I See No X Here.
Hackers (and The Interactive Computer
Games They Write) Traditionally Favor This Slightly Marked Usage
Over Other Possible Equivalents Such As "There's No X Here!
Hackers (and the interactive computer
games they write) traditionally favor this slightly marked usage
over other possible equivalents such as "There's no X here!" or
"X is missing." or "Where's the X?". This goes back to the
original PDP-10 ADVENT, which would respond in this wise if
you asked it to do something involving an object not present at
your location in the game.
ADVENT /ad'vent/ n.
The prototypical computer
adventure game first designed by Will Crowther on the PDP-10
in the mid-1970s as an attempt at computer-refereed fantasy gaming,
and expanded into a puzzle-oriented game by Don Woods at Stanford
in 1976....
