Source material for IGN interview, July 2004

Pre-interview excerpt 1:


> you seem to have a die-hard fascination with Doom/Doom 2, their mods,
> et al., games in general, or what you believe Doom ought to be.

No special interest in Doom these days, actually.  It's really the newbies and
die-hard fans that drive the development of my Doom website and the attention I
still give to the game.  For the most part I only fire up Doom if I need
something for answering questions from others: "How do I get the red key on
this map, why can't I get 100% secrets on this map", etc.
On the rare occasions when I play Doom games "for fun", it's usually just to
try to improve on my gameplay demos, for which there is endless room.
Also never really got into mods; it's mostly plain out-of-the-box Doom games
when I play them at all.  With rare exceptions I don't use source ports, don't
play third-party maps, don't use add-ons and never made my own maps.  Outside
of a handful of message boards I don't really participate much in the Doom
community.  Just not enough time or talent on my part.

As for other games: Once every few years a game will grab me and I'll devour
it.  But in between I buy lots of games, try them for a little while (sometimes
for just a matter of minutes), and then they wind up in the huge stack of "I'll
get back to you someday."


Pre-interview excerpt 2:

> We can focus on those things if you prefer, and talk about your
> own views in regard to the upcoming Doom 3.

In general I tend to ignore coverage of a new game until the thing is actually
on store shelves.  In the case of Doom III, I've seen plenty of screenshots,
and have watched the trailer a couple times, and that's about it.
At a glance it looks like what Resident Evil always hoped to be.
I think it'll look and sound amazing, it'll be a major hit, it'll be scary and
creepy and cool.  But I dunno if it'll be "Doom".
In addition to creeping around in the dark, I want my 20-monster firefights and
the occasional huge outdoor levels.  Not seeing that yet, and not sure I will.


Pre-interview excerpt 3:

For what it's worth, some of my thoughts and views on games
(Doom/other), my websites and whatnot can be found at these
URLs, if you want any more background or info related to
any interview topics:

http://ledmeister.com/about.htm
http://classicdoom.com/doomfaqs.htm
http://classicdoom.com/doomcut.htm
http://ledmeister.com/othrfaqs.htm


Interview questions:

> 0)  Your Doom FAQs seem to be destined for HTML from the
> start -- was it your original intent to incorporate light
> code into your text FAQs, or was it an afterthought?

The "Extended Reference" FAQ for Star Control on the Sega
Genesis was my first game document, and was done years
before I knew about the web or HTML.  Most of my other big
documents, including the Doom ones, followed the same rules
of style and layout that I set up for that one.
None of those original plain-text docs have really changed
in transition to the web, except that I tried to make them
easy to navigate with internal links.

> 1)  Who is your favorite game character? And your
> personal reasons?

"Game character."  Um.  Morgan Webb.  She plays herself on
X-Play (G4TechTV).  Cute, smart, loves games, 'nuff said.
OK, that's a great, obvious question to ask an avid gamer,
but I can't think of a good answer.  Most of my all-time
favorite games didn't have a focus on characters, per se...
Alright, Cyberdemon from Doom; Quintessential Boss monster.
Duke Nukem had some good lines.
I dunno.  The Fuseball thingy from Tempest.

> 2)  Have you a favourite snack when you're gaming late
> into the night/next day?

Caffeinated soda if I'm up late in gaming mode.  Otherwise
ice cream or cereal sometimes.  But in general if I'm
intent on something, I forget about snacks altogether.

> 3)  Do you believe videogames influenced you in any way
> in how you view your world?

No, I don't think so.

> 4)  Do you have a personal motto?

No.
I was going to try and make up something on the spot, but
it'd probably be lame...
"Don't be a litterbug."
Yeah, I was right.

> 5)  Do you prefer multiplayer games (cooperative or
> competitive) or "lone wolf" single player titles?

Depends.  Co-Op games are great.  In competition I can eat
newbies like nachos in a handful of multiplayer games, and
that's fun.
Otherwise I tend to enjoy single-player games most, since I
like taking my time when playing just about anything.

> 6)  What was the first game you played (and we mean first
> one EVER)? How did it go?

Had to Google around to try to find the name of it...
I think it was "Sea Wolf", an ancient coin-op video game I
saw in the corner of a restaurant as a kid.  From my first
try I was instantly hooked, and would've been willing to
play it non-stop for hours.
Unfortunately my 3 or 4 quarters only lasted a few minutes.

> 7)  What's your favourite game of all time (at least so
> far)?

It's impossible to pick just one.  A dozen different games
completely dominated my life for short periods of time.
I'd give up food and sleep for them, blow off schoolwork
for them, waste weeks of my life compiling giant FAQs for
some of them. ;)
However, of my all-time favorites, only a few still have
any lasting replay value for me.  Usually ones with lots of
open-ended play, and/or careful and creative use of random
factors.
Today, I guess Grand Theft Auto III takes the top spot.

> 8)  If you were offered to create your dream game (and
> get paid for it), what would it be?

Lately whenever I have a chunk of free time, one of the
games I keep coming back to is the "Vigilante" mini-game in
GTA3 (Staunton Island map).
I'd love to see a stand-alone multiplayer game based on
that GTA3 module, with options for Teams, bots, Deathmatch,
Co-Op, CTF.  Cops vs. robbers, gang vs. gang, citizens vs.
invading army.  Different goals and scenarios for different
modes.  Done right, it could be a blast.
Paid?  I'd do it for free.

> 9)  If you could change one thing about the videogame
> industry, what would that be?

Hm...
10 year copy protection limit on games.  Every commercially
sold game becomes freeware a decade after its debut on the
market.  After that, anyone can copy and distribute the
game so long as 1) There's no charge for the game itself,
2) It's unmodified, unless specific details are provided on
what was changed.
It would remain illegal to distribute the game otherwise.

> 10) Let's say one of your FAQs is going into a time
> capsule; which one would you want future historians and
> anthropologists to see?

LOL... Uh, whichever one has the fewest typos.
I dunno... Of the big documents, maybe the HTML version of
the "Extended Reference" for Star Control II SuperMelee.
If it's a small time capsule: The Max-Start passwords sheet
for Doom 64, which for a 1-pager took ten tons of work.
If the people of the future are nitpicky and only want real
"F.A.Q.s", it'll have to be the Doom II Ghost-Monster FAQ.

> 11) Hypothetically, if you can pick one game you've
> played or experienced, that you can "live in" for a bit,
> which one would you like and why?

Again, any one of several games; but I'll roll some mental
dice and pick Midnight Club 1.  I'd enjoy being behind the
wheel in that kind of free world, beating the city champs
at their own game, and only egos get hurt.
But, I'd have at least as much fun wiping out legions of
hellspawn in Doom, building a fortune in the galaxies of
Elite, or exploring Vice City in person.

(End)
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