On Tue, 05 Jun 2001 18:25:08 +0200, Ulrich Schreitmueller
<ulrich.sch...@student.uni-tuebingen.de> wrote:
>In fact, Zork is about the worst place you can start as a newbie to interactive
>fiction. While it is a classic, it also has many flaws that no IF-writer today
>would get away with without being showered by criticism.

On Tue, 5 Jun 2001 19:53:11 +0300, "Aris Katsaris"
<kats...@otenet.gr> wrote:
>Classic doesn't always equal good...

You revisionist BASTICHES!!! Why, why, if it wasn't for Zork...  

Kidding, kidding.

Seriously though, Zork is still the game I give out to friends and
whatnot who express an interest in IF and have played no other games.
I agree that anyone putting a Zork-style maze, or a passworded-style
Cyclops or lazy fantasy into any of their games in 2001 would probably
get slammed with a choir of on-line jeers, but when it's *all* new to
you it's still fun. I think there's just the right mix of reward,
interesting objects, things to do, and mystery when it comes to the
house, the forest, and the canary at the beginning of Zork I.

Plus, Zork hates its player. That's still the best way to handle the
inevitabilty of a restricted parser. Get *mean*. Well, funny and mean,
but mean nonetheless.

(I would state that the oddly-angled room, Round Room, and that lizard
keeps me from giving Zork II to anybody who's new at these things.
I'd sooner give a newbie Seastalker.)

Robb

=-=-=-=-=-
Robb Sherwin, Fort Collins CO
Knight Orc Home Page: www.joltcountry.com
Reviews From Trotting Krips: ifiction.tsx.org