Vladimir Ivanovich Pohilko ( April 7, 1954 , Moscow - September 21, 1998 , Palo Alto ) - Soviet and Russian entrepreneur and psychologist. He specialized in human-computer interaction .
| Vladimir Ivanovich Pohilko | |
|---|---|
| Date of Birth | April 7, 1954 |
| Place of Birth | Moscow , RSFSR , USSR |
| Date of death | September 21, 1998 (44 years old) |
| Place of death | Palo Alto , California , USA |
| Citizenship |  Russia  USA |
| Occupation | entrepreneur , game designer , psychologist |
Content
Biography
Early years
Born April 7, 1954 in Moscow. He was a junior researcher at the Moscow Medical Institute. I. M. Sechenov [1] .
Psychological experiments
Vladimir Pokhilko was a friend of the creator of the Tetris game, Alexei Pazhitnov . He himself became the first clinical psychologist to conduct experiments using this game [2] . Pohilko played an important role in the subsequent development and promotion of Tetris. Pajitnov was a programmer by education, and Pokhilko was a psychologist. Pohilko saw in the game the potential for entertainment, education and psychological testing: thus, their interests were closely intertwined with each other. Pohilko persuaded Pajitnov not to quit the finished game, but to start porting it to different platforms [3] . In one of the articles in Forbes magazine, published in 1999, he is called “co-author of the Tetris video game” [4] .
AnimaTek
In 1989, Pokhilko and Pajitnov founded the company AnimaTek in Moscow and began developing software using 3D technology [5] . Together, they developed several more games: Welltris, Hatris, and Wordtris (Pohilko is even present as a character in Hatris). All these games tried to repeat the successful Tetris formula, but they did not achieve the same success as the original. But one way or another, their games were sold out, and in 1991 the tandem moved to San Francisco . There they open the American branch of AnimaTek studio, the union becomes international. Developing software for INTEC (the founders of which were themselves), they decided to create some kind of entertainment program for the "human souls". So they came up with the idea of a game (or a toy program ) , an aquarium simulator [3] . Critics praised El-Fish for its extremely rich graphics , which were approaching "the state of art", although at the same time they noted its inability to maintain the interest of the player, since after the creation and filling of the aquarium any action practically ceases [6] . Soon Pajitnov and Pohilko also released a first-person shooter Ice & Fire [3] .
Death
In 1998, AnimaTek experienced great financial difficulties: at that time, about a hundred employees worked in it, about seventy of them in Moscow; Pohilko was forced to fire more than half of them. September 21, 1998 Pokhilko killed his wife Elena Fedotova (38 years old) and their son Peter (12 years old), after which he committed suicide [7] . Shortly before his death, Pohilko wrote a note. The police did not initially publish the contents of the note, saying that, in their opinion, it was not dying, and they did not know who was its author [8] . In 1999, it was published. It stated the following [9] :
- I was eaten alive. Vladimir Remember that I exist. Devil.
Original text- I've been eaten alive. Vladimir. Just remember that I am exist. The devil.
Notes
- ↑ Pohilko Vladimir Ivanovich . www.voppsy.ru. Date of treatment August 15, 2018.
- ↑ Mark JP Wolf. Encyclopedia of Video Games: The Culture, Technology, and Art of Gaming . - ABC-CLIO, August 31, 2012 .-- P. 642. - ISBN 978-0-313-37936-9 .
- ↑ 1 2 3 Vladimir Pokhilko: the tragic story of the co-author of Tetris (Russian) , CTRL.info (March 14, 2018). Date of treatment August 15, 2018.
- ↑ When startups become blowups by Jon Swartz. Forbes, June 10, 1999.
- ↑ Game Programming 5.0 Starter Kit / Marc Saltzman. - Pearson Education, 1 May 2002. - P. 431. - ISBN 978-1-57595-555-1 .
- ↑ Goble, Gordon . A Review of El-Fish from Maxis , Computer Gaming World (July 1993), p. 118. Date of access July 12, 2014.
- ↑ Stein, Loren . Police: Detail of Russian entrepreneur's note reveals a tormented man , Palo Alto Weekly (27 January 1999). Date of treatment February 5, 2013.
- ↑ Pushed past the brink by Matt Beer and Jacob. San Francisco Chronicle, 24 September 1998.
- ↑ Report names father as killer PA Police show revealing note . San Jose Mercury News (CA) - January 22, 1999 - 1B Local.
Links
- Vladimir Pokhilko seminar abstract and bio on the Stanford University Human-Computer Interaction website.