Oh for sure. Of the OG id guys, John Carmack seems to usually be a bit more on the humble side about it, but they definitely know how influential their stuff has been.
If I remember correctly, making Quake 3 multiplayer _only_ (not counting the bot matches, which was a cool thing to have built in) was a push from John Carmack. Which I think also really accelerated e-sports as a thing.
Quake 3 being exclusively multiplayer could also be down to id software loosing their best creative designers, as Quake 2's story was also considered sub-medicore, so they most likely just said "fuck it, we're going without a single player story this time".
If I remember correctly, making Quake 3 multiplayer _only_ (not counting the bot matches, which was a cool thing to have built in) was a push from John Carmack. Which I think also really accelerated e-sports as a thing.