17.8. Introduction to the list of built-in activities

| Chapter 17: Activities |

| 17.8. Introduction to the list of built-in activities

Activities tend to be about process, rather than outcome. Many of the things Inform does - printing up lists of items, reading commands from the keyboard, and so on - are done as activities, because that way the process can be nudged a little. Too many works of interactive fiction betray their mechanical nature by making it visible that the general machinery being used does not quite seem natural for this or that situation. Activities enable us to add the many graceful touches which avoid that: which contribute nothing to a work, and also everything.

The rest of this chapter covers every activity built in to Inform, with one section for each. It is intended primarily for reference, but may be worth skimming through at a first reading, to give a sense of the possibilities.

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