Talk:John Carmack

message: That A talented programmer with an entrepreneurial spirit comes from a pcgameworld.com article ().  Can we come up with something a little less plagiaristic?  RickK 21:12, Aug 1, 2004 (UTC)
How much was the rocket prototype worth? 40,000 or 35.000$?-FredrikM
:All the news outlets I've seen have said $35,000. -- nknight 15:18, 14 Aug 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: "In the final total, after accounting for absolutely everything, the vehicle replacement cost is about $40,000 instead of $35,000.  The new vehicle has a few more expensive machined parts, so total cost will be about $45,000." -- Quoth 07:02, 12 Nov 2004 (UTC)
thread_title: Opening wording

message: I would like to suggest that the link to "Katherine Anna Kang" be changed from a redirect to "John Carmack" (her husband) to her own page (even if only a stub).  She is a somewhat prominant figure in Machinima circles, running such events as the annual Machinimation Festival.  She also worked for id for a while and runs Fountainhead Entertainment.
Before some suggests that I just do this myself, I'm a new wikipedian and don't know how to edit redirects, and am not really sure how to make a new page either.  --JBolla
:Okay, here's one way you can do it:
:#Click on the wikilink of Katherine Anna Kang in the article.
:#You'll be redirected to this article.
:#Underneath the large John Carmack title, you'll see a message which says (Redirected from Katherine Anna Kang).  Click on the Katherine Anna Kang link.
:#Instead of being redirected again to John Carmack, you'll actually be at the Katherine Anna Kang article.
:#Click the "Edit this page" link.
:#You'll see an edit box with the text #redirect John Carmack.  Replace it with your text.
:#Start the article with Katherine Anna Kang is a <state the obvious>.  For example: Katherine Anna Kang is a film producer.
:#Then fill in the rest of the prose for her article.  Be sure to mention her connection to Carmack.
:I could kinda tell you're a new user because you didn't sign your post.  I added your signature above, but you can do this with 3 or 4 tildes (~~~ or ~~~~).  The latter is preferred since it also adds a timestamp. HTH, peace. :-) — Frecklefoot | Talk 14:24, August 17, 2005 (UTC)
:I second this, also because Ms. Kang is simply not John Carmack.  They're different people and should have different pages.  And to the uninformed, searching for "Katherine Anna Kang" and ending up at John Carmack is very confusing.
Okay, created the article, Katherine Anna Kang.  Take a look, enjoy. edit... — Frecklefoot | Talk 15:47, 5 April 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Anna Kang 

message: I removed this section because it has very little to do with who Carmack is and his contributions to programming, 3D graphics and the video game industry in general.  It's just a summary of an interview with him on the next-generation consoles which, last time I checked, id Software doesn't even develop for (their engines are for Microsoft Windows).  If someone disagress, please discuss here:
:While millions of opinions (written by gamers) spreaded all over the internet debating which next generation video game console is the most powerful, Carmack gave his opinion in recent interviews with the media.
:On comparing Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3, Carmack admits that Sony's console is probably more powerful "in terms of raw flops and graphic operations.” 
:Carmack admits however that the Xbox 360 is his preferred console because it has better programming tools as well as a more interactive development environment. 
:Carmack:  "I make little nitpicky decisions about say, well, I prefer the symmetric approach that MS has over the asymmetric Cell approach, but you can do great games on either one of them, and I make fundamental decisions based on development tools and depth of documentation, which Microsoft has been superior on," 
:When it comes to long term programming and game development cycles, Carmack stressed that having the best development tools is more important than having superior hardware power.
:In regards to the other next generation console, Nintendo's Revolution, Carmack has not yet made a comment on it.
— Frecklefoot | Talk 14:22, 25 October 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Id Software develops their engines for cross-platform compatibility.  All Id games can be played on Macintosh and Linux systems. -Emhilradim 05:30, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

text: Not true.  Some were developed by id for other systems, some were ported by other entities. They may program them to make cross-platform programming easier, but they don't develop games for all three systems at once.  They do use OpenGL, for example, which makes porting easier. — Frecklefoot | Talk 20:00, 6 June 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Next Gen Consoles: Xbox 360 vs PlayStation 3

message: I removed this section:
:During his younger years, Carmack originally wrote a program which displayed his name [Carmack] in big box letters, and then changed the program to allow the name to spin and rotate. It is speculative that, this simple program was what inspired him into graphics programming. While at the time he was by no means a specialist, he did spend the time to develop games that made use of graphics (while many of those around him were making text-based games). 
   
because it is unsourced and contains speculation.  Where is the source for him programming such games?  How do we know that because of the programs he become a game programmer?  It's POV and unsourced and doesn't belong in the article. — Frecklefoot | Talk 21:26, 22 September 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: The source for that information is Masters of Doom, and it is valid information.  Why he became a programmer is not something that can be covered, true, but as a kid, he did program said games and graphics demos. -Emhilradim 22:59, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

text: It's fine if you put it back in and remove the speculation and add the source of the information.  Otherwise it looks like pure speculation. — Frecklefoot | Talk 15:31, 17 May 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Carmack programmed graphics games as a kid and that's why he became a game programmer

message: Talk:John Carmack directs to this page, so I feel like it's appropriate to talk about it here. John Carmack currently disambigs between this and some church guy; Googling the other John Carmack's full name turns up more about the game programmer than the actual person I'm looking for. Looking at the article, the other Carmack doesn't seem notable at all. I'd really rather John Carmack go directly to the game programmers page; that is who people are looking for. Anyone agree? Chaos on the internet 04:14, 18 September 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Agreed. John Carmack should go to the game programmer, with a small link to the other fellow. The church Carmack doesn't seem all that notable. I could even see deleting that page. He was fairly high up in the church, but he was still just an administrator. Even the page doesn't list anything that he did that was notable. Nairebis 12:20, 18 September 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Agreed that it should just go to here with a small link to John K. Carmack.  But K. Carmack was a general authority in the Church.  While it sounds mundane by its title, it's pretty significant. So his article should remain.  I know we're not discussing deleting his article, but just thought I'd mention it. — Frecklefσσt | Talk 14:07, 18 September 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  disambig 

message: Carmack did end up porting Wolfenstein 3-D to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System himself.  "Masters of Doom" pg. 133 states that Burger Bill, who was contracted by id, failed to deliver.  id fired him, and Carmack did the port himself.
Madman420 (talk) 10:32, 13 June 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: Well, the current table doesn't list platforms, so I guess this comment was OBE. — Frεcklεfσσt | Talk 15:19, 20 October 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Wolf3D for SNES not in table 

message: Wouldn't it make more sense to have both the 'gameography' list and the 'recognition' list to both be in reverse chronological order? When you're reading it, trying to track his history, it feels strange to first read his games, from latest to first, and then his achievements first to last. In my opinion, it breaks the flow of the article. I suggest reversing the chronological order og the 'recognition' list. Thoughts? --Pinkopf (talk) 15:01, 3 February 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: It's a personal preference: neither order is right or wrong. I changed the Recognition section into a sortable table so you can look at it in reverse if you prefer. — Frεcklεfσσt | Talk 16:05, 20 October 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  'Game' and 'Recognition' entries in opposing chronological orders 

message: For a while, this article stated that Carmack was located in Mesquite, Texas.  Recently an anon user changed it to Heath, Texas.  They stated that "appraisal records clearly state that he is located in Heath, Texas."  I don't care where he really is, but we really need a ref for that fact. — Frεcklεfσσt | Talk 14:27, 29 October 2010 (UTC)
thread_title: Location

message: There would appear to be a number of prima facie characteristics indicating Asperger's Syndrome.  Is any information on this available?  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.159.111.161 (talk) 14:52, 22 February 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  Asperger's Syndrome? 

message: The article says honored, not an Award (source unavailable), while the "Emmy" page that is linked to says award (but no source). Lots of sources say award but not sure if they are reliable.
: “For the first time in our 59 year history, not all winners will be presented with an Emmy statuette at this year’s ceremony due to litigation with the Hollywood-based Academy of Television Arts & Sciences,” said Peter Price, President and CEO, National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. comp.arch (talk) 13:39, 10 March 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Emmy Awards, how many, when? 

message: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_D._Carmack&diff=599480270&oldid=594421174
I looked up the address, is in conflict with the Infobox? I do not care where he lives, just not sure how to read this (and he might have moved). On the other hand should we link to info that gives the address? Would it be illegal in (some other?) countries? And while it's (official) public information (ok then?), is it appropriate/notable and/or legal to include political information about a (non-political) person? What if he (are we sure it is he) has published his views on some message board as he seems to have done, is it then ok? Saw some general info (not Ron Paul or looked for that). comp.arch (talk) 15:31, 20 March 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: You may want to consult WP:BLP. — Frεcklεfσσt | Talk 15:53, 20 March 2014 (UTC)

text: In any case, on 24 June 2015, this sourced, publicly-available information, provided by the US FEC, was removed on the grounds that it was "unsubstantiated," and that there are "plenty of people in the U.S named 'John Carmack'." However, the source lists the subject's occupation as "Technical Director" at "id Software." As the information seems to be rather well-substantiated, I've restored it. --45.46.13.77 (talk) 15:41, 6 February 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  Residence - politics 

message: "Having ... no belief in luck, fate, karma, or god(s)" strictly speaking would not make him an atheist. Not having a belief in god(s), is not the same as believing that there are no god(s). 
To quote the Wikipedia entry on Atheism: "In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities." To quote Carl Sagan: "An atheist is someone who is certain that God does not exist, someone who has compelling evidence against the existence of God. I know of no such compelling evidence. Because God can be relegated to remote times and places and to ultimate causes, we would have to know a great deal more about the universe than we do now to be sure that no such God exists. To be certain of the existence of God and to be certain of the nonexistence of God seem to me to be the confident extremes in a subject so riddled with doubt and uncertainty as to inspire very little confidence indeed."
Based on the provided quote, we can't determine whether he is an atheist or not. Unless of course so other article confirms it.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 198.103.221.52 (talk) 20:29, 4 July 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Atheist 

message: Is there any reason why the initial is included in the article title? "John Carmack" redirects to "John D. Carmack" right now czar ♔ 23:15, 22 July 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: I think it's because there were other John Carmacks, so John Carmack was made into a redirect for John Carmack (disambiguation), and so this article was made into it's current form to distinguish it from other John Carmacks, like John K. Carmack. But then it was decided that this John Carmack is the primary topic for John Carmack, so John Carmack was a redirect to this article, but by that time, no one remembered that John D. Carmack used to be John Carmack, but was just renamed for disambiguation purposes. It makes sense to move it back to John Carmack, but by now you'll need an admin to do it. — Frεcklεfσσt | Talk 14:21, 23 July 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Move to "John Carmack" 

message: Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just added archive links to  on John Carmack. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add  after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add  to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/20150428203350/http://www.time.com/time/digital/digital50/10.html to http://www.time.com/time/digital/digital50/10.html
When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true to let others know.
Cheers. —cyberbot IITalk to my owner:Online 01:51, 28 August 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  External links modified 

message: Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified 4 external links on John Carmack. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20090915173132/http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/09/11/2064885.aspx to http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/09/11/2064885.aspx/
*Corrected formatting/usage for http://www.gamespot.com/features/15most/html/mi96_01.html?tag=stitialclk
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20120306060959/http://www.emmyonline.org/releases/pdf/58th_Tech_Eng_winners.pdf to http://www.emmyonline.org/releases/pdf/58th_Tech_Eng_winners.pdf
*Added archive https://archive.is/20120525131929/kotaku.com/342028/2008-tech-emmy-winners to http://kotaku.com/342028/2008-tech-emmy-winners
When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.
Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 08:40, 24 April 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  External links modified 

message: Along with John Romero, Carmack developed a port of Super Mario Bros 3. to PC, which he even offered to Nintendo. There are many resources on this subject, such as this:
https://www.polygon.com/2015/12/14/10123754/john-romero-super-mario-bros-3-pc-demo  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Albs-br (talk • contribs) 03:35, 16 May 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  Mario 3 port to PC 

message: John Carmack's Facebook about page now says he is separated. On 2021/10/05 he updated posts such as https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2146412825593223 to add "[edit: at-that-time]" when mentioning his wife. I couldn't find any other mention of his divorce anywhere on the web. Can someone update his "Spouse" information?
Lumaras (talk) 23:02, 29 October 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: Thanks for notifying and updating. Usually social media shouldn't be used as sources, but in this case it should be fine as it is about the subject themself. I believe everything is done here. Courtesy ping to . --Trialpears (talk) 02:33, 2 January 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  Divorce 

message: Yesterday I added details about Carmack's children, being unaware of this old discussion about limiting such information. While Carmack originally disclosed full details about his first son per the reference, some 2.5 years later he pruned it. Whether that makes for a stronger case in restraining said info on Wikipedia I don't know. But fast forward to around 2013 and beyond, dad is tweeting regularly about his oldest son's experiences with technology and programming, most relevantly his first and second video game, published under his own name at http://www.1k3c.com/ . I think that makes name and age/birth-date relevant to the wiki (although the game details themselves were understandably removed). Am I right/wrong?
From 2015 the youngest son is also featuring in dad's tweets, including photos. This photo from 2017 indicates his name is most probably Connor, at age 7. But with no video game connection, I figured this is not (yet) relevant and the source too vague anyway to include it. No source was provided at the time for his birth month/year, btw, but it matches the age difference confirmed by dad.
Another data point surrounded by some uncertainty is Carmack's date of marriage to Katherine Anna Kang. In the latter's article the date was pinpointed to January 5 but recently generalized again. The exact wording was "We are getting married next month, and honeymooning in Hawaii". This suggests the possibility of marrying in Texas first, then going out to Hawaii. But Masters of Doom (p.282, paperback ed.) writes: "They wed in Hawaii in front of a small crowd of family and friends." In Carmack's article the same Jan 5 was entered in May 2015, then expanded two months later to a wedding date of Jan 1 and ceremony in Hawaii on Jan 5. Neither edit was sourced, but they were by anons so we can't ask.
Only three years later Carmack reminisced about Steve Jobs and wrote: "he wanted me to do a keynote that happened to be scheduled on the same day as our wedding." That was January 5. So where did Jan 1 come from? If there's no source, then I propose to rewrite that part around the single wedding date of January 5. Xymph (talk) 14:31, 1 October 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Personal info 

message: I highly recommend someone with rollback rights revert the page back to User:Pbrks's version on 26 January 2024. There may have been some minor legitimate contributions from there on, but due to the extensive scattering of vandalism, it'd be best to revert it to then. Further protecting the page is probably best too, as not to waste people's time. SchizoidNightmares (talk) 22:16, 19 February 2024 (UTC)
replies: text: Hi, SchizoidNightmares, thanks for your vigilance, though funnily enough I had just restored Pbrks's version when I saw your post above. There was nothing legitimate whatsoever. On the contrary, there was more vandalism than we saw, because the edit filter caught some of it. Thank you for your thankyous too, lol. I have blocked the account and the IP (who are probably one person rather than two). But not fullprotected. Semi goes quite a long way with this kind of stuff — full protection is more for edit wars. Bishonen | tålk 22:49, 19 February 2024 (UTC)
thread_title:  Extensive vandalism