I’d read articles about the more technical side of authoring IF. I’m not sure if they’d be page turners, but I’d love to read about how to approach certain tools, like “What do you wish you would have known before authoring with _____ engine?” or “Key aspects to master when using _____ engine.”
I just remember the confusion I felt when starting with Twine and I believe that articles supporting new authors would be awesome.
I just today thought the same. In my case I would like to know which abilities each engine/tool has.
Also any personal tour through the personal top 5 games would be nice. Telling about genre, difficulty, special strengths and weaknesses, length would be nice.
I would also like to read an article by someone who criticizes IF. Like, every once in a while, we get some traction of “What can we do to grow IF?” I’m really curious about how IF can evolve.
I noticed the slogan for The Rosebush is “Interaction Fiction Theory and Criticism” and it got me thinking.
Bonus points for if the author absolutely despises interactive fiction with every fibre of their being. 
Ah, no, sorry. Different meaning of “criticism” – The Rosebush slogan is referring to literary/arts criticism which Wikipedia describes as “the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature” or “the process of describing, analyzing, interpreting, and judging works of art.”
I like my interpretation much better. 
Oh, sure, it makes a good joke. Just… since parts of this thread have been serious suggestions, I wanted to give a heads-up that “Wot I think is wrong with IF” would be a hard sell for us: probably not something we’d actually publish
I know what you mean, and yes, I’m making fun, but the sentiment rings true. Not from a what is wrong perspective, but from what could be improved.
For example, @Mewtamer has “opened my eyes” to the “glaring” need for blind accessible choice-based games. IF seems like such a perfect medium for accessible games, yet not a lot of authors account for that. I tried to put more sight metaphors in that example, but it “looks” like I ran out.
I slay me.
Yes, if we wonder why IF is not a commercial success we should listen to players who refuse IF. But if they despise it with every fibre that’s too much imho.
Makes me think that a good article for The Rosebush would be “IF for people who don’t like IF”.
I haven’t played a ton of IF, but I got started with Violet (never finished it, but I really, really enjoyed it and even tried to get some other people to try it out) then I played a few other parser games that didn’t quite land… and I felt like maybe IF wasn’t for me. Then I played John Ayliff’s Seedship and I was blown away. Played A Dark Room and was mesmerized by the creativity and direction on display. What I found was that I needed a “foot in the door” to want to explore more of what IF has to offer. I think there are more IF games that ride the line between traditional IF and conventional video games… but they are hard to find. I think those are the types of gateway drugs needed to grow IF.
It would be interesting to survey and interview people who think they don’t like IF, ask them to play some games we think are good, and then ask them again if they like it.
Of course, the interviewees need to be screened for and paid for their time. There need to be questions reviewed over and over again to make sure they tease out any useful bits. A lot of academic effort, but it could be worthwhile.
I am otherwise skeptical if we can know a “non-IF” audience without their input. It’s entirely possible everyone is missing the bigger picture besides what is already raised a million times in the forum.