Well I finally got free from the daily grind to allow some time for research on Photopia and a few other programs. I am learning some things about Interactive Fiction: 1) It takes the fun out of it to write down and follow notes; 2) You can get lost in the exact same places you were lost in the last several times if you don’t have your notes; 3) CRY is not a recognized verb.
When you are first exposed to IF, and indeed you are foolhardy enough to think you remember your path and go racing along, you are most likely to get stuck. You are so anxious to get to the place where you left off that you forget to read the text for clues, examine, take, and inventory every now and then. You forget how you got out of the last jam and frustrate yourself by relentlessly typing in the same command over and over because you just KNOW the creator of this program wouldn’t leave you stranded like this. When absolutely nothing you try works, you go back to the beginning, a broken player. Hemingway himself could not have beaten a reader down emotionally more than this.
I believe that my analysis of IF will be based on the ways it affects the reader during and after interplay. Obviously each time I enter Photopia I bring new information with me (except the crucial parts that I forgot!) and am a different person when I read the opening lines. I’m tense, on edge, antsy to get back to where I left off, but can’t just flip open the book. I realize this is fully possible to pick up where one left off with the addition of the WinFrotz (sp) software download, but I’m winging it for now to examine the reader reaction and learn the methods. I also realize that I can’t go on much longer this way, since it would become a frustrating experience rather than one of intrigue and accomplishment. Since author and reader are in this together, there is a competive impulse to outwit the author by the reader. Just thoughts for now, but need to get back to my game research.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology