Chapter 11 Chapter 10 The Doom Generation

Like any parent in 1993, Bill Andersen knew what his nine-year-old son wanted for Christmas: Mortal Kombat.The console version of the violent arcade game was the biggest hit of the day, leaving Street Fighter II far behind with $6.5 million in sales.Anderson raised concerns about the game with his boss, Joseph Lieberman, a Democratic senator from Connecticut.After being briefed by his staff, the aspiring politician decided to try the game for himself. Mortal Kombat had Lieberman bemoaning his own lack of imagination: the game's cheats let players tear opponents in half, spewing blood all over the screen.What alarmed Lieberman even more was that players loved the brutal move: Nintendo asked Acclaim, the production company of "Mortal Kombat", to remove those controversial special moves and bloody scenes in the Super Nintendo version, and Sega (Sega) The company had no scruples. In the end, the sales volume of "Mortal Kombat" on the Sega Genesis console (Sega Genesis) far exceeded that of Nintendo's Family Carnival version-it was three times that, and the Sega Genesis became a must-have console for players. One, and sold 15 million units in no time.The halo of Nintendo on the altar is no longer there.

That's not all, Congressman Lieberman then saw "Night Trap" (Night Trap), in this Sega console masterpiece, the prey of the vampires is some naked girls, and one of the victims even looks like a very Played child star Dana Plato in the TV series Diff'rent Stroked.Violent movies like "Reservoir Dogs" and "Terminator 2" have conquered Hollywood, and the gaming world has become increasingly murderous. On December 1, 1993, Congressman Lieberman held a press conference for this purpose, sounding the clarion call to eliminate violent games. Sitting next to Lieberman is Herb Kohl, a Democratic senator from Wisconsin who also chairs the juvenile justice subcommittee and a key member of the government information regulation subcommittee.Also in attendance: Bob Keeshan, executive producer and star of the children's show Kangaroo Commander.Gone are the "days of marbles and picture cards" and kids are now playing "video games full of screams and pain" that are "enough to wake adults from nightmares," Cole said. ", Kim Sein also warned: "What children learn as active participants in violent games...Even adults will be as afraid of seeing a scourge, and if we continue to do things like this, It will indeed develop into a scourge that threatens thousands of families." He urged game makers: "Recognize the role you play in social education."

Councilor Lieberman concluded with great foresight: "After watching these violent games, I firmly believe that there are a small group of extremely irresponsible producers in the game industry, and I hope the government can get rid of them." Politicians and moralists are always trying to save the next generation from fire and water. Although they may not understand the culture of young people, this does not prevent them from using their voice and legislative power.As early as the end of the American Civil War, religious leaders referred to erotic novels as: "the most capable minions of Satan, they poison the hearts of young people to expand their evil territory." become new targets, and research on these new mediums has continued for decades.In the 1950s, Elvis Presley (Elvis Aron Presley) on TV could only show his upper body, and the founder of "MAD" magazine William Gaines (William Gaines) was subpoenaed by Congress.In the 1970s, the devil and witchcraft in Dungeons and Dragons were associated with Satanism, especially after the Lake Michigan incident, the voice of opposition became more and more louder.In the 1980s, heavy metal artists "Preacher Judas" and "Ozzy Osbourne" were accused of abetting young listeners to commit suicide.In the 1990s, video games became the new "joy and anger", and also became a more intense and uncontrollable pain in the hearts of moralists.

This hostility can be traced back to the 1930s, when pinball halls were traditionally seen as gathering places for hooligans.New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia issued a ban on this, which was not lifted until the mid-1970s.The next thing to be banned was "Death Drive", a game that smashed the pixels on the screen and once made newspaper headlines.The early 1980s was the golden age of the electronic entertainment industry, with a total output value of $6 billion.As video games have grown in popularity, fears have grown among some about their potential ill effects on children. In 1982, the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) issued a statement condemning arcade games: "We are deeply concerned that the proliferation of video arcades is harmful to the young people who frequent them... Preliminary investigations indicate that these miasmas Most of the places in the school are concentrated near the school, and many game halls do not restrict students from entering and leaving during class time, which is undoubtedly an inducement for absenteeism and truancy. In these almost unregulated places, drug trafficking, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, gambling, gang activities , and other bad behaviors are allowed to flourish.”

Some cities, such as Mesquite, Texas, Bradley, Illinois, and Snellville, Georgia, have begun restricting or banning arcade halls. In 1982, the mayor of Bradley saw "hundreds of teenagers gathering in arcades to smoke weed," and he concluded that "kids are spending their books, their lunches, and every penny they can get their hands on. put into those colorful machines." Although the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the lawsuit of the city of Mesquite trying to ban video games, other countries, such as Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia, have not only enacted bans on video games, but also made them mandatory. Closed the arcade.

The media also lost no time in adding fuel to the fire. US News & World Report ran with the headlines: "Video Games—Entertainment or Menace?" Children's Health: "Video Game Craze for the Digital Generation: A Blessing and a Misfortune" ?” said Robert MacNeil, a news commentator for PBS: “Are these video games teaching children to be the masters of the future, or are they distorting their young minds?” Faced with this series of question marks, academics such as scientists and educators have launched research.Dr. C. Everett Koop, then Surgeon General of the U.S. Surgeon General, lashed out: "Video games cause children to behave erratically, and their minds and bodies are brought into play mode: all activity is aimed at destroying the enemy. , so when they see other kids being bullied, they just stand by."

Newsweek chimed in: "Dr. Nicholas Pott's two cases at North Neurosurgery Hospital in New York City show that young people who are overly addicted to gaming are desperate to escape real life and relationships. Engagement. Dr. Hal Fishkin, director of the clinic, voiced his disapproval of the life-and-death rule of survival in games: 'Please (the gaming industry) stop fueling an already bad problem of violence'. Some Fred Williams, a professor of communication at the University of Southern California, pointed out: "If a person is used to seeking excitement and satisfaction in video games, then he will Become intolerant and impatient with the less fast-paced things in life.'”

Despite these men's claims, not all studies draw the same conclusions. "Journals of Psychology" concluded: "There is no evidence that video games contribute to social isolation, irritability, antisocial behavior, obsessive-compulsive disorder and other mental illnesses." The MIT sociologist Shirley Sherry Turkic also extols the positive effects of video games, such as their positive and encouraging effect on children with mental retardation or emotional distress, writing: “Many children have no special skills other than video games , and this experience of mastering things was very important to them.” But as the overblown games industry began to collapse in 1983 and plunged into the Great Depression, the war of words died down.

Ten years later, on the morning of Thursday, December 9, 1993, Congressman Lieberman convened a federal hearing on violence in video games, and the battle was reignited. The participating experts delivered passionate speeches on this new century plague. University professor Dr. Eugene Provenzo, author of Video Kids: making sense of Nintendo, declared: "Video games are rife with violence, masculinity and racism.” Robert Chase, president of the American Education Association, said that video games are inciting real-life violence, explaining: “Because the game requires the player to actively participate rather than passively watch, it will It desensitizes kids to violence and makes it normal. Not only that, but when players kill their opponents in the most brutal way in the game, they are rewarded, which actually encourages players to use violent means to solve problems.”

Later, Howard Lincoln, executive vice president of Nintendo of America, and William White, vice president of marketing for Sega of America, began arguing over the two companies' different versions of Mortal Kombat.Lincoln portrayed Nintendo as a martyr who died in order to prop up a pure sky in the game world, while White retorted that the game world is no longer a children's paradise, and the proportion of adults among players is increasing.When Lincoln heard this, he was electrified, and he faced the room and said loudly: "I can't sit here and let him tell you that the game industry is no longer just for children but for adults-such a transformation It hasn't happened yet!"

The hearing ended at 1:52 p.m. on December 9 after a bit of verbal acrimony.Councilor Lieberman announced the conclusion of the hearing: the video game industry must establish some kind of self-grading mechanism within the next year, otherwise, the government will set up a special committee to intervene in this matter; there will be a meeting in February next year to observe The performance of game publishers and developers.This time it is just a warning, there is still time to correct it immediately. The next day, id released Doom. ﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡ In Waxahachie, Texas, two hundred feet below the surface of the U.S. Department of Energy's Supersuperconducting Collider laboratory, engineer Bob Mustaine was suddenly startled and jumped up. The same goes for the colleagues around him, all writhing and shouting in their chairs.Oh, it's not some kind of nuclear accident, it's just a routine drill during their lunch break.The daily work of these government employees is to study particle physics. There are cutting-edge experimental equipment worth billions of dollars here. They can make protons collide at extremely high speeds and eject massive subatomic clusters. Such a spectacular scene is not seen everywhere. , But for these scientists, what shocked and stimulated them even more was the fireball gushing out of the computer screen-Doom showed them an unprecedented world, a world that fascinated them. Taylor University Computer Center, Fort Wayne, Indiana.Students here, like scientists several times out of state, lean forward and back in their chairs.Once again, computer room administrator Brian Eiserloh opened the computer room door at night to let in eager players.There are always the most abundant and top-notch computers in the university. As a result, Brian and other computer enthusiasts began to use the computer room as their home as soon as they got Doom, fighting fiercely day and night.As programmers, they were in awe of Doom's three-dimensional graphics and staggering speed; in addition, as good kids, they had never experienced the thrill of chasing each other with shotguns in hand. "Oh!" Brian yelled, "It's light again!"—Doom had given him F's in all his subjects this semester, and he'd been an A student with a flair for math. Thousands of miles away, Nine Inch Nails rock star Trent Raznor had just finished a concert.Surrounded by the guards, he walked backstage, and the crazy fans were still cheering and screaming at him. Trent also nodded and waved in response, but his feet did not slow down at all. He wanted to hurry back to the big caravan, waiting for His isn't beer, pot or women, but a computer—Doom is now his favorite. Since Doom crashed the University of Wisconsin network on December 10, similar scenes have spread like wildfire to all corners of the world.No advertising, no marketing, no fanfare, Doom swept the online world overnight.Moreover, it seems that there is a certain number in the dark, and an Internet revolution will kick off at this time. In the early 1970s, the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA: Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) connected computer networks around the world to form DARPAnet, which was the predecessor of the Internet. Just a noun in the legend. In September 1989, a European computer researcher named Tim Berners-Lee wrote a program that allowed users to jump between documents through "hyperlinks", such chains of information in A so-called World Wide Web (WWW: World Wild Web) is woven on top of the Internet.Four years later, in 1993, two University of Illinois hackers, Marc Andreessen and Eric Bina, released the first browser: Mosaic, which turned the World Wide Web Data that is not easy to read on the Internet is converted into a page with pictures and texts like a magazine.As the user interface becomes friendly, the ease of use of the Internet has also been greatly improved, and public-facing network service providers such as America Online and CompuServe have begun to appear. Players who have been wandering in BBS and newsgroups for several years, naturally Be one of the first users on the road.Then, Doom was released. Schools, businesses, government agencies, places where computers are equipped with modems are now installed, that is, these places, there are many people who know how to use these devices, and they are all involved in the Doom frenzy.That weekend, massive downloads and player-to-player battles caused unprecedented congestion on the Internet.Players scrambled to connect to America Online. "It was a riot that night," recalls Debbie Rogers, head of gaming at AOL. "If it wasn't for the phone line in the middle, I would have been trampled by these crazy people." A few hours after Doom was released, a computer system administrator at Carnegie-Mellons posted an online notice: "Since Doom was released today, there has been an anomaly on the school's network. After analysis, we believe that It is this game that caused the network overload... The school asks all Doom players not to fight, it will bring a lot of traffic to the network, and the load of our campus network is close to the limit. We may forcibly disconnect the Doom fighting machine .and repeat: NEVER use Versus Mode while playing Doom." Intel (Intel) immediately banned employees from running Doom in the company after discovering network anomalies.Texas A&M has completely removed Doom from its web servers.The administrator of the computer room at the University of Louisville even wrote a special software to solve the problems caused by Doom. He said: "Students lined up outside the computer room to play this game, so we wrote a small program that will Go through each machine and delete Doom on it." Various comments about Doom also appeared in the newspapers immediately. PC Week called Doom a "three-dimensional stunt." Compute magazine felt that Doom heralded a new era of computer gaming: "The lifeless PC is now rejuvenated... For the first time, there are arcade-like games... A brave new world is about to emerge. "Some people were shocked by the unprecedented violence and gore in Doom. The commentator of The Guardian in London wrote: "As the sequel to Wolfenstein 3D, Doom is more dazzling than the previous one, and it is also the most important one. Even more nauseating, it's not for kids, or anyone with a sensitivity to violence." Another reviewer added: "This game is so realistic, so tense, and so scary that you're stuck in one of those dimly lit mazes The farther you go, the closer the distance between your nose and the monitor will be—meaning, you, as a player, are inextricably trapped in that virtual world.” Although the author’s wife tried to dissuade him, but He's addicted to Doom, the game is like, he confesses, "electronic heroin." Plus, Doom is a money printing machine.On the day of release, id saw profit.Although only about 1 percent of those who downloaded the demo buy the full version, id still orders hundreds of thousands of dollars a day. id's joke that "we sincerely expect Doom to be responsible for a massive drop in productivity around the world" has come true: the world seems to be falling into Doom's vortex - including id itself. ﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡ "Good evening, native!" Romero yelled. "Go the hell away! Fuck you, rotten man! Eat it!" Sean Green was sitting in id's office. He was leaning over the screen, holding the mouse in his sweaty hand, and Romero's curses could be heard in the next room.Sean was hired by id to do Doom tech support, but he was quickly overwhelmed by another job - Deathmatch.His office is next to Romero's, and Romero, the ultimate player, Tom's surgeon, naturally won't let him go.Sean soon replaced Tom as Romero's closest companion and game partner. "Come on! You bloody monkey!" Romero knocked on the wall and kept shouting at Sean, "Who's the boss? Huh? Give it another shot!" Sean looked at his watch, and the hour hand was already pointing to 8:00 pm: Oops!Another day wasted.The game with Romero took up all of Sean's time: work, entertainment, eating, sleeping, and now Romero has made deathmatch a crazy sport, and he also competes like a ruffian athlete. Besides, he was full of bad words.People used to roll each other's eyes at most when playing games, but Sean found that this was too gentlemanly in the Doom world.After defeating Romero, Sean also knocked on the wall to fight back: "Give it up! You're a rotten person!" Romero on the other side of the wall smiled gratifiedly—yes, that's how the game should be played. id's smashing carnival is also constantly escalating.Keyboards and old monitors were smashed onto tables and floors, and gizmos like floppy disks and sound cards were used to throw them like darts against walls.Even Carmack got in on the action. That day, Romero accidentally locked himself in the room. After Carmack heard his cry for help, he tried to open the door from the outside. When he found that it didn't work, Carmack hesitated for a while, and decided to use the most direct and simple method. Solution: "Wait a minute, I've got a tomahawk in my room, I'll be right over." It was a custom weapon that Carmack spent five thousand dollars not long ago, a sharp hatchet, just like he did in "Dragon and The kind created in the Dungeon world.To the cheers of "Toma-axe! Toma-axe!", Carmack broke open the door and freed Romero.The battered door remained ajar for the next few months. id stands on the cloud.While Doom hasn't been a mainstream hit like Mortal Kombat or Doom, it's the hottest game in the underground right now, surpassing even previous, well, Keen and Wolfenstein 3D. id is now the undisputed king of the shareware market, approaching $1 million in annual revenue, and, as they soon discover, that's just the beginning, as Ron Chaimowitz, a New Yorker, With the help of id, the retail market will also be included in id. Ron, who has reached his forties, looks very capable. He founded the first Spanish-style record label in Miami in the 1980s. Since then, he has entered the entertainment industry. The smartest decision in his life is to sign the bar band " Miami Sound Machine" (Miami Sound Machine) and its soul Gloria Estefan (Gloria Estefan), who also introduced Spanish singer Julio Iglesias (Julio Iglesias) to the United States He then formed a company called Good Times to tap into the nascent home video industry, and found Jane Fonda to star in a 20-year-old A nine-minute aerobics instructional video.The film caught the attention of a manager at Wal-Mart, who told Ron that there was uncharted territory: low-cost, small-budget computer software. To this end, Ron founded Happy Interactive. Time" (Good Times Interactive) company, referred to as GTI. GTI first released a multimedia CD-ROM and a screen saver program of Richard Simmons' weight loss tutorial, but this was far from enough to fill Wal-Mart's shelves, so Ron turned his attention to the game field. Big publishers such as , have reached an agreement to repackage and publish their outdated old games, but he clearly knows that if he wants to make a breakthrough, he must discover new games and publish them himself. To do this, he must first be able to find Freelance game makers who don't have contracts with any major publishers - for example, those who make shared games. If the commercial software retail market is like a professional basketball league, then shareware authors are the raw gems of college basketball.What Ron has to do is to pick out the team with the most potential.id, which swept the shareware market with Wolfenstein 3D, naturally became Ron's first choice, and their Doom was more aggressive than the previous one.To Ron's surprise, there is no retail version of Doom, which is undoubtedly great news for Ron: id is his next Estefan. Ron immediately flies to Texas, to his surprise, id these millionaires are just a bunch of kids with long hair and big shorts, their office is like a dump, full of broken computer parts , weeks-old pizza boxes, and mountains of soda bottles.But Ron soon discovered that behind these sloppy appearances, there were actually extremely shrewd business acumen hidden.Ron charged id a big price and bragged to id that GTI has dedicated shelves in 2,200 Wal-Mart stores.But id dismissed it at all. They knew that through the sharing model, they could bypass all middlemen and obtain the maximum profit. Moreover, after the "Spear of Destiny" developed with the "German Headquarters 3D" engine was handed over to the modeling company for retail, it was It didn't sell very well, so they don't plan to give up the sharing model yet.Why, they don't understand, I id need your GTI? Ron is not one to give up easily: "Maybe you can sell a hundred thousand copies of Doom through the sharing model, but I believe that if you give me a retail version of Doom, let's say Doom2, then I think I can sell fifty thousand copies." 10,000 copies, or even more.” Id was still unmoved, and Ron returned without success, but soon after he returned to New York, he flew to Texas to plead with id, disappointed again, went back again, and flew again Come on, finally, id offered Ron a condition: If a retail version is to be made, then GTI must not treat id like an ordinary game production company. First of all, the person who has the right to decide what game to make and how to make it is id , not GTI; secondly, the intellectual property of the retail version belongs to id, not GTI; and, there must be a prominent mark on all packaging: this game is produced by id, not GTI.Ron agreed to all the conditions, and promised to invest two million dollars in the marketing of Doom2, two million—all the expenses of id from the day it was born to the present are not enough to add up to this amount, and, even though Doom is everywhere on the Internet Triumph, but it is still just an undercurrent quietly spreading in the underground world. The next retail version of Doom2 will make the bloody red carpet of id spread on the mainstream society. For id, Doom2 is also in line with their previous practice of "Kean" and "Wolfstein 3D": on the basis of the shared version, make a retail version.Only in this way can the engine of Carmack play the most economical benefit. Doom 2 will be the Doom engine plus new levels, and when designers and artists start working on this sequel, Carmack will be able to free up time to prepare technically for the next graphics engine. With Doom as a money machine and the prospect of Doom2, the people at id don't want to hold money in their hands anymore, and they are all caring people.Adrian bought his mother a new house in a more secure and comfortable location; Romero gave his Cougar to a manager at a nearby Mexican restaurant he frequented, and he paid his grandparents For vacations to Las Vegas; Carmack bought $3,200 in computer equipment and gave it to his computer teachers at Shawnee Mission Public Schools "so they could learn by doing," Carmack said: “Instead of reading dead books, read dead books.” Plus, he paid $100,000 to bail a friend of his from high school out of jail. Their main expense is still - buying a car.Kevin bought a Chevrolet Corvette; Adrian chose a GM Trans Am sports car, which he had dreamed of for a long time; Tyler's pick was an Acura NSX from Honda - the guy also bought a leather couch for the company out of his own pocket so that the next time he was hypnotized by Doom, he'd have somewhere more comfortable than the floor to pass out on; Carmack and Romero went straight to the Ferrari store. In the showroom, they spotted a gleaming Testarossa with a price tag of $90,000.Carmack treats cars like games. He is never satisfied. He is always pursuing a faster engine. Yes, this time it is Testarossa. "Oh my god," said Romero, "that's over the top! Did you see that? It's a fucking sports car! It's parked right there! Dude, I can't believe it, you can drive it right away Going home!" Carmack paid cash this time, picking a red one to match his current 328.Romero chose bright yellow.They parked the two ultimate sports cars side-by-side downstairs at the id – directly opposite their windows so they could gaze at them as they worked. But Carmack's new Ferrari didn't sit downstairs for long, and a few days later he drove it into Norwood's garage for a refit, expecting twice as much power as it had: 400 horsepower.Norwood, Carmack's locomotive mentor, already had a plan in mind: Install a pair of turbo systems so that it wouldn't just double its horsepower, but—triple it!To do this, they used a computer-controlled robot that sprays large amounts of nitrous oxide when needed.Ferrari's outstanding design and craftsmanship are enough to fascinate Romero, but for Carmack, this is just another machine that can be used to study and modify. The folks at id soon discovered that Carmack wasn't the only one who liked to tinker with engines. ﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡ "Hey!" Romero called Carmack over to the machine. "You've got to see this." He started Doom—or, rather, the program that was supposed to be Doom. The opening music of "Star Wars" sounded, and the screen was not the Doom level they were familiar with, but a small room shining with metallic luster. Romero pressed the space bar, and a door opened, and at the same time, an order came: "Stop the spaceship!" Romero continued to move forward, and they saw beeping robots, and imperial soldiers wearing white helmets, and even the skywalker who chose the dark force-Darth Vi Darth Vader.Some hackers have turned Doom into a complete Star Wars game. "Wow..." Carmack thought, "That's pretty cool, anyway, we're doing the right thing." The so-called "right thing" is to make Doom easier for players to modify, so that they can create new modes like StarDoom.Back in the days of Wolfenstein 3D, Carmack was amazed to discover that players were using id's engine to make their own games.Of course, Carmack himself modified the health of the main character in Genesis, but that time, the players went a step further. They recreated the in-game graphics from head to toe, and they created entirely new characters, such as— — Barney the Dinosaur.Carmack and Romero found this interesting and inspired.They noticed that the model production of Wolfenstein 3D completely replaces the resource files of the game itself. For example, if the picture of the Nazi is replaced by the picture of Barney, it will be quite troublesome if the player wants to switch back to the Nazi.Therefore, in Doom, Carmack further abstracted the relationship between the engine and data files. He specially made a resource management subsystem and put all the data in the so-called WAD package. This term is Tom's idea, which means : Where is the data? (Where's All the Data?), so that each time the main program starts, it loads a WAD file containing all pictures and music, so that players can specify different WAD files for the engine to use each time, You don't have to worry about backing up and restoring data like Wolfenstein 3D. In addition, Carmack also released the source code of the Doom level editor and other auxiliary tools so that players can customize their own games.This is a very radical approach not only in the field of games, but in terms of any form of medium, it can be regarded as avant-garde.It's like a Nirvana record with tools that let you replace Kurt Cobain with your own voice, or a Rocky video that allows you to replace a Philadelphia street scene with a medieval one. Japan.There have been games that have released level editors before, but no company's programmers—let alone the boss himself—has disclosed such core technology.Although Carmack hasn't released the source code of the engine itself, the tools he provided players are enough to allow them to completely modify the game.It’s not just about generosity, it’s about worldview—and it embodies the liberal idea of ​​empowering people to weaken monopoly control.Carmack is no longer the kid in his Kansas City home dreaming of hacker culture. At twenty-three, he is now the owner of a million-dollar company. He can do anything he wants. To create the glory of the hacker culture. This is not something that everyone understands.With the exception of Romero, a hacker-minded programmer, everyone in id was taken aback by Carmack's generosity, especially business-minded people like Jay and Kevin. "It's ridiculous," Kevin said. "No one has released the authoring tool for free, and there are legal problems. What if someone mixes his content with ours? What if someone puts the content on the Internet? What if these Doom modes are sold in the store? Then we wake up and find that someone is using our game to take market share from us!" "Hey, they don't get it," Carmack thought, rolling his eyes. "Because they're not programmers, they don't get the fun of hacking." Be part of the player community.To Carmack's gratitude, Romero stood up and defended him loudly: "I said, guys, we have nothing to lose. We are making a lot of money now, and I don't trust people outside. What can happen! What a big deal!" Before Doom was released, there were indeed players who were eagerly looking forward to these functions that would facilitate their modification and production. Some players who couldn't wait even took the leaked demo version directly.As the final version was nearing completion, Carmack sent an email to some Wolfenstein 3D pattern makers, revealing to them some enhancements to pattern making in Doom.But Carmack himself had no idea what they could build with these features. A few weeks after Doom's release, crude level editors appeared on the Internet, which could modify existing maps in the game, such as adjusting walls and moving floors. 1994年1月26日，新西兰坎特伯雷大学一位名叫布瑞登·韦伯（Brendon Wyber）的黒客把他的“Doom编辑工具”（DEU: Doom Editor Utility）传到了网上。在这个程序的制作过程中，他得到了全球各地玩家的帮助。尽管卡马克公开了地图编辑器的源代码，但他并没有时间和精力去帮助玩家们理解它，而布瑞登则如同疱丁解牛般从源代码中分离出各种功能，DEU向玩家展示了如何从无到有地建造出一个关卡。2月16日，比利时学生拉斐尔·奎奈特（Raphael Quinet）协助布瑞登制作的DEU增强版发布，“你几乎可以在关卡里做任何事，”他们写道：“你可以移动、添加、删除各种怪物和宝物，改变墙的位置，或是改变它的墙纸，或是安置新的升降机、门、酸液池，你还可以调整天花板的高度……甚至，建造一个全新的关卡。” DEU的发布是一道分水岭。从此，每一个热心的玩家都可以制作出自己的关卡，他不一定要是程序员，也不一定要是美工或什么其他专业人士，只要他愿意，他就可以动手修修改改。如果他再会制作图片或音效，他就可以建造出他心目中的世界，譬如Doom巴尼、Doom辛普森、Doom商场、Doom地铁。密歇根大学的学生格雷格·刘易斯（Greg Lewis）在这基础上更进一步，他编写了一个名叫DeHackEd的程序，这个免费软件所能修改的不只是包含图像、声音、关卡的外部WAD文件，而是游戏的核心——可执行文件，这里面包含了游戏运行的逻辑，譬如怪物们如何行动、武器如何开火、文字如何显示。 “DeHackEd可以彻底颠覆Doom的玩法，”刘易斯在文档里写道：“譬如使火球隐形、使火箭弹的伤害增加到2000点、使怪物们漂浮在空中、使你那水深火热中的太空战士拥有无限弹药，它还可以在游戏里加入全新物品，譬如离子地雷、超级连发武器、极速火箭，这样你就可以设计出全新的死亡竞赛规则，而且你可以把这些改动都放到一个补丁文件里发给朋友，WAD开发者们可以在关卡里加入新的怪物……一切的一切。” 这些黒客工具使游戏的“沉浸感”有了新的含义。Doom本身已使玩家沉浸于快节奏的三维世界，沉浸于可以互相对抗的死亡竞赛；而黒客工具则使他们沉浸于创作的乐趣，当玩家先勾画出整个世界的蓝图，然后设计出各种生命形态、并定义出这世界的物理规则时，他其实是在扮演上帝的角色。玩家们开始在因特网上互相免费交换自己创造的世界，这些因为死亡竞赛而离开课堂的玩家们现在找到了新的嗜好：创作。他们不分昼夜地忙碌，他们甚至赤膊上阵：泰勒大学的一些玩家定期举办“天体创作营”，在那期间，他们一个个都扒得精光坐在计算机面前。Doom不止是一个游戏，它是一种文化。 这文化使id内部本来就持怀疑态度的人们愈发不安。经过一番讨论后，杰伊获准发布一份针对Doom修改制作的法律声明：“你可以就你的作品向用户收费，id软件公司对此不收取任何版税，但你的作品必须在Doom注册版的基础上运行，而不能在Doom试玩版上运行。你必须在你的作品中标明这不是id软件的产品，id软件不会，也无法，为你的作品——或是安装了这作品后的Doom——提供技术支持。根据我们律师的要求，你可能还需要在你的作品中包含一份法律声明。以上只是我们目前能想到的，在最终成文之前可能还会有所变动。:） …… 很抱歉，我们必须发表这份声明，”他总结道：“因为……没有其他办法可以控制现在的状况。” id将要发现，还有他们更无法控制的事。 ﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡ 1994年春天，id有了新的电话答录提示：“如果你打这个电话的目的是和我们进行商业合作，那么请按'5'。” 随着Doom文化的普及，一些巨头们也留意到了这款成功的游戏。环球影片公司（Universe Pictures）获得Doom的电影版权，并把它交给了《捉鬼敢死队》（GhostBusters）和《杂牌军东征》（Stripes）的导演伊凡·雷特曼（Ivan Reitman）。其他一些公司，譬如卢卡斯工作室，开始制作类似Doom的游戏。甚至微软也发现Doom是用来展示他们下一代视窗操作系统里多媒体功能的最佳选择，为此，他们请卡马克为视窗系统制作个简单的Doom演示，随后他们在计算机游戏开发者大会上用这个版本大肆炫耀了一番，“微软致力于让用户通过视窗系统体验到顶级的多媒体技术，”微软个人操作系统部的经理布莱德·蔡斯（Brad Chase）如是说，而游戏，“就是最大、最重要的一类多媒体软件。” 不久之后，大家开始议论起微软或IBM那样的公司在id面前是如何陈腐不堪。id聪明地选择了通过共享模式发行，而Doom的试玩版让人欲罢不能，玩家像上了瘾一样，只能乖乖掏钱购买完全版，于是有人把Doom称之为“电子海洛因”。《福布斯》发表的文章题为“来自地下世界的利润”，作者热情地写道：“私营的id软件公司没有公布过它的财政报表，但从我掌握的情况来看，他们的收入大概在一千万美元上下，微软的盈利率在它面前黯然失色，相比id，微软就像一个二流的水泥厂……等到有了信息高速公路，id的这种商业模式将会是什么样子？……没有销售人员，没有库存，没有市场费用，没有广告费用，不需要员工停车位，不需要给任天堂或世嘉缴版税。这种激动人心的新型商业模式，不只适用于游戏，甚至不局限于软件，各种各样的产品或服务都可以通过电子方式来出售或提供。” 主流媒体拾起接力棒。《纽约时报》（The New York Times）、《今日美国》（USA Today）、权威电影杂志《综艺》（Variety），都就Doom新开创的商业文化潮流发表了文章。新闻记者们涌向达拉斯，想一睹id的真面目，他们看到了长发的玩家，也看到了整齐的法拉利。在他们眼中，这一切是如此新奇另类，这次，他们不用夸大其词就可以写出一篇动人的报道了。id不再只是一个制作出精彩游戏的公司，它现在是某种新事物的象征：富有、年轻、充满创意，不拘泥于传统的商业模式，而是通过那尚未成形、难以名状、人所不识的因特网取得了成功。“每个人都在谈论着信息高速公路将带来的巨变，”杰伊在《达拉斯晨报》（The Dallas Morning News）上自豪地说：“我们就是活生生的例子。”—— 他意识到，业界正需要一颗明星，而id恰逢其时。 任何明星都少不了有绯闻。由于游戏中的暴力场景，中国已经在考虑封杀Doom，而巴西则直接把Doom列为非法游戏，甚至即将成为Doom2零售商的沃尔玛也开始畏缩。一切情况都表明，Doom将是下一只被击落的出头鸟，但就在这紧要关头，事情出现了转机。 1993年12月列博曼议员召开的听证会一结束，业界就开始忙于给政府拿出满意答复，以免他们动粗。1994年春季的第二次会议后，大出版商们本着自我约束的目的成立了互动数字软件协会（IDSA：Interactive Digital Software Association），到了秋天，它属下的娱乐软件分级委员会（ESRB：Entertainment Software Rating Board）成立，这个委员会的运作方式类似电影业的分级制度：T表示适合青少年（Teen），M表示适合成年人（Mature）。Doom2自然是第一个被打上M标记的游戏。 这次风波不仅没能伤及id分毫，还给它那坏孩子般的形象添上了更耀眼的光环。政客们失望地发现，听证会的效果事与愿违，它实际上宣告了一个新纪元的诞生：有了分级制度后，游戏出版商们可以肆无忌惮地制作更暴力更血腥的内容。玩家们则大喜过望，世嘉的《暗夜陷阱》在全国各地都卖到脱销，甚至任天堂也一改往日的清纯形象，计划着制作《真人快打2》——加上血腥，或者不管其他什么东西。在这场暴力的狂欢中，没有哪个公司能与id争锋，现在，当媒体和游戏迷们如潮水般拍打过来时，id只缺少一张面孔，一张伫立在滩头供人膜拜的面孔，这个角色在id简直不做第二人想：当这支乐队需要一个主唱的时候，约翰·罗梅洛无疑是最完美的人选，而且，在id，也只有他想走上前台一展歌喉。 ﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡ “万岁！万岁！万岁！”玩家欢呼着，并朝罗梅洛深深弯下腰。在一个炎热的下午，罗梅洛和肖恩来到了德克萨斯州奥斯汀市，他们现在站在一家游戏厅里，这家店坐落于德克萨斯大学门口的商业街，它楼下是一间咖啡馆。五个Doom瘾君子几个星期前租下了这个六百平方英尺的地方，他们有的是生物系动物专业的学生，有的是高科技公司的职员，他们觉得城里的Doom迷应该不止他们几个，于是他们架起计算机网络，摆出一排二十七英寸的显示器，开始了每小时八美元的死亡竞赛服务。今天是他们开业以来的第一届正式Doom比赛，而且，让到场的几十名玩家受宠若惊的是，罗梅洛——Doom的制作者——也亲临现场和他们一较高下。 尽管这些玩家中几乎没人见过罗梅洛的照片，但他们觉得身着黑色T恤的那家伙应该就是他，那T恤正面印着Doom的铁血标志，背面印着“制作者”（Wrote It）三个大字。没错，这件衣服就是罗梅洛设计的。不久前id制作Doom文化衫的时候，罗梅洛建议给id自己的那套T恤背后加上“制作者”三个字，他甚至给他妈妈寄了一件“我儿子是制作者”（My Son Wrote It）。卡马克喜欢的则是他自己那件印有黄色笑脸的T恤：笑脸的额头上，一个鲜血四溅的弹孔——典型的id风格：暴力加上幽默。 罗梅洛穿上那件T恤后就再不肯脱下，他在街上穿，参加游戏聚会时穿，甚至在办公室里也穿。这件衣服成了一个符号，玩家们会在人群中不经意看到它，然后欣喜若狂——制作者！一些胆大的甚至会追上前去请求和他握个手。罗梅洛第一次被象明星般对待是在CompUSA商店的停车场里，一个员工腼腆地跟着罗梅洛走到他那辆黄色的法拉利边，请求罗梅洛给他签个名。这样的场面后来越来越常见，尤其是在罗梅洛穿上“制作者”T恤后。玩家们不再只是请求签名，他们像《周末狂热》（Saturday Night Live）里的韦恩（Wayne）和加思（Garth）膜拜摇滚明星一样双膝跪倒在罗梅洛面前。id其他人简直无法相信自己的眼睛，而且，他们只感到窘迫：我们不是什么金属乐队，我们只是玩家。 关于id的传说越来越迷人，媒体和玩家们对id的好奇心也越来越浓厚——他们究竟是些什么人？作为回应，id开始利用UNIX操作系统的finger服务向外界发布信息，也就是所谓的“计划”（.plan），玩家们只需要通过网络发送一个请求，就可以从id的计算机上取到最新的内容。id的人们开始定期张贴一些技术文章，但很快，话题就延伸到了生活领域，譬如，最引人注目的，卡马克和罗梅洛的那两辆法拉利。 当玩家了解到id更真实更内在的一面时，他们心中对id的景仰变得愈发强烈。这不同于歌迷或影迷们对偶像的那种崇拜，这是杰伊所谓的“技术崇拜”（nerd worship）。而罗梅洛无疑是最乐于被崇拜的一个，他不仅随时穿着那件T恤，他还在改变着他的外表，他留起黑色长发，换上隐形眼镜，但无论他如何打扮，如何热衷于成为明星，他从来没有把朝他鞠躬欢呼的玩家们看做是不名一文的追星族，在罗梅洛眼中，他们是伙伴，是朋友；当他看着台下密密麻麻的人群时，他心里想的是：这些人，就是和我一样热爱游戏的玩家。Doom流行得越来越广，罗梅洛也和玩家们一样越来越沉迷于死亡竞赛，他和肖恩现在日复一日对战到深夜，而当他不玩Doom时，他就在谈论着Doom，他频繁地出入于因特网上的Doom聊天室、Doom论坛、Doom新闻组，他和玩家们一起讨论最新的游戏模式、比赛、趣闻。对于外面的世界而言，罗梅洛就是id。 这甚至变成了罗梅洛的日常工作，id其他人没有兴趣去陶醉于媒体或玩家的追捧。杰伊接受过一些采访，但他是id的商务主管，那是他的工作。媒体正试图找一个Doom上帝来作封面人物，他们发现，背上印着“制作者”字样的罗梅洛再合适不过了，而且，就像艾德里安和卡马克等人都乐于承认的那样，罗梅洛的确很擅长这个角色——他有趣、随和、精力充沛。自从看到戴夫行走在马里奥世界里的那一刻起，罗梅洛就是id的啦啦队长，现在，他四处奔走，为id造势，但他不是作为id的所有者，而是作为世界上最狂热的id迷。 罗梅洛造势时就像在玩死亡竞赛：自信是不够的，要自负，心细是不够的，要胆大。罗梅洛很快就让所有人意识到，君临天下般的id究竟是如何伟大，以及它还将变得多么伟大。“我们的计划就是，”他在网络上发表道：“让全世界的游戏制作者都用上NeXTSTEP，让所有人都连到因特网上，让每一个人都拥有一辆法拉利。”他还尖刻抨击了流行的或即将流行的操作系统：“DOS（磁盘操作系统：Disk Operation System）早该入土，那些什么DOS扩展系统无一不是开发者的噩梦，视窗更是垃圾。” 1994年的这个夏日，罗梅洛出现在奥斯汀这家游戏店里，此时的他正是如日中天的游戏上帝。在玩家的欢呼声中，一位记者挤到罗梅洛身边，问他为什么亲临这次比赛现场，罗梅洛不可一世地说：“我们是来夺冠的。”其他玩家的比赛开始了，他和肖恩也找到两台机器坐了下来。大厅里一片安静，只有选手敲击键盘的声音，但当id的家伙们上场时，气氛被打破了。 罗梅洛用霰弹枪击中对手，然后大喊道：“爽不爽？小杂种！”那个孩子怯生生地看了看罗梅洛，这样的眼神肖恩再熟悉不过了，他第一次被罗梅洛在对战中辱骂时也是这种眼神，这是从来没在对战中经受过口头攻击的玩家所特有的眼神。但现在肖恩已经成长起来了，他发射出一连串的炮弹，然后回应道：“吞了它！你这只死猴子！”玩家们面面相觑。但是，没有关系，他们也会成长起来的。 ﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡ 罗梅洛开着法拉利一路高歌回到达拉斯。二十六岁的他，生活一片光明。父亲和继父曾让他身心破碎，但他找回了自我，经过这么些年的奋斗，他终于有了今天，他真正成为了王牌程序员、未来富翁。他和双亲的关系有了很大改善，他的父母也学会了重新看待罗梅洛儿时的任性和对街机的痴迷；他有一个他为之深爱着的妻子，贝丝；他也深爱着远在加利福尼亚的两个儿子：迈克尔和史蒂文（Steven），他们现在能以这位父亲为荣了。罗梅洛，实现了他的梦想。 一天晚上，在id的666套房里，罗梅洛决定找人一起分享心中的喜悦。他走进卡马克的房间，而他只看到这个拍档和往常一样坐在计算机前，手边放着罐低糖可乐。自从Doom发布后，卡马克就着手把Doom移植到其他游戏平台上，譬如雅达利的美洲虎（Jaguar）和世嘉的一款新机种，id将为此得到丰厚的回报，光是雅达利的开价就是二十五万美元。但让卡马克感兴趣的不是钱，而是这重新披挂上阵的机会。 这，才是卡马克的最爱：工作，忘我地工作，挑战自己的智力。忽如其来的财富和名望并不是对他毫无影响，他最近回了趟家看望父亲，他告诉这位堪萨斯城著名的新闻主编，他很快就会比他还出名；和罗梅洛一样，卡马克与双亲之间的关系也变得和睦宁静，他们现在尊重并支持他的事业，他母亲在闲暇时还会玩玩《基恩》；卡马克甚至和他常去的那家中餐馆老板的女儿开始了约会。但不管生活发生什么样的转变，卡马克在绝大部分时间里还是呆在id，没有任何事物能像底层编码那样让他愉悦，他潜心磨练着自己的技艺，他知道，到他开始创作下一个引擎时，这些积累都会派上用场的。 但是，当卡马克在办公室里忙碌时，他发现，罗梅洛不见了，他现在整天忙于死亡竞赛、访谈、和玩家在网上交流。某样东西正在无可挽回地悄然改变着。卡马克还发现，公司的项目已经受到了影响，Doom2比预定进度落后了许多。当罗梅洛作为公司的摇滚明星在外面交际应酬时，他答应制作的关卡还是一片空白，事实上，id已经在依赖于其他的关卡设计师——桑迪·彼得森和新员工：美利坚·麦基（American McGee），他们俩完成了Doom2的大部分关卡，在总共三十二个关卡中，卡马克注意到，只有六个出自罗梅洛之手。 罗梅洛自有解释：慢工出细活，他在每一个关卡上都花了大量的时间。但卡马克怀疑另有原因：罗梅洛失去了他的专注。除了那些访谈和死亡竞赛外，罗梅洛现在还是Raven公司下一个游戏的监制。他曾经告诉卡马克，他要把引擎的经济效益发挥到极致：“我们用这技术多做几个游戏吧，那样可以赚到更多的钱，把引擎授权给Raven，他们很棒，他们肯定可以制作出精彩的游戏，然后我们来发行。”卡马克同意了，却毫不热心：要把公司做到多大才算够？但罗梅洛不只是为了把公司做大，他还有其他动机——乐趣。罗梅洛热爱游戏，他活着就是为了玩游戏，而他现在找不到比Doom更好玩的游戏了，和Raven的合作将给他带来新的游戏。这天晚上，在卡马克的办公室里，罗梅洛向卡马克描绘了id的新生活：该是享受成功的时候了，不再有压榨模式，不再有加班熬夜，“不再有死亡进度。”他开心地说。 卡马克看着屏幕上闪烁的光标，一言不发。曾经有多少夜晚，罗梅洛就坐在他身边，和他一起完善引擎，和他一起调试排错，直到东方渐白；今夜，卡马克目送那印有“制作者”的背影消失在门口。