John Romero, the Man Behind the Hype

rockstarenvy writes "In a recent interview with the Escapist, Russ Pitts reveals a lot about who John Romero really is. As Romero puts it: 'After 10-plus years of reading about yourself, all the good and bad, it all just becomes irrelevant after awhile. I know what I'm capable of doing and the people I work with are united in our mission, and they treat me just like they treat each other. The whole fame thing doesn't come into play when we're in development, because we're all a team. I know some of my guys read a lot of forums and sometimes they'll see some remark that someone clueless made and show it to me, chuckling because they know the truth of who I am and how I work. The media personification of John Romero is not who John Romero is.'"

Comments

Who the hell....

[Twillerror]

is John Romero. Was he in that movie with that other guy?

Re:Who the hell....

[Sv-Manowar]

Co-Founder of id Software and lead designer on Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, and Quake. He left and then made Daikatana and didn't do that much until he joined Midway in 2003, left again in 2005 and is currently making his own MMOG. He's pretty legendary for having the domain name rome.ro along with having a Ferrari that you could tune via USB while driving.

Re:Who the hell....

[GeorgeFitch3]

On the last level of Doom II, John Romero says (backwards to sound demon-like) "To win the game, you must kill me, John Romero". If you use the noclipping cheat, you can pass through the demon face wall that spits out soul cubes and see John's severed head on a spike. To win the game, you actually have to kill him by shooting through a small opening in the wall with well-timed rocket attacks. Groovy!

I know who John Romero is!

[just_another_sean]

I made him my bitch back in '97!

Bob Dole

[dancingmad]

The media personification of John Romero is not who John Romero is.

John Romero, like many washed-up has beens, likes to refer to John Romero in the third person.

Seriously, for a guy that's a laughingstock in the video game industry, he sure does still have an ego. Come on man, when are you making me your bitch? :P

Re:Bob Dole

[rtrifts]

John Romero, once upon a time, had a lot to be jealous about. He was the cool guy, the one with the ferrari, the tats, the boss with the rocsktar long hair - and he was rich and successful. His GF, Stevie Case, was not only a gamer - she was a definite *babe* and - not coincidentally - JR helped create Doom, the game which remains the #1 computer game of all time. Romero, the quintessential developer-as-rockstar, inspired the jealousy which is a part of the fabric of every one of us.

When you are a guy who is prone to excess - and someone who had previously been prone to success - people enjoy watching your fall. Sad, but true; we are a petty lot.

For all that, while people may have laughed at Romero from time to time - John Romero was never a "laughing stock". That wouldn't be accurate at all.

In any event - it is wiser to keep your words soft and sweet, in case you are forced to eat them.

From the...

[Anonymous Coward]

From the who-really-gives-a-crap? department.

John Romero is John Romero

[RealErmine]

"The media personification of John Romero is not who John Romero is."

John Romero is a guy who refers to John Romero in the third person.

John Romero is a tool.

[dafragsta]

That's all that really needs to be said. For further reference, look up the amount of talking, egotism, and otherwise useless rhetoric he's shat out over the past 10 years. All that plus one crappy game and the demise of an otherwise good gaming studio that resulted in the Romero fallout. I would say that Romero was all sizzle and no steak, but that implied that there was worthwhile sizzle to begin with. It's all pretty much flatuence at this point. Stop wasting people's time John. Get a real day job. You rode your useless reputation to the ground and that's where all us day working schmoes exist. We don't have a rediculously inflated reputation to ride from publisher to publisher asking for insane advances for absolutely no substance to speak of.

OfficeSecrets

[eebra82]

" I know what I'm capable of doing and the people I work with are united in our mission, and they treat me just like they treat each other. The whole fame thing doesn't come into play when we're in development, because we're all a team."

I was thinking the exact same thing before I quit my old job. You know, a lot of people do tell lies and if often turns out that powerful people are getting bullshitted all the time. I thought my staff enjoyed what I was doing and I kept hearing good things about my efforts until it was settled at a party and a few people got too drunk.

I'm not saying your team is doing this on you, John. Maybe you're really a great guy. Truth is, I don't know you and I actually even enjoyed Daikatana more than most other people did. It's just that I don't buy it, because you can't trust anyone until you know what he's thinking - which you probably never will.

Re:Forget him... Killcreek

[DarkHelmet]

Only on slashdot would gawking at a woman's breasts be considered "informative".

Besides, it kind of takes away from her being a level designer, game designer, and overall nice person.

But since Slashdot revolves around Self Indulging (tm), I might as well Karma whore and get noticed:

http://steviekillcreekcase.tripod.com/

Look everybody! I can be "informative" too!