In 2004, the 4th annual Nolan award selected a collection of videos of Quake speedruns — levels played at maximum speed, by gamers who'd memorized the fastest and most expedient route through each maze — and posted them in video form to the Internet Archive. I spent endless hours playing Quake I, sometimes in cheat modes that let me fly over the levels, passing through walls and so forth, just exploring the amazing spaces that the game's desingers had laid out.
Watching these videos made my pulse quicken and my body jerk from side to side as the players executed virtuoso rocket-jumps and precision target-shooting of monsters as they lurched around corners.
(Thanks, Drew!)
