Mappers of Doom, a potential book about mappnig/modding

[redfella]

Hello! I am looking for insight, ideas, thoughts and feedback regarding what I posted on a different mapping forum [below]. Any comments would be very welcomed! Thanks in advance.

 

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Many of us mappers are familiar with David Kushner's masterpeice; Masters of Doom. The book toke us inside the universe that is id software, beginning with id's humble beginnings all the way right up to the development of Doom 3. The book is expertly crafted in its writing and beutifully delivered in its storytelling, as we all know. Hearing about how id came together and all of the crazy and zany stories along the way, thrilled us. -What if by chance someone created a "Mappers of Doom"?

 

"Mappers of Doom" (not real title, title is WIP) could be a grandeous look at the culture and mentality of the level editing/modding community. The title could speak about the common mapper's influences, inspirations, reasonings, and doings. It could speak about how the general modding and mapping community thinks about computers, video games, mapping, creating new worlds/content and modding... It could talk about the culture as a whole.

 

The title could also retrace the tracks of several very popular mods and/or mappers. These accounts would be told similar to the way id was incarnated by Kushner's epic, Masters of Doom. Perhaps there could be 2-5 different and seperate stories following the tracks of influential mapping hobbists and amatuer-to-professional mappers/modders alike. These stories would give structure to the title and would help to setup descriptitory sections regarding the culture of mapping.

 

Anyways, I hope this doesn't sound too much like a Harry Allen hack... I have had similiar ideas about writing a book on the culture and events of the mapping scene. I just haven't had the inspiration/desire to do it until now... don't ask why, long story.

 

I am posting this because I don't want to come off as a greedy bastard by using the community to make a buck if, by any chance in the world, it does get to the point of publishing, selling, and eventually making money. I want to open the idea up to the community and see what everyone thinks. To be honest, I am not really sure how far the project will go, how much I will write, and when, if ever, the project will be completed. However, being that there may be the possibility of money involved, I will perhaps be inspired to continue on where I would have quit if it was "just for fun". We shall find out.

 

So what do you guys think? Would you read a book about mapping? Keep in mind that the book would be about the culture and major events of mapping and its history. It would NOT be a tutorial or "how-to" book. The book would also be cogniscant of ALL video game custom mapping outlets... Not just Quake 3 or Unreal... Not even just First Person Shooters, for example. It would be a detailed look at everything, in general, from past to present regarding mapping/modding.

 

Word.

 

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