Newsgroups: rec.arts.int-fiction
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From: lyn6@ellis.uchicago.edu (caitrin  lynch)
Subject: IF Popularity
Message-ID: <1994Jan21.212943.10818@midway.uchicago.edu>
Sender: news@uchinews.uchicago.edu (News System)
Reply-To: lyn6@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago -- Academic Information Technologies
Date: Fri, 21 Jan 1994 21:29:43 GMT
Lines: 19

There have been some recent posts on the decline of IF, and the accompanying
rise of graphic adventures, particularly in the context of whether IF is
or can be a money-making venture; and I'd thought I'd through in my two cents.

The first thought that springs to mind is that to the extent that playing
an IF adventure requires serious and attentive reading, the potential audience
will always be small. This is not, I think, a result of some kind of recent 
decline in the intellectual level of people, but rather a reflection that 
reading, literacy in general, has always been an elitist activity, although
less now, and hopefully even less so in the future.

With this in mind, I'm curious what kind of sales figures infocom posted in its
golden age. Do they match those of the best-selling graphics games now, or did 
they mirror the numbers of serious readers.

Just some thoughts feel free to disagree :>.

Nick

