While reading/listening to Nick Monfort, I couldn’t help but think of the automated options one must sometimes navigate while on the phone.  “Press 1 for ___, press 2 for ___, etc.”  Although interactive fiction seems more evolved because the player physically types in a response, the computer’s action is no different–it reads the command and completes it.  If it does not understand a command, it will ask for a different command/code.  I find the value in these type of games, not in the actual game-play itself, but how the mind may perceive it.

If we ignore the fact that the game was programmed, and think of it as an audio book or another person telling a story, there is some value  within this kind of gameplay.  No longer is the player just trying to illicit some kind of reaction through the program via coding/commands, but is actually interacting and experiencing a story secondhand.  Depending on the size of the program, the routes the actual story could take are limitless.  And instead of focusing on the graphics or sounds of the game, a person is allowing their imagination to take over, something that seems very difficult for adults sometimes (at least in my own experience).  Furthermore, interactive fiction can present a puzzle, riddle, or challenge to solve.

However, before this class, I had never heard of interactive fiction.  My question is, how popular is interactive fiction really?  How else is interactive fiction “rich” in game-play?