two johns There are two kinds of games, one is played in life, and the other is lived in it.These two worlds contradict each other, and the two Johns belong to different worlds. On an afternoon in April 2000, in downtown Dallas, the Cyber-athlete Professional League (CPL: Cyber-athlete Professional League) was holding a tournament with a total prize money of $100,000.The organization aspires to be the NBA of video games, and instead of basketball, of course, it's a computer game: Quake III Arena.More than a thousand players arrived here with monitors, keyboards and mice. Among them, the nearest came from Florida, and the farthest came from Finland-this shows how fanatical they are.These hundreds of computers are connected together in the basement of the Hyatt Hotel, and the game screen is displayed on the big screen: rockets draw a trail of smoke in the virtual arena, soldiers biting cigars, wearing feathers Shirtless samurai warriors, bloody brutes, they chase each other with bazookas and ion guns.The goal is simple: whoever kills the most enemies wins.For the next seventy-two hours, the players fought ecstatically in this virtual world until they fell asleep exhausted, some laying down beside the computer, while others curled up under the table with their heads resting on a pizza box.One couple proudly brought their baby with the Thor logo on their crotch pants.Two other young men had Thor rings trimmed at the back of their heads and flaunted them around the venue, with their girlfriends waving a razor and asking if anyone else wanted a similar hairstyle.

As the capital of violent games, Dallas is used to such lively scenes. Doom and Quake are computer programs that simulate real-world paintball games from a first-person perspective.They pioneered a genre of computer games known as "point-of-view shooters," and they are among the top-selling titles in the $10.8 billion-a-year electronic entertainment industry in the United States.Not only that, but they also drive the improvement of computer processing power, drive the development of computer 3D graphics technology, they define what online games and player communities are, they make huge waves in society, and in some countries, they are banned In the United States, they have been blamed for inciting the 1999 Columbine high school shooting.As a result, they have formed a unique non-mainstream culture, a high-tech high-return culture, and a holy place for young gamers with skills and ambitions.And in this world, the most successful players are undoubtedly the creators of Doom and Quake: John Carmack and John Romero, or—two Bit John, as they used to be called.

As younger generations, Carmack and Romero were the exemplars of the "American Dream": self-made individuals who used their passion to ignite a new art form, a cultural phenomenon, and achieve enormous commercial success. success.Their experiences have made them icons of rebellion, computer hackers and Fortune 500 executives; they have been called the Lennon and McCartney of gaming (McCartney), although they would prefer to be seen as a metal band (Metallica).They escaped their respective shattered families as teenagers to create some of the most influential games in history, and it's the games that ultimately drive them apart.And in the next few minutes, they will appear together in front of the players again after years of parting.

Carmack and Romero are going to talk to players about their latest projects: Carmack's Arena of Thunder, a game he co-founded at id Software; Romero's Daikatana, This long overdue epic game comes from his newly founded company Ion Storm.These two games are also hinting at the diametrically opposite personalities of the two of them, hinting at the different personalities that made them cooperate closely in the early days but make them separate now, the fate that seems to be branded on the palm prints . Carmack, 29, is a computer programmer, an ascetic and benevolent man who builds high-powered rockets in his spare time and one of Bill Gates' rare geniuses.The elegance and clarity of program code is his pursuit and also his game. 32-year-old Romero is a cocky game designer whose bad-boy image has made him a star in the gaming world, and he'll do anything, even his own, to realize his wild visions. fame.Carmack had a brief description of their breakup: "Romero wanted to build an empire, and I just wanted to write good programs."

At that moment, when they appeared here together, the eyes of the players temporarily left the confrontation on the screen and turned to the confrontation between the two former partners in reality.In the parking lot outside, two Ferraris that Carmack and Romero bought together in their prime were parked side by side.Carmack walked in quickly through the crowd, with short sable hair and glasses, a T-shirt with a cartoon of a big furry eye.Romero also walked in on his arm, his girlfriend, Stevie Case, a keen gamer and a Playboy cover.Romero wore a tight black denim jacket and a well-matched shirt, his famously long black hair falling to his waist.When the two Johns met in the hall, they nodded politely to each other and walked to their respective podiums.

A good show is about to be staged.