AIF stands for Adult Interactive Fiction, and it's a genre of Interactive Fiction. If you didn't already know what AIF is, you probably still don't, because those are both terribly useless names. What the hell is "Interactive Fiction"? Is it just a work of fiction that's interactive? So... Dungeons and Dragons? Call of Duty? Mad Libs? Nope--none of those! "Interactive Fiction" really means "text adventure": a text-based computer game with a narrative.

So what makes these games "adult", then? Do they have "adult" things in them like beer and gray hair and tax returns? Well, some might, but that's not what makes them AIF. In this case, "adult" is just a euphemism for sex. AIF games are works of pornography in the medium of Interactive Fiction. Unfortunately, it's much too late for me to convince the Internet to give up on the AIF moniker. Just between you and me, though, wouldn't "erotic text adventures" be a much better name?

I'm Alec Roberts! Well, actually I'm not. That's just a pseudonym. I am a not-so-international man of mystery, you see.

What matters is that I'm a fan of AIF games. I've even created one myself (with a sequel in the works). I've written reviews for a ton of AIF games (54, so far), and I threw together this website so I can share them with others.

If you have an opinion about something I've written, I'd love to hear it. My email is alecrobertsaif@gmail.com. You can also hit me up on Discord, via DM or via the Adult Interactive Fiction server (my handle there is "alecroberts#7085"). In fact, since you're on this website, you might just be interested in that server regardless.

Theoretically, my goal is to write a review for every AIF game ever, even all the super crappy ones. Currently, though, there are many, many games left undone. In fact, I have no reviews for most of my favorite AIF games! Why? Because I didn't start writing reviews until after I had been playing AIF for a while, and by that point I had already played all of the most popular games I could find. Once in a while when I feel like it, I go back and replay one of those games to write a review for it. In the meantime, I'm playing a bunch of mostly inferior games and writing reviews for them instead.

The bottom line is this: the fact that I've reviewed a game is in no way a reflection on the game's quality or notability.

(If you're wondering, my sentimental top 3 AIF games are Ideal New England Prep School by NewKid, Prom Night by Christopher Cole and Sir Gareth, and The Reunion by Moriarty (in no particular order).)

I review each game's quality as a work of pornography. In my opinion, the best ones are fun and sexy. That means I take into account questions like:

• Is the non-sexual gameplay fun, or is it frustrating? Game design and coding are the primary contributors here.

• Are the setting, story, and characters engaging and entertaining? A good premise and good writing make all the difference.

• Are there distracting spellling errors, grammatical errors, and glitches?

• Is the game erotic? Ultimately, this is the most important question, but one must realize that poor execution of the non-sexual elements will sap a player's enjoyment of the sexy bits. Conversely, good execution of the non-sexual elements will draw a player in and heighten their overall stimulation.

Notice that I have mentioned nothing about the circumstances of the game's creation. That means I explicitly do NOT take into account questions like:

• How experienced was the author?

• Does it seem like the game was really easy/hard to make? Just because I think a game is super impressive doesn't necessarily mean that I enjoy it any more than a short and simplistic one.

• Was the game made for a mini-comp? Of course, if I were to judge a mini-comp, I would have to take into account the constraints into which the authors were forced. My goal with this site, however, is to compare all AIF games on an even basis. In other words, if a game is annoyingly short and cramped, I don't care whether it was a mini-comp game or not. I just care that the game is short and cramped.

• To what extent should the game's flaws be blamed on the author versus the language/platform they used?

I hope the above points partially illustrate why my review of a game should never be interpreted as a personal judgment (positive or negative) about its author. People who write text-based porn games are weird. I should know--I'm one of them. I don't know what was going on in someone's head when they were making a game. I don't know what their goals or intentions were, nor do I know what disadvantages and challenges they struggled with. And I'm not trying to know! However an AIF game came into existence, all I care about is how much value it has as a work of pornography.

Lastly and very importantly, it should go without saying that this is all completely subjective!

The key sections are:

• Rating: I rate each game on a scale from 0 - 9 (I haven't yet used 0 or 9, and the perfect 10 exists only as a theoretical ideal). My review philosophy above explains some of the reasons I might give a certain game a certain rating. Again, this is all completely subjective!

• Summary: The game's title, genre(s), basic setting/premise, and objective (if there is one). Categorizing genres can be tricky. The most common ones I use are 'puzzlefest', 'story-driven', 'sex romp', and 'Night With'. This is a very inexact science, however.

• Technical: The quality of the game's coding and whether it uses proper spelling and grammar. In theory, this section should be pretty objective. Guess-the-word problems also belong here, since they generally represent a failure to provide the player with adequate instructions or with an adequate breadth of synonyms (or both).

• Sex: How fun and sexy the game is. I call this section 'Sex' to emphasize the fact that a game's value as a work of pornography is ultimately what I'm reviewing it on. As explained above, though, a game's non-sexual elements directly impact its players' enjoyment of its sexual elements. For almost every game, this section includes (at a minimum) evaluations of the setting, the story, the gameplay/puzzles, the writing style, the characters, and the sex scenes.

• Verdict: A brief reiteration of the game's summary along with an overview of its most important good and bad attributes. In principle, the Summary and Verdict together should work as a TL;DR for the whole review.

I try to put no spoilers in my reviews. My rule of thumb is to mention nothing specific about a game's story beyond whatever the player finds out in the first five minutes of play. I'm almost positive I've broken this rule a few times, though. Sorry!