84 lines
4.7 KiB
Plaintext
84 lines
4.7 KiB
Plaintext
Why Doom has an inside joke to Usenet, or
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How I helped create a cheat key code.
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By Seth Cohn (seth@alchemy.tn.cornell.edu)
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Doom came out Dec 10th, and first I did was go looking for cheat keys for it.
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Didn't find any, but I came close. My brother Dale and I had a funny feeling
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(call it a hunch) that somewhere in the game SPISPOPD was embedded. We didn't
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find it in the code, but turns it it was there after all.
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What is SPISPOPD? Well, to make a long story short, due to all the Doom hype on
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the comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action Usenet newsgroup, someone posted a suggestion
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to id that the next game be named something less likely to be used as a subject
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header (ala When is DOOM coming out? The DOOM beta is so cool, and the ever
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popular DOOM FAQ) They suggested the unlikely name of Smashing Pumpkins into
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Small Piles of Putrid Debris. Of course, someone else immediately posted that
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they wanted the beta of SPISPOPD and where was it? I joined in the fun, along
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with a long list of others and started to DESCRIBE this fictional game. We all
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got into the fun, and it was in part a healthy humorous response to the
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pressures of such a long wait for Doom.
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I probably posted more SPISPOPD stuff then anyone else at first, and when
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someone else posted a signature spoofing DOOM FAQ author Hank Leukhart's saying
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"SPISPOPD FAQ 1.0 coming soon" I flamed them and stole the idea. I claimed to be
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the REAL FAQ author and asked for submissions. I got a number of good ones, and
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taking these and all of the posts up to the first mention of SPISPOPD (I saved
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them all, think it was a great thread) I created a really funny spoof of the
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DOOM FAQ. In the process, id became ego for one reason: I was afraid of getting
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sued. I mailed Jay Wilbur and asked what he'd prefer out the range of options
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(id was doing SPISPOD, wasn't, etc..) and the only answer I got from him was...
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well... I used it as his quote in the FAQ. <Big grin>
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I got LOTS of mail including congrats, flames (such as GET A LIFE!), more
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submissions, and my favorite, people asking where they could get a copy of the
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game.
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The best for me was getting a note from David Taylor at id, one of the Doom
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coders, saying how much he enjoyed the FAQ. Little did I know...
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To make the matter more confusing, a bunch of guys at Cal-poly decided they
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liked the idea, and ignoring whatever features they didn't want to write into it
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(and I don't blame them... some of the FAQ was truly outlandish), they wrote a
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game called SPISPOPD. This game is cute, and using VGA and SB, is actually
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playable and well worth downloading. I am amazed they wrote it in 48 hours...
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So, I logged on Dec 15th having beaten the game a few times, and lo and behold,
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someone has posted the cheat keys, and idspispopd is one of them. Someone
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(Patch) suggested I write a little explanation of just how and what SPISPOPD is,
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to help all those folks who don't know the inside scoop.
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And as Paul Harvey would say, That's the REST of the story....
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(I'm also including a copy of the FAQ, posted separately. This is MUCH funnier
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if you have a copy of DOOM FAQ 2.X around...)
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SSSS PPPP IIII SSSS PPPP OOOO PPPP DDD | Official SPISPOPD FAQ Author
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S P P II S P P O O P P D D | Seth Cohn
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SSSS PPPP II SSSS PPPP O O PPPP D D | seth@alchemy.tn.cornell.edu
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S P II S P O O P D D | FAQ 1.1 coming soon! SPISPOPD Feb 29!
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SSSS P IIII SSSS P OOOO P DDD | Easter Ernie May 94! WAY Cool!
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[Please feel free to include this article in any media, so long as it's
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not altered in any way]
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--
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Seth Cohn - Warning - I use CAPS to emphasize, not to yell |If you read
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email preferred - I consider spelling errors and grammar |RUOW, Honk!
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Net Junkie since 89 to be secondary to the meaning itself |Orange Rainbow
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[Space for rent] - I take unpopular positions & get flamed|Spirits R #1!
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X-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-X
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Another file downloaded from: The NIRVANAnet(tm) Seven
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& the Temple of the Screaming Electron Taipan Enigma 510/935-5845
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Burn This Flag Zardoz 408/363-9766
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realitycheck Poindexter Fortran 510/527-1662
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Lies Unlimited Mick Freen 801/278-2699
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The New Dork Sublime Biffnix 415/864-DORK
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The Shrine Rif Raf 206/794-6674
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Planet Mirth Simon Jester 510/786-6560
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"Raw Data for Raw Nerves"
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X-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-X
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