Talk:Infocom

message: On examining internet sources in general, some (e.g. Adventureland list Ballyhoo as being written in 1985, rather than 1986 as listed here.  The majority of sources (that I found) DO say 1986, but can we verify that this information is correct somehow? --HappyDog 21:03, 24 Sep 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: According to  there is only one version of Ballyhoo. The serial number is 851218 (probably meaning that the game "went gold" on 18th Dec 1985), but it also has a 1986 copyright date (I checked it). This probably means that the code was finished in 1985, but knowing that the game wouldn't be released until 1986 (with disk and box and goodies replication and all) they put the 86 date in the game already. Also, Ballyhoo is announced in the Winter 1986 edition of the Infocom newsletter, not earlier. 1986 seems to be correct. 22:37, 16 Nov 2004 (UTC)
thread_title: Ballyhoo Date

message: I hadn't seen anything of the like, so I created an Infocom userbox. It can be seen on my userpage. The code to include it on a userpage is:

Feel free to use it. -DynSkeet  (Talk) 19:58, 16 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  yet another userbox 

message: Apart from xs4all, where on the Internet can I play Infocom games? And where can I found out how many copies each Infocom game sold? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 124.180.242.85 (talk • contribs).
Could you just give me an answer? 124.176.134.126 08:42, 2 April 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: The playing of Infocom games on the Internet is mostly illegal.  You can play The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy legally on Douglas Adams' website.  You can try buying Infocom games (bundles) from an Internet retailer like Amazon.com.  Also, this is not a message board, so don't be upset if no one answers your questions. — Frecklefoot | Talk 14:07, 2 April 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Playing

message: Is the Bruce Davis linked in the article the same on who lead Activision shortly after the Infocom takeover?  His article lists him as a 1979 NFL draft pick who had an 11 season career.  While it's not impossible it seems unlikley that a pro athlete would be a corporate executive at the same time. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 204.97.253.244 (talk • contribs).
:Fixed.  This Bruce Davis has no article... yet. — Frecklefoot | Talk 16:58, 20 April 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: It's there now. Ntsimp 18:13, 20 April 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Activision CEO 

message: :Image:Infocom logo.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 08:20, 5 June 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: This has been promptly dealt with by User:Brian0918. — Alan De Smet | Talk 01:57, 6 June 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Fair use rationale for Image:Infocom logo.png

message: The tone of this article needs fixing in places, including (but not limited to) the following examples:
* Because of the clever use of hidden clues and Infocom's trademarked humor, the sale of InvisiClues proved incredibly lucrative  - Unless this comment comes from a reviewer (it'll need a source), it should be rewritten as it's very business-like.
* The heading Standing out from the competition. Possibly better as Reception.
* The 2nd paragraph in Standing out from the competition describes how the player feels a lot, and says how the game's better than similar games.
* users rarely felt like they were an intrusion or inconvenience. has no source and seems like more praise for Infocom.
* ...and the Activision takeover should be renamed to Activision takeover.
These are a few of my concerns. The Standing out from the competition section needs to be rewritten almost completely in my opinion as that's where most of the tone and npov problems are. Also another hugely important thing is references and sources as this article is seriously lacking which makes it seem like the POV is coming from the editor rather than a reviewer or critic. Apologies for not leaving my concerns on this talk page sooner after I added the tag. ●BillPP (talk|contribs) 13:34, 6 June 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: The tone of the article was largly cleaned up.  As such, the tag was moved to one specific section that still has one of the complaints listed (and even then, it's probably redundant due to the  tag.) --Sigma 7 (talk) 19:13, 9 March 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: Specific concerns about tone

message: For anyone else looking for possible sources for citations "Down From the Top of Its Game: The Story of Infocom, Inc." has three pages of references. — Alan De Smet | Talk 05:46, 8 June 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Sources for citations 

message: In reference to following statement:
"Davis pushed Infocom to release more graphical games, but the one they did release bombed. This was, in part, due to Infocom's long-standing rule of maximum portability; a game that could display graphics on a number of different systems couldn't take advantage of the strengths of any of them."
- Rather than "the one they did release" could we have the actual title?
Pieterkonink 11:14, 14 July 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: It was Fooblitzky.  I added the info to the article. — Frecklefσσt | Talk 12:58, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Activision Takeover 

message: I have removed the second half of this sentence, from the article:
Many Infocom titles can be downloaded via the Internet, legally in the case of the Zork trilogy and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
I do not believe that any of the Zork games or The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy are legally available to download, currently.
The first three Zork games were made available, along with the specially made Zork: The Undiscovered Underground as part of promotions surrounding the release of Zork: Nemesis (1996) and Zork Grand Inquisitor (1997).  However, those promotions are long since over and Activision no longer distribute any of the games - the Zork Wikipedia page specifically claims that Activision has stated that they must NOT be re-distributed or made available for download.
Similarly, the The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy has never been explicitly available as a free download from Activision, The Digital Village (Douglas Adams' company) or Adams himself.  The Digital Village did produce a Java applet version which is now permanently resident on douglasadams.com and requires them to host the original Z-Machine story file - which can be accessed if you craft the appropriate URL.  This can hardly be considered legal permission to distribute, however as the game is clearly intended to be played online.
To make amends for removing this line, I've added some information relating to Dungeon, which is the original mainframe version of Zork and generally considered to be in the public domain and not considered to be explicitly illegal to download, along with the four Infocom sampler & demos available from the IF archive.
Samwiseuk (talk) 18:16, 27 March 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Legality of Infocom downloads 

message: It seems the Infocom story might not yet be over. According to http://www.trademork.com/infocom/ someone is trying to renew the trademark (Activision cancelled it in 2002, I believe). http://www.infocom-fiction.com/ is their site (not much there yet). A metatag on the site reads "The official site of (the all new) Infocom". Could get interesting. Sslaxx (talk) 12:14, 19 February 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: The article says that the trademark was acquired by Bob Bates. I don't think that's correct. It says "Status 641 - Non-Final Action - Mailed" which, according to https://www.trademarkbank.com/statuses/641 means "Trademark Application Filed; Preliminary Refusal Issued". Perhaps more importantly, in http://steamcommunity.com/app/532980/discussions/0/1488861734108749074/ the user "bobbates" wrote that "I Applied for the inforcom trademark, but was blocked by another company.". English isn't my first language, so I don't really know how to write something intelligible about this... 213.65.60.100 (talk) 18:40, 12 October 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  Someone trying to renew the Infocom trademark? 

message: How do you get eaten by a Grue? Just curious. June 22, 1979 (talk) 22:08, 15 January 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: If you spend too much time in the dark, you'll be eaten.  Frotz (talk) 23:55, 16 January 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: In some of the games, you will need to move around in the dark, not just wait there. Double sharp (talk) 08:44, 27 August 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Grues 

message: Is this the official Infocom website? http://www.infocom-if.org/ --190.221.111.247 (talk) 01:29, 11 April 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: No; try clicking on the disclaimer. It's just a fan site. Ntsimp (talk) 02:40, 11 April 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Infocom website 

message: The article seems biased, and the Activision takeover section seems especially biased; it sounds like someone who is just angry that Activision bought Infocom.  As there are also no sources cited, it seems like that section should be re-written for a more neutral stance.  76.23.212.191 (talk) 09:59, 11 March 2013 (UTC)
replies: text: Ditto, I think citations here are very much needed. Clements (talk) 13:37, 30 July 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  NPOV 

message: The article references choose-your-own-adventure style books produced by Infocom in the story lines of some of their games.  This block has no references, and I don't believe it is accurate.  Infocom released a number or regular novels (Wishbringer comes to mind) expanding on the universes/story lines of their games, but these were traditional, linear novels.  Is there any reference to the type of novels mentioned in the article?  I don't want to remove/change it without being sure. 67.79.182.218 (talk) 16:47, 8 January 2015 (UTC)
replies: text: There really were 4 of these books. I have one of them. You can look them up on Amazon or anywhere. They are , , , and . Ntsimp (talk) 17:22, 8 January 2015 (UTC)
replies: text: Oh, we already have an article on them: Zork books. Ntsimp (talk) 17:29, 8 January 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Interactive fiction books 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: I was doing some research for Infocom for the Legend Entertainment article. Figured it would be relevant here. 
* Multiple entries on this "7 works of interactive fiction that every developer should study" Gamasutra
* "While there were many small companies that created text adventure games, the greatest of them all was Infocom." Ars Technica
* "Infocom, the king of text adventure games"GameSpot
* "Infocom’s games were considered top-of-class in what was once a very busy genre"Touch Arcade
* "Infocom, the granddaddy of the genre" The Atlantic
* "Infocom's glorious reign" Wired
* "Ingenious programming and broad literary horizons brought (Infocom) ... explosive success" Boing Boing
* "classic text adventures", plus additional acclaim for specific titles PC Games N
* "classic adventure games", plus additional acclaim for specific titles Tech Raptor
* "Infocom, a prominent producer of interactive fiction" Engadget
Some of these may or may not be reliable sources, but there's some good research in here somewhere. Shooterwalker (talk) 14:17, 2 April 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Some acclaim for Infocom