Levy_S-Hackers-Heroes-Computer-Revolution

SOAP OPERA STAR: How does it feel to have such a commanding lead goinginto the semi-finals?THOMPSON (shrugs): Great, I guess.Cut! Can we do this one again? The second time, Dan did not shrug. Once more,please? By now, Dan Thompson's digital logic and problem-solving technique hadbeen applied to the puzzle. As soon as the question left the soap opera star'smouth, he leaned to the mike, eyes to the camera."Well, it feels wonderful. I just hope I can continue this..." He had synthesized thesuperficialities ofjockspeak.Thompson, beneficiary of hours of joysticking at a Chuck E. Cheese Pizza TimeTheatre in Sacramento, won the contest. Ken Williams had performed admirably,considering he barely had a chance to look at some of the games before he playedthem; the fact that he placed sixth overall was testament to his ability to instantlyget to the heart of a computer game, and the fact that at twenty-eight he still hadsome reflexes left.In Tatum's suite that night, the video impresario was beside himself. "I think we'veseen the most revolutionary television event in years," he said. He predicted thatthese hackers would capture the imagination of America athletes who don't take aphysical beating, but emanate a transfixing intensity. He raised his liquor glass tothe future of the hacker as the new American hero.One On-Line programmer who had shown signs of becoming a media hero wasBob Davis, the former alcoholic whom Ken Williams had elevated to the status ofgame author and considered a best friend. Williams had co-written with Davis theadventure game Ulysses and the Golden Fleece, and the closing lines of MargotTommervik's Softalk review read like a triumphal justification of Ken Williams'decision to go into partnership with the computer to change the world:On-Line Systems has two new winners in "Ulysses": The adventure, which is thebest from On-Line since "Wizard and the Princess"; and Bob Davis, a new authorfrom whom we hope we'll be seeing many new adventures.The package Sierra On-Line sent to entice prospective authors included an openletter from Bob Davis, who told of his experience of being "bitten by the computerbug," seeing his game go through a painless production process, and receivingroyalties, "more than ample and always on time." Davis concluded by writing: "So