Content area
Full Text
The stereotype of twentysomethings is one of a disaffected generation drifting through life as Douglas Coupland wrote in his glum 1991 novel "Generation X," "jammed with . . . the endless stress of pointless jobs done grudgingly to little applause."
No doubt that describes some of the 40 million Americans born in the 1960s. But many others are rejecting both MBAs and low-end McJobs, and are using their technological savvy to shape forward-looking careers of their own devising, with new definitions of success, and even of work itself.
This series profiles four groups of Twin Cities innovators staking claims to a piece of the online world.
At first glance, the house in Mounds View could pass for a den of slack.
It is inhabited by five guys in their mid-20s who have discovered the secrets of no-fuss household maintenance. It features such classic crash-pad elements as posters for rock bands with apocalyptic names, pyramids of socks, bed sheets sporting Shroud of Turin-style body imprints and a crotch-sniffing dog. Video games of all descriptions lie in a lunatic tangle of wires on the floor, karate trophies fight for space on bookshelves piled with science-fiction paperbacks and there are a lot of exotic guns in the closets for the occasional stress-relieving trip to the shooting range. The lights are on all night, frequently backed by music played at World War III decibel levels and eruptions of laughter and cursing. They have transformed a spacious house in a nice, staid suburb into a two-story rec room.
Welcome to the corporate headquarters of Fenris Wolf Electronic Games, possibly the Next Big Thing in the embryonic world of CD-ROM entertainment.
When these game gurus speak at a designers' conference where their work is being showcased, even if they're shoeless and raccoon-eyed from a programming all-nighter, major players pay attention.
Their first game, "Rebel Moon," will be brought to market this fall by no less a marketing powerhouse than Creative Labs, whose ubiquitous Sound Blaster cards are the de facto PC industry standard. "Rebel Moon" will be bundled in with each new 3-D Blaster sold, beginning this fall. That could mean 600,000 units by the first quarter of '96 in an industry where 100,000 sales is a hit. Microsoft has extended...