Newsgroups: rec.arts.int-fiction
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From: mkinyon@peabody.iusb.indiana.edu (Michael Kinyon)
Subject: Literary techniques in IF (was: General overview)
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Date: Fri, 11 Feb 1994 15:52:06 GMT
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>I've been surprised, actually, that rec.arts.int-fiction rarely
>debates the literary techniques in writing an adventure.

I am surprised that you think so.  Kevin Wilson (whizzard) regularly
submits posts on literary style and technique in I-F which usually
generate quite a bit of discussion.  Graham Nelson once posted
a magnum opus on i-f which is currently an appendix in the Inform
manual (Note to Darwin: maybe that would be worth posting again,
signed Huxley)

>Is it 
>Infocom's ubitiquity (or originally, Colossal's Cave's influence on Infocom) 
>that even new TADS games are written in present tense, second
>person:  "You can see <blah>.  You feel <blah>".  (Not to mention 
>having a status line and using ">" for the prompt :)
>This isn't to say that, for example, Curses, Unnkullian etc aren't
>excellent adventures.  But why is the second person narrative seen 
>as ideal?  (Yes, it's easier.  But not so much so that nothing else could
>be attempted.)

This has also been discussed here and should continue to be.  In my
own view, the second person present tense game is an obvious way
to involve the reader/player in the action of the game itself.  
Remember that the idea behind interactive fiction is that the
player is part of the story.  I do not wish to suggest that other
alternatives are not possible.  But until I see a more viable
proposal, second person present tense is the only game in town
(pun intended).

In the meantime, I would strongly encourage all authors to experiment
with alternatives for the prompt.  Perhaps some funding could be
obtained for research into this.

>-- Grant Heinrich


-- 
Michael Kinyon			 | mkinyon@peabody.iusb.indiana.edu
Dept of Mathematics & Comp. Sci. | "There is no quote in my .sig" -- M. Kinyon
Indiana University South Bend    | Text-Adventure Betatesters Union (TABU)
South Bend, IN 46634 USA         | *** Your score just went down ***
