...
And if they would have let you look down at your own player model then it would be an ugly mess of 150 polygons of a body.
They did what they could do best at that time. And it was a revolution of gameplay and technology.
... and the result (of gameplay, graphics, sound, ai, ...) was one
of the best it's time.
If you wan't to continue
this gainful path you have to redesign the "old" feeling (for us old school's) with new, fresh parts to attract the potential customers (old school's as well as 'the others'*1 )
*1)