Letters @~Any letters sent to me that aren't marked 'not for publication' @~and which deal with adventure-related matters will be considered @~for inclusion, maybe being edited in the process. @~This issue, SynTax contents, MUGs, modems and ethics: SynTax @~contents and Top Tens: SynTax contents (again!): Dwarves, @~Dragons and thingummies: and that dragon is back! ------------------------------------------------------------------ From Simon Avery, Chudleigh Dear Readers, Well, it looks like I'm outvoted! Seriously, I'm glad that a few of you wrote in to say that you liked Syntax the way it is, I most certainly am not trying to force it to change, rather to instigate some thought on the content. But, as things turn out, I was in the minority and as such, am happy to now go quiet on the subject in the interests of the majority of people who are happy with things. The letter I wrote on the subject was for Sue, but as things turn out, I'm glad she printed it (she did ask first) - it has given me an idea of my fellow adventurers' likes and dislikes. On another, somewhat related subject, I wonder how many SynTax readers have access to a modem, and play Multi-User-Games (MUGs)? I liked Bev Truter's 'Ethics' article, it has certainly made me think. Having been guilty myself of making the player do some pretty horrible things in my games (mainly to squirrels), I shall have to take a good, hard look at future games to try and make then a little less 'nasty'. Perhaps it's just because I'm a fairly nasty man myself? @~Don't talk to me about squirrels! We're having a lot of problems @~with one at the moment. It has been seen on the porch roof, in @~my hanging basket being watched by a group of cats sitting in a @~line on the wall below (!) and we think it may have set off the @~house alarm one morning. It's certainly killed a lot of the @~Virginia creeper growing up the house by using it as a climbing @~frame ... @~Just to prove you're not completely on your own re the SynTax @~contents: ------------------------------------------------------------------ From John Moore, Stafford ... AS TO SYNTAX I FEEL THAT I WOULD PREFER IT TO BE MADE UP ENTIRELY OF ADVENTURE RELATED SUBJECTS AND NOT DIVERSIFY INTO FILMS, BOOKS AND STAR TREK PROFILES ETC. AFTER ALL THAT IS WHY I JOINED, STILL THERE IS ENOUGH IN THE CURRENT LAYOUT TO KEEP ME INTERESTED. ANOTHER THING I HAVE NOTICED IS THAT THE TOP TENS ARE ALL INCREDIBLY OLD GAMES, NO MENTION OF SAM & MAX OR STEEL SKY OR ANYTHING REMOTELY NEW. ARE ALL YOUR MEMBERS STUCK IN A TIME WARP? (PROVOKE ANGRY REACTION HERE.) WITH THAT COMMENT I HAD BETTER BEAT A HASTY RETREAT BEFORE CURSES AND SPELLS START WINGING THEIR WAY UP THE M6. @~Hmm, that reminds me, I must redo my Top Ten some time ... I @~keep nagging all of you to send yours in, then forget my own! @~There would still be some old games in mine - for instance, I @~have fond memories of the first Monkey Island game, because it @~broke new ground and though I thoroughly enjoyed Day of the @~Tentacle, MI was special because it was the first, really well @~designed, humorous graphic adventure. Maybe other readers are @~similarly nostalgic about other classics, Dungeon Master being @~the prime example? Many have imitated it, few have beaten it. ----------------------------------------------------------------- @~More on SynTax contents. I asked Alex if it was okay for me to @~print his letter as it shows one predicament I find myself in. From Alex McEwan, Chineham I have decided not to renew my subscription to SynTax, but rather than just let it lapse, I thought that the least I could do was to drop a note of explanation. The single biggest factor in my decision was the fact that I now read very little of it. I have always been a bit of a purist when it comes to games. Text adventures were my first and still probably my main interest in computing. I have never been interested in RPGs or anything of that nature, although some graphic adventures, like those produced by Sierra, have kept me amused for limited periods. Of course this meant that there have always been sections of the magazine that I have skipped, but recently I have been skipping much more than I read. The recent debate on 'extra' features more or less made up my mind for me. I HATE science fiction in any guise, even text adventures with a space type setting have always left me cold. No pun intended, but Level 9's Snowball was the first game that I bought and never finished and this was due entirely to my inability to get interested in the setting. The inclusion of book, TV and film reviews relating to science fiction has tipped the read/skip balance too far to the wrong side to make it worthwhile continuing my subscription. I accept totally what you said about these features being 'extra' and not taking up space at the expense of adventure related material, and I think that this may explain the core problem, which is simply that there are not enough good text adventures around. Good is the operative word here, there is no shortage of the games but, not to put too fine a point on it, most of them are complete rubbish. Well-intentioned maybe, but rubbish nonetheless. It would seem inevitable that the diversity which is now apparent in SynTax is the only way to fill up the pages, and while this will be perfectly acceptable, or indeed welcomed, by those who like Quantum Trek etc, regrettably I have to call it a day. Please be assured that this is in no way a criticism of you or the job that you do with SynTax, but simply an acceptance by me that the good old days have gone, and that there is no point in continuing with something purely for the sake of it. Overall I have enjoyed my period of subscription, and I would like to thank you for the work that you put into SynTax, and for the help that you gave me when required. @~Well, as far as producing a magazine just covering text games, @~these days that is an impossibility. But reading Alex's letter, @~I almost felt I would have been better producing a 360K magazine @~without any of the 'extras'. I was grateful to Alex for letting @~me know WHY he had stopped taking SynTax. It's very rare to get @~any explanation when people drop out. But I don't think I can do @~anything about his problems with it. ----------------------------------------------------------------- From Alex van Kaam, The Netherlands ... As to Dwarves ,Dragons and Elves, they still exist. Many many years ago they found a portal to a place much better than this one, and maybe some of us will one day find this portal, if we just keep looking hard enough, so I have to disagree with your ark version. Although it sounds nice, as to James, Jean and the BMK, why try to explain Dwarves, Dragons and Elves they just exist, but that's the whole point of 'our' human race we always need clear proof and then when it is standing straight in front of us we think we are experiencing some sort of dream. As to how long can other races live, what is time? We humans had to make a year into 365 days, a day into 24 hours and a hour into 60 min and, yes, a minute into 60 seconds and we even have milliseconds. (You didn't forget to put your clocks one second back a few weeks ago?) There are animals in our 'known' world that live just one 'human' day, but to them it is a lifetime. But the main point is, we 'humans' have one great failure, if we can't explain it and more important we can't control it we just say it doesn't exist and it is just fantasy. As to James, do you really and I mean really believe in life on other planets and UFOs, 10 to 1 you don't or you have your doubts, why, you need proof, don't you ? So, Nogwidget, you can visit James's home, you can even burn down his PC, or his house if you want, and he will surely blame it to some sort of electrical error. So to bring this to an end, yes, Dwarves, Dragons and Elves do exist as do lots and lots of other creatures and races and if you don't believe this then I'm sorry for you and the fact that you are closing your mind to so many things. And James, don't try to dismantle this letter with 'known' facts about gases and all the little minded facts you like to use since the more you will try to do this the more you will prove I'm right. @~I blame EVERYTHING on Nogwidget! And guess who I got my first @~SynTax FAX from? Dear Medley Human Person, You're not the only person with the "latest bit of technology". That's why this letter is appearing from your FAX machine. So, you had trouble with your Inherit the Earth disk, did you? Well, you wouldn't find any claw marks on it as I only breathed on it. What you didn't notice was that I also made a slight alteration to the last issue of SynTax. I got bored with your neat alphabetical lists of everything. If you look at the index of solutions and maps, you will see that Ultima VIII now resides between Might and Magic and Starbase 13. I did have an idea for bumping up readership, which will give me more people to aggravate. I thought that I might fly through the air and attract attention and trail a banner advertising SynTax. But then I realised that everyone would be looking at me and ignoring the banner. I like the idea of people doing adventures together, although I am not surprised that Grue forged ahead when you were playing Companions of Xanth. His mental ability is far inferior to mine but, no doubt, above that of a female human player. I like the idea because I could be of help. If anyone thought that another player was too far ahead, then I could be called upon for a little sabotage. For a price, of course. You human persons do seem to have trouble identifying objects, which I assume must be due to playing too many adventure games. In my previous letter I mentioned the problem that Grue was having distinguishing between a bed and a chair. I now note from the last issue of SynTax that BMK is sitting on a fence and MerC is on a soap box. Strange people! Talking of Grue, I was interested in his review of 'Dragonsphere'. It sounded like a really good game. I might pop round to his place and have a go. At the game, not him. The only thing wrong with the review was, unlike Neil Shipman's review of 'Myst', Grue did not give the PC system requirements. Neil gets it right, Grue gets it wrong. Of course, I don't blame Grue. I blame the editor - you. It's your job to add this sort of information for your readers. But I don't suppose you have the time with all the gadding about that you're doing. I popped in to see you the other day and found that you had gone out and left poor Alan to look after himself. I called again, a couple of days later, and again you were out and Alan was even having to make his own coffee. Now, this is just not good enough. A woman's place is in the home. You are allowed to play games on the computer. What more do you want? Yours disgustingly, Nogwidget @~As you know, Nogwidget likes to sabotage anything electrical I @~have; it's one of his more endearing qualities. I had to have a @~chuckle when he had to have two goes at sending the FAX - ha! - o -