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| A Mind Forever Voyaging | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer | Infocom |
| Publisher | Infocom |
| Designer | Steve Meretzky |
| Engine | Z-machine |
| Platforms | Amiga,Apple II,Atari ST,Commodore 128,MS-DOS,Mac |
| Release | Release 77: August 14, 1985Release 79: November 22, 1985 |
| Genres | Adventure,Interactive fiction |
| Mode | Single-player |
A Mind Forever Voyaging (AMFV) is aninteractive fiction game designed and implemented bySteve Meretzky and published in 1985 byInfocom. The game was intended as apolemical critique ofRonald Reagan's politics.[1]Its title comes from Book III of Wordsworth'sThe Prelude, describing a statue ofNewton in contemplation as "the marble index of a mind for ever voyaging through strange seas of thought, alone".
The story is set in the United States of North America, which is similar to the real-worldUnited States, in the year 2031. The player controls PRISM, the world's firstsentient computer.[2]
PRISM is instructed by its creator, Dr. Abraham Perelman, to run a simulation of Senator Richard Ryder's "Plan for Renewed National Purpose". This plan is intended to address the nation's failing economy, the highteenage suicide rate, and to strengthen the nation's position in anuclear arms race.
PRISM simulates the life of a man called Perry Simm, ten years after the plan has gone into effect. The player experiences some time in Perry's life. The plan appears to have had positive effects. Based on this simulation, the plan is deemed viable and preparations are set in motion.
However, Perelman feels that the ten-year simulation isn't enough, and makes PRISM do a simulation of the situation 20 years after the plan started, and then 30 years. Perelman is concerned by the simulations, but he needs more evidence to discredit the plan, as there are powerful people behind it. PRISM does a 40-year simulation, and with that still not quite satisfying Perelman, a 50-year simulation. The simulations show the situation becoming worse and worse with time.
PRISM goes into sleep mode while Perelman is preparing to present the findings to the government. When it wakes up, the facility is locked down by the military. Senator Ryder comes into Perelman's office and starts shouting at him. PRISM starts recording his words. After Ryder has left, suspicious "maintenance workers" come to the facility and make their way to PRISM's core, but PRISM renders them harmless. Then a news interface becomes available, and PRISM broadcasts the recording of Ryder's intimidation. The plan is thoroughly discredited and Senator Ryder is publicly disgraced.
Meretzky, the author, said in an interview that his intent with the game was to convey a negative view of Reagan's policies.[1] In another interview, he said that he had hoped forAMFV to cause controversy with its political content, expressing disappointment at the lack of hate mail.[3]
Computer Gaming World stated that parts ofAMFV are "transcendent".[4] In a 1998 retrospective review,AllGame gave the Macintosh version three-and-a-half stars out of five, saying that the game provides fun exploration, but has hardly anyreplay value.[5] In 2014,Adventure Gamers gave the game four stars out of five in its retrospective review, calling it "bold" and "innovative", but saying that it does not quite reach its goals.[6]
Next Generation listed it as number 66 on their "Top 100 Games of All Time" in 1996, commenting that "This Steve Meretzky triumph is one of the few games ... to attempt something more deep in the interactive entertainment medium than killing or humor. It presents a grim view of a dark future not by telling you about it, but rather by letting you experience it and do things for yourself."[7]
Meretzky: "So that was my mission with A Mind Forever Voyaging. I wanted to kind of to show people what a warmongering, Christian Right-pandering, environment-trashing, rights-trampling asshole Reagan was."