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Stayed up way too late reading the first 1/3 of this autobiography by legendary Sierra On-Line founder Ken Williams. Good stuff!
What struck me most though is sadness that the America that allowed a 19 and 20 yr. old husband + wife to create such a company from nothing is gone.
What struck me most though is sadness that the America that allowed a 19 and 20 yr. old husband + wife to create such a company from nothing is gone.
Ken Williams was born in 1954 and Roberta in 1953.
Literally, the greatest time to be born in America.
They were hard workers, absolutely, but they could fart and get lucrative opportunities just handed to them.
Literally, the greatest time to be born in America.
They were hard workers, absolutely, but they could fart and get lucrative opportunities just handed to them.
Ken Williams:
- Dropped out of college
- Got a sweetheart loan to go to a 9-month computer school
- Was able to get a new job like *snaps* that when he got bored at his current one—and get paid more! Every time! He was actively sought out by giant companies.
- Dropped out of college
- Got a sweetheart loan to go to a 9-month computer school
- Was able to get a new job like *snaps* that when he got bored at his current one—and get paid more! Every time! He was actively sought out by giant companies.
He was a hustler and worked multiple jobs, but the point is in the 70s hustling and working multiple jobs didn’t just let you tread water—you could actually get ahead.
Without having to have spent multiple years at a pointless college!
Without having to have spent multiple years at a pointless college!
And without every government and private institution actively hating you and working against you!
That America sounds fabulous. Like a dream. Sure wouldn’t have minded being born in the 40s or 50s.
That America sounds fabulous. Like a dream. Sure wouldn’t have minded being born in the 40s or 50s.
But Ken is also a very practical, business-oriented guy who came from nothing from the backwoods of Kentucky, saw a thing he wanted, and worked towards it.
Lots of his personal/professional advice in this book is golden.
Lots of his personal/professional advice in this book is golden.
The fact that he looked at an Apple ][ and figured out how to make colored graphics in a way the designers hadn’t is pretty rad.
Then he wrote a book about making colored graphics on the Apple ][. I mean, why not?
Then he wrote a book about making colored graphics on the Apple ][. I mean, why not?
And I love how he doesn’t paint Roberta as either a “strong woman doing everything a man can do but better” or a perpetual helpless victim if evil (or both simultaneously the way feminists do today).
But you can tell he absolutely loves her.
But you can tell he absolutely loves her.
And Roberta Williams should write a book sometimes. What an inspiring woman.
She went from “I don’t care about computers” to learning to code to game design all because she had ideas about how to make a game better than “Colossal Cave Adventure” and wouldn’t let them go.
She went from “I don’t care about computers” to learning to code to game design all because she had ideas about how to make a game better than “Colossal Cave Adventure” and wouldn’t let them go.
