GAME GURU COMPANY id Software Owner and Lead
Programmer AGE 28 BIO For some people,
computer games are the reason they own a computer. For others, they're the
reason kids are killing each other. We have John Carmack to thank--or
blame.
Carmack perfected the shockingly violent and compellingly immersive genre of
computer game known as the first-person shooter, in which players roam around a
3-D world seen from the point of view of a character inside that world--generally
a character who has a rocket launcher and a serious grudge to settle. In the
early '90s, Carmack and his colleagues at id Software developed the complex
technology that makes those games possible. Castle Wolfenstein, Doom and most
recently the Quake series are among his creations.
There are hard-core gamers for whom Quake is a way of life, but the first-person shooter really entered
mainstream consciousness this spring during the media frenzy surrounding the
Columbine massacre. The two killers were reportedly Doom and Quake freaks, and
soon "experts" were crawling out of the woodwork to testify that first-person
shooter games train children to be merciless and efficient snipers. The
connection may be speculative at best, but the Marines are convinced: they have
trained fighters with Carmack's games for years.
Carmack himself has stayed out of the fray. Tall, thin, pale, ponytailed, he
looks the part of the self-taught programming genius. His only known vice is his
high-performance Ferraris. In his field, nobody is more respected or influential:
when Steve Jobs wanted to get the Macintosh back on track as a gaming platform,
he called Carmack to figure out how.
His next challenge: Quake III, due out this fall, which will feature faster, more
detailed play as well as smarter enemies and less Internet lag. The slaughter
will be more real than ever. And isn't that what people want?
BEST LINE "It's nice to have a game that sells a million copies." FORWARD TILT Quake III is targeted at the mainstream gamer rather than the
hard-core fan. It's unlikely to be fragged by political backlash.
