1. In your own words, explain the difference between a parser interactive fiction game and a choose your path interactive fiction game.

Parser and Choose Your Own Path interactive fiction games are similar except; Choose Your Own Path IF games provide a set of options the player can choose from to proceed with the story. In Parser IF games, the player tells the game what they want to do using a verb and noun, for example, “Enter Room.”

2. Name an example of a parser game.

Zork – Infocom Games

3. Name an example of a choose your own path game.

Lifeline – 3 Minute Games

4. Why does she say interactive fiction virtually died out in the mid-1990s?

The games were limited to paper; resulting in shorter less detailed stories. Additionally, some IF games used variables to store the decisions of the player but also on paper. This required the player to commit to the work of keeping track of their, and usually other player’s, decisions.

5. Why does she say poetry is an important element of interactive fiction writing? What example does she use?

By carefully choosing their words, the game’s narrators can create worlds in fewer words. Instead of explicitly providing details about the world, the player will “see” the world from the implicit details created by their question on what they’ve read.

6. Why does she say that ambiguity is not only unavoidable but also necessary?

It is necessary because a game has limited memory resulting in details having to bee left out. However, these details can be filled in by the player through implicit details or from their own interpretation of the game. This brings the player further into the game creating an emotional attachment to the world created.

7. What’s important about complicity?

The player will become much more emotionally involved with the story when they feel as if they made the choices in the story themselves. An example of this are Parser games, where the players feel they have an infinite amount of choices but, are steered by the game by the context of the story and what they would actually do in the situation.

Albano Assignment
Worksheet for GDV talk by Heather Albano

1. In your own words, explain the difference between a parser interactive fiction game and a choose your path interactive fiction game.

A parser is a game that gives you the option of typing in the illusion of the narrative you want while a choose your own path gives you the limited choices that differentiate the narrative bit by bit according to your choices.

2. Name an example of a parser game.

Zork I

3. Name an example of a choose your own path game.

Choose your own adventure The Cave of Time

4. Why does she say interactive fiction virtually died out in the mid-1990s?

She says interactive fiction virtually died out because the older methods of interactive fiction died out now it is evolving to give you more choices and yet lead you to them instead of looking for them in a book.

5. Why does she say poetry is an important element of interactive fiction writing? What example does she use?

She says poetry is important because in a game of words, each word has a significance nothing is without reason. She used “With Those We love a Lot” by Porintine.

6. Why does she say that ambiguity is not only unavoidable but also necessary?

She says its necessary because it lets the player of the game fill in the blanks with their imagination so that there is a variation of different answers for the games.

7. What’s important about complicity?

When there is complicity that gives the player owner ship of the plot making him or her feel like they can type whatever they want and the game will do as they say, in reality it is just an illusion because it is a pre-written program.

Worksheet for GDV talk by Heather Albano

1. In your own words, explain the difference between a parser interactive fiction game and a choose your path interactive fiction game.

Parser games are text based games with a cursor and no graphics. The player makes a choice on what to do next, and the game responds by showing them what happens based on the choices made.

Choose your path games came in game books that contained a large amount of text with multiple choices. The player/reader would advance to a specific page based on the choice they made.

2. Name an example of a parser game.

An example of a parser based game would be “Zork I” and A dark room.

3. Name an example of a choose your own path game.

An example of a choose your own path game would be “Choose your adventure, The Cave of Time.”

4. Why does she say interactive fiction virtually died out in the mid-1990s?

The company Infocom was purchase then later shutdown by the game publisher Activision in 1989. The game form didn’t really die as fans were able to keep the community alive. There was an issue in that with these types of games there were enormous amounts of branching paths. This restricted games from telling short stories.

5. Why does she say poetry is an important element of interactive fiction writing? What example does she use?

She explains that poetry is an essential element in that words are provided in short sentences but are powerful. These words are chosen carefully and encourage the player to fill in the blanks. Albano uses With Those We Love Alive by Porpentine as an example.

6. Why does she say that ambiguity is not only unavoidable but also necessary?

She says that with mainly text and no graphics, it is impossible to cover every detail. This leaves it up to the player’s interpretation and imagination to fill in the blanks. 

7. What’s important about complicity?

Complicity gives the feeling of possession or ownership in the plot. The area in which the fictional story interacts with the player is the primary goal. Actual choices can be presented to the player that would affect the plot.

1. In your own words, explain the difference between a parser interactive fiction game and a choose your path interactive fiction game.

Parser interactive fiction game are games without graphics, with chuck of texts and cursors. The players would type in their course of different actions or where they want to explore in the game, and the game will response to what the players will see or what happen next.

Choose your path interactive game are games that have chuck of texts with multiple choice the player can choose from. The choice that the players make will direct them to different pages of the game.

2. Name an example of a parser game.

Zork: The Great Underground Empire – Part 1 written by Marc Blank, Dave Liebling, Bruce Daniels and Tim Anderson, Published by Infocom in 1980.

3. Name an example of a choose your own path game.

Sugarcane Island written by Edward Packer, published in 1976.

The Cave of Time written by Edward Packer, published in 1979.

4. Why does she say interactive fiction virtually died out in the mid-1990s?

Interactive fiction virtually died out in the mid-1990s due to competitions.

5. Why does she say poetry is an important element of interactive fiction writing? What example does she use?

Poetry is an important element of interactive fiction writing because when words are the only ways for you to communicate your characters and stories, you want to make the word as powerful as you can. An example that she uses was from “With those who we love alive” by Porpentine.

6. Why does she say that ambiguity is not only unavoidable but also necessary?

Ambiguity is unavoidable but also necessary because the game does not have the graphics and an infinite space for all the possible texts and details, therefore the players have to fill in that details with their imaginations.

7. What’s important about complicity?

Complicity is important because it can give the players an actual choices and decisions to make the game feel more realistic to the players.