Editing Interactive fiction (section)

===Writing style===
Interactive fiction features two distinct modes of writing: the player input and the game output. As described above, player input is expected to be in simple command form ([[Sentence (linguistics)#Classification by purpose|imperative sentences]]).<ref>{{cite magazine|last= |first= |title=The Next Generation 1996 Lexicon A to Z: Text Adventure|magazine=[[Next Generation (magazine)|Next Generation]]|issue=15 |publisher=[[Imagine Media]]|date=March 1996|page=41}}</ref> A typical command may be:<blockquote>{{mono|> PULL Lever}}</blockquote>

The responses from the game are usually written from a [[Second-person narrative|second-person]] [[point of view (literature)|point of view]], in [[present tense]]. This is because, unlike in most works of fiction, the main character is closely associated with the player, and the events are seen to be happening as the player plays. While older text adventures often identified the protagonist with the player directly, newer games tend to have specific, well-defined protagonists with separate identities from the player. The classic essay "Crimes Against Mimesis"<ref name=crimes>{{cite web| url = http://www.geocities.com/aetus_kane/writing/cam.html| title = Crimes Against Mimesis| access-date = 17 December 2006| last = Giner-Sorolla| first = Roger| date = April 2006| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20050619081931/http://www.geocities.com/aetus_kane/writing/cam.html| archive-date = 19 June 2005}} This is a reformatted version of a set of articles originally posted to Usenet:{{cite web| url = https://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.int-fiction/msg/a11e304d16463816?dmode=source| title = Crimes Against Mimesis, Part 1| access-date = 17 December 2006| last = Giner-Sorolla| first = Roger| date = 11 April 2006|url-status=live| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111102164022/http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.int-fiction/msg/a11e304d16463816?dmode=source| archive-date = 2 November 2011| df = dmy-all}}{{cite web| url = https://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.int-fiction/msg/6ac868aff97a3afb?dmode=source| title = Crimes Against Mimesis, Part 2| access-date = 17 December 2006| last = Giner-Sorolla| first = Roger| date = 18 April 2006|url-status=live| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111102164025/http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.int-fiction/msg/6ac868aff97a3afb?dmode=source| archive-date = 2 November 2011| df = dmy-all}}{{cite web| url = https://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.int-fiction/msg/66f04d5ba816f0fa?dmode=source| title = Crimes Against Mimesis, Part 3| access-date = 17 December 2006| last = Giner-Sorolla| first = Roger| date = 25 April 2006|url-status=live| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111102164018/http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.int-fiction/msg/66f04d5ba816f0fa?dmode=source| archive-date = 2 November 2011| df = dmy-all}}{{cite web| url = https://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.int-fiction/msg/f21986cae9320282?dmode=source| title = Crimes Against Mimesis, Part 4| access-date = 17 December 2006| last = Giner-Sorolla| first = Roger| date = 29 April 2006|url-status=live| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111102164032/http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.int-fiction/msg/f21986cae9320282?dmode=source| archive-date = 2 November 2011| df = dmy-all}}</ref> discusses, among other IF issues, the nature of "You" in interactive fiction. A typical response might look something like this, the response to "look in tea chest" at the start of ''[[Curses (video game)|Curses]]'':

<blockquote>{{mono|"That was the first place you tried, hours and hours ago now, and there's nothing there but that boring old book. You pick it up anyway, bored as you are."}}<ref name="cursesplay">[[Graham Nelson|Nelson, Graham]] ''[[Curses (video game)|Curses]]'', 1993.</ref></blockquote> <!-- Taken from Curses, in response to "look in teachest" from the first prompt -->

Many text adventures, particularly those designed for humour (such as ''[[Zork]]'', ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (video game)|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]'', and ''[[Leather Goddesses of Phobos]]''), address the player with an informal tone, sometimes including sarcastic remarks (see the transcript from ''Curses'', above, for an example). The late Douglas Adams, in designing the IF version of his 'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy', created a unique solution to the final puzzle of the game: the game requires the one solitary item that the player ''didn't'' choose at the outset of play.

Some IF works dispense with second-person narrative entirely, opting for a first-person perspective ('I') or even placing the player in the position of an observer, rather than a direct participant. In some 'experimental' IF, the concept of self-identification is eliminated, and the player instead takes the role of an inanimate object, a force of nature, or an abstract concept; experimental IF usually pushes the limits of the concept and challenges many assumptions about the medium.