BrianKrebsMy first recollection of having a "conversation" on a computer was ~1984. It was a text-based game on the Apple II that I can't remember the name of, but at some point in the game you could end up in a church or temple, and you could ask it anything. Of course, the game was limited in the number of different answers it could give at random, but the answers were all general and sagacious enough that they could be interpreted as some kind of meaningful response (at least to a 12 y/o). Wish I could recall the name of the game. Anyone?
Several people have suggested Zork. I don't think that's it. It was a text-based game, but believe at the point in the game I'm talking about there was a simple black and white cross showing while you were talking to the supreme being or whatever.
⛈️ Information ⛈️@briankrebs so many games from that area were totally lost, particularly in the realm of interactive fiction.
But I have a pretty vivid memory of that being from Mystery House, which was a semi-graphical game.
Aaron Moshiashwili@briankrebs unquestionably not Zork. No scene like that in Zork 1, 2, or 3.
markelp
Chris Walter@briankrebs Any idea @ryanfb ?
Ryan Baumann@ChrisWalter @briankrebs hmmm not immediately familiar to me but I can keep an eye out!
Brad Koehn@briankrebs That sounds like maybe one of the early Ultima games.
@bkoehn OMG I think you're right. Ultima is definitely a game we had. I remember bc my older brother was always playing it and hogging the computer. So it's probably the game I also wanted to play when he wasn't on the machine.
Mad Alex@briankrebs @bkoehn If it's a Ultima, my guess would be Ultima II, I don't remember anything like this in III or IV.
alfora@briankrebs @bkoehn The plot of Ultima III even talks about an AI.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultima_III:_Exodus#Plot
If you want to play without your brother hogging the computer, go ahead. 😉
@alfora @briankrebs @bkoehn make it stop!!! I hear the game music again... Do, do, do, do do do... Do dah do dad do...
(that and 'Orc flees' flashbacks)
Kevin Granade has moved@alfora @briankrebs @bkoehn talks about? The big evil is an AI. The magic talismans you gather to defeat it are punch cards. (Sorry for spoilers...)
Guitargrin@alfora @briankrebs @bkoehn omg I remember playing this on my atari 800 xl every day after school. So cool to see it again.
derekge@briankrebs @bkoehn I was going to suggest Ultima - it was probably Lord British you were talking to.
Brian LaShomb@briankrebs @bkoehn another possibility could be Questron, which came out from SSI, with license from Lord British for the game type.
DRawlins
Samer Farha@briankrebs not the same game, but I had a similar experience with a text based game on an Apple IIe — Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy!
synlogic@samerfarha @briankrebs I'm building a new game (Slartboz) which is in part a homage to HHGG (Infocom game and book)
ኢራ עירא Ira عيرا 🍓🎗️@samerfarha @briankrebs
Inventory: no tea
;)
@samerfarha @briankrebs Eliza on a PET 2001.
Yes, I am old. 😁
Simple Nomad@briankrebs Sounds like The Prisoner. It had a section like that, where you, number 6, had to not give up some information to your captors. Based off of the weird and wild British TV show of the same name.
Scott the F is implicit Baxter@simplenomad @briankrebs +1. The Prisoner.
Mark@briankrebs
Sounds like some sort of advent/adventure derivative.
Before that there was Eliza, less game but more Turing test.
Sounds like some sort of advent/adventure derivative.
Before that there was Eliza, less game but more Turing test.
Schamschula@zl2tod @briankrebs I well remember Eliza https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ELIZA from the 1970’s at the Lawrence Hall of Science in Berkeley.
J Wolfgang Goerlich@schamschula @zl2tod @briankrebs Nearly sixty years later, and they’re *still* trying to replace therapists with chatbots.
mkb@schamschula @zl2tod @briankrebs For a good time, ask ChatGPT to simulate a conversation between itself and Eliza. Good stuff.
@schamschula @zl2tod @briankrebs Tell me, how does remembering Eliza at the Lawrence Hall of Science in Berkeley make you feel? {wink}
⁂Krafty⁂ #NoKings@schamschula @zl2tod @briankrebs It's crazy that ELIZA work lol. Maybe it's just me but it's very easy to see past what it's doing
@schamschula @zl2tod @briankrebs I'm fairly sure I remember this too running around on my high school district's HP 2000 mainframe in California in the 80's...(that or the TRS-80s) It is what I always think of when we talk about talking today to AI...
Michael Slade@schamschula @zl2tod @briankrebs I recall people being very upset when told their conversations with ELIZA were not private.
Richard@briankrebs I want to say Zork, but I don't remember that particular scene.
Bryn@richard_merren @briankrebs Maybe Zork II or Zork III?
Jeff Atwood@briankrebs oh god incredible nerd sniping here 😅
kravitzAh, back when the grand intelligence of game AI was reduced to a lengthy swath of if/then statements.
In my day we didn't have ChatGPT teaching us about writing games and cutting and pasting code, we had to manually type thousands of lines of BASIC out of a book and if you make a typo you're f*@'d
Todd Fillingim
John Francis@briankrebs did it smell like Wumpus?
@briankrebs sounds vaguely like an early Ultima but I doubt thats it
Cardinale @ #XOXOfest@briankrebs Bard’s Tale maybe?
@briankrebs could it have been Amnesia? I never made it very far but sounds like ending up in a church would totally be possible.
@appsec4one I'm thinking more dementia at this point :)
jason r. totten@briankrebs was it Moria? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moria_(1983_video_game)
I remember that too and can also not remember which rogue-like game it was.
I remember that too and can also not remember which rogue-like game it was.
dr.nixon@briankrebs I recall a similar game, trying to reach and speak to an oracle. Specifically the Oracle of Syzygzy or something like that. Think it was a game that came with some Apple ][ magazine my parents got through work as teachers…
Jerry@briankrebs Infocom had so many great games in that era. I don’t recall the one you’ve described specifically (I thought maybe Zork Zero, but that wasn’t it), but maybe review their catalog?
TheJohnWeber@briankrebs Eamon, maybe?
Rob Ricci
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Ben Aveling
Michael@briankrebs Or maybe Zork I?
Mx. Luna Corbden 🐸@briankrebs My first conversation with an AI was on a BBS circa 1992-93. A sysop had set up an Eliza-type bot to respond to “Sysop Chat” from the menu when he wasn’t around. So I was meant to think it was him, until it started asking about my mother, and then I suspected.
Blort™ 🐀Ⓥ🥋☣️@briankrebs Grannies Garden? :P
VickieGray@briankrebs Not Zork, but thanks for the reminder of my 16-y-o self staying up til 2 am Boxing Day with Zork.
I.M. Bonetti@briankrebs If it was 1985 and you were answering (rather than asking) questions, it might be the ending of Ultima IV, where you use the stones to go down each level -- and the final stone takes you to a black screen and you have to answer a series of questions about the virtues as it slowly draws the symbol of the Codex of Ultimate Wisdom with each correct answer. Felt profound when I played it around the same time (at about the same age).