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   Anjune (anjune@chaosfem.tw)'s status on Wednesday, 27-Mar-2024 02:17:44 JST Anjune

   Just saw a YouTuber playfully diss an Infocom game for not understanding "go shack". Made me feel bad. That’s not a proper sentence.

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     13 barn owls in a trenchcoat (hauntedowlbear@eldritch.cafe)'s status on Wednesday, 27-Mar-2024 02:17:41 JST 13 barn owls in a trenchcoat

     in reply to

     @anjune I think Sierra's AGI text parsers specifically - although ingenious and massively loaded with synonyms - have a lot to answer for here.

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     Anjune (anjune@chaosfem.tw)'s status on Wednesday, 27-Mar-2024 02:17:42 JST Anjune

     in reply to

     I think half the frustration with the better sort of text adventure stems from players trying to get by with the most broken English possible, assuming that’s how it works.

     No getting all the bottles from the bar except for the bottle of whiskey. No it, them, then, and… so sad.

     Granted I’m more attuned to TADS and Inform than the first wave classics.

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     13 barn owls in a trenchcoat (hauntedowlbear@eldritch.cafe)'s status on Wednesday, 27-Mar-2024 02:46:14 JST 13 barn owls in a trenchcoat

     in reply to

     @anjune I am old enough to have played Wonderland and the Lost Treasures in the 90s, and they really were amazing (although their parser sophistication was in turn eclipsed by the late 90s IF heyday, as you alluded to up thread).

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     Anjune (anjune@chaosfem.tw)'s status on Wednesday, 27-Mar-2024 02:46:15 JST Anjune

     in reply to

     • 13 barn owls in a trenchcoat

     @HauntedOwlbear Most 8-bit text adventures were pretty rough… but Infocom and Magnetic Scrolls had a reputation as being in a class of their own. They also came with pretty fun manuals that showcased how to play them…

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     13 barn owls in a trenchcoat (hauntedowlbear@eldritch.cafe)'s status on Wednesday, 27-Mar-2024 02:50:43 JST 13 barn owls in a trenchcoat

     in reply to

     @anjune but the thing I was referring to with AGI was that they really did offer a lot of parser flexibility, sometimes at the cost of correct language

     (I just realised that the last thing I wrote in Inform 7 literally accepted "go shed" if I'm not misremembering my synonyms, so should possibility stop talking now lest I embarrass myself.)

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     Anjune (anjune@chaosfem.tw)'s status on Wednesday, 27-Mar-2024 03:27:31 JST Anjune

     in reply to

     • 13 barn owls in a trenchcoat

     @HauntedOwlbear in that case I’d assume it to be a courtesy to the player