Disclaimer: This post was written was written after the fact I read the manual, but from the time period I had not.

I sat down to read the manual to the great game ‘Zork I’ for the first time, but only made it a page in (if that) and thought what am I doing!? My impatience was apparent as I hastily zoomed to get my laptop from my backpack, and begun playing.

When watching the game be demoed in class I was honestly in aw, never have I ever sat down to play a “video game” of this style. The reason for the quotations is because, I hesitated from calling this a game (at first).  Going back to Wednesday’s class discussion when we differentiating the characteristics of representation vs simulation, this game falls into this. I say this, because I have two different outlooks on this game before and after reading the manual.

Before reading the manual, I would compare the game’s characteristics to that of a representation. Moving around in the imageless world, except for those created in the mind, felt like I was reading a “Choose Your Own Adventure Book”: narrative. Here I was trying, to some how beat this game, but simultaneously trying to explore, and find as many new places, and things. Actions of climbing trees, or down canyon walls was a rush, or trying to figure out when to use certain items to help further progress, the story I was trying to unfold. If items weren’t used, it could imply death in a second, like in the dark attic of the house. One better to remember to use their lantern!

All in all, sitting down for the first time to play the game was a blast. Who knows where I shall be taken to, if beating this game is possible, but never the less I have found a new game I enjoy playing!