I always wondered about how he felt about that role. I feel like Carmack could still run one of the best software shops on earth, even if he had to start from scratch. The man invented the concept of "it will be ready when it's done", and has an incredibly positive attitude towards handling difficult (challenging) problems.

If the stars aligned and Carmack decided to get back into making new software-based gaming experiences (especially around the DTX/ATX area), I would be incredibly tempted to investigate opportunities.