Re: Marketing, was Re: Can I make money by writing IF?


29 Nov 1995 15:09:14 GMT

: Basically, the well of enthusiasm within me on the topic of text
: adventures has nothing but dirt in it anymore. My current ambition is to
: move to New Zealand and herd sheep. At least that way I'll never have to
: see another one of those godforsaken DOOM/SF2 clones. No more Ultima
: 8s. No more nothing.

C'mon, don't be that way. To simply walk away from I-F is to give in to
those DOOM/SF2s and Ultima 8s, to admit that all along you were wrong and
they were right. We need people like you, with the determination, skill,
and willingness to invest their time in I-F. I see it as a form that'll
make a serious comeback, someday. Think about it. What's going to happen
in 5 or 10 years, when programmers can create graphics so real they actually
simulate real life? When that happens, a small degree of interactivity will
be the only real distinction between entertainment media such as computer
games and film or television. You think people are going to settle for
being able to click a button here and there and let the multimillion dollar
entertainment industry do the rest? Of course not! There are millions of
intelligent people out there who will become disgusted with the whole mess
that is visual entertainment.

So what'll be left? I-F. Be patient. Keep the art form going. Someday
it'll get the recognition it's deserved for years. Remember, genius is
never understood in its own time.

--
C.E. Forman                                      ceforma@rs6000.cmp.ilstu.edu
Read the I-F e-zine XYZZYnews, at ftp.gmd.de:/if-archive/magazines/xyzzynews,
             or on the Web at http://www.interport.net/~eileen!
* Interactive Fiction * Beavis and Butt-Head * The X-Files * MST3K * C/C++ *