Eric Harris' Letter to ID Software

I was wondering if anyone knows if ID software had ever responded to Eric's Letter to them about Doom? (Emailing him back) Before the shooting took place, obviously. and if so, would the response have been released to the public?  I know that if you enquire or send a letter to a company they obviously do get back to you.  I was thinking about it and became curious and couldn't seem to find anything on the web about it, other than his initial letter he had written.. It usually takes 24-48 hours for a company to get back to you via email nowadays, probably the same time back then? Maybe longer i'm not sure. I've attached the letter link he had written for reference.


What are your thoughts?

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

I'm new to this forum and not sure how to upload the photo so it can be seen, but the image link works.

I don't think ID responded back, or if they did it was never released. Someone please correct me if I am wrong!

To me this letter screams "PLEASE RECOGNISE ME!" Eric is practically begging them to give him some sort of props or acknowledgement.

"P.S. Would you like some screen shots of my latest doom levels, "Tier?" Maybe ID could use some of these levels..."

Eric would even put his email address all over the walls of the levels he created in hopes of getting some kind of credit for his efforts. He wanted so desperately to be known for something. Unfortunately he settled for NBK.

I do agree with you there! And it is very heartbreaking that he did settle for NBK. If only they hadn’t gone through with it. It’s truly tragic, especially reading more about Eric, his school papers, poem, and such. Really gives everyone a sort of sight to how he was. (Lonely, Wanted to be accepted by people) As we all do, because we are all human and have emotions and want to be loved. If only it never happened. Sigh.

ShadowedGoddess wrote:

I don't think ID responded back, or if they did it was never released. Someone please correct me if I am wrong!

To me this letter screams "PLEASE RECOGNISE ME!" Eric is practically begging them to give him some sort of props or acknowledgement.

"P.S. Would you like some screen shots of my latest doom levels, "Tier?" Maybe ID could use some of these levels..."

Eric would even put his email address all over the walls of the levels he created in hopes of getting some kind of credit for his efforts. He wanted so desperately to be known for something. Unfortunately he settled for NBK.

I agree, Eric was so proud of all the work he put into his Doom levels. I watched the CVA video where he reads all the notes left by Eric regarding the levels he created. Didn't he say Tier was his greatest accomplishment or something to that effect?

I never heard of ID responding to him, but I could be wrong.

Literally everything he asked for has been done after he died. Doom had the ability to look up and down and go under water in ZDoom source port in 2003, there was a Doom movie in 2004, there is mods for Quake 2 with Doom assets, there is a Doom 3 (and 4) that take the old stuff and put them on modern engine, there is GZDoom which allows you to make true room-over-room environments to be able to climb up ontop of that E1M8 star and there is Quake Tournament & Champions which is a shared universe between Doom and Quake.

Shame he didn't live to see all this stuff, Doom modding and games in general hadn't quite gotten as complex as they are now, he would have dug it. I relate to him a lot when he talks about always going back to Doom, it is 2017 and it is the only game I play. I want to see TIER now more than ever, as he goes on and on about how it is his life's work.

spidEr wrote:

Literally everything he asked for has been done after he died. Doom had the ability to look up and down and go under water in ZDoom source port in 2003, there was a Doom movie in 2004, there is mods for Quake 2 with Doom assets, there is a Doom 3 (and 4) that take the old stuff and put them on modern engine, there is GZDoom which allows you to make true room-over-room environments to be able to climb up ontop of that E1M8 star and there is Quake Tournament & Champions which is a shared universe between Doom and Quake.

Shame he didn't live to see all this stuff, Doom modding and games in general hadn't quite gotten as complex as they are now, he would have dug it. I relate to him a lot when he talks about always going back to Doom, it is 2017 and it is the only game I play. I want to see TIER now more than ever, as he goes on and on about how it is his life's work.

It is very sad to sit and think about what all the victims from Columbine have missed out on.  


I agree that Eric would likely have been the older guy playing Doom and others like it, while screaming and ranting online with a bunch of teenagers.

Does anyone know when this would've been sent?

Well, Doom came out in Dec 1993 and he references playing it for four and a half years, so it has to be at least mid 1997, right?

spidEr wrote:

Literally everything he asked for has been done after he died. Doom had the ability to look up and down and go under water in ZDoom source port in 2003, there was a Doom movie in 2004, there is mods for Quake 2 with Doom assets, there is a Doom 3 (and 4) that take the old stuff and put them on modern engine, there is GZDoom which allows you to make true room-over-room environments to be able to climb up ontop of that E1M8 star and there is Quake Tournament & Champions which is a shared universe between Doom and Quake.

I get the impression that he would've hated the Doom movie and maybe Doom 3 as well. The movie was panned by critics and fans alike, and 3 was divisive in its reception (no duck tape on Mars and all that). He would've loved Doom 4 though.

Littlelo wrote:

Well, Doom came out in Dec 1993 and he references playing it for four and a half years, so it has to be at least mid 1997, right?

Eric said "I have been playing doom since November of 1994"

QuestionMark wrote:

I get the impression that he would've hated the Doom movie and maybe Doom 3 as well. The movie was panned by critics and fans alike, and 3 was divisive in its reception (no duck tape on Mars and all that). He would've loved Doom 4 though.

I too disliked all of those (even Doom 4!) but I don't know about Eric, I think maybe he would have liked them, he did like a lot of b-movies that involved a lot of guns. Doom 4 he would have loved I agree as it is exactly what he is asking for, but I think he would have liked Doom 3 too, just because it is still the space marine story line blowing things away with shot guns, and the graphics would have impressed him as when it came out it was one of the most realistic looking games.

QuestionMark wrote:

spidEr wrote:

Literally everything he asked for has been done after he died. Doom had the ability to look up and down and go under water in ZDoom source port in 2003, there was a Doom movie in 2004, there is mods for Quake 2 with Doom assets, there is a Doom 3 (and 4) that take the old stuff and put them on modern engine, there is GZDoom which allows you to make true room-over-room environments to be able to climb up ontop of that E1M8 star and there is Quake Tournament & Champions which is a shared universe between Doom and Quake.

I get the impression that he would've hated the Doom movie and maybe Doom 3 as well. The movie was panned by critics and fans alike, and 3 was divisive in its reception (no duck tape on Mars and all that). He would've loved Doom 4 though.

He might of liked Doom 3, but I am defiantly not sure about the movie. A lot of fans (including myself) thought it was ass.

spidEr wrote:

I too disliked all of those (even Doom 4!) but I don't know about Eric, I think maybe he would have liked them, he did like a lot of b-movies that involved a lot of guns. Doom 4 he would have loved I agree as it is exactly what he is asking for, but I think he would have liked Doom 3 too, just because it is still the space marine story line blowing things away with shot guns, and the graphics would have impressed him as when it came out it was one of the most realistic looking games.

There were better looking games out there around that time though. Just a few moths after Doom 3's release was Half-Life 2. Maybe he would still be impressed by the graphics though. I'm not sure how much Eric was willing to branch out in terms of video games.

spidEr wrote:

Literally everything he asked for has been done after he died. Doom had the ability to look up and down and go under water in ZDoom source port in 2003, there was a Doom movie in 2005, there is mods for Quake 2 with Doom assets, there is a Doom 3 (and 4) that take the old stuff and put them on modern engine, there is GZDoom which allows you to make true room-over-room environments to be able to climb up ontop of that E1M8 star and there is Quake Tournament & Champions which is a shared universe between Doom and Quake.

Shame he didn't live to see all this stuff, Doom modding and games in general hadn't quite gotten as complex as they are now, he would have dug it. I relate to him a lot when he talks about always going back to Doom, it is 2017 and it is the only game I play. I want to see TIER now more than ever, as he goes on and on about how it is his life's work.

Minor correction, otherwise good post.

spidEr wrote:

Littlelo wrote:

Well, Doom came out in Dec 1993 and he references playing it for four and a half years, so it has to be at least mid 1997, right?

Eric said "I have been playing doom since November of 1994"

If I may ask, where did you find this? I can't find it anywhere in the letter, so unless I've been stupid and passed over it five times (which is entirely possible), is there a different place you read this, and if so, what is it? If you or anyone else could answer tis I'd greatly appreciate it.

QuestionMark wrote:

spidEr wrote:

Littlelo wrote:

Well, Doom came out in Dec 1993 and he references playing it for four and a half years, so it has to be at least mid 1997, right?

Eric said "I have been playing doom since November of 1994"

If I may ask, where did you find this? I can't find it anywhere in the letter, so unless I've been stupid and passed over it five times (which is entirely possible), is there a different place you read this, and if so, what is it? If you or anyone else could answer tis I'd greatly appreciate it.

First sentence of his letter. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Double post but since Doom was released in 1993 this would put this indeed at 1997 if he had started playing it right when it came out

He was designing his levels in 97 and 98

Lizpuff wrote:

QuestionMark wrote:

spidEr wrote:

Littlelo wrote:

Well, Doom came out in Dec 1993 and he references playing it for four and a half years, so it has to be at least mid 1997, right?

Eric said "I have been playing doom since November of 1994"

If I may ask, where did you find this? I can't find it anywhere in the letter, so unless I've been stupid and passed over it five times (which is entirely possible), is there a different place you read this, and if so, what is it? If you or anyone else could answer tis I'd greatly appreciate it.

First sentence of his letter.  [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Yes, that I know, I'm just trying to see if the date of "November 1994" can be pinpointed.

QuestionMark wrote:

Lizpuff wrote:

QuestionMark wrote:

spidEr wrote:

Littlelo wrote:

Well, Doom came out in Dec 1993 and he references playing it for four and a half years, so it has to be at least mid 1997, right?

Eric said "I have been playing doom since November of 1994"

If I may ask, where did you find this? I can't find it anywhere in the letter, so unless I've been stupid and passed over it five times (which is entirely possible), is there a different place you read this, and if so, what is it? If you or anyone else could answer tis I'd greatly appreciate it.

First sentence of his letter.  [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Yes, that I know, I'm just trying to see if the date of "November 1994" can be pinpointed.

Ah I misunderstood your question. I cannot find anything about it nor do I recall ever knowing when he started Doom. Since it came out in Dec 93 and was basically unknown at the time I think 1994 is a good estimate for the year. However the month is not clear.