It is possible to be a newcomer to the genre of
first-person shooters (or
FPS) and believe that
Quake was the beginning of it all. But then some folk of Level Two involvement tell you “Nah, it was
Doom that started it all!” Eventually, persons of involvement amounting to Level Three will tip you off to
Wolfenstein 3D, then The
Catacombs, then
Midi-Maze back on the Atari ST. In the field of spacecraft shooters, such a trail could run
Wing Commander,
X-Wing,
Elite,
Star Raiders.
This is because, ultimately, all things have their origins in a cloud of uncertainty, becoming something else again over and over as one traces its lineage back with involvement level X, as X approaches infinity. More things in life are like this than one would expect.