well be reductionist, but Kushner presents Carmack as robotlike, a coding genius with zero social abilities, while Romero is a long-haired showman who loves the limelight more than the grindstone. They both love Ferraris (which they can afford in spades, such are their profit levels). The book, while ostensibly presented as a history, is really more closely related to a tragedy: we see two heroes built up and brought low by their assorted failings. Their differences are the fuel for success and the kindling for destruction, and it's interesting to a fan of their games to be a fly on the wall when the shit goes down.
If you've ever played a Carmack or Romero game - even Daikatana - then you'll enjoy this. This is not a worthy story - it's a story of excess and gibs, of broken keyboards and shouted insults - but it is told in a manner that doesn't pander to its key figures. Kushner provides a considered look at a particular period in game development, and it just happens to be extremely my shit.
July 9, 2018
Dos protagonistas, unas personalidades y habilidades complementarias, un pequeño grupo a su alrededor, los duros inicios, el éxito juego a juego, las tensiones crecientes, los roces, la explosión... Ya porque fuera fácil o porque consigue hacerlo fácil, el relato de Kushner sobre cómo unos don nadies dieron la vuelta a la industria de los videojuegos e impulsaron un fenómeno social cotidiano hoy en día resulta modélico, tanto en la estructura como en el retrato de las personas y el discurso de su exposición. Nadie que esté mínimamente interesado en los entresijos de la creación de videojuegos debiera perderse este auge y caída de dos enfants terribles en el que apenas echo en falta algo de material gráfico de acompañamiento.
December 23, 2021
One of the cringiest books I’ve ever read. How many times does the author need to tell me that “gamers” live on pizza and Diet Coke? This book reads like it was written by a high schooler.
October 17, 2018
Los 90 son probablemente la época de mi vida en que más he jugado a videojuegos, básicamente en el PC. Así que este libro ha supuesto un disfrute por partida doble: por un lado la historia de este grupo de programadores, jugones hasta la médula, dedicados a crear un juego como nunca antes se había visto. Y por otro la historia de la consolidación de la industria de videojuegos, exclamando continuamente "¡Sí, yo a este también jugué!"
Todo una delicia para los que robamos horas de sueño (y estudio) pegados frente a la pantalla en los 90.
Todo una delicia para los que robamos horas de sueño (y estudio) pegados frente a la pantalla en los 90.
Read
November 8, 2019One-liner: Read it. 4.5 stars
Read
June 30, 2023Considering the fact this book it often labelled as "creative journalism", I have to state the obvious - there is too much "creative" and no so much "journalism". Kushner's style is atrocious. Free interpretation of the events, implicating something that might have been said or thought in the most dramatic possible manner, and worst of all - fanboyish gushing over the Romero's antiques and completely shitty behaviour of pretty much everyone involved.
Majority of negative reviews concerning the book come from the fact that Romero and Carmack are immature and unlovable persons. Well, they are, and in the same time, no one can deny their individual talents and visionary ideas that helped them (and their peers) launch gaming into the multi-billion arts-and-entertainment media that rules the planet today. And that's exactly where this book fails - Kushner wanted a "creative" and "literary" way to (re)tell a story, and thus created a set of characters from an American dream cliche, instead of taking a wee bit of "journalistic" approach to distance himself from his (obvious) heroes in order to write about real people with many talents and many flaws. Kushner's approach is subjective and overly-dramatized and it really makes you take the described events not with a grain of salt, but with an effin' bucket. To make things worse, there is even some admiration for and justification of every immature move and unprofessional (to put it mildly) decision the two Johns made, topped with creating so much false suspension and chapters ending with a sort of a cliffhangers (I could almost hear dun-dun-duuuuun! at the end of every one) that made me roll my eyes.
On the brighter side, there is also a lot of things that could have been put into the perspective of the current gaming world of the 80s, 90s and early 2000s, and that's something that was partially done, and done quite well. I cannot expect from the author to write about the parallel development of so many legendary titles that emerged during the late 90s and early 2000s if the book focuses on Carmack - Romero axis, but some of the most important ones are mentioned - Half Life, Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, and, considering the documentary aspect, the book did a decent job. I could almost say these parts of the book were a nice nostalgia trip on my part, and I'm glad I had a chance to chronologically go through some of the important events in the gaming history of the 90s (not gonna lie, I made breaks from the book to do little researches and read articles on my own).
TLDR; the author gave himself a lot of freedom to "fill" the certain unknown backstage events with his own interpretations, so I don't know how much credibility the book can be given. It can be a nice starting point for someone way younger than me to start researching the history of video games in their golden era, on their own. Or even try Doom. Despite everything, it aged gracefully, just like his older id brother, Commander Keen. I can only hope that the guys from id Software did as well.
Majority of negative reviews concerning the book come from the fact that Romero and Carmack are immature and unlovable persons. Well, they are, and in the same time, no one can deny their individual talents and visionary ideas that helped them (and their peers) launch gaming into the multi-billion arts-and-entertainment media that rules the planet today. And that's exactly where this book fails - Kushner wanted a "creative" and "literary" way to (re)tell a story, and thus created a set of characters from an American dream cliche, instead of taking a wee bit of "journalistic" approach to distance himself from his (obvious) heroes in order to write about real people with many talents and many flaws. Kushner's approach is subjective and overly-dramatized and it really makes you take the described events not with a grain of salt, but with an effin' bucket. To make things worse, there is even some admiration for and justification of every immature move and unprofessional (to put it mildly) decision the two Johns made, topped with creating so much false suspension and chapters ending with a sort of a cliffhangers (I could almost hear dun-dun-duuuuun! at the end of every one) that made me roll my eyes.
On the brighter side, there is also a lot of things that could have been put into the perspective of the current gaming world of the 80s, 90s and early 2000s, and that's something that was partially done, and done quite well. I cannot expect from the author to write about the parallel development of so many legendary titles that emerged during the late 90s and early 2000s if the book focuses on Carmack - Romero axis, but some of the most important ones are mentioned - Half Life, Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, and, considering the documentary aspect, the book did a decent job. I could almost say these parts of the book were a nice nostalgia trip on my part, and I'm glad I had a chance to chronologically go through some of the important events in the gaming history of the 90s (not gonna lie, I made breaks from the book to do little researches and read articles on my own).
TLDR; the author gave himself a lot of freedom to "fill" the certain unknown backstage events with his own interpretations, so I don't know how much credibility the book can be given. It can be a nice starting point for someone way younger than me to start researching the history of video games in their golden era, on their own. Or even try Doom. Despite everything, it aged gracefully, just like his older id brother, Commander Keen. I can only hope that the guys from id Software did as well.
January 22, 2015
Книга о героях моего детства, гениальном фантазёре и гениальном социопате, которые творили историю вместе, а разошедшись, так никогда и не приблизились к прежнему успеху, могла бы быть умеренно интересной, но крепкий средненький нонфикшн был загублен переводом. Даже не знаю, что тут хуже всего. Избыточные комментарии? Пожалуйста: ценные комментарии сообщают нам, что игра "блек джек" (sic!) в России известна как "очко", напоминает, что такое must-have, а аббревиатура BFG расшифровывается аж дважды. Недостаточные комментарии? Сколько угодно: половина технических терминов кажется переводчику очевидными, что заставит читателя, не погружённого в контекст игровой индустрии, часто чесать в затылке. Плохая вычитка? Она тут везде, запятые и тире играют с корректором в прятки и выигрывают с блеском. На сладкое – обязательные ошибки перевода , вроде удивительных "соревновательных шутеров" (в оригинале,само собой, имелись в виду "конкурирующие"). Ну и, конечно, хотелось бы посмотреть в глаза человеку, который берётся за трёхсотстраничную книгу о важнейших явлениях поп-культуры 80-90-х и при этом переводит "Breakfast Club" как "Клуб завтраков".
В общем – если вы просиживали в детстве ночи за DOOM II – читать ради ностальгии можно, хотя фейспалмов и не избежать. Негеймеры – у вас есть тысячи способов потратить деньги и время гораздо лучше или хотя бы интереснее. Можете в DOOM поиграть, например.
В общем – если вы просиживали в детстве ночи за DOOM II – читать ради ностальгии можно, хотя фейспалмов и не избежать. Негеймеры – у вас есть тысячи способов потратить деньги и время гораздо лучше или хотя бы интереснее. Можете в DOOM поиграть, например.
April 21, 2021
I'm migrating all my reviews to my blog. I'm keeping the old version here (because it makes sense to do it) but you can read the latest one on my blog: https://pothix.com/mastersofdoom/
I love this book. The two Johns created an empire by using the engineering capabilities of Carmack with the enthusiasm and ideas of Romero.
There are some other thoughts to put in this book. The two Johns are doing great and creating amazing games following the startup way of life, relying on junk food and diet coke. Everything was balanced, they had a committed engineer that is addicted to creating new things and pursues really hard challenges. But they also had a good game designer that is eager to test the new advances in technology and create the most awesome game in the world.
When the two Johns decided to split, the two sides suffered. And the same situation happens a lot in companies these days. Sometimes we have an awesome engineer that can't spread the awesome tools he is creating. The same situation occurs when we have an average programmer that brings people together and encourages everyone to create and use the tools that are being created but are not so awesome.
By creating a team with these complimentary profiles it is possible to generate awesome things as DOOM was at the time it was created.
I love this book. The two Johns created an empire by using the engineering capabilities of Carmack with the enthusiasm and ideas of Romero.
There are some other thoughts to put in this book. The two Johns are doing great and creating amazing games following the startup way of life, relying on junk food and diet coke. Everything was balanced, they had a committed engineer that is addicted to creating new things and pursues really hard challenges. But they also had a good game designer that is eager to test the new advances in technology and create the most awesome game in the world.
When the two Johns decided to split, the two sides suffered. And the same situation happens a lot in companies these days. Sometimes we have an awesome engineer that can't spread the awesome tools he is creating. The same situation occurs when we have an average programmer that brings people together and encourages everyone to create and use the tools that are being created but are not so awesome.
By creating a team with these complimentary profiles it is possible to generate awesome things as DOOM was at the time it was created.
October 3, 2020
I had been waiting to read this since I heard this book existed.
Masters of Doom tells the story of John Romero and John Carmack the main two guys responible for creating Doom the grandaddy of all First Person Shooters. How they put together a small team of highly talent Game Designers and the controvesy that the game caused.
Some of the facts I already knew but there is alot here that I had no clue about and found very interesting. This book is essientially 'The Social Network' of video game books with characters that are larger then life and alot of events that could easily be fiction but are real.
Now this obviously isnt going to be for everyone, but I studied Games Design and was a huge gamer (now more casual thanks to working and books) so I highly recommend this book for any fan of Doom, anyone who is a big gamer and anyone who is studying Games Design or Programmer.
Really happy that I brought this book and is a great read.
Masters of Doom tells the story of John Romero and John Carmack the main two guys responible for creating Doom the grandaddy of all First Person Shooters. How they put together a small team of highly talent Game Designers and the controvesy that the game caused.
Some of the facts I already knew but there is alot here that I had no clue about and found very interesting. This book is essientially 'The Social Network' of video game books with characters that are larger then life and alot of events that could easily be fiction but are real.
Now this obviously isnt going to be for everyone, but I studied Games Design and was a huge gamer (now more casual thanks to working and books) so I highly recommend this book for any fan of Doom, anyone who is a big gamer and anyone who is studying Games Design or Programmer.
Really happy that I brought this book and is a great read.
October 28, 2013
An amazing account of the two Johns. I was obviously more bent towards Carmack, him being a programmer, but this book beautifully highlights the ups and lows of the journey. It leaves you waiting for more, and I wish to hear more of this story. Even though it focuses mainly on the two Johns, this book is not a biography. Rather it is an account of the Silicon Valley Gaming & Startup Scene in the 80-90s. I would go so far ahead to label this as a "startup-book", with two entrepreneurs making it big time.
The book doesn't end on much of a high note, ending with the launch of Quake III Team Arena and Carmack firing his rockets. It would be awesome if the author came up with a DLC for the book with more chapters covering what both of them have done in the past 13 years.
The book doesn't end on much of a high note, ending with the launch of Quake III Team Arena and Carmack firing his rockets. It would be awesome if the author came up with a DLC for the book with more chapters covering what both of them have done in the past 13 years.
October 22, 2018
As someone who used to play a ton of video games and who got into programming making or hacking them, this was an enjoyable, nostalgic experience. Written in dramatic fashion, yet technically not too demanding, this book takes you through the evolution of pc gaming, the rise of an entire sub-culture, and the molding of art, bleeding-edge tech, and storytelling in the birth of doom. It's the story of 2 immensely talented people, their successes, and the differences that ripped them apart amidst the rise of a multi-billion dollar industry. I'd recommend this for anyone who's spent way too many hours gaming or playing Dungeons and Dragons.
May 12, 2019
Fantastic long form journalism to share the behind the scenes story of how 2D platform gaming become 3D first person shooters dominant (Wolf3D, Doom, Quake...) and never looked back. Also, this is a classic tech startup story before they were called startups -- mostly taking place in Texas.
Personal touch: as we were just trying to create a 2D side scroller called Drunkard as high school kids in Tartu at the time, we got smashed by this wave forming 6000 miles away. Had distribution chat attempts with Epic Megagames and Apogee and everything...
Personal touch: as we were just trying to create a 2D side scroller called Drunkard as high school kids in Tartu at the time, we got smashed by this wave forming 6000 miles away. Had distribution chat attempts with Epic Megagames and Apogee and everything...
February 11, 2016
Very interesting and inspiring book on the ups and downs of the geniuses and the different personalities behind the game. The team dynamics and issues with the development cycle, the conflicts between business and development, they are all real.
I would definitely recommend this read to any developers, not just game developers. It's a fun and addictive read :)
I would definitely recommend this read to any developers, not just game developers. It's a fun and addictive read :)
March 5, 2023
An interesting read about how two people effectively created an entire genre of entertainment. Some fun insights to games that I played when I was growing up and it's cool to see how the impacts decisions they made back then are still felt today
January 13, 2020
Интересная книжка про id software, Кармака и Ромеро. Главные наблюдения:
1. Забавно, что ребята всегда придумывали сначала какую-то новую технологию, а потом уже делали игру. Например Кармак придумал, как сделать непрерывный скролл, а на базе этого сделали популярную аркаду. Потом придумал, как сделать псевдо-3d - сбацали дум. Потом Ка��мак склепал настоящий 3d-движок — сбацали квейк. Сейчас от VC практически невозможно услышать что-то вроде "делайте технологию, а потом уже продавайте", все требуют сразу решать проблему пользователей
2. Когда Ромеро ушел из id (вернее, Кармак его уволил). На волне своей популярности он открыл новую компанию с блекджеком и фокусом на дизайн, забив на технологии вообще. Судя по книге, там был миллион антипаттернов, типа потратить 2 ляма на переделку офиса, сменить движок полностью в конце разработки игры, сменить полкоманды, вырасти быстро до 100 человек. Игру они в итоге выпустили, но die katana провалилась (не удивительно). Маленькие команды всегда лучше больших на первых порах.
3. Кармак без Ромеро тоже сдулся, потому что его интересовали только технологии и рядом не оказалось людей, которые могли бы с ними экспериментировать и придумывать клевые штуки. Нужен сплав технологий и творчества.
1. Забавно, что ребята всегда придумывали сначала какую-то новую технологию, а потом уже делали игру. Например Кармак придумал, как сделать непрерывный скролл, а на базе этого сделали популярную аркаду. Потом придумал, как сделать псевдо-3d - сбацали дум. Потом Ка��мак склепал настоящий 3d-движок — сбацали квейк. Сейчас от VC практически невозможно услышать что-то вроде "делайте технологию, а потом уже продавайте", все требуют сразу решать проблему пользователей
2. Когда Ромеро ушел из id (вернее, Кармак его уволил). На волне своей популярности он открыл новую компанию с блекджеком и фокусом на дизайн, забив на технологии вообще. Судя по книге, там был миллион антипаттернов, типа потратить 2 ляма на переделку офиса, сменить движок полностью в конце разработки игры, сменить полкоманды, вырасти быстро до 100 человек. Игру они в итоге выпустили, но die katana провалилась (не удивительно). Маленькие команды всегда лучше больших на первых порах.
3. Кармак без Ромеро тоже сдулся, потому что его интересовали только технологии и рядом не оказалось людей, которые могли бы с ними экспериментировать и придумывать клевые штуки. Нужен сплав технологий и творчества.
March 17, 2025
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February 21, 2021
I didn’t really know anything about gaming besides the fact that it exists before reading this book. What a wild story!
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