whoami
First thing I did when playing whoami was start a bash terminal, type ‘man whoami’, and check – yes, what I got was not 100% identical to the game’s blurb, but it was close enough! Look, I’m the intended audience here, a Linux user who is at least somewhat familiar with the terminal. I know that /dev contains hardware devices and that /bin contains binary, that is executable, files; I know that .. takes you up a directory; and perhaps more importantly, I know that a ‘#’ comments out a line, so that you can activate parts of a script by taking out the ‘#’, which is a crucial part of the game’s central puzzle. I can imagine that this super slick Twine implementation of a bash shell could be a bit overwhelming for those who have never used such software… but perhaps trial and error will work too.
The medium very much is the message here. Working through the bash interface is cool. Finding an Inform parser game embedded inside it is also cool, even if the game is horrible. And a web page reminiscent of the 90s! I didn’t even mind the stupid Towers of Hanoi puzzle. Oh yeah, and there’s also a story about surviving nuclear war and uploading your consciousness into a simulation? But to be frank, this fades into the background compared to the coolness of the interface.
I’ll even forgive the game for name checking Nick Bostrom.