RELIGIOUS FRINGE HAS OWN IDEAS ABOUT INFOCOM By Steve Meretzky, in +quot;The Status Line,+

RELIGIOUS FRINGE HAS OWN IDEAS ABOUT INFOCOM
 By Steve Meretzky, in "The Status Line," Winter/Spring 1987, p. 8.


Pat Robertson isn't president yet, but that hasn't stopped a lot of religious 
fringe types from crawling out of the woodwork lately.  At least Infocom's 
woodwork, lately. 

For years, we've been receiving occasional letters from ladies and gentlemen 
around the country who insist that our Zork and Enchanter games are evil 
because they deal with magic.  The use of magic, even in fiction, apparently 
promotes all sorts of nasty things, such as devil worship or forgetting to 
send money to Jimmy Swaggart. 

The recent wave of activity began a bit more than a year ago, with a letter 
from a woman in California who wanted a full refund for Zork I.  "I had no 
idea when I bought it that it was dealing with demonistic realms ... I was 
appalled that my ten year old son was being influenced in this way ... What 
kind of perversions are you trying to promote in youngsters?" 

Shortly after that, a Cape Cod woman, a self-described "kamikaze for Jesus," 
discovered the Zork decision novel that her son had purchased as a school book 
fair.  She immediately recognized the book for what it was, a dangerous 
promoter of violence and demonic worship, and attempted to have it banned from 
the school library. 

You MUST have seen our advertisement for The Enchanter Trilogy (which depicts a 
wizard stirring a bubbling cauldron of purple smoke).  Because it was so eye-
catching that a whole slew of religious zealots discovered that Infocom was 
actually the Great Satan.  For example, one letter carrier dropped us a note 
to say that he was refusing to deliver any copies of Boy's Life which ran this 
ad. 

Another person sent in a copy of the ad with all the offending phrases 
circled:  "magic" and "spells" and "powers" and "sorceror" and "Circle of 
Enchanters"--not to mention "thrilling proportions," which must surely have 
spilled directly from the mouth of Lucifer himself.  Written in the corner of 
the ad:  "No thanks!  The world has got enough evil in it!  We don't need made 
up evil from FOOLS like you!"  The person also wrote "Jesus (heart's) [sic] 
you!" across the Sorceror package, obviously mistaking it for a car bumper. 

Most recently comes this letter from Ocean Grove, New Jersey, hardly the heart 
of the Bible Belt:  "I was looking through a mag. [sic]  I saw your ad. I hope 
you are with plain tricks and not magic.  Just what infocom [sic] means I dont 
[sic] know -- I hope the U.S. gets back to the faith of our Fathers. [sic]  
Amen."  Enclosed with this note were several pamphlets and articles, most 
annotated with scribblings like "Never take no 666 it is the number of the 
antichrist -- it leads to everlasting fire."  In a new twist, Infocom's 
godless magic was linked to godless Communism:  "Deals with the Communist are 
woe woe woe woe" was scrawled on the pamphlet entitled "The Communist Plan for 
the Conquest of the U.S.A." 

That brings you completely up-to-date on our contacts with the hard-core 
religious right.  But then again, can you trust any information coming from 
well-known Satanic cultists like us? 

Finally, if anyone who thinks the Wishbringer erodes the moral fabric of 
America is actually reading this, we have a message for you:  Keep those 
letters coming!  They're really entertaining!  Write to: 

Infocom Inc.
 125 CambridgePark Drive
 Cambridge, MA  02140
 Attn:  Frothing Nutcake Dept.