Editing Tim Sweeney (section)

==Early life==
Sweeney was raised in [[Potomac, Maryland]], the youngest of three brothers. At a young age, he became interested in tinkering with mechanical and electrical devices, and stated he had taken apart a lawnmower as early as five or six, and later built his own go-kart.<ref name="kotaku">{{cite web|url=https://kotaku.com/5865951/the-quiet-tinkerer-who-makes-games-beautiful-finally-gets-his-due|title=The Quiet Tinkerer Who Makes Games Beautiful Finally Gets His Due|publisher=[[Kotaku]]|date=July 12, 2011|access-date=September 6, 2014|first=Stephen|last=Totilo|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140906160202/http://kotaku.com/5865951/the-quiet-tinkerer-who-makes-games-beautiful-finally-gets-his-due|archive-date=September 6, 2014}}</ref> He became interested in [[arcade game]]s when they began to become popular in the late 1970s, knowing that like the mechanics devices he took apart and repaired, there were those that had programmed the games in the machines. Though the family got an [[Atari 2600]], Sweeney was not as interested in the games for that, outside of ''[[Adventure (1980 video game)|Adventure]]'', and later said he had not played many video games in his life and very few to completion.<ref name="kotaku"/>

At the age of 11, Sweeney visited his older brother's new startup in [[California]], where he had access to early [[IBM Personal Computer]]s. Sweeney spent the week there, learning [[BASIC]] and establishing his interest in programming; while he had had a [[Commodore 64]] before, Sweeney was much more taken by how easy the IBM PC was to use.<ref name="kotaku"/> When his family got an [[Apple II]], Sweeney began in earnest learning how to program on that, trying to make ''Adventure 2'' in the spirit of the Atari 2600 game. Sweeney estimated that between the ages of 11 and 15, he spent over 10,000 hours teaching himself how to program using information on online bulletin boards, and completed several games, though never shared these with others. He also learned from his brothers concepts of entrepreneurship. As a teenager, he made a good deal of money by offering to mow lawns of wealthy residents in the area for half the price of professional services.<ref name="kotaku"/>