John Romero is auctioning the original DOOM 2 on ebay

What kind of whackjob shelled out $3,500 just for some originals from Romero?

@Glaice Probably thought they were of some kind of historical significance.

An ex-journalist mate of mine forwarded me the link with the caption "these belong in a museum!". He, and I imagine many other people, presumed they were somehow "original" in the sense of being "the first ever".

$3 150?!?!?! Sheeesh, and I thought I was a crazy Doom nut...

"there are many disks of this game, but this one is special." (And unlimited online copies)

$3000 for an original copy of a video game from one of the original devs is NOTHING. You forget how much of an impact Doom had on gaming and how revolutionary it was. I know people who spend that much on MTXs for indie games.

Wild guess : path of exile players?

Then again, there are several cases of people who didn't claimed their winning bid on ebay (citation needed). So there's a chance he'll start auctioning again.

I know people who spend hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars on microtransactions on online android & iOS of crap anime-inspired junk designed to do nothing but take advantage through psychological skinner-box conditioning of the addicted, the hopeless, the simple minded, and the callow with access to their parents' plastic.  Well, okay, I personally don't know any of these unfortunate creatures but I've heard of them and seen their tragic stories on forums and stuff.  So I guess paying only $3,500 for a moldy old floppy disk that would probably disintegrate into a puff of mylar dust if you actually inserted into a 3.5 drive isn't that bad in the grand scheme of things.  It's bad, but... not that bad, I guess.

Occurrences like this make me think there just might be something to Bitcoin after all.

20 minutes ago, stru said:

$3000 for an original copy of a video game from one of the original devs is NOTHING.

What does it mean for something to be an "original copy"?

If it was an actual build from development, the price would make a lot more sense. But as best as I can tell, these were later version retail discs without a box. There was definitely a misunderstanding that took place and the buyer may end up with some remorse for lack of recourse. On the plus side, I wonder what other things are in John's stash that will surface periodically as financially necessary.

4 minutes ago, Job said:

the buyer may end up with some remorse for lack of recourse.

Anyone bidding on such a thing already got way too much money to begin with so I can't feel pity if they get ripped off.

And let's not forget that the 'valuable' thing would be that those floppies are signed by John Romero (if the buyer is smart enough to have it done, that is...)

It should be in the DooMuseum!

9 hours ago, VGA said:

Richard Garriot was selling a vial of his blood. Romero just sells some floppies :D

Ya but its Richard Garriot, the guy who has a house modeled after fantasy games, what do you expect?

5 hours ago, Linguica said:

What does it mean for something to be an "original copy"?

My thoughts exactly.

You know, some people have the money, and want to touch a piece of greatness. It's like when you buy a new computer, and you're pricing the processor. The latest and greatest will be around $1,000, and the processor immediately below it: $300. They've been doing it like that as far as I can remember. Some people are not satisfied unless they've paid top dollar.

But, they're floppy copies! It's not like it's a fine piece of art, or even made of wood, or steel. They're goofy pieces of plastic. If I were John, I'd feel a little funny accepting that much money (unless I was broke - heh). I can't get my head around it.

What next? John's original briefs from those long summer crunch coding sessions, finely aged since 1993?

Am sure some creep will pay way more for that than floppies could ever get tbh..

lol whoever bought that got completely ripped off. i got an original copy of doom 2 for 99¢ at goodwill, it's a fairly common game.

Can't wait for some original Doom floppies! (v1.1, the first Doom version)

1 hour ago, Maes said:

What next? John's original briefs from those long summer crunch coding sessions, finely aged since 1993?

At least those briefs are unique.  This is more like John selling some other briefs he bought a couple of years later that just look like the ones he wore in 1993.

 That's nuts. I'm more concerned about why John wanted/needed to auction them off. 

47 minutes ago, Brewtal_Legend said:

 That's nuts. I'm more concerned about why John wanted/needed to auction them off. 

What do you mean? He has sold off many memorabilia, old hardware etc over the years.

ITS OVER $3000 THATS IMPOSSIBLE

I mean sheesh, where do they get that much money from?

5 hours ago, Bauul said:

At least those briefs are unique.  This is more like John selling some other briefs he bought a couple of years later that just look like the ones he wore in 1993.

Ah, come on, man - we'd wear 'em... :)

10 hours ago, Brewtal_Legend said:

 That's nuts. I'm more concerned about why John wanted/needed to auction them off. 

He probably just has a box somewhere and when he needs some walking around money or has to pay a bill, he pulls something out and puts it up on eBay. Can't blame him. I'd probably do the same thing. The stuff in that box probably means more to whoever buys it anyway. Not to say John doesn't care about Doom, it's just that there's a different emotional connection for a fan on the outside looking in.

This is kind of baffling even for me, and I even have a big collection of Doom stuff. It would be a bit more understandable if it was at least a complete set (box+manuals, etc.) but it's just the floppy disks.

I think this comes down to the attention this auction has received from the press, which as Linguica points out has been deeply inaccurate in its reporting here. Probably you could get the same thing by meeting Romero in real life (at a convention for example) and just asking him to sign your disks. Hell, maybe he'll even sign your disks for you via mail if you ask nicely enough; he seems like a nice enough guy.

16 hours ago, roadworx said:

i got an original copy of doom 2 for 99¢ at goodwill, it's a fairly common game.

Signed and owned By John Romaro? oh no? than it's a completely Different scenario as this is a collectors item. But as said above, Media is blowing this up bigger than it should be.

17 hours ago, Maes said:

What next? John's original briefs from those long summer crunch coding sessions, finely aged since 1993?

Screw that, i want the glasses he used when designing Doom. On the off-chance we have the same prescription strength, i could have them signed and walk around saying "i am wearing John Romero's glasses", and have the proof to back it up. Even if it isnt my strength, i could have the glass replaced, and store it in a display. I'd still be wearing his glasses and channel his game-design wisdom. Now that would be a worthy investment.

You know.... if John sold his body to science... One day John Romero's head could be sold at auction. Complete with a pike through it.

1 hour ago, MrGlide said:

Signed and owned By John Romaro? oh no? than it's a completely Different scenario as this is a collectors item. But as said above, Media is blowing this up bigger than it should be.

Actually, if you manage to find pretty much anything signed and owned by John Romaro, it's be a hell of a lot more collectible.