The Story Of The Wig

tim-cain stories interplay troika personal behind-the-scenes

Abstract

Problem: Why is there a photo of Tim Cain wearing a blonde wig and holding a miniature Oscar statuette?

Approach: Tim tells the full backstory, introducing the cast of characters and the social traditions that led to the infamous photo.

Findings: The photo was taken at one of Kathy Decker's annual Oscar watch parties, where Tim grabbed a colleague's costume wig and gave a mock acceptance speech for "Best Screenplay for the Fallout movie."

Key insight: Sometimes the best game developer stories have nothing to do with game development — they're about the friendships and ridiculous moments that happened around it.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIjcVmhPzA8

The Cast of Characters

Tim's story revolves around his social circle from the Interplay and Troika days:

  • Thomas R. Decker ("Rook") — Producer on Tim's first two games at Interplay (Bard's Tale Construction Set and Rags to Riches), then designer/producer on Temple of Elemental Evil at Troika, and producer on Vampire: Bloodlines. Tim and Tom were regular lunch buddies who would rank Caesar salads at restaurants across Orange County.
  • Kathy Decker — Tom's sister, who gave all her friends nicknames. She played EverQuest with the group and hosted legendary parties.
  • Kelly ("No No") — Kathy's best friend, nicknamed because she'd deflect every compliment with "no no no no."
  • Sean Craig ("Barbie") — Programmer on Temple of Elemental Evil and later programming director at Carbine Studios. Earned his nickname at a Halloween party at Tim's house where he came dressed as "an elemental from the plane of pornography" — all black clothes covered in taped-on Barbie dolls and packets of KY Jelly, which he hid throughout Tim's house. Tim's housekeeper Sue found them all the following Monday and left them neatly on the dining room table with a note.

Tim's Nickname Journey

Kathy nicknamed everyone within hours of meeting them, but struggled with Tim. She eventually landed on "Tall Tim" because people always expect him to be shorter than his 6'1" frame. That lasted until she noticed Tom was 2–3 inches taller, which ruined the logic. After briefly considering just "Tim" (rejected — "that's not going to work"), she settled on "Martini" because she decided he was "kind of classy."

The Oscar Party

Kathy hosted an annual Oscar watch party every January or February with two main contests:

  • Costume contest — Come dressed as a character from a nominated film. Sean Craig once came as Charlize Theron from Monster, complete with a long blonde wig and unsettling under-eye makeup.
  • Oscar predictions — Guests filled out a sheet guessing winners in every category before the telecast began. Tom Decker won nearly every year, consistently getting three-quarters or more correct.

The Photo

At some point during what Tim describes as the party "devolving" into socializing (with possible libations involved), he grabbed Sean's Charlize Theron wig, picked up Kathy's miniature Oscar statuette, and launched into a mock acceptance speech — accepting the award for Best Screenplay for the Fallout movie (circa 2004).

Someone snapped a photo. Tim thinks the person standing to his left might be Scott Everts, the level designer from Fallout, though he's not entirely sure. He notes it was "the one and only time I ever threw a wig on" — and now it's captured forever.

References