This is about Interactive Fiction games and the newsgroup rec.games.int-fiction. Some IF games don't get enough attention, especially games which are not part of a competition. There's a theory that this is because there are never enough people interested in the same game at the same time to make for a discussion, and I think that may well be the case. I want to change that. Maybe I can, maybe I can't, but I want to try.

Here's a suggestion of one game a week to discuss. If you want to be part of this, just play the game during that week or even a week or two before, then enter the newsgroup on the week in question and join in the discussion. You can review the game, or just talk about what the game is like from a player's point of view, or give constructive criticism about how you think it could be improved etc. Just try to play it enough to form some kind of opinion, and start talking about it. IF authors need feedback. They need to hear that someone played their game and what they liked and what they didn't like. Besides, I think we'll all have more fun. Come on, join in!

Game calendar

I've put up games for a few weeks to come to start with. If you want to see a certain game on this list, please mail me your suggestion. If you've released a game yourself, and you had serious intentions but received less feedback than you had hoped for, you can certainly suggest your own game. I will never reveal who has suggested a certain game.

If you write something about a game which may spoil the experience for others who haven't come as far in the game, please give advance warning. Many people spell out "S p o i l e r S p a c e" with each letter separated by a blank line, before starting to mention specific objects, locations, puzzles etc.

When talking about things you didn't like in a game, the criticism gets clearer, more interesting and more useful to the author if you specify not only what you didn't like, but also how it could be improved.

There's a more complete set of guidelines for posting to rec.games.int-fiction over at textfire. While it's worth reading, common sense and a little knowledge of netiquette will also get you a long way.