We old skoolers can well remember the fun of, you know, using your imagination to play games. I’m talking about “interactive fiction” popularized by a little company called Infocom. I still own a couple, such as The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (complete with pocket fluff and microscopic space fleet) and Bureaucracy.

ell now you youngsters can experience the magic … via IM! Just point your Jabber client (or GTalk or iChat) to PrakBot@jabber.org to get started. !startgame starts a game (like !startgame hitchhikers_guide), !stopgame stops a game, !status prints out your progress. You can also save and restore.

Looks right now like you can play The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Leather Goddesses of Phobos, Wishbringer, Zork I, Zork II and Zork III. Awesome! Thanks Ben! Keep ’em coming!