"The 'interactive fiction' format hasn't changed in any fundamental way since the early 1970s, in the same way that the format of the novel hasn't since 1700"
About this Quote
Graham Nelson points to the distinction between format and content, arguing that the enduring power of interactive fiction lies in a stable contract between author and player. From Colossal Cave Adventure and Zork onward, the core loop has remained recognizable: the machine offers a description of a simulated world; the player replies in natural-language commands; the parser interprets and the world updates. That exchange defines the format much as a novel is defined by a sequence of prose on the page. What changes profoundly within that frame are style, theme, structure, and technique.
The analogy to the novel is careful and provocative. The rise of the modern novel around 1700 did not prevent centuries of experimentation. Stream of consciousness, nonlinear narratives, autofiction, and metafiction all bloomed without altering the underlying format of prose in sequence. Likewise, interactive fiction has evolved an extraordinary range: from treasure hunts to domestic realism, from puzzle-box contraptions to conversation-driven dramas, from sparse two-word parsers to more generous, naturalistic interpreters. Nelson himself, as the creator of Inform and steward of the Z-machine tradition, helped refine that shared vocabulary of rooms, objects, actions, and simulated physics, not to replace it.
The claim resists the tech industrys fetish for novelty. Stability in format does not imply stagnation; it enables craft. Writers and toolmakers can build deeper world models, richer hint systems, subtler narrative voices, and more humane puzzle design precisely because the interface is legible and expected. At the same time, the rise of choice-based systems like Twine suggests a branching lineage rather than a fundamental mutation. Those works feel closer to hypertext fiction or gamebooks, a neighboring format with its own contract.
Underneath the comparison lies an ethic of continuity. Formats endure because they mediate attention in reliable ways. Within that constraint, imagination ranges freely, and a tradition accrues, so that a prompt and a paragraph can still summon a world.
The analogy to the novel is careful and provocative. The rise of the modern novel around 1700 did not prevent centuries of experimentation. Stream of consciousness, nonlinear narratives, autofiction, and metafiction all bloomed without altering the underlying format of prose in sequence. Likewise, interactive fiction has evolved an extraordinary range: from treasure hunts to domestic realism, from puzzle-box contraptions to conversation-driven dramas, from sparse two-word parsers to more generous, naturalistic interpreters. Nelson himself, as the creator of Inform and steward of the Z-machine tradition, helped refine that shared vocabulary of rooms, objects, actions, and simulated physics, not to replace it.
The claim resists the tech industrys fetish for novelty. Stability in format does not imply stagnation; it enables craft. Writers and toolmakers can build deeper world models, richer hint systems, subtler narrative voices, and more humane puzzle design precisely because the interface is legible and expected. At the same time, the rise of choice-based systems like Twine suggests a branching lineage rather than a fundamental mutation. Those works feel closer to hypertext fiction or gamebooks, a neighboring format with its own contract.
Underneath the comparison lies an ethic of continuity. Formats endure because they mediate attention in reliable ways. Within that constraint, imagination ranges freely, and a tradition accrues, so that a prompt and a paragraph can still summon a world.
Quote Details
| Topic | Writing |
|---|
More Quotes by Graham
Add to List
