I’ve mentioned previously that I’m reading the book “Masters of Doom,” and, after that, I plan on reading another title Inside Steve’s Brain. In these books, and in the series airing on Science Channel, “Rise of the Video Games,” they all discuss the crazy, heady days of the late 1970s to early ’80s, when folks like Steve Jobs and John Romero were “hackers,” aka, people who lived and worked on the periphery of computing. These were people who aimed to revolutionize the experience of computers and gaming from the very beginning. They remind me so much of myself growing up, and the experiences I had with gaming and computers that influence many aspects of my life even today, from the things I choose to do with my free time, to my pursuit of “the dream job.”

Masters of Doom has proved to be an incredibly inspirational book so far. John Carmack and John Romero’s portrayals were so reminiscent of my childhood. I, like them, had a tendency to immerse myself in geek culture. From the comics and video games I played, to the Commodore 64 I would use to create my own little hacks.

Unfortunately, due to the combination of my inability to afford an Apple or IBM-PC, and just being about five years to young to really ride the crest of these emerging industries, I was pretty far behind the curve. And, honestly, I never even considered games as an employment opportunity in Junior High or High School. They seemed to be things that people “magically” created in their homes and delivered on big black floppies. Or games that were so hacked that you could only play for a certain amount of time before the game would crash. I remember playing titles like Ultima and Bard’s Tale for hours on end, then heading off to the arcade on base and spending waaay too much money on games like Super Mario, Dragon’s Lair, and Gauntlet.

For someone like myself, those games spoke to me. I was never the best player, or the smartest guy in the room, but I did have a passion for the subject matter. It wasn’t till college, when my roommates and I were discovering titles like DOOM and Quake, that I realized this could possibly be an industry I might be able to build a career in. Well, that one, and potentially this new industry, called the world wide web. But at the time, sites mainly consisted of an image on a screen with a bit of text. i couldn’t imagine anyone ever having the patience to sit and wait for a screen to load through a 900 baud modem.

Anyway, I think one of the reasons why I like these books and this series so much, is it reminds me of some of my happiest times…spending all night at my best friend Shawn’s house, playing video games and reading comics, and being able to have a shared experience with the various geek friends I had growing up.

I guess I just have a lot of gratitude for many guys whose egos were huge, but their ability matched those egos. Say what you will about a guy like Romero…not many of us have ever attained the level of success he had at his height. And I think that’s one of the main reasons why people trash his name so much these days, after the Ion Storm…and that is jealousy.

For me, I would gladly change places with Romero…for all his larger-than-life chest thumping, he at least had a moment of greatness in his life, a time when the work he did was enjoyed by many. And I think that’s what I want my career to boil down to…finding a way to reach people and inspire. Unfortunately, the opportunities feel as if they’re slipping by as I grow older more quickly with every passing year…so we’ll see.