Newsgroups: rec.arts.int-fiction
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From: nebel@wam.umd.edu (Chris D. Nebel)
Subject: Re: Interactive Fiction as Literature
Message-ID: <1993Mar28.145751.2778@wam.umd.edu>
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Date: Sun, 28 Mar 1993 14:57:51 GMT
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>In every IF game I've played, the issue of whether or not the quest has
>succeeded is always based upon points. "Where's the last two points I
>need to finished this adventure?" "Did you stick the torch in the trophy
>case?" "Oh yeah. Okay. Now I'm finished." This is fun, sure -- but where's
>the virtue (real or simulated) here?

Having points in an IF game doesn't imply a lack of literariness.  It sounds
like you're referring to pure "treasure hunt" games a la Zork I or the original
Adventure, which, as you say, are fun to play but lack "virtue" -- you get
points for putting stuff in the trophy case: haven't got all the points? There
must be something left to grab!  In the extreme cases, there's no plot at all,
and you're just playing to get the maximum number of points.

In more plot-oriented games, however, the score is more a way of telling (a)
that you're making progress and (b) how much further you've got to go.  In a
fully "literary" game, the "score" would be more a courtesy to the player
than anything else -- something like page numbers in a book.  ("Ah, I've got
half the points left to go!  Must be some more plot twists ahead!")  So, no,
you don't _need_ to have a score, but having one doesn't automatically make
your adventure a soulless piece of drivel.

(BTW, does anyone archive this group?  There was a huge thread on the "score/
no score/alternate scoring" topic that touched on a lot of the same points as
this thread a couple of months back, as I recall.  Could be food for folks'
thoughts.)


Chris Nebel
