I live in the year 2022. I own and enjoy the newest Xbox console. I’m writing this on an absurdly powerful PC. It can easily chew up anything I throw at it in 4K HDR. And yet I find myself tumbling down a new rabbit hole that’s existed in various states of popularity and obscurity since before I was born in the fall of 1975. One that predates video games as most of us know them. It was here before I was enamored by the hypnotic Pong system I first played in 1978.

I’m talking about interactive fiction (IF). By another name: text adventures.

I’m just beginning to peek my head in to scope out its depth; its twists and turns. But already, it’s a decidedly fascinating, cerebral rabbit hole that captivates my imagination and tingles my writing sensibilities.

Unsurprisingly, it has inspired me to write, even though I don’t have any of the resulting content mapped out yet. I’m excited, I’m curious, and I’d love to take you with me on this little trip. Maybe experience some of these discoveries together!

Many stories require a prologue. This one probably doesn’t, but I tend to be a completionist with certain passions of mine. That’s why I’m going to give you a quick peek inside my head and show you how I stumbled across this rabbit hole in the first place:

FYI: I’ve set up an RSS feed just for this category of my writing. That way, if you’re not interested in the tech news or the Linux stuff I cover, you can skip it and still get notified about this series. I’ll also notify you of new entries via this very newsletter.

ENJOY!