Time: 6:30- 7:30pm

Being a fan of science fiction and fantasy, as well as having a degree in folklore, I was quite intrigued by the beginning of the player’s manual for Zork. While part of my brain was caught on the names of places and people, I was astonished by the creativity in “The Great Underworld Empire: A History”. The mere fact that the discussion questions and suggested readings at the end of each chapter were even provided gave even more detail for the player to immerse themselves into this world before they even boot up the game. Already, in comparison with my previous experience, I have a strong feeling that I will enjoy playing Zork more than I did playing Civilizations.

PAGE 13! I want to say, before playing, that this page filled with tips for novices is a blessing. Key word being ‘want’. We will find out how helpful these tips will be. But I am finding that, similar to my experience playing Civilizations, I would like to experience Zork in varying degrees. For example, the first tip on page 13 is “Draw a map”. I am considering playing one session without drawing a map and one with drawing a map. Is it truly helpful? Will my horrible sense of direction make this harder on myself as a player? Will the map make me feel empowered as a player because I might have a better grasp on what is happening in the game?

I am also starting to question the commands within the game. How specific do the commands have to be? If I can type ‘u’ for up and ‘n’ for north, will I come to a point in the game where I will have to specify distance? If I have to give an item to a character in the game, but am surrounded by multiple characters, how specific does my command have to be so I do not give an enemy a weapon? Asking myself all of these questions makes me question if I am overthinking this. Which, that is a very good possibility.