I spent most of Wednesday in class playing SLOTH-MUD, so I didn't finish the questions from the sheet... I will attempt to do so now...
What is the difference between text adventure and interactive fiction? Althought the two terms are sometimes used as synonyms, they do point to two different things. An interactive fiction is any program where an interactor types natural language words and phrases in, the program deciphers this input, and responds with natural language text. It doesn't have to oriented towards a particular genre of writing, or even have to have a defined goal, other than interacting with the program in a specific computer "world" which is described by the program in response to the interactor's input. A "text adventure" is one genre of interactive fiction in which the "story" takes place in a fantasy world, or similar setting, and the interactor explores the world, encountering creatures and looking for treasure.
Why is the term "interactive fiction" rejected by some people? According to Montfort, the word "interactive" has been overused in commercial advertisements, usually to make promises for great advancements in technology where none actually existed. In this case, the term could be involved in the backlash of a mindset that has been BURNT by too many "interactive" products that didn't live up to their own hype.
How are IF works like riddles? A riddle is a type of word puzzle in which a riddler gives clues to a riddlee who then, using the clues, comes up with an answer. "Why is a raven like a writing desk?" asks the Mad Hatter. In an IF work, the program gives the interactor clues in the form of descriptions of the area the player character is in, information about specific items in the area, and the directions and sometimes information about various exits. From this information, the MEAT of the riddle if you will, the interactor decides how to proceed. Riddles, according to the text, don't even HAVE to be in the form of questions so, an IF work is basically the riddler and the interactor the riddlee.
How interactive did the text in the book feel??? Do you mean the parts that were supposed to be transcriptions of IF sessions? If this is what you mean, then I would have to say that they did feel like real IF sessions. I have played many IF games, although it's been a long time since I IFed on a regular basis, and the transcriptions I read do seem like the types of things that an interactor might type. I wouldn't have thought to try singing in order to make light in that one game, it just wouldn't have occurred to me, but, if you already knew that's what you were supposed to do from a previous game session, or from a hint site or cheat book, then you might have actually plugged that in right away. That's the difficulty with the replay value on these "games" sometimes is, once you figure out the puzzles, it can be pretty easy to just type in the right answer instead of dinking around with other things...
Potential Narratives: The term Montfort used, and I like, is "potential narrative." The difference between a book or a traditional poem and an IF work is that, whether a person picks up a book and reads it or not, the words printed in that book are always there and always stay the same. In an IF work, however, the narrative is completely dependent on the interactor. Until the interactor begins typing into the program, no narrative will be printed on the screen, aside from a possible introductory paragraph or two. The actions of the player character, as controlled by the interactor, create the narrative. Everything in the IF work has already been written by the author of the work, but, until the interactor begins exploring the work, it is not yet manifested. Think of it like a firework: The potential for an interesting light or audio show exists in the package as it sits on the shelf at the firework stand, but, until the buyer actually lights the fuse the show only exists as a potential, waiting to go off...
According to Montfort, who is quoting from Prince (although not the pop star): "A narrative is 'the representation of real or fictive events and situations in a time sequence'" (25) Hmmm... This seems like a rather simplified definition, if it's good enough at all... We talked in class about how the traditional form of a narrative, a beginning, build-up, climax, and end doesn't really work to describe most narratives, but it seems to do a better job of explaining what a narrative is than just events in a sequence... Although, maybe it is enough. Think about an avant-gard story in which a random sequence of events is thrown together and called a story, like "Kew Gardens" by Virginia Woolf. Stuff happens, but no two things are really CONNECTED to one another other than they happen as they pass a certain spot in this community garden. Events in a sequence. Yeah, maybe that does work.
Diegesis, hypodiegesis, and extradiegesis: Diegesis refers to input from the interactor that directly relates to the narrative of the IF world. Things like "look," "go north," and "rest," all basically commands which tell the player character in the IF world what to do are diegetic. Extradiegetic input is anything that doesn't relate to the world of the game but to the program itself. Things like "save" and "quit" are not directly related to the world or narrative of the work, but are still aspects of the program. These are extradiegetic. Hypodiegesis occurs if the IF work has worlds or storylines within the main world or storyline. This was describe in the text when, in one particular story, the player character commands another character that exists within a computer generated simulation within the story. A layer or world or narrative within the normal "story."
