NationMaster - Encyclopedia: A Mind Forever Voyaging

A Mind Forever Voyaging (AMFV) is an interactive fiction game designed and implemented by Steve Meretzky and published by Infocom in 1985. The name is taken from book three of The Prelude by William Wordsworth: To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... Zork, an early work of interactive fiction, running on a modern interpreter Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, describes software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. ... In computer games and video games, single-player refers to the variant of a particular game where input from only one player is expected throughout the course of the gaming session. ... The original Amiga 1000 (1985) with Commodore 1080 monitor The Amiga is a family of home/personal computers originally developed by Amiga Corporation as an advanced home entertainment and productivity machine. ... The 1977 Apple II, complete with integrated keyboard, color graphics, sound, a plastic case and eight expansion slots. ... The Atari 520ST Atari 1040STF with SC1224 color monitor The Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was commercially popular from 1985 to the early 1990s. ... The Commodore 128 (C128, CBM 128, C=128) home/personal computer was Commodore Business Machines (CBM)s last commercially released 8-bit machine. ... Microsofts disk operating system, MS-DOS, was Microsofts implementation of DOS, which was the first popular operating system for the IBM PC, and until recently, was widely used on the PC compatible platform. ... The first Macintosh computer, introduced in 1984, upgraded to a 512K Fat Mac. The Macintosh or Mac, is a line of personal computers designed, developed, manufactured, and marketed by Apple Computer. ... A floppy disk is a data storage device that is composed of a disk of thin, flexible (floppy) magnetic storage medium encased in a square or rectangular plastic shell. ... A floppy disk is a data storage device that is composed of a disk of thin, flexible (floppy) magnetic storage medium encased in a square or rectangular plastic shell. ... It has been suggested that IBM PC keyboard be merged into this article or section. ... Zork, an early work of interactive fiction, running on a modern interpreter Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, describes software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. ... Steve Meretzky Steven Eric Meretzky (born May 1, 1957) is an American computer game designer, with dozens of titles to his credit. ... Zork universe Zork games Zork Anthology Zork trilogy Zork I Zork II Zork III Beyond Zork Zork Zero Enchanter trilogy Enchanter Sorcerer Spellbreaker Other games Wishbringer Return to Zork Zork: Nemesis Zork Grand Inquisitor Zork: The Undiscovered Underground Topics in Zork Encyclopedia Frobozzica Characters Kings Creatures Timeline Magic Calendar Zorkmid... The Prelude is an autobiographical poem in blank verse by the English poet William Wordsworth. ... Wordsworth redirects here. ...

AMFV was not a conventional Infocom adventure, having only a single puzzle near the end of the game. Unlike most other Infocom titles, particularly those written by Steve Meretzky, the game had a serious tone and a political theme; attributes which the company would revisit with the following year's Trinity. The game is among Infocom's most respected titles, although it was not a commercial success. It was also the first of the "Interactive Fiction Plus" line, meaning that AMFV had greater memory requirements, unlike earlier Infocom games that used a less advanced version of the company's "Z-machine" interpreter. Trinity is an interactive fiction computer game written by Brian Moriarty and published in 1986 by Infocom. ... The Z machine at Sandia National Laboratory. ...

Plot

The player controls PRISM, the world's first sentient computer, in the year 2031. The economy of the United States of North America (USNA) is failing. Great numbers of youths are turning to "Joybooths" (a device which directly stimulates the sensory input of the brain) and committing suicide by overstimulation. A new arms race involving nuclear weapons no larger than the size of a common pack of cigarettes threatens to turn the USNA into a police state. Unaware that it is a sophisticated computer, PRISM has been living in a simulation for 20 years as an ordinary human, "Perry Simm." Dr. Abraham Perelman, PRISM's "father", informs Perry of his true nature and gently brings him from simulation mode into reality. Perelman explains that he has awakened PRISM so a vital mission can be performed: running a simulation of a revitalization plan (dubbed the Plan for Renewed National Purpose), sponsored by Senator Richard Ryder. The plan calls for "renewed national purpose" through de-regulation of government and industry, military conscription, a unilateral approach to diplomatic relations, and a return to traditional and fundamental values. Hondas humanoid robot AI redirects here. ... The United States of North America (USNA) is a fictional country in the Infocom text adventure, A Mind Forever Voyaging (AMFV). ... In animals, the brain, or encephalon (Greek for in the head), is the control center of the central nervous system. ... Suicide (from Latin sui caedere, to kill oneself) is the act of willfully ending ones own life. ... An Arms Race is a competition between two or more countries for military supremacy. ... The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, 1945, rose some 18 kilometers (11 mi) above the hypocenter. ... A lit cigarette will burn to ash from one end. ... A police state is a political condition where the government maintains strict control over society, particularly through suspension of civil rights and often with the use of a force of secret police. ...

Note: The following description is based on the player making the correct choices and successfully completing the game.

While in simulation mode, Perry is able to record experiences in a buffer which will be analyzed to evaluate the success of the plan. If Perry "dies" in the simulation, it is not catastrophic; the simulation can simply be reset and reentered. The simulation initially focuses on the fictional small town of Rockvil, South Dakota, 10 years after the plan has been implemented. Given a list of public, civil, and private areas to record for evaluation, Perry enters the simulation to find a revitalized Rockvil. The government is more efficient, the economy has improved, food is plentiful, and his simulated wife (Jill) and son (Mitchell) are hopeful for the future. When the recordings are brought back and evaluated, the plan is deemed viable and preparations to implement it are begun. Official language(s) English Capital Pierre Largest city Sioux Falls Area Ranked 17th - Total 77,163 sq mi (199,905 kmÂ²) - Width 210 miles (340 km) - Length 380 miles (610 km) - % water 1. ...

Perelman, however, feels uneasy recommending such a sweeping plan based on relatively little data. He is also distrustful of the plan. (When PRISM asks Perelman about himself, Perelman mentions that politically, he has "always been pretty liberal...." Conservative elements are considered to be the plan's strongest supporters based on statistical sampling, although the plan has the support of a majority of both liberals and conservatives.) In a passing comment to PRISM, Perelman notes that further simulation might allow more in-depth evaluation of the long-term effects of the plan. With nothing further to do, PRISM enters sleep mode; he has no physical body that requires rest, but since his mind is based on that of a human, sleep is necessary for his mental well-being.

After waking, PRISM finds that the Simulation Controller has correlated enough data from the initial test period to provide a further projection of 20 years into the future. With Dr. Perelman occupied with other concerns, PRISM begins the new simulation. By 2051, Rockvil has begun to decline, as the optimism granted by the plan wanes. Pollution has increased as woodlands are stripped and converted into filthy industrial districts. The Border Security Force, created to defend the nation against Soviet nuclear terrorism, conducts warrantless raids on people seemingly at random, including Perry's family. Capital punishment is imposed for relatively minor offenses. Due to rising crime, a government-initiated curfew is now in effect. The quality and supply of food dwindles. A new cult, The Church of God's Word, arises and finds many supporters within the increasingly discontented public. Perry quietly records all this and presents it to Perelman for evaluation. Water pollution Pollution is the release of environmental contaminants. ... Capital punishment, or the death penalty, is the execution of a convicted criminal by the state as punishment for crimes known as capital crimes or capital offences. ... A curfew can be one of the following: An order by the government for certain persons to return home daily before a certain time. ... This article does not discuss cult in its original sense of religious practice; for that usage see Cult (religious practice). ...

Examining PRISM's recordings, Perelman expresses alarm and cautiously suggests further investigation. Once again, the Simulation Controller has gathered enough information to create another new simulation era, this one 30 years after the plan's implementation. Perry enters to find matters even worse. Air and water pollution are nearing catastrophic levels. The BSF and local police treat the public savagely. Public executions of criminals are televised and are extremely popular. Vandalism and cruelty to people and animals alike are rampant. Public services are in disarray. The Church of God's Word has grown to gain a stranglehold on the nation, establishing a caste-like system of social classes and seducing Perry's son Mitchell to abandon his family. Once again, PRISM discreetly records the chaos. A caricature of Gustave Courbet taking down a Morris column, published by Le PÃ¨re DuchÃªne illustrÃ© magazine Vandalism is the conspicuous defacement destruction of a structure or symbol against the will of the owner/governing body. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ...

Perelman is deeply disturbed by the recordings, but is acutely aware of the powerful people behind the plan. Exhaustive evidence will be needed to discredit the plan, so he asks PRISM to enter a simulation set 40 years in the future. By 2071, the future is grim indeed. The Church has installed itself as a new totalitarian government. A Church newsletter reveals that higher-echelon Church members are allowed to own slaves. Mitchell, now fully under the Church's power, leads a raid on his parents' home and has Jill arrested for heresy. ("She spake against the Church," Mitchell charges, "[and] tried to poison the mind of a child too young to know the Truth.") Strict rationing is in effect for the miserable food available; if Perry attempts to use his ration card twice within one day, he is arrested, beaten, and quickly tried and executed. Attempting to enter one of the few food establishments leads to a violent dismissal, since patronage is reserved for Church members. The public executions of the past have given way to bloody gladiatorial matches between condemned criminals. Sudden and random death is frequent: Perry is shot by a drunken officer after curfew, and he is stoned to death in a schoolyard by Church youths, who view the sickly, malnourished Perry as little more than an animal. The concept of Totalitarianism is a typology or ideal-type used by some political scientists to encapsulate the characteristics of a number of twentieth century regimes that mobilized entire populations in support of the state or an ideology. ... Heresy, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is a theological or religious opinion or doctrine maintained in opposition, or held to be contrary, to the Catholic or Orthodox doctrine of the Christian Church, or, by extension, to that of any church, creed, or religious system, considered as orthodox. ... Pollice Verso (With a Turned Thumb), an 1872 painting by Jean-LÃ©on GÃ©rÃ´me, is a well known history painters researched conception of a gladiatorial combat. ...

These records still aren't quite enough to satisfy Perelman. The doctor feels that there might yet be some small hope for revival (perhaps a result of his own personal idealism), and sends PRISM to the final projection of 2081, 50 years after the implementation of the plan promised to save the nation.

There is no salvation. The environment has been devastated. The small area of Rockvil that can be survived is a wasteland, and society has collapsed into complete chaos. Telephone poles have been chopped down for firewood. Buildings collapse into rubble. Defenseless people are ripped to shreds both by packs of wild dogs and barbaric humans. Barely any recognizable or edible food remains. Perry makes recordings of several brief moments of life cut violently short, and then leaves the hellish projection for good.

At last Perelman feels that enough evidence exists to declare the plan a complete disaster. As he prepares to leave and present PRISM's findings to the government, he thanks the computer for its efforts; without them, the nation, and perhaps even the entire world, would have been doomed. Left once again with nothing else to do, PRISM enters Sleep Mode.

The computer "wakes" again hours later to find that the facility where it is housed is under lockdown by the Dakota-Manitoba National Guard. Senator Ryder sees the discrediting of "his" plan as a personal insult. Incensed, he ignores the evidence of its disastrous consequences and decides to make Perelman pay. Ryder bursts into Perelman's office and proceeds to berate him until his implied threats escalate to explicit ones. PRISM surreptitiously begins recording the senator's abuse via an audio/video link. Delivering a final spate of insults and promises of violence, Ryder leaves. PRISM waits for an interface to a global newsfeed to become active so the recorded incident can be transmitted. Dakota (borrowed from the autonym of the Sioux people) may refer to: A group of Amerindian tribes (see Sioux), or lands named after them: The related tribes in Minnesota known as the Santee or Dakota Oyate (Nation), including the Prairie Island (Mdewakanton and Wahpekute) Indian Community, the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux... Motto: Gloriosus et Liber (Latin: Glorious and free) Official languages English and French, per mandate of the Constitution Act 1982 Flower Prairie Crocus Tree White Spruce Bird Great Grey Owl Capital Winnipeg Largest city Winnipeg Lieutenant-Governor John Harvard Premier Gary Doer (NDP) Parliamentary representation - House seats - Senate seats 14... The United States National Guard is a component of the United States Army (the Army National Guard) and the United States Air Force (the Air National Guard). ...

Shortly after Ryder storms off, a small craft lands on the building's roof and two men dressed as maintenance workers make their way towards PRISM's maintenance core. They seem suspiciously out of place, especially when they start tinkering with the cooling systems. Realizing that the men are goons of Ryder's, PRISM closes the ventilation to the area; fumes accumulate quickly and render the assailants unconscious. They are soon discovered by the National Guard and arrested, and Ryder's attempts at intimidation are broadcast around the world.

The plan is thoroughly discredited and Senator Ryder is publicly disgraced. Perelman lauds PRISM for the initiative it has shown in recording the incident and in protecting itself from harm. As a reward for the outstanding service it has performed for the nation, PRISM — or rather, Perry — is allowed to "retire" into a final simulation. All traces of the plan have been erased, and Perry is reunited with his family in the year 2091, 60 years in the future of a more peaceful timeline. He, his wife and son are happy and prosperous, and Perry looks towards his golden years with joy and anticipation.

The Plan for Renewed National Purpose and other political elements

AMFV was unique among Infocom titles (with the possible exception of Trinity) in that it addressed political issues, with the author's own views directly available to the player. The adventure takes place in the United States of North America, a country that embraces all of the present-day United States of America and Canada, including Quebec, and whose laws and customs are strongly modeled on the United States. Washington, DC, remains the capital city. The climax of the adventure takes place after PRISM determines that the Plan for Renewed National Purpose is deeply flawed, and will send the nation into chaos. Trinity is an interactive fiction computer game written by Brian Moriarty and published in 1986 by Infocom. ... The United States of North America (USNA) is a fictional country in the Infocom text adventure, A Mind Forever Voyaging (AMFV). ... Motto: Je me souviens (French: I remember) Official languages French Flower Blue Flag Iris (Iris versicolor LinnÃ©) Tree Yellow Birch Bird Snowy Owl Capital Quebec City Largest city Montreal Lieutenant-Governor Lise Thibault Premier Jean Charest (PLQ) Parliamentary representation - House seats - Senate seats 75 24 Area Total - Land - Water (% of...

The plan is a critique of both right-wing and populist political prescriptions that were popular in the mid 1980s. The plan consisted of the following points: In politics, right-wing, the political right, or simply the right, are terms which refer, with no particular precision, to the segment of the political spectrum in opposition to left-wing politics. ... Populism is a political ideology or rhetorical style that holds that the common person is oppressed by the elite in society, which exists only to serve its own interests, and therefore, the instruments of the State need to be grasped from this self-serving elite and instead used for the...

Constitutional amendments: This article contrasts tax evasion, tax avoidance, tax resistance and tax mitigation. ... Decentralisation (or decentralization) is any of various means of more widely distributing decision-making to bring it closer to the point of service or action. ... Federal courts Supreme Court Chief Justice Associate Justices Elections Presidential elections Midterm elections Political Parties Democratic Republican Third parties State & Local government Governors Legislatures State Courts Counties, Cities, and Towns Other countries Politics Portal The government of the United States of America, established by the U.S. Constitution, is a... Deregulation is the process by which governments remove restrictions on business in order to (in theory) encourage the efficient operation of markets. ... Conscription is a general term for forced labor demanded by some established authority, e. ... This article discusses family values as a political concept. ... This page is about the sociological concept. ... A subsidy is generally a monetary grant given by government in support of an activity regarded as being in the public interest. ...

If the player reaches the optimum ending, he is placed in simulation mode and sent to live out the rest of his life in the year 2091. It is revealed that a new political "plan" was enacted after the defeat of the Plan for Renewed National Purpose. Although not spelled out in great detail, this plan was apparently was one of pacifism and social welfare-statism. The executive is the branch of a government charged with implementing, or executing, the law and running the day-to-day affairs of the government or state. ... Pacifism is the opposition to war or violence as a means of settling disputes. ... ... Statism (or Etatism) is a very loose and often derogatory term that is used to describe: Specific instances of state intervention in personal, social or economic matters. ...

Given that the Plan for Renewed National Purpose resulted in the collapse of civilization in the USNA, it appears that the author's intent was to warn against the possible consequences of some policy choices made during the Reagan administration: specifically, a more aggressive foreign/military policy, the cutting of social welfare benefits to permit tax cuts, and an emphasis on religious values. Famous people with the family name Reagan include: Ronald Reagan, 40th President of The United States Nancy Reagan, the wife of Ronald Reagan and influential First Lady Ron Reagan, President Reagans son and liberal journalist Michael Reagan, President Reagans son and conservative talk show host John Henninger Reagan...

Also, in the fictional year 2031, Greece and Guatemala are considered anti-American nations (along with North Korea and Albania) and the black-dominated South African government faces attacks from a radical white terrorist group called WIZO. Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi had been killed during a Libyan nuclear test in the early 2010s. Significantly, the Soviet Union continues to exist, and presents security threats to the United States. Indeed, the Eastern bloc appears to have had something of a renaissance by the year 2031 in this fictional world. Muammar Abu Minyar al-Qaddafi 1 â€” pronounced Gaddafi â€” (Arabic: Ù…Ø¹Ù…Ø± Ø§Ù„Ù‚Ø°Ø§ÙÙŠ ) (born c. ... A map of the Eastern Bloc. ... Raphael was famous for depicting illustrious figures of the Classical past with the features of his Renaissance contemporaries. ...

Feelies

Although AMFV was an atypical Infocom game, it nonetheless contained the extra package content known as feelies. The game package included: Infocom used the term feelies to refer to the extra content included with the boxed versions of their interactive fiction computer games. ...

Official language(s) English Capital Pierre Largest city Sioux Falls Area Ranked 17th - Total 77,163 sq mi (199,905 kmÂ²) - Width 210 miles (340 km) - Length 380 miles (610 km) - % water 1. ... Official language(s) English Capital Bismarck Largest city Fargo Area Ranked 19th - Total 70,762 sq mi (183,272 kmÂ²) - Width 210 miles (340 km) - Length 340 miles (545 km) - % water 2. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Official language(s) English Capital Cheyenne Largest city Cheyenne Area Ranked 10th - Total 97,818 sq mi (253,348 kmÂ²) - Width 280 miles (450 km) - Length 360 miles (580 km) - % water 0. ... Disposable ballpoint pen, disassembled (top) and complete (bottom) A ballpoint pen, also eponymously known in British English as a biro (pronounced bye-row in Britain but sometimes bee-row elsewhere, depending on location), is a modern writing instrument. ...

Notes

Author Steve Meretzky noted that he had hoped for some controversy with the political content of AMFV. When the game generated nearly no uproar at all, he "decided to write something with a little bit of sex in it, because nothing generates controversy like sex". [1] The resulting game with "a little bit of sex" was Leather Goddesses of Phobos. Steve Meretzky Steven Eric Meretzky (born May 1, 1957) is an American computer game designer, with dozens of titles to his credit. ... Cover of the Lane Mastodon comic—the instruction manual for the game Leather Goddesses of Phobos is an interactive fiction game published and developed by Infocom in 1986 for the DOS, Apple II, Apple Macintosh, Atari ST and Commodore 64 computers. ...

Contents

Plot

The Plan for Renewed National Purpose and other political elements

Feelies

Notes

See also

External links

Contents

Plot GA_googleFillSlot("encyclopedia_square");

The Plan for Renewed National Purpose and other political elements

Feelies

Notes

See also

External links

Plot