Just to be clear, I don’t think an interest in setting is necessarily holding IF back – I’d like it not to be the only thing we do, but setting is a strength for interactive games of all types, and I think we do well to keep exploring the possibilities there. But I do think it’s cramping if we always do setting at the lowest possible level, with interest predominantly in small acts of physical manipulation.
(Disclaimer: I have a WIP that is very much about setting, but I’ve tried to focus the interaction on actions that are a little unusual for IF, and streamline the opening doors sorts of activity so that they’re as automatic as possible.)