id Responds to Call for Volunteerism in Education![]() "When I heard the president's speech, it seemed as though he were speaking directly to me," says American McGee, a level designer at id. "I talked to Bear and Carmack about my newfound sense of obligation and was pleasantly surprised to find that their commitment was just as passionate as mine." "I initially suggested donating one of my Ferraris to the local school system's technology lab," says John Carmack, one of id's founders, "but that was quickly abandoned because of a contract agreement the system signed recently. It requires that their students work only on cars that were built using technology that's at least ten years old. Imagine, thousands of students forced, for no apparent reason, to work on Impalas, Gremlins, and mustard yellow El Caminos when they could be lubing up a 360 horsepower turbocharged Ferrari 328 at no extra charge." "We were all pretty stumped," continues Barrett Alexander (id's biz guy), "until we received a call from Kay Peterson a few days later. Everything just fell right into place from then on." ![]() Mrs. Peterson's interest in Quake began when her son bought the game at a local Wal-Mart. "The first time I saw Trevor gib his brother with a quad rocket, I thought, 'My word! What a great hands-on activity for teaching the muscles of the body while having some good, clean fun at the same time!' I called id Software the very next day. Such nice boys they were." According to the school's principal, Linda Foos, these children are getting a huge educational boost, thanks to Quake. "Human physiology isn't usually taught until the 11th grade, but we know the children are learning the material -- their test scores have gone through the roof! Besides, if these kids are going to blast each other into smoking chunks of meat, better that they do it on the net than on the playground, I always say." And Mrs. Peterson doesn't want to stop with muscles. "With increasingly fast processors and all the nifty innovations in 3D accelerator cards, I'm hoping id will include bone fragments, nerve endings, cartilage, and other assorted gristle in their next-generation gibs. The educational possibilities are limitless!" "We're just glad we have this opportunity to help educate the future leaders of our country," says McGee. "Public service is just all in a good day's work here at id." |
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