After attempting to figure out how to play interactive fiction, I realized that my role with fiction has always been an inactive one. Used to having the story told and solved for me for so many years, I got frustrated with having to find it. I had mixed feelings about how I would approach this style. On the one hand, it requires imagination and to put yourself in the place of the author and the characters all at once to fill in the spaces so that you can contribute to the story. You have to make the story happen. On the other hand, you have to learn how to ask questions that will move the story forward. That was what I fount most difficult. I found that even following the rules of the game, paying attention to the surroundings and the characters, still I lacked the ability to ask the right questions. In Violet for example, I knew exactly what I wanted to know but every time I asked, it was the wrong question. I found Violet’s hints really useful and sometimes the “SIDE” stories provided some clues, but in general I could not figure out how to actually start writing. As much as the game tells you to write, whenever I attempted to do it, it would take me to some distraction. I concluded that the real objective was not to write but that can’t be it because then the game would be deceiving. I experienced about the same with the Bronze game but I found it easier or maybe just made more sense to me. I was aware that when I got to a dead end, I simply had to find another direction and so it wasn’t so frustrating.
As for the Get Lamp documentary, I really enjoyed seeing those people who were part of that moment of excitement when things happened for the first time. How addictive it was from the moment it came out. Two things grabbed my attention the most: One, the idea of making such adventure happen with pure text, forcing the player bring in all the movements and images on their own. Two, the idea that it is a maze. One of the speakers in the documentary mentioned that many people were turn off buy the fact that it was just another maze. Another speaker was raving about how great mazes are. Some players developed maps and kept notes and drawings in order to figure out the game. I guess what goes on in this type of fiction is a parallel of narrative and the maze idea is what makes it interactive. Then instead of reading a story, pieces of it have been scattered all over the maze and we are supposed to find them and put them together to complete the story. While I am not a maze person, nor do I become addicted easily, I still would love to be able to figure out how to complete some interactive fiction games.