DW Hartman
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dwhartman.bsky.social
DW Hartman
@dwhartman.bsky.social
420 followers 160 following 2.4K posts
Political junkie, PC gaming enthusiast, science fiction nerd.
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dwhartman.bsky.social
Treated myself to some Christmas gifts and now have a small collection of "classic gaming" refrigerator magnets.
A gold refrigerator magnet with the Sierra On-Line logo - a mountain with some stripes through it. A refrigerator magnet that looks like the space monster from SimCity 2000. It is a giant mechanical spider that is attacking the U.S. Capitol Building. Fire is coming out of the Capitol Building. A refrigerator magnet that says "MS DOS" in letters of different colors. A refrigerator magnet that looks like the menu from a VGA era Sierra adventure game. There are slide bars for Detail, Volume, and Speed. There are also buttons on the left for various game options, like Save, Restore, and Restart.
December 19, 2025 at 10:40 PM
dwhartman.bsky.social
In the original Doom, "Doomguy" was transferred to Mars because he refused to fire on civilians. Just a fun fact I thought I'd drop for no reason whatsoever.
A picture of a section of the manual from the original, 1990s era Doom. It shows a "space marine" who is wearing green armor, a yellow helmet, and carrying a rifle. There is text next to the picture that reads, "THE STORY SO FAR. You're a marine, one of Earth's toughest, hardened in combat and trained for action. Three years ago you assaulted a superior officer for ordering his soldiers to fire upon civilians. He and his body cast were shipped to Pearl Harbor, while you were transferred to Mars, home of the Union Aerospace Corporation."
December 4, 2025 at 3:43 AM
dwhartman.bsky.social
Space Quest 3. It was the first adventure game I played, and really what sucked me into PC gaming.
A screenshot of Space Quest 3. A grey spaceship is half buried in waste, and a man in a jumpsuit is walking on top of it. A ladder leans against the ship.
December 1, 2025 at 9:29 PM
dwhartman.bsky.social
The future isn't as clunky as we were promised.
A picture of one of the clunky shipboard control panels from Alien, complete with buttons and toggle switches. There is an old style monitor in the center of the screen that reads, "Nostromo 180924609."
November 29, 2025 at 10:02 PM
dwhartman.bsky.social
I have a new addition to my collection of refrigerator magnets.
A gold refrigerator magnet with an image of a mountain on it, on a black refrigerator. The mountain image is the logo of Sierra On-Line, a computer game company from the 1980s and 1990s.
November 14, 2025 at 11:11 PM
dwhartman.bsky.social
Some of the ships of Master of Orion 2! In MOO, players pick a color to represent their empire, and unlike MOO 1, MOO 2 uses different ship designs for different colors.

I usually picked blue - my favorite color. I really like the sphere-shaped components of some of the red ships, though.
A series of blue colored space ships. A series of red colored space ships. A series of yellow colored space ships.
October 24, 2025 at 11:48 PM
dwhartman.bsky.social
I've been buying lunch at Cava almost every Saturday for years now. When am I going to get a bag with $50,000?
A yellow paper bag with the word "Cava" in black letters.
October 18, 2025 at 4:23 PM
dwhartman.bsky.social
A hod dog car from a Richard Scarry book, being driven by a friendly little piggy.
October 11, 2025 at 1:24 AM
dwhartman.bsky.social
"Why won't you download any of the files we send you?"
A screenshot of a Bulrathi, a bear like alien, from Master of Orion 1.
October 10, 2025 at 7:41 PM
dwhartman.bsky.social
You mean you were in the same room as BJ Blazkowicz and you didn't ask for his autograph?
A screenshot from Wolfenstein 3D, a first-person shooter from the early 1990s. The screenshot shows the protagonist, BJ Blazkowicz, in a shootout with Hitler, from BJ's point of view.
October 5, 2025 at 5:16 AM
dwhartman.bsky.social
The ships of Master of Orion 1!

I always liked the ship styles in MOO 1 and 2. Would have been nice to see them in a different type of game with a MOO setting, like an adventure game or an RPG. With the MOO 1 ships, I'm particularly fond of the Shark, Panther, Sunfire, and Pirahna.
A list of sci-fi spaceships, with an image of each ship next to each name.
October 4, 2025 at 12:28 AM
dwhartman.bsky.social
Me either, and I have opinions on the topic:
Screenshot of Flint, a blond white woman, from Wing Commander 3.
September 30, 2025 at 2:41 PM
dwhartman.bsky.social
No Star Wars. No Star Trek. Name a favorite sci-fi franchise.

Since Wing Commander has been mentioned, I'll go with Mass Effect. I discovered Mass Effect during grad school, when I badly needed a distraction. ME quickly pulled me in with its well written characters and excellent world building!
A screenshot from Mass Effect. A character in sci-fi armor aims a gun at the horizon. In the distance we see a brilliant sun and a starfish like spaceship taking off.
September 16, 2025 at 11:04 PM
dwhartman.bsky.social
A picture of the face of "Doomguy" from Doom 1 and 2. Doomguy is white with brown hair. The background behind the picture is a checkered gray and white.
September 13, 2025 at 11:18 PM
dwhartman.bsky.social
Mine's bigger.
A screenshot from the VGA remake of Space Quest 1. The screen shot shows a desert with orange tinted sand. There is a large skull from a dinosaur-like creature to the right of the screen. The creature's spinal bone is to the left of the screen. Roger Wilco, the main character of the game, is walking on the spinal bone. He is wearing a blue spacesuit with a clear, round helmet.
September 9, 2025 at 11:41 PM
dwhartman.bsky.social
Can you help me get across the road? I can handle it when I get to the river and logs.
A screenshot of the video game Fogger. The image shows a green frog crossing a busy street. On the other side of the street is a river with floating logs and turtles.
September 8, 2025 at 10:35 PM
dwhartman.bsky.social
As a Space Quest player at a young age, I heard of Arrakis long before I heard of Dune.

Screenshot from Space Quest 3 (1989).
A screenshot of an in-game post card from Space Quest 3. The post card shows a picture if a desert planet with a blue sky. A giant, grey sandworm with a large mouth is poking out of the sand. The word "Arrakis" appears at the top of the postcard.
September 4, 2025 at 7:23 PM
dwhartman.bsky.social
Apparently we're taking the Gemini Sector militia approach to smuggling now.
A screenshot from Wing Commander: Privateer. The screenshot shows the inside of a ship cockpit. A helmeted man - a member of the Gemini militia - is on the ship's communications screen.
September 2, 2025 at 8:11 PM
dwhartman.bsky.social
Let the long weekend begin!
A screenshot from Jones in the Fast Lane, a computer game from the 1990s. The picture shows a board game like set up centered around a small town, with apartments and retail stores. There is a message in the center of the screen. It reads "Oh what a weekend! Player 2. This weekend, you closed your curtains, locked your doors, turned off the lights, and ate presweetened morning breakfast cereal, with little marshmallows! You spent $7."
August 29, 2025 at 9:26 PM
dwhartman.bsky.social
Tom Clancy's Curious George.
A photo of the cover of Curious George, by H.A. Rey. The cover shows two firemen in blue, old style fire fighter uniforms. One is carrying an old style landline telephone in his right hand. The firemen are each holding an arm of a small, brown monkey, and seem to be leading him forward.
August 28, 2025 at 3:00 AM
dwhartman.bsky.social
I nominate the Lexington from EGA Trek:
Blueprints of the U.S.S. Lexington from EGA Trek. It is like Star Trek's Enterprise, with two nacells sticking ot from the bottom section of the ship. However, the Lexington has a triangular shaped top section instead of a saucer section.
August 26, 2025 at 3:46 PM
dwhartman.bsky.social
When does Earl show up?
A picture of Earl Sinclair from the 1990s TV show Dinosaurs. Earl is a large, green, "humanized" dinosaur wearing a red and black flannel shirt.
August 26, 2025 at 2:22 PM
dwhartman.bsky.social
Master of Orion fans know how this will end.
A screenshot of Master of Orion 1. The screenshot shows a Bulrathi, a bear-like sentient alien. The Bulrathi has brown fur and is wearing a blue uniform. The uniform has a red emblem with a gold border on the right side. The Bulrathi is talking to a humanoid figure in a brown robe who is facing toward the Bulrathi and away from us. The text at the bottom of the screen reads, "The Bulrathi and Human empires will do fine so long as you acknowledge our superiority."
August 26, 2025 at 12:46 AM
dwhartman.bsky.social
The Space Quest games were the first "non-kiddy" computer games I ever played. I have fond memories of them in part because they got me into both gaming and science fiction. But also in part because I played most of them with my Dad.
A photo of the box art from Space Quest 3. The art shows the main character, Roger Wilco, flying a grey spaceship that is being chased by numerous white skull shaped spaceships. Roger is visible through the cockpit glass of his spaceship. He is a blond man and is eating a hamburger. He has a fast food soda in his left hand. Behind all of the ships is a round, red space station. The space station has a sign sticking out of its top with a giant "M" on it. Another sign on the station reads "Monolith Burgers."
August 20, 2025 at 7:22 PM
dwhartman.bsky.social
The radiation has to be healthy for you. The Fallout ghouls live forever!
A ghouls from one of the Fallout games. It's basically a leathery human with no hair or nose and wearing ragged clothes.
August 19, 2025 at 11:27 PM