Even people who care for FPSs may not know. My brother-in-law plays FPSs all the time and is enamored with the genre, but hasn't a clue who Carmack, Bleszinski or anyone else is., and he's pretty "hardcore" when it comes to FPSs...

Not everyone wants or needs to know who made what. Personally, I like to know because you normally can determine if games or movies made by certain designers, producers or directors are good or not - like Uwe Boll. If you have ever watched a movie of his, chances are you would rather gouge your eyes out rather than suffer such ignominy again, but the only way to know that you are potentially walking into another Uwe Boll stinker is to know that Uwe Boll made such movies in the first place. This happens with games as well.

Bodhesatva said: "He created Doom. Basically one of two or three people most responsible for the birth of the First Person Shooter genre in the 90s.

Nowadays, he's known for his in depth knowledge of cutting edge graphics, and is most noted because he comes at those graphics from a developer perspective. Instead of a Microsoft/Sony person telling us why they're hardware is so awesome, he explains how it feels to actually be writing for different platforms.

His base of operations is still the PC, as far as I know, and the Mac/360/PS3 development branches off from there. Doom 3 was their last project."

Then I said: Not just doom, but that's a good start. Here's some info from Wikipedia:

"John D. Carmack II (born August 20, 1970) is a widely recognized figure in the video game industry. A prolific American programmer, Carmack co-founded id Software, a computer game development company, in 1991. Carmack was the lead programmer of the highly successful id computer games Commander Keen, Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Quake, and subsequent sequels to Doom and Quake. His revolutionary programming techniques, combined with the unique game designs of John Romero, led to a mass-popularization of the first-person shooter genre (FPS) in the 1990s."

Ok, most people that post in videogame forums.  You could try google or wikipedia to read up on people, though.

So tell me Windbane, does this Wikipedia article prove most gamers know who Carmack is, or does it prove he's well known within his respective field? And is Wikipedia a credible source or is it a collection of fan made entries in a massive online user created Encyclopedia often ridiculed for its inconsistant and unreliable content? Again, I'm still waiting for proof that most gamers know who he is as you claim. If you weren't so busy making up facts such as how well known an individual is you wouldn't be getting into situations like this. Funny how this entire argument is just you trying to defend one insultive unecessary jab you made when I simply asked who he was. 

And are you telling me I'm at fault here for asking an honest question? All I did was ask who he was and you attacked me, now you're trying to say this was all my fault because I could have looked it up instead or relying on people who you claim already know who he is. Curious logic you possess.

"And isn't comparing this guy to Miyamoto just a tad much?"

Hell no.

"Miyamoto is considered by many to be the father of modern video gaming. This guy, at best, can be called the father of the MODERN FPS."

You see what I did. Carmack is an amazing developer. Shiggy is an amazing designer. Is there anything wrong with the two being compared? Absolutely not. Especially since they will both be inducted into the Hall of Game (if they both have not been already. I know Shiggy has been.).

You like Bungies work more. That is fair. But it is like saying someone likes Okami more than Zelda. It should not take away thee impact of Zelda, or in my simile, DOOM had on the gaming industry. Anyone can say that another developer does it better ten, or fifteen years later. But who "fathered" it is a rather big accomplishment.

I have known John Carmack since 1993 when I first played Doom :) Interestingly, I played Wolfenstein after Doom, waiting for Doom II. I am an FPS fan since then. I also knew John Romero as much too. I had a 3 year architecture education though never graduated, and we used to study his 3D Designs in Doom and Quake while Computer Major friends were trying to reverse engineer the codes John Carmack had written! Both guys were legends back on college days, as two of the most influensive figures of PC gaming.

Its a pity that John Romore had to leave ID Software after Quake, stating "He (Carmack) wants to make a state of the art engine while I want to make games". He was sorta right I reckon, why? Because Quake was a peace of art and a great game with Romero as the lead designer, but Quake 2 and especially Quake 3 were great technology demos and game engines but no good games.