Austin Virtual Gaming

Austin Virtual Gaming was an early gaming café located in the upper floor of the former building at 2118 Guadalupe St., Austin, Texas, above a coffee shop. It was founded by five "Doom junkies" who were University of Texas alums and figures in the Austin-local tech industry in the wake of the massive enthusiasm about Doom. As such the location was uniquely dedicated to Doom deathmatch, possessing a local network of computers in 600 square feet of space on which players could play indefinitely at a rate of $8 per hour. The corporation was founded on February 16, 1994, and was dissolved two years later on February 13, 1996. The building which once held the business was demolished in 2024.

Summer 1994 tournament

On June 18, 1994, the store held its first official Doom deathmatch tournament, headlined by id Software employees John Romero and Shawn Green who were in attendance and participated directly in the competition. The competition featured two-on-two team deathmatch play. An early version of Doom II was also demonstrated there by Romero, who later published a series of screenshots taken during the event.

Quotes

• (Upon being asked by a reporter why they had come) "So we can beat everybody!" -John Romero
• "Eat that, fucker!" -John Romero
• "Suck it down, monkey fuck!" -Shawn Green

Technical

The -avg command-line parameter, which is a shortcut for -timer 20 and causes games to end after 20 minutes, was added by id programmers on behalf of Austin Virtual Gaming. The -statcopy parameter was added in the same version and is thought to possibly be related.

External links

• DOOMII demo screenshots at Doomworld/idgames, a series of beta Doom II screenshots by John Romero taken at the event.