zork

I'm not a big fan of text adventures, mainly because they're somewhat archaic with respect to current technology, but I actually a better time with Zork than I thought I would. Despite the irritation of looping in place several times, I did notice a sense of immersion, much like Janet Murray was speaking of. The game was much more descriptive than the other text adventures I had played so far (every item in the room and object you can interact with is illustrated in fine detail, such as the bag of food being "a brown cloth sack smelling of hot peppers"), and I especially liked the descriptions of the battles and of each individual action that you and your opponent take (e.g. the thief delivers a swift thrust, but you gracefully dodge to one side, etc). The diction used to tell you about each location and event paints (at least in my mind) a vivid picture, and I did seem to get a sense of spatial awareness in each room and during each battle (how can you dodge around if there's no space around you?). Zork is, in my opinion, far superior to Adventure, mainly because the parser is more intelligent and the gameplay is more interesting.  read more »

Many mediums require the reader or viewer to participate in interpreting the medium, but in order to do so, the participant must first learn the rules of the game, much like in Zork. In order to understand the meaning of a piece, the reader or viewer must adjust to the medium or as stated in Immersion, “immersion implies learning to swim” (99). For example, in the film, Life is Beautiful, if the viewer is American, he/she must learn that in order to understand the film, he/she must read the subtitles. As with learning how to swim or ride a bike, this takes a few minutes before it becomes natural to the reader or viewer and they are able to participate with ease.  read more »

"It is forbidden to commit seppuku," the computer responds. Kill self is an invalid command.

Zork is horrible. It's literally as fun as navigating an automated phone system. The lack of physical space actually makes it feel claustrophobic, if that makes sense. You're free floating, and directions like north, south, east and west have little meaning. I can go east, and then go south, and end up right where I started. Or I can go east from the white house, and finding myself in a forest I go west to return to the house, but I'm still in a forest. The house is gone, and if I ever want to get back it just means crossing my fingers and hoping I eventually get back. Every once in awhile I find myself back at the canyon, which seems very exciting because "it is possible to climb down into the canyon from here." But only, not by typing "climb down" or "climb down into canyon" or "enter canyon" or any other command I can think of.  read more »

Since discovering how much I enjoy adventure games, I have tried on several occasions to play text-based adventures. I am inherently curious about classic geek culture, so it was only natural for me to be interested in Adventure and Zork, and my abiding love for all things Douglas Adams led me to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy text game and the even more obscure Bureaucracy. But to say that I have any experience with these games would be a lie. I have plenty of experience in trying to play them, getting frustrated, and giving up, but not in playing.

I wanted so much to play these games – I like to be in on geeky in-jokes, and I am an incurable completist when it comes to my favorite authors. But somehow, even with walkthroughs, I just cannot figure out these games. I got the cursed ring off of Elaine Marley's finger with minimal assistance, but I got Arthur Dent run over by the bulldozer countless times, despite the fact that I know full well how he survives in every other version of the story.  read more »

I want to clarify a few things about your reading and gaming assignment for Monday. First, you need to get a version of Zork that you can play on your computer. I gave you a link to a web version, but you should only use that as a last resort. If you're a Mac user, follow the directions here. If you're on Windows, I found that the version here works pretty well, at least on XP.

Your goal with Zork is to get passed the moment Murray discusses in the chapter. As you can infer from her quotation of it, you need to find some way to go down a trap door. This is very early in the game, so it shouldn't take you long to find it.  read more »