Re: Feverish thoughts on posting

[Dan Lyke]

On Tue, 2 Feb 1999, Todd Gemmell wrote:
> Ack! the talk beings and I am sporting a new body temperature (102f)
> ...Yipeee

Hope that's come down a bit.

> This may be true but "most" people don't care about fine art or well
> written books. I certainly hope this does not coerce them into writting
> "Bay Watch"  scripts or painting "Starbucks" walls because "most" people
> care about that. 

In rec.arts.int-fiction I think only a couple of clueless newbies believe
that there's a possibility for a big interactive fiction resurgence. Most
of the old stalwarts are happy to keep exploring the medium for its own
sake because of what it teaches them. That doesn't stop the occasional
"Hey, I've got a CD burner and interactive fiction used to be big, maybe I
can make some money" posts.

> This implys that cars and entertainment are consumed in the same way and of
> course they are not, despite attempts by marketing departments to sell us
> the new model and the sexy extras, a car remains a tool.

Yeah, but you and I both drive the most functional car in the world[1] and
laugh at iMacs. We're not a market sample.

> >I think many -- even most -- graphical adventure games have tried. Some
> >have succeeded more than others. You can't look at the Tomb Raider genre;  
> >it's the Myst clones that are taking the most interesting
> > steps.
>
> I wish I could take some of the drugs he is on. I am not feeling very well
> right now and I think they might help..

Total agreement. I thought the playability of Myst was really low, and the
level of the puzzles that I actually bothered to figure out somewhat
non-sequiterish.

Unlike the author you're responding to, friends tell me that "Last
Express" failed because it underestimated, not overestimated, its
audience. It's the same problem with film-making and novel writing and
what have you. Target a "B" audience and you'll end up with something
unwatchable. Try to make an "A" film and end up with a "B" film and
you've accomplished something.

Dan


[1] For those of you who don't know us personally, "the most functional
car in the world" is a beige late model Nissan Maxima. Ain't nothing sexy
about this car, it's an import mid-range sedan that just happens to be the
only car in its class in which I can sit in the back seat comfortably. 
Todd and I both have one.