Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by paradigmshiv 2930 days ago
In case anyone doubts how revolutionary some of these games were, check out these fan letters from the Wolfenstein source:

As a former POW (Vietnam), I hesitated to play WOLF for over a month after downloading as I feared flashbacks. I didn't want to remember all that I had been through all those years ago, when, as POW's, my friend and I decided an escape attempt would be better than a slow death by torture and starvation.

My friend and I made crude maps and hoarded food. The day of the escape we clubbed the guard with stones, took his gun and fought our way through two levels of underground tunnels (only a few guards and had to crawl). I made it, my friend didn't.

Dreams...NO! NIGHTMARES...YES!! However, the more I play WOLF the less frequently I have nightmares. The chilling part is turning a corner and seeing a guard with his gun drawn.

WOLF is a powerful game. Fearful as well. I believe that a person should face the past. So... when I can play EPISODE 1 comfortably (no nightmares), I plan on ordering the full series.

There's also a letter from a Microsoft manager requesting a multiplayer version.

https://github.com/id-Software/wolf3d/blob/master/WOLFSRC/GO...

1 comments

As you say, that is an extremely moving letter. I would never have associated Doom with therapy - thanks for sharing. (I am a big fan of John Carmack and the id team.)