January 20, 2005
New Interactive Fiction FAQ, Wiki
There’s a new Interactive Fiction FAQ for those new the puzzly pleasures of these programs that are games, potential narratives, and worlds. Some of us put it together recently on ifwiki, which Dave Cornelson has installed as a resource (and collaborative writing space) for the IF community. The IF FAQ is similar in purpose to Roger Firth’s Ifaq, but it’s meant to immediately offer a few more practical answers than that document or the welcome page for those new to the IF community, which is useful, but more focused on how to be a member of the IF community. Hopefully, it will complement Roger’s nicely designed FAQ, which answers questions with helpful links, by being a bit less superbrief but not too verbose. The IF FAQ’s “How can I download and play IF?” section is probably my favorite, as it includes a table of interpreters to help people quickly find an appropraite IF interpreter for their platform. (This task always seemed to me like it must be particularly daunting for those unfamiliar with the maze of interpreters available, even though lots of interpreters are centrally available at the IF Archive.) The “live” (and editable) version of the IF FAQ is available at ifwiki; the version 1.0 snapshot (which is available to everyone under a Creative Commons license) is what I’ve posted at nickm.com.