The IF Theory Reader is old articles, mostly. The famous Crimes Against Mimesis post was in 1996. The original of my article in that book was written in 2002. There were revisions and new content, but it was a completion of an old project, not a 2011 project.
I just don’t see the year 2000 as that long ago. I suppose it’s my lack of knowledge of advances in IF that informs that position, rather than the contrary.
It’s also a bit like saying the bible is irrelevant because it’s old. Or Das Kapital. Or whatever.
Feels like a long time.
In my 2002 essay, I wrote: “I’ve been pretty clear about categorizing choose-your-own-adventure systems as ‘not-IF’.” In 2012 I updated it and wrote: “Whether to include CYOA games is not a settled question; opinion and usage varies within the community.” Kind of outdated, eh?
Fair enough. I haven’t read it cover to cover and I suppose I was only absorbing what was relevant to me: which is the design of parser games. What I’ve read I’ve found massively useful. I haven’t personally stumbled upon a section and thought “Now hey, that is MASSIVELY wrong!!” or anything so I thought I’d mention it in this thread. Obviously those more in the know than me can point to page 18, chapter 74.1, sentence 3 and state that bit is no longer relevant. But I’d argue - albeit as a reader and not a contributor - that the majority of what I read I felt holds relevant to right here and now. And the bits that don’t: perhaps the readership aren’t that stupid to hold every word as gospel (to bring the bible into it again)?
Problems with a broad geography.
No, ignore that, because something said on page 35 isn’t right anymore.
Well, old doesn’t necessarily mean wrong or irrelevant.
Certainly.
Zarf is defensive. My bad for giving the wrong suggestion on a thread asking for suggestions lol.
The Inform7 book by Aaron Reed is a little outdated on syntax in some cases, but it does go through a full game example, and covers some things from a game design perspective as well.
Emily Short has a lot of things tagged by topic, for example Conversation Modeling helped quite a bit when looking at how to flesh out player/NPC interaction.
What’s your deal, exactly? Your contributions to the thread have been A) More than a decade is not “old” and B) Saying things that are old aren’t irrelevant (no one said they were).
I suggested the IF Theory Reader. Someone said it was ‘old’. Great. Does it claim a pension and live in a twee English village by the sea?
? Not really seeing how anyone said your suggestion was wrong, or anyone other than you is being defensive.
Circling the wagons.
I’m not meaningfully part of the “community,” and I still have no idea what you’re alluding to. While zarf can be curt (or concise), imputing motives to him or attacking him over said curtness seems to be bad form. Conversely, people disagreeing with you is not indicative of a larger conspiracy. This is my take on it, phrased as politely as I could.
I found the MST3000 adaptation of Detective to be actually quite helpful, as well as funny.
Kind of an illustrated “how not-to”
I prefer a textbook example of “how to”, such as curses 
In isolation, perhaps. With the added context of the rest of the grief I elicit for simply opening my mouth the picture is somewhat different. Anyway, Life’s too short. I’ve formulated my views, as have they, and the prognosis is a negative one.
From what I’ve seen, neither occurred in this thread. I would like to understand where this comes from.
lol.
Translation for the hard of understanding: Given my presence here seems to cause some kind of uproar over the most trivial of matters, I won’t be posting here anymore. I will, however, continue reading as there’s a treasure trove of useful stuff here. I can’t provide all the evidence you personally need regarding this as it spans several threads and my personal inbox. But if you really are that interested, ask the moderators and senior members why they act the way they do.
The end. 
x
Ah, I see the problem.