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Time marches on. There's a similar phenomenon in the "top n games of all time" articles - its always what matters to the generation writing it. Your John Carma

by giobox 6y ago

Time marches on. There's a similar phenomenon in the "top n games of all time" articles - its always what matters to the generation writing it. Your John Carmack example betrays our age. His most important contributions to gaming (at least from a history perspective) was arguably early 90s Shareware/Apogee/Id era almost 30 years ago now, I don't expect my kids to know who he is. Heck, why would a young gamer even know what "shareware" was? The idea of sharing and distribution at large scale via end users cloning physical media (floppies) is pretty much absurd in 2020s and of little use to know, despite being hugely important to Carmack's early successes. People just want to play fun games and that's fine. We shouldn't discourage it on basis you "don't appreciate the history properly" or be ashamed of this.

the_af 6y ago
I get your points, however: > Your John Carmack example betrays our age. His most important contributions to gaming (at least from a history perspective) was early 90s Shareware/Apogee/Id era almost 30 years ago now, I don't expect my kids to know who he is. First, Carmack is still relevant today. He still writes about tech, and he still takes part in groundbreaking tech developments. Here is for example a headline from 2019: https://www.engadget.com/2019-11-13-john-carmack-agi.html https://www.engadget.com/2019-11-13-john-carmack-agi.html It's relevant because he is a proven achiever, not just a "visionary" like we're used to in this industry. I'm similarly starting to read about people in tech/software who don't know who Stallman is! And I suppose eventually this will happen to Torvalds as well. Second, are readers of HN "kids"? I used Carmack as an example of someone who readers here on HN occasionally don't know. > People just want to play fun games and that's fine. We shouldn't discourage it on basis you "don't appreciate the history properly" or be ashamed of this. That's ok. However, this happened in the comments section of a website which also has commentary and articles beyond "just playing games", and specifically in an article about videogame history. And Roberta Williams was a huge influence. I suppose in 30 years people will similarly ask, "Nintendo what?". It's sad, though I suppose inevitable. --- edit: giobox, I don't know why you got downvoted, yours was a polite response. I upvoted your comment because I value the conversation.
doc_gunthrop 6y ago
John Carmack's contribution to the field of video games was revolutionary. He was the pioneer who brought smooth side-scrolling to PC gaming (e.g. Commander Keen) as well as 3D graphics to video games (e.g. Wolfenstein 3D, Doom). Seeing as how FPS games are one of the biggest (if not the biggest) genre of video gaming out there, Carmack has had an immeasurably massive impact on the industry. It's fine if people want to just play games, but don't belittle the titan whose shoulder countless subsequent developers have stood atop.

by giobox 6y ago

the_af 6y ago

I get your points, however: > Your John Carmack example betrays our age. His most important contributions to gaming (at least from a history perspective) was early 90s Shareware/Apogee/Id era almost 30 years ago now, I don't expect my kids to know who he is. First, Carmack is still relevant today. He still writes about tech, and he still takes part in groundbreaking tech developments. Here is for example a headline from 2019: https://www.engadget.com/2019-11-13-john-carmack-agi.html https://www.engadget.com/2019-11-13-john-carmack-agi.html It's relevant because he is a proven achiever, not just a "visionary" like we're used to in this industry. I'm similarly starting to read about people in tech/software who don't know who Stallman is! And I suppose eventually this will happen to Torvalds as well. Second, are readers of HN "kids"? I used Carmack as an example of someone who readers here on HN occasionally don't know. > People just want to play fun games and that's fine. We shouldn't discourage it on basis you "don't appreciate the history properly" or be ashamed of this. That's ok. However, this happened in the comments section of a website which also has commentary and articles beyond "just playing games", and specifically in an article about videogame history. And Roberta Williams was a huge influence. I suppose in 30 years people will similarly ask, "Nintendo what?". It's sad, though I suppose inevitable. --- edit: giobox, I don't know why you got downvoted, yours was a polite response. I upvoted your comment because I value the conversation.

doc_gunthrop 6y ago

John Carmack's contribution to the field of video games was revolutionary. He was the pioneer who brought smooth side-scrolling to PC gaming (e.g. Commander Keen) as well as 3D graphics to video games (e.g. Wolfenstein 3D, Doom). Seeing as how FPS games are one of the biggest (if not the biggest) genre of video gaming out there, Carmack has had an immeasurably massive impact on the industry. It's fine if people want to just play games, but don't belittle the titan whose shoulder countless subsequent developers have stood atop.