# Talk:SkiFree

Throughout the game there are trees that seem to grow feet. If you look close, you may see some of these trees! ~ Environmentalist concerns were brought to the forefront when players realized they could set fire to the trees by jumping over them. It is unknown whether this was intended to cause an uproar or not. ~ One lesser known aspect of the game deals with the numerous tree stumps found around the slopes of SkiFree. Users have found that when skied over backwards they transform into a small spotty mushroom. It has been theorised that this points to a philosophical leaning in the nature of SkiFree's creator Chris Pirih. The mushrooms may illustrate an extrapolation of Plato's theory of ideas in which the physical form of something may not reveal its true identity and only its representation in our particular plane of existence.
a little far flung dont you think....
--Froth 07:00, 16 May 2006 (UTC)
Someone should mention the dog taking a piss in the snow. Or the purplish person who cries when you run over them. Yeah, this game is great.  ⇒  JarlaxleArtemis 01:24, 20 May 2006 (UTC)
I second the far-flung observation.
--JohnH 21:09, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Can We discuss those here?
I got 22000 on freestyle.
--Mustafarox 21:11, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Unfortunatly Wikipedia talk pages are only about the page itself, not the subject of the page. In short: no. --Ysangkok 13:46, 11 June 2007 (UTC)

Also if you do a jump over the dead trees they ignite on fire!!  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.234.13.200 (talk) 20:45, 29 June 2009 (UTC) 

Image:Skifree yeti.png is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.
Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.
If there is other other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page.  Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.BetacommandBot 06:01, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

I added rationale. --Ysangkok 13:45, 11 June 2007 (UTC)

Image:Skifree screenshot.png is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.
Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.
If there is other other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page.  Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.BetacommandBot 06:01, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

I added rationale. --Ysangkok 13:46, 11 June 2007 (UTC)

Is the monster at the end a yeti, a robot, or a robot yeti? I dunno about any yeti having stick limbs like that.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 58.173.163.26 (talk) 16:45, 12 October 2007 (UTC) 

No one knows ANY Yeti --Dexter_prog (talk • contribs • count) @ 12:43, 25 November 2009 (UTC)

I'm sorry, but why is "Freeski" redirected here? From what I have read, one is a freestyle skiing event, the other is a computer game. Can someone maybe "un"redirect this? There is plenty of information on Freeski, there should also be a wikipedia entry.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.142.169.100 (talk) 09:11, 7 August 2008 (UTC) 

 User: 69.143.108.233 Deleted the Easter Eggs section. Click here for History. They say that the information is "pure trivia," and that the images "fail to meet." This can be fixed easily by cropping all of the empty white space out of the images. The section could be reworded to not sound too trivial. Comments on whether to keep the section or not?.--CornfieldMannequin (talk) 22:08, 4 May 2009 (UTC)
I've again removed it (I excised it previously when not logged in). Per WP:VGSCOPE, Easter Eggs are unencyclopedic and superfluous trivia, esp. when simply presented in context-less bulleted form. Furthermore, these Easter Eggs lack citations to reliable sources that actually verify they are, in fact, Easter Eggs, and not deliberate game features or content not intended to be published; i.e., IDing them as Easter Eggs is WP:OR. I removed the images for failing to meet the WP:NFCC criteria for using non-free images, esp. because they lack a fair-use rationale. --EEMIV (talk) 01:57, 5 May 2009 (UTC)

Do we really need the link to the XKCD comic? WP:XKCD Synook (talk) 11:06, 25 November 2009 (UTC)

Definitely not. Actually, I just came here from that comic, and am pretty sure mos of the traffic goes this way, so it's redundant in addition to unencyclopedic. 213.220.216.89 (talk) 13:06, 25 November 2009 (UTC)
It's a cultural reference.  If other people mentioned SkiFree, then it would be appropriate and business as usual for Wikipedia.--D3matt (talk) 14:23, 25 November 2009 (UTC)
No. No, it wouldn't ("be appropriate", that is. Obviously it would be "business as usual", which is regrettable). Chris Cunningham (not at work) - talk 16:07, 25 November 2009 (UTC)
Shouldn't there be a distinction from an internet culture reference, and an actual culture reference? e.g. a controversial event during a song's play is a culture reference in relation to the song. This is just a comic that the lot of you will forget about once 3 weeks pass by. Hopefully it'll be edited out later.

I can't seem to find a reference to the Macintosh-Version, although it is mentioned in the box, as well as in the text of the german version.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.245.91.129 (talk) 13:21, 26 November 2009 (UTC) 

The gameplay section currently reads:
At the beginning of the game, the user has four choices:

   * Enter the Free-style course (with the objective of collecting "style points" by doing flips, going over moguls, etc).
   * Enter the Slalom course (with the objective of completing an opened slalom course in the shortest time possible).
   * Enter the Tree Slalom course (similar to the Slalom course, but longer, with narrower-spaced flags, and with trees interspersed).
   * Enter none of the courses, and just "ski free".

Shouldn't the last point be merged with the first point?
(sorry about my crappy formatting, i'm rather new to the wiki formatting)Atebo88 (talk) 05:47, 30 November 2009 (UTC)
I removed part of the "Completion" section which described two rows of 5 yetis attacking with no chance of escape. I haven't experienced that and have found no reference to it online. trevori (talk)  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.74.145.48 (talk) 01:29, 1 February 2010 (UTC) 

Trees
Throughout the game there are trees that seem to grow feet. If you look close, you may see some of these trees.
Burning Trees
Environmentalist concerns were brought to the forefront when players realized they could set fire to the trees by jumping over them. It is unknown whether this was intended to cause an uproar or not.
Mushrooms
One lesser known aspect of the game deals with the numerous tree stumps found around the slopes of SkiFree. Users have found that when skied over backwards they transform into a small spotty mushroom. It has been theorised that this points to a philosophical leaning in the nature of SkiFree's creator Chris Pirih. The mushrooms may illustrate an extrapolation of Plato's theory of ideas in which the physical form of something may not reveal its true identity and only its representation in our particular plane of existence.
I think we might want to edit the last one, but otherwise should this go back int the page?
S*T*A*R*B*O*X (talk) 02:35, 16 December 2009 (UTC)

So does it go further in the negative direction or back towards zero? (I know what is meant, but this usage, while understandable, is somewhat odd.) Double sharp (talk) 15:50, 31 January 2014 (UTC)

Changed (two years later) to "back towards zero". Double sharp (talk) 16:46, 21 May 2016 (UTC)

Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified one external link on SkiFree. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:

Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20160130072939/http://whatculture.com/gaming/forgotten-gems-of-gaming-skifree.php to http://whatculture.com/gaming/forgotten-gems-of-gaming-skifree.php
When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true or failed to let others know (documentation at {{Sourcecheck}}).
This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{source check}} (last update: 5 June 2024).

If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.
Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 10:42, 10 November 2016 (UTC)

Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified one external link on SkiFree. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:

Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20070930131403/http://www.gamespot.com/gbc/puzzle/microsoftbestofep/ to http://www.gamespot.com/gbc/puzzle/microsoftbestofep/
When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.
This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{source check}} (last update: 5 June 2024).

If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.
Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 00:31, 5 September 2017 (UTC)

This review is transcluded from Talk:SkiFree/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.
Reviewer: Rhododendrites (talk · contribs) 03:58, 13 April 2019 (UTC)


### Reviewing part 2
Ok. Coming back to this after a while. Since the article is, as pointed out above, much different from when I started, I'm going to start from the beginning, taking into account the various responses above, which can be considered moot/resolved at this point. Thanks for your patience. In the process, I've made some minor copyedits. Feel free to undo if you don't think they're an improvement. — Rhododendrites talk \\ 00:52, 24 May 2019 (UTC)


#### Lead
is it worth specifying which version of Windows?
Don't know if it's necessary to set out that only one reviewer mentioned how it demonstrated Windows' visual capabilities. The sentence as is reads kind of awkwardly. Gave it a copyedit.
A very brief summary of the remakes are probably worth including in the lead.
It is a simple game in which... I'm butting in to ask if this is necessary to mention. The game's simplicity is mentioned again in a more objective way in critics focusing on its simplicity.--Megaman en m (talk) 15:22, 10 June 2019 (UTC)
@Megaman en m: That's a good point. It stuck out when I first read it, but I guess I moved passed it when I saw that multiple sources did comment on its simplicity. It's true we don't need it mentioned twice. I've removed it. — Rhododendrites talk \\ 22:54, 10 June 2019 (UTC)


#### Gameplay
The two images are creating a MOS:SANDWICH on my monitor. It looks like there's room on the right for both?
players attempt to complete with... - add what's completed (e.g. "to complete the run...")
The sentence starting In slalom reads a bit unclear. Something about the "compete with" and the description of the flags.
players ski ... on ramps - jumping off ramps more than skiing on ramps, no?
smashing - colliding?
heads past - passes


#### History
Since the sentence starting Chris Pirih was a mid-level... directly cites his website, it should have a citation at the end of that sentence.
Not sure how best to handle More information on VAX Ski and WinSki, which seems like refs tacked into another ref. If they're useful for the article, we might as well use them as refs?
Probably best to just put the text-based game before WinSki rather than talking about it through WinSki?
to demonstrate Windows 3's attempt in being a functional operating system by giving players the ability to try to exploit the game - is there a way to word this more clearly?
There is. I paraphrased it and made it more concise. I hope that's enough. Gamingforfun365 21:00, 28 May 2019 (UTC)
to deride the idea of useful time expenditure - not sure what this means -- sentence could probably use a rewrite?
Deleted. Gamingforfun365 21:00, 28 May 2019 (UTC)
Pirih allowed Microsoft... - run on sentence. can probably just break it up before "in October"
also distributed - does this mean the previous sentence about shipping MEPs 2 and 3 was shipping them with Windows 3 (i.e. bundled)? Otherwise, what is the "also" in addition to? As in Microsoft sold it as-is, and Verbatim sold it with a bunch of floppies?
Deleted the "also". Gamingforfun365 21:00, 28 May 2019 (UTC)
Sales figures should probably be in the reception section.
There are a lot of rereleases and ports. Maybe best to give them their own section (or subsection)? What do you think?
the company's Tommy - do we know Tommy's role?
According to GearSprout's website, Tommy is one of the company's co-founders. Is it relevant to mention his role, or should I just change the sentence to "...interview with the company, GearSprout contacted..."? Gamingforfun365 21:00, 28 May 2019 (UTC)
There's a sentence referencing something specific someone said in an interview, so we should probably include a cite there.
The sentence starting Microsoft responded ... has a direct quote so needs an inline cite there. A little more explanation would be useful, too, I think, with regard to the name change/trademark.


#### Reception
It's a little concerning that nearly all of the first paragraph seems to be about MEPs rather than SkiFree, but I suppose the quotes are generalized to all of the games. Part of the difficulty of writing about "packs," I suppose.
As much as I can recall, I find it unfortunate that typing in "skifree review", "skifree review windows", and the like on Archive.org, and it would return either MEP 2/3 reviews alluding to SkiFree, retrospective articles or reviews about that game, or one of those old advertisements for Windows Home Essentials bundled with MEP 3 (I just searched again, and I got more or less the same results). I agree it is concerning. Gamingforfun365 21:00, 28 May 2019 (UTC)
The sentence In his 1992 review... has a quote so the cite should probably appear there, too.
Lisa Foiles of The Escapist ranked it #1 on their list - Does Lisa Foiles use the pronoun "they"? Should it be "her"? (or "its" if it refers to The Escapist)?


#### Other
The 2600 game is linked in the text, so can be removed from see also (with the section header).
The note from the infobox should have a citation.
Thanks for your efforts to improve the article. Nothing super major in the bulletpoints above. Sorry again for the wait. — Rhododendrites talk \\ 00:52, 24 May 2019 (UTC)

Just a ping: Gamingforfun365. Thanks for your patience. :) — Rhododendrites talk \\ 00:55, 24 May 2019 (UTC)
I have been editing the article as suggested and crossing out what is done. I have a few comments and questions above, however. Gamingforfun365 21:00, 28 May 2019 (UTC)
Great. Thanks. I'll just list the things that still remain below:
Not sure how best to handle More information on VAX Ski and WinSki, which seems like refs tacked into another ref. If they're useful for the article, we might as well use them as refs?
Probably best to just put the text-based game before WinSki rather than talking about it through WinSki?
Mostly set otherwise. I did make a couple copyedits addressing a couple things above. The most significant change was to move the "productivity" business to the reception section. I realized that source didn't verify the line about the mushrooms and yellow snow, etc. so I left a cn tag in its place.
Just about there... — Rhododendrites talk \\ 03:46, 30 May 2019 (UTC)
I am relatively optimistic now. I think I finished the two you listed, and if there is anything left that needs to be addressed, I will fix that. Given the limited reporting on the subject, this article is one of the hardest I have done as of yet. That said, I have lost the nerve to help upgrade it to FA (which I have never done before), and I am working elsewhere on this website. I still have the nerve to fix any issues that may remain in this article. Gamingforfun365 17:59, 1 June 2019 (UTC)
Thanks. @Gamingforfun365: Something about those history paragraphs didn't read well to me. I had a go at reworking them. Take a look. I think this is ready to be promoted, but since that was a non-trivial change I want to make sure you're ok with it first. IMO whereas most articles can be GAs, there's typically a desire for there to be more solid sourcing for an article to be considered for FA. Might be worth asking at WT:FAC, though -- I'm not terribly experienced with FAC myself. — Rhododendrites talk \\ 04:14, 8 June 2019 (UTC)
Just a heads up that I plan to close this as promoted in a couple days if no response/objections. — Rhododendrites talk \\ 22:55, 10 June 2019 (UTC)
 Done — Rhododendrites talk \\ 21:06, 14 June 2019 (UTC)

Excuse me... i disassembled SkiFree just for fun till I read the .data.txt file and found this:

           �@                                                         �   @                                                   Ski entpack.ini V:\hack\ski32\ski2.c    Assertion Failed    %s line %u  [out o' memory] SS  

 %s  %9ld    %ld     FS  GS  nosound Insufficient local memory.  iconSki WAVE    Whoa, like, can't load bitmaps!  Yer outa memory, duuude!   �   ²o@ �   ‚Á@ ‚Á@                     ( ( ( ( (                                     H � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ � � � � � � �       � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     �   .   �   �  À�       �  À�       –  À�         À�       Ž  À�         À�         À�       ‘  À�       ’  À�       “  À�       �   �   
  Œ   ÿÿÿÿ 
 �    �“�                �   Ð§@ �   ¤§@ 	   x§@ 
  T§@ �   (§@ �   ø¦@ �   Ô¦@ �   ¨¦@ �   p¦@ �   H¦@ �   �¦@ �   Ø¥@ �   °¥@ x    ¥@ y   ¥@ z   €¥@ ü   |¥@ ÿ   l¥@ ����    ¤�  `‚y‚!       ¦ß      ¡¥      Ÿàü    @~€ü    ¨�  Á£Ú£                        þ      @þ      µ�  Á£Ú£                        þ      Aþ      ¶�  Ï¢ä¢� å¢è¢[                 þ      @~¡þ    Q�  QÚ^Ú  _ÚjÚ2                 ÓØÞàù  1~þ    ø�                             

The link.
V:\hack\ski32\ski2.c.
What does this mean, is he about to release the source code someday? -- User:Nitheesh_Yevan (talk) 04:29, 03 May 2021 (UTC)

No.  That's an error message meant to only be seen by the programmer; it would probably go along with a line number (note "line %u" -- %u is telling the program where to put the line number.)
Also, I've signed your name to your comment, per wikipedia policy.  -- PsyMar (talk) 14:31, 13 June 2022 (UTC)