Thread by @Epidiah

Been thinking about this game all night.

I think I played this on the Atari 800, though it could have been a Commodore 64. We didn't have it as kids, but our cousins did. I remember which cousins, I remember the cool basement we played in, but I don't remember which computer those cousins had.

More importantly, I never had access to the rulebook or cover art. So we just fumbled around with it for hours on end, trying to suss out its dynamics.

An advantage that games with a hint of narrative have over plain fiction—games being boardgames, videogames or that very pinnacle of gaming: tabletop roleplaying games—is The Ask.

Early videogames such as Archon or Adventure or Joust, most clearly illustrate The Ask for me.

They say, "Here, I need you to hold these reins for a bit. Oh, by the by, you're in a world of sorceresses, banshees, goblins, golems & knights."

& like that, your suspension of disbelief is like, "Hold my beer," & whips you across gulfs of time & space to fantastic new worlds.

That's The Ask. Games offering you some control & then asking you to accept their ridiculous pantomime for reality. This little 8-bit blob is the revenant of a long dead but yet unsettled soul. Believe it!

And we do, with far, far less scrutiny than other forms of fiction.

These early videogames offered such delightfully simple graphics, plus evocative titles and cover art & become co-conspirators with your own imagination.

Anyway, The Ask is about meeting the player halfway AT BEST.

In many ways, the more work your audience does to cross that gulf between reality & fantasy, the more invested they are in the journey. And you can do astounding things before breaking the suspension of disbelief.

I'm thinking about this dynamic because I'm working on some solo gaming stuff & I'm very much trying to take advantage of it. So I'm trying to dissect what's all involved.