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From: engst@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu (Adam C. Engst)
Newsgroups: comp.text
Subject: Interactive fiction
Message-ID: <951@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu>
Date: Sun, 10-May-87 23:08:05 EDT
Article-I.D.: batcompu.951
Posted: Sun May 10 23:08:05 1987
Date-Received: Wed, 13-May-87 00:59:51 EDT
Reply-To: engst@tcgould.tn.cornell.edu.UUCP (Adam C. Engst)
Distribution: world
Organization: Cornell Theory Center, Cornell University, Ithaca NY
Lines: 50
Summary: It's new, so take a look

References:



     I am posting this notice to COMP.TEXT because I think that 
there is room for interactive fiction, or at least its 
environment, to fit into text processing on graphic-based 
computers.  The basic principle is that the author puts a fairly 
small amount text in a cell, and then connects it using logical or 
questioning branches to another cell or cells.  The overall 
structure is usually kept track of by a graphic tree, which allows 
the author and the reader to see the overall structure of the 
text.  
     I first posted a notice on interactive fiction to the ST, 
Mac, and Amiga newsgroups because those computers have the 
necessary graphic environment to carry off interactive fiction 
well.  I received quite a number of responses from different 
people expressing an interest in being put on a mailing list or in 
starting a new Usenet discussion group.  I asked around to find 
out the proper method of starting a new group and was told that I 
needed to talk about interactive fiction on an existing newsgroup 
for a while, then get names on a petition, and then apply to the 
net powers that be for a new newsgroup provided that I had shown 
that there was enough interest to warrant the new group.  This 
procedure seems reasonable, so I am writing to these newsgroups to 
inform all those who are interested in interactive fiction and 
those who previously replied that I will be discussing it in 
MISC.MISC.       
     I decided on MISC.MISC because it is for those topics which 
don't really fit into any existing newsgroup.  I don't think that 
interactive fiction does.  It is not a game, yet it is 
entertainment while also being serious literature.  It can also be 
used for computer-aided instruction and has a certain relationship 
to artificial intelligence.  It needs the technology of the 
computer and the creativity of the writer.  What it needs more 
than anything else at the moment is interest.  People must realize 
that it is not a game and it is not trivial, it is real.  This 
discussion will be devoted to any and all of the aspects of 
interactive fiction with the goal of developing it as a new medium 
for reading and writing with the aid of the computer.       
     To start the new discussion off on the right foot (or left 
foot, it's non-discriminatory), I will start posting the messages 
from the CSNEWS@MAINE discussion group that I started at the 
beginning of 1987.  I will also accept any email, but please 
specify if you don't want your ideas posted because I believe in 
free distribution of pertinant information.  In short, please give 
the subject a chance.  I think it is very interesting and has a 
great future.  
                         Thank you,
                             Adam Engst

engst@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu.UUCP
pv9y@cornella.bitnet