4 ms·

Read Carmacks biography! His first job was at a small computer shop where he wrote business software. He felt the job was boring and with some friends started

by pawadu 10y ago

Read Carmacks biography! His first job was at a small computer shop where he wrote business software. He felt the job was boring and with some friends started developing PC games in secret, on work machines and while lifting wages. This is how id software was born. Due to that book, I think he will have a hard time convincing a jury he is innocent. edit: its even on wikipedia Softdisk, [...] hired Carmack to work on Softdisk G-S [...] introducing him to John Romero and other future key members of id Software such as Adrian Carmack [...]. In 1990, while still at Softdisk, Carmack, Romero, and others created the first of the Commander Keen games, [...]

SmellyGeekBoy 10y ago
From what I remember of "Masters of Doom" he was indeed using his employer's PCs, office etc but outside of working hours and with the blessing of at least someone higher up. I don't think anything in there implies that he was defrauding the company.
- pawadu 10y ago
  IIRC they were doing just that but the owner let them off easy (they had to write some additional software for the company). With a more trigger happy owner things could have ended very differently
- forgetsusername 10y ago
  >From what I remember of "Masters of Doom" he was indeed using his employer's PCs, office etc but outside of working hours and with the blessing of at least someone higher up. Sounds like a convenient post-hoc rationalization, right in line with what may be occurring in this developing story about the Rift.
Paul_S 10y ago
If you don't believe it, read Masters of Doom - it's a hugely sympathetic history of id and they still manage to look like sociopaths in it, especially Carmack. They steal, lie and backstab their friends.
- csmattryder 10y ago
  Especially Romero's "resignation". if that played out a tenth of how it was written, that's devastating. Admittedly, Romero was getting complacent and becoming more of the end-user than developer, but man... To get booted from your own creation with a prepared resignation letter, savage.
  - rasz_pl 10y ago
    Firing sixth wheel that stopped producing anything of value a savage move? The best thing Romero was involved in after Doom(and 10 quake maps?) was founding Ion Storm and only screwing up Dallas office(Did you "suck him down"? "became his bitch"?[1]) leaving Austin alone to create Deus Ex. My fav is Brenda(wife) telling everyone a story of young brilliant Romero hacking computers at a military ICBM facility, basically a script to wargames .... [1] http://kotaku.com/5541406/john-romero-is-so-sorry-about-trying-to-make-you-his-bitch http://kotaku.com/5541406/john-romero-is-so-sorry-about-tryi...
- Notre1 10y ago
  I don't think sociopathic is an accurate characterization. Carmack's behavior struck me as similar to someone with Asperger's Syndrome (based on the Masters of DOOM book.)
  - drcross 10y ago
    Anyone claiming Carmack to be a sociopath should remind themselves of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanlon's_razor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanlon's_razor
    - roninb 10y ago
      I see so and so's razor thrown around so often I think many should remember philosophical niceties aren't always true. Sometimes the simplest explanation is not the correct one and sometimes things that could be simply attributed to stupidity are malicious (and targeted because of the nice disguise). I know a lot of people in the STEM field that simply find it easier to act like they're socially inept and treat people like shit rather than "put in the work" to have nice, courteous relationships with people. I'd argue some even feel it makes them seem more intelligent to "not fit in with the normies." That's not to say Carmack is or isn't a sociopath. I haven't read much on him outside of acknowledgement chapters in game design tutorials. It's just really tiring seeing people dismiss claims with aphorisms like the Greeks got everything right and we don't have to reason anymore...
taneq 10y ago
That's a rather selectively edited quote. Full version, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Carmack https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Carmack: > Softdisk, a computer company in Shreveport, Louisiana, hired Carmack to work on Softdisk G-S (an Apple IIGS publication), introducing him to John Romero and other future key members of id Software such as Adrian Carmack (not related). Later, this team would be placed by Softdisk in charge of a new, but short-lived, bi-monthly game subscription product called Gamer's Edge for the IBM PC (DOS) platform. In 1990, while still at Softdisk, Carmack, Romero, and others created the first of the Commander Keen games, a series that was published by Apogee Software, under the shareware distribution model, from 1991 onwards. Afterwards, Carmack left Softdisk to co-found id Software. Nowhere does it say that Commander Keen was created using work hardware or on company time. Everything I've seen and read about Carmack portrays him as a guy who loves to build new tech. It would be totally out of character for him to copy and claim someone else's work, much less to "steal thousands of files."

by pawadu 10y ago

SmellyGeekBoy 10y ago

From what I remember of "Masters of Doom" he was indeed using his employer's PCs, office etc but outside of working hours and with the blessing of at least someone higher up. I don't think anything in there implies that he was defrauding the company.

pawadu 10y ago
IIRC they were doing just that but the owner let them off easy (they had to write some additional software for the company). With a more trigger happy owner things could have ended very differently
forgetsusername 10y ago
>From what I remember of "Masters of Doom" he was indeed using his employer's PCs, office etc but outside of working hours and with the blessing of at least someone higher up. Sounds like a convenient post-hoc rationalization, right in line with what may be occurring in this developing story about the Rift.

Paul_S 10y ago

If you don't believe it, read Masters of Doom - it's a hugely sympathetic history of id and they still manage to look like sociopaths in it, especially Carmack. They steal, lie and backstab their friends.

csmattryder 10y ago
Especially Romero's "resignation". if that played out a tenth of how it was written, that's devastating. Admittedly, Romero was getting complacent and becoming more of the end-user than developer, but man... To get booted from your own creation with a prepared resignation letter, savage.
- rasz_pl 10y ago
  Firing sixth wheel that stopped producing anything of value a savage move? The best thing Romero was involved in after Doom(and 10 quake maps?) was founding Ion Storm and only screwing up Dallas office(Did you "suck him down"? "became his bitch"?[1]) leaving Austin alone to create Deus Ex. My fav is Brenda(wife) telling everyone a story of young brilliant Romero hacking computers at a military ICBM facility, basically a script to wargames .... [1] http://kotaku.com/5541406/john-romero-is-so-sorry-about-trying-to-make-you-his-bitch http://kotaku.com/5541406/john-romero-is-so-sorry-about-tryi...
Notre1 10y ago
I don't think sociopathic is an accurate characterization. Carmack's behavior struck me as similar to someone with Asperger's Syndrome (based on the Masters of DOOM book.)
- drcross 10y ago
  Anyone claiming Carmack to be a sociopath should remind themselves of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanlon's_razor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanlon's_razor
  - roninb 10y ago
    I see so and so's razor thrown around so often I think many should remember philosophical niceties aren't always true. Sometimes the simplest explanation is not the correct one and sometimes things that could be simply attributed to stupidity are malicious (and targeted because of the nice disguise). I know a lot of people in the STEM field that simply find it easier to act like they're socially inept and treat people like shit rather than "put in the work" to have nice, courteous relationships with people. I'd argue some even feel it makes them seem more intelligent to "not fit in with the normies." That's not to say Carmack is or isn't a sociopath. I haven't read much on him outside of acknowledgement chapters in game design tutorials. It's just really tiring seeing people dismiss claims with aphorisms like the Greeks got everything right and we don't have to reason anymore...

taneq 10y ago

That's a rather selectively edited quote. Full version, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Carmack https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Carmack: > Softdisk, a computer company in Shreveport, Louisiana, hired Carmack to work on Softdisk G-S (an Apple IIGS publication), introducing him to John Romero and other future key members of id Software such as Adrian Carmack (not related). Later, this team would be placed by Softdisk in charge of a new, but short-lived, bi-monthly game subscription product called Gamer's Edge for the IBM PC (DOS) platform. In 1990, while still at Softdisk, Carmack, Romero, and others created the first of the Commander Keen games, a series that was published by Apogee Software, under the shareware distribution model, from 1991 onwards. Afterwards, Carmack left Softdisk to co-found id Software. Nowhere does it say that Commander Keen was created using work hardware or on company time. Everything I've seen and read about Carmack portrays him as a guy who loves to build new tech. It would be totally out of character for him to copy and claim someone else's work, much less to "steal thousands of files."