The Secrets of Infocom

                   Unearthed by The Grue

Did you know that for years Infocom had been receiving occasional
letters from people insisting that Zork and Enchanter are evil
because they deal with magic?  The use of magic, even in fiction,
apparently promotes all sorts of nasty things, such as devil
worship.

When clearing out the old Infocom offices in Cambridge Park Drive,
some of the staff unearthed a pile of dusty old letters, hidden
away in a secret compartment in the executive toilets ...

Apparently it began with a letter from a woman in California who
wanted a full refund for Zork I. "I had no idea when I bought it
that it was dealing with demonistic realms ... I was appalled that
my ten year old son was being influenced in this way ... What kind
of perversions are you trying to promote in youngsters??".

Shortly after that a woman from Cape Cod, a self-described
"Kamikaze For Jesus" discovered the Zork decision novel that her
son had purchased at a school book fair. She immediately
recognised the book for what it was, a dangerous promoter of
violence and demonic worship and attempted to have it banned from
the school library.

Infocom had some years back an advertisement for the Enchanter
trilogy which depicted a wizard stirring a bubbling cauldron of
purple smoke. Because it was so eye-catching a whole slew of
religious zealots discovered that Infocom was actually the great
Satan. One letter carrier dropped them a note to say that he was
refusing to deliver any copies of Boy's Life which ran this ad.

Another person sent in a copy of the ad with all the offending
phrases circled MAGIC AND SPELLS, POWERS AND SORCERER and CIRCLE
OF ENCHANTERS - not to mention THRILLING PROPORTIONS, which must
have surely spilled directly from the mouth of Lucifer himself.
Written in the corner of the ad NO THANKS! THE WORLD HAS GOT
ENOUGH EVIL IN IT! WE DON'T NEED MADE UP EVIL FROM FOOLS LIKE
YOU!. The person also wrote JESUS LOVES YOU across the Sorcerer
package, obviously mistaking it for a car bumper.

One of the more recent letters was from Ocean Grove, New Jersey
(hardly the heart of the Bible Belt). "I was looking through a
mag. I saw your ad. I hope you are with plain tricks and not
magic. Just what Infocom means I don't know, I hope the U.S. gets
back to the faith of our fathers. Amen."  Enclosed with this note
were several pamphlets and articles, most annotated with
scribblings like, "Never Take The Number 666. It Is The Number Of
The Antichrist - - It Leads To Everlasting Fire"

All I can say is "I hope these puritans never find out about
Spellcasting 101".