Editing Terry Pratchett (section)

===Computing===
Pratchett started to use computers for writing as soon as they were available to him. His first computer was a [[ZX81]]; the first computer he used properly for writing was an [[Amstrad CPC|Amstrad CPC 464]], later replaced by an [[IBM PC compatible]]. Pratchett was one of the first authors to routinely use the Internet to communicate with fans, and was a contributor to the [[Usenet]] newsgroup alt.fan.pratchett from 1992.<ref>{{cite web |date=5 July 1992 |title=alt.fan.pratchett |url=http://groups.google.com/group/alt.fan.pratchett/browse_frm/thread/6d66f88060364dbb |access-date=6 June 2007}}</ref> However, he did not consider the Internet a hobby, just another "thing to use".<ref name="writerswrite" /> He had many computers in his house,<ref name="writerswrite" /> with a bank of six monitors to ease writing.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Orr |first1=Deborah |title=Terry Pratchett: 'If I'd known what a progressive brain disease could do for your PR profile I may have had one earlier' |newspaper=[[The Independent]] |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/terry-pratchett-if-id-known-what-a-progressive-brain-disease-could-do-for-your-pr-profile-i-may-have-had-one-earlier-1036584.html |access-date=12 March 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Preston |first1=John |title=Sir Terry Pratchett interview for Unseen Academicals |newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph|The Telegraph]] |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/6231337/SIr-Terry-Pratchett-interview.html |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |access-date=12 March 2015 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/6231337/SIr-Terry-Pratchett-interview.html |archive-date=11 January 2022}}{{cbignore}}</ref> When he travelled, he always took a portable computer, originally a 1992 [[Olivetti Quaderno]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wilkins |first1=Rob |title=Terry Pratchett: A Life With Footnotes |date=29 September 2022 |publisher=Transworld |isbn=978-1-473-56894-5 |publication-date=2022 |chapter=14. Rubber Gloves, TV Snobs and an Olivetti on the Line at Waterloo}}</ref> with him to write.<ref name="writerswrite" />

In a 1995 interview with [[Microsoft]] co-founder [[Bill Gates]], Pratchett expressed concern about the potential spread of [[misinformation]] online. He felt that there was a "kind of parity of esteem of information" on the internet, and gave the example of [[Holocaust denial]] being presented on the same terms as [[Peer review|peer-reviewed]] research, with no easy way to gauge reliability. Gates disagreed, saying that online authorities would index and check facts and sources in a much more sophisticated way than in print. The interview was rediscovered in 2019, and seen by Pratchett's biographer as prescient of [[fake news]].<ref>{{cite web |author=Alison Flood |date=30 May 2019 |title=Terry Pratchett predicted rise of fake news in 1995, says biographer |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/may/30/terry-pratchett-predicted-rise-of-fake-news-in-1995-says-biographer |accessdate=6 April 2023 |newspaper=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref>

Pratchett was an avid [[video game]] player, and collaborated in the creation of a number of game adaptations of his books. He favoured games that are "intelligent and have some depth", citing ''[[Half-Life 2]]'' (2004) and fan missions for ''[[Thief (series)|Thief]]'' as examples.<ref>{{cite web |date=1 August 2006 |title=PC Interviews – Terry Pratchett |url=http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=143656 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080420034539/http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=143656 |archive-date=20 April 2008 |access-date=8 June 2007 |work=[[Computer and Video Games]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Lane |first=Rick |date=9 December 2021 |title='Help! I've been spotted!' Terry Pratchett on Thief, his favourite video game |url=https://www.theguardian.com/games/2021/dec/09/terry-pratchett-thief-video-game-forum |accessdate=6 April 2023 |work=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref> The red army in ''Interesting Times'' prompted comparisons to the 1991 puzzle game ''[[Lemmings (video game)|Lemmings]]''. When asked about this connection, Pratchett said: "Merely because the red army can fight, dig, march and climb and is controlled by little icons? Can't imagine how anyone thought that&nbsp;... Not only did I wipe ''Lemmings'' from my hard disk, I overwrote it so I couldn't get it back."<ref>{{cite web |last=Breebaart |first=Leo |date=1 July 2005 |title=Annotated Pratchett File v 9.0 – Interesting Times |url=http://www.lspace.org/books/apf/interesting-times.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120804004433/http://www.lspace.org/books/apf/interesting-times.html |archive-date=4 August 2012 |access-date=10 December 2014 |work=LSpace}}</ref> He described ''[[The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion]]'' (2006) as his favourite video game, saying that he used many of its non-combat-oriented fan-made [[Mod (video games)|mods]],<ref>{{cite web |last1=Peterson |first1=Matthew |title=Terry Pratchett |url=http://theauthorhour.com/terry-pratchett/extras.php |access-date=16 April 2015 |website=The Author Hour}}</ref> and contributed to the development of at least one popular fan-made mod.<ref>{{Cite news |date=31 January 2019|title=The story behind the Oblivion mod Terry Pratchett worked on |url=https://www.eurogamer.net/the-story-behind-the-oblivion-mod-terry-pratchett-worked-on |access-date=30 December 2024|first=Cian |last=Maher|work=[[Eurogamer]]|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241212123854/https://www.eurogamer.net/the-story-behind-the-oblivion-mod-terry-pratchett-worked-on|archive-date=12 December 2024|url-status=live}}</ref>