>Bones McCoy (mccoy@mind.net) wrote:
>: Well it said inter-active fiction. I just wondered. But
>: please, respond here at the Newsgroup
>
>'Fraid not. Interactive fiction is a special type of computer adventure
>in which the user is presented with a description of his surroundings and
>uses typed commands to interact with them.
To further clarify Mr. Forman's comment, I suppose you could say that it
*is* role-playing, i.e. you play the role of the adventurer and immerse
yourself in an imaginary realm. In fact, the whole genre was heavily
influenced by D&D.
The difference is (and this is where the "fraid not" applies) there's not
nearly as much use (generally) for randomly controlled combat. No dice, no
hit points, etc. Instead, one relies on his or her curiousity and wits to
explore areas and solve puzzles.
Some people use the term "interactive fiction" to refer to all types of
prose in which the user has a "say-so", including non-linear books,
hypertext, etc. But most of us here use the term to mean these adventure
games.
If you're into role-playing games, you'll certainly love I-F.
- Jeff
jeffjetton@aol.com
jjetton@delphi.com