How I entered the Wonderful World of Adventure and Why I
       am Still There - Children and Housework Permitting.

                          By Sox

Once upon a time, my mother sent for a book using tokens from the
back of a cereal packet. It was a revelation when it arrived as it
didn't have just one ending.  Depending on how I was feeling and
the choices I made during the book, I could influence the result,
my starship took off, worlds collided, I reached a distant planet,
and I never really left.

At school, I joined the lunchtime Asimov Club, and with some time
off to discover the delights of boys and the Bay City Rollers.
Yes, that was me in the tartan trousers. I moved on through
science fiction and fantasy to my first Dungeon at Sixth Form
College.

When I went to University, I found a Dungeon, became a Hobbit
called Ariel Shadowfax and discovered the forbidden delights of
playing until dawn and then going to lectures after an enormous
breakfast. My mother still doesn't know why my exam results were
so bad!! During the holidays, still not owning a computer but
playing on my brother's Sinclair and Dragon, I discovered that I
could do text adventures, and simple games. My brother was only
ten at the time, neither of us had spare cash for anything more
sophisticated and we had to type in the commands from magazines
which generally took about three days.

I married and divorced and remarried and with jobs and babies
didn't really get into gaming again until 1988, though reading
Terry Pratchett and Piers Anthony was a great comfort when faced
with a wailing child needing a cuddle at 3am.  We bought a PC when
I decided to go back to College part time and my husband began a
correspondence course, naturally I rediscovered the text
adventure, with Jacaranda Jim and Humbug. I got T-Zero from
Graham Cluley too, though must admit to needing lots of help and
using the walk through as my brain was still not addled enough to
solve the puzzles. Earlier this year though, we decided to invest
in a cleverer machine and this led me to take a fresh look at the
freebies which had accumulated over the months and to invest in
Simon the Sorceror, and Monkey Island.

I also decided to subscribe to SynTax, at Graham Cluley's
suggestion, and found other people out there who regularly leave
reality behind them and step out into an alternative universe. The
reason that I am so often to be found in my own particular World
of Adventure is that the novelty has yet to wear off and my
travels are now only limited by two things: the time left over
from looking after two children, a husband, and a cat, and the
level of the overdraft. I bought MYST and Settlers this summer,
and have directed all Birthday and Christmas present buying
relatives in the direction of my piggy bank in the hope that I can
buy something else soon.  I still need lots of help, my telephone
bill isn't small, but there are so many worlds out there waiting
to be explored, puzzles to solve and by heck, the ironing can
wait.


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