"There's no such thing as an interactive story" (Chris Crawford)

"Every medium has been used to tell stories. That's true of books and theater and radio drama and movies. It's true of games as well." (Eric Goldberg, Crossover Technologies, Unplugged Games, as quoted by Eric Costikyan)

"Balderdash. Not every medium is used to tell stories: Tell me the story of The Brandenberg Concertoes. Music is pleasing sound, that's all; you can tell a story with music, to be sure. Ballads do that. Many pop songs tell stories--although many do not; most alternative rock lyrics, for instance, paint a mood picture rather than telling a story. But story is not intrinsic in music; the pleasure people derive from music is not dependent on its ability to tell stories. Certainly some types of music--opera, ballet, the musical--are "story-telling musical forms," but music itself is not a story-telling medium.
Nor is gaming. There are games that tell stories--roleplaying games and graphic adventures, among others--but the pleasure people derive from games is not dependent on its ability to tell stories." (Greg Costikyan)

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Welcome to Zork.

This version created December 8.
West of House.
You are in an open fieldwest of a big white house with a boarded front door.
There is a small mailbox here.
>GO NORTH
North of House
You are facing the north side of a white house. There is no door here, and all the windows are barred.
>EAST
Behind House
You are behind the white house. In one corner of the house there is a small window which is slightly ajar.
>OPEN THE WINDOW
With great effort, you open the window far enough to allow entry.
>GO IN
Kitchen
You are in the kitchen of the white house. A table seems to hve been used recently for the preparation of food. A passage leads to the west, and a dark stair- case can be seen leading upward. To the east is a small window which is open.
On the table is an elongated brown sack, smelling of hot peppers.
A bottle is sitting on the table.
The glass contains:
A quantity of water.