Newsgroups: rec.arts.int-fiction
Path: nntp.gmd.de!news.ruhr-uni-bochum.de!news.rhrz.uni-bonn.de!RRZ.Uni-Koeln.DE!news.duesseldorf.ecrc.net!news.ecrc.de!02-newsfeed.univie.ac.at!01-newsfeed.univie.ac.at!Austria.EU.net!EU.net!sun4nl!nikhefk!news
From: Daniel Oberski <daob@dds.nl>
Subject: Re: [CD] including hints
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Message-ID: <321B46FA.288A@dds.nl>
Sender: news@paramount.nikhefk.nikhef.nl (Daily News)
Reply-To: daob@dds.nl
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Organization: none
References: <erkyrathDwBHBw.B3H@netcom.com> <4v832m$rkk@daily-planet.execpc.com> <erkyrathDwDCH0.Ky8@netcom.com> <4vad5l$5k2@alcor.usc.edu> <321957D3.E4A@shadetree.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Date: Wed, 21 Aug 1996 17:27:22 GMT
X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.0b6aGold (Macintosh; I; 68K)
Lines: 30

Dan Dalton wrote:
> If you don't want to read the hints then don't, but I think that choosing
> to read the hints or walkthrus should be a moral decision left up to the
> players (it is also a nice feeling to know they are there if you need
> them). The hint are there to aid not to hinder. They don't cry out "READ
> ME FIRST!!!!"

I agree upon this, exept for "hints AND walkthrus". I think there is
a big difference between thle, or even the rest of the game, since you
sometimes read things you don't want to read (because you don't know
what it's about before you read it :e two. A walkthru is a total,
complete definite spoiler for a puzz-) ). A hint is, for me, just what I
need; something pointing me in the right direction. For example, I want
a hint about how to enter the house in Zork 1. I'd appreciate it much
more is someone said: "maybe you should explore the surroundings of the
house more" than someone saying "behind the house is a slightly ajar
window. Open it. enter the house. take the bottle and the sack but don't
eat the lunch or drink the water yet, because you'll be needing them for
the cyclops in the maze later". Writing this, I vaguely recall something
like this in the r.a/g.i-f FAQ...
Anyway, the kind of hints I, as a player, would like to see on such a CD
are somewhere between the "nudges in the right direction" from
Christminster and the last clue from an invisiclues hint in Planetfall.

Daniel Oberski
daob@dds.nl

-----------------------------------------------
	"This space intentionally left blank"
-----------------------------------------------
