Masters of Doom

[ericnk]

Who else has read this book? Pretty damn intersting if you ask me. I just picked it up off the shelf for a reread. So far my favorite line is:
"Romero was just being friendly," Carmack said. "When you turn your back, he hates your guts." - For some reason I found that funny as hell.
Also interesting is that Id ended up on Madison, WI for a while.

On another note the Book of Id - is it only available via the id Anthology? I cant seem to locate it anywhere else such as Amazon.com or ebay.

[Boone]

I still remember picking it up in a bookstore shortly before the release of Doom3.  I had money to burn at the time and thought it might be shit.

Possibly the best book I have ever read!

I personally work alone on projects but its a book that sings true for me.  I think iD pushed themselves too far and relied too much on their technology to the point where the game didnt matter anymore.

IMHO Wolf3D was their finest hour whereas things went pearshaped when Doom arrived.  The game was all conquering but I think it had a toll on it's workers and the hints in the game itself were there as to where the future of ID was going but no one seemed to catch on until too late.

MOD was the first real eye-opener to the realities of the games industry and made me doubt if it was really for me.  However in the years since reading MOD I have discovered for myself that games are indeed an art and that they dont need to make money and be seen by masses to be successful.   Thanks to MOD I have come to the conclusion that I want to become a good professional programmer but I want to make games for me and to make them avaliable to anyone else who might be interested.  A game can be an expression of a single author no matter how crude it may be - not just another "product".

But yeah, its an awesome book.

[Josh1billion]

Great book yep, everyone or nearly everyone on this website has read it, else they probably wouldn't be here.

And Madison.. that is a great city.

[Lord_Night]

Yeah it is a great book. 

I read a chapter that came free on a UK PC games magazine.  Normally I would just flick through crap like this, but it was strangely compelling.  Soon after I thought 'screw that'  and went out and bought the book. It was an awesome read, one that kind of connects with that  entrepeneurial - game loving - ' I wanna program cool games for a living' spirit that exists in pretty much all of us. 
I do wonder how close it was to reality and how much was artistic writing. But definitely worth a look. 

[Woodthunder]

Indeed, MOD is the book that rejuvenated my love for gaming, and gave me an incredible insight into the history of the industry. also it led me to this forum years ago

[Boone]

I would say Masters of Doom was edited in case they ever got round to a made-for-tv movie.  It speaks alot of truth but some of it came across like a good work of fiction at times...

I do sometimes feel uneasy about commenting on the whole iD thing as my only real reference is MOD and to be honest I've never met any of the warped souls at iD!  To comment on them as if I worked there would be rather wrong...

[Cthulhu]

I had a nice reading in the past...i remember that i readed it a couple of times...
If if finish reading Lovecraft,i read Masters of Doom again...
Ah,i have the italian version,so there is a different cover...mine as a pentacle and is published by Multiplayer.it

[funduke]

Read this:
http://www.doomworld.com/vb/doom-general/38776-id-software-portraied-in-the-f-p-s-episode-of-law-and-order-criminal-intent/

Greetings
Funduke

[The Romero]

People have asked me over the years (well, since 2003) whether Masters of DOOM is true, if it's legit facts and not a bunch of embellishments.

It's all true.  All of it and there's way more than could be printed in the book for legal reasons.  John C. and myself had to sign off on the book before Random House would publish it (they didn't want any lawsuits coming at them). 

I think it turned out great.  Dave Kushner spent 5 years researching, interviewing and writing the book.  He even moved down to Dallas for a year to get in-depth.

Glad to see you all liked it.

[ericnk]

Wow 5 years. Thats dedication. Glad I got to benefit from the authors hard work. But enough about the past. You guys smash hardware and call each other monkeyfuck at Slipgate???

[Boone]

Re: The Romero.

Then that puts my mind at ease. Sometimes I would talk at length with my brother about parts of MOD and once he stopped me and said "Steve, you talk about it as if you actually worked there...". 

LOL, you're gonna strangle me for this, but perhaps the most inspiring part of the book was page 128 when Mr Camack suddenly up-tools and buggered off home with his Notebook!  Infact, it inspired me so much I bought my first Notebook earlier this year for a rather expensive £870!  Over the years since reading MOD, there was numerous times I felt like saying to my family "RIGHT! YOU'VE DONE IT NOW! I'M GOING TO DO THIS WORK IN THE NEAREST SUPERMARKET CARPARK! MAYBE THEN I CAN GET SOME PEACE AND QUIET!".  So yes, if you hadnt driven Carmack mad that night and Kushner hadnt written about it then I doubt I would be typing away on this awesome Notebook right now!

Note: Just for the record I've never actually done my work sitting in my car in the local supermarket carpark.  Unfortunately I have to other work in the supermarket itself!  If Kushner ever writes another book about you and Mr Carmack, could you please feed him something inspirational for leaving such establishments! ^_^

[cmoreland]

Just finished the book, although I was on the site before I read it, it was extremely interesting to say the least. Especially when you can go to Romero's pic section and see some of the shots to go with the text!

What an awesome group of guys, I know they had their differences but wow, how many people can say they developed something like Wolf3D, Doom and Quake? Seriously, the impact on the world was monumental.

I just have this desire to see everyone back together at least for one game just to see what they can crank out. Alas, I doubt it will happen, id has gotten pretty large for their original standards and Romero...well, I don't know that he'd even want to these days. Seems like he and Rhaluka are doing fine. But still...it would be like seeing your favorite band get back together just for old times sake and crank out the best album EVER!

[sathomaso]

Just bought that book last week, it got delivered yesterday.
I'll give it a read on my 3hrs train-ride tomorrow.
Can't wait to get to know some id Software inside facts

[Unconscious]

I need to purchase this book at some point - whenever I've considered it, I've had to pay for other things. :/

[Boone]

Pay for other things? Like what? Goddammit man THIS - IS - MASTERS OF DOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Seriously, its worth a read.