This Is Who We Are - an IFDB Poll

A considerable number of games exist largely as the commentary of the IF community (or some subset of it) upon the medium and the community itself. These works are likely to be befuddling to outsiders, but provide windows onto blah blah construction of group identity blah blah reification of community mores blah blah navelgazecakes, you get the picture. What fits in here?

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	The Cabal, by Stephen Bond 7 votes "Features a number..." [+]"Features a number of IF community members and a discussion of RAIF politics." ( - Full review) --Emily Short... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Emily Boegheim... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Sam Kabo Ashwell... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Victor Gijsbers... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Marius Müller... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --perching path... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Sobol... Vote for this game

	Mentula Macanus: Apocolocyntosis, by One of the Bruces and Drunken Bastard 6 votes "Many, many riffs..." [+]"Many, many riffs on the core concepts of old-school IF as well as mentions of specific IF authors. It's not as exclusively in this territory as Undiscovered Country, but it's also a much better game." --Emily Short... (No comment) [+](No comment) ( - Full review) --Sam Kabo Ashwell... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Marius Müller... (No comment) [+](No comment) --DB... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --perching path... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Sobol... Vote for this game

	Being Andrew Plotkin, by J. Robinson Wheeler 6 votes "A big inside joke" [+]"A big inside joke: In fact, I'm still a bit perplexed that this one won so many Xizzys. It's a good game, but completely self-referential and opaque to anyone who's not directly involved in the IF community." () --Nusco... "As the title..." [+]"As the title suggests, this is a riff on zarf's personality and way of viewing the world, with some implications for the rest of the community and tradition as well." --Emily Short... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Joey Jones... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Paul O'Brian... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --perching path... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Sobol... Vote for this game

	Pick Up the Phone Booth and Aisle, by David Dyte, Steve Bernard, Dan Shiovitz, Iain Merrick, Liza Daly, John Cater, Ola Sverre Bauge, J. Robinson Wheeler, Jon Blask, Dan Schmidt, Stephen Granade, Rob Noyes, and Emily Short 4 votes "Constructed..." [+]"Constructed almost entirely out of in-jokes and references." --Emily Short... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Sam Kabo Ashwell... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --perching path... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Sobol... Vote for this game

	Endless, Nameless, by Adam Cadre 4 votes "The history of IF" [+]"The history of IF: The game itself explores the history of the medium, along with insider references to communities and influential game creators." () --PNervous... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Sam Kabo Ashwell... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Emily Short... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Sobol... Vote for this game

	ADRIFT-O-Rama, by Dana Crane 4 votes (No comment) [+](No comment) --Sam Kabo Ashwell... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Richard Otter... "The best example..." [+]"The best example of a game of this type from the ADRIFT community" ( - Full review) --DB... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Denk... Vote for this game

	The Cavity of Time, by Sam Kabo Ashwell 3 votes (No comment) [+](No comment) --Sam Kabo Ashwell... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Emily Short... (No comment) [+](No comment) --DB... Vote for this game

	Stiffy Makane: The Undiscovered Country, by Adam Thornton 3 votes (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Sam Kabo Ashwell... "Lots of jokes..." [+]"Lots of jokes about specific theoretical approaches to IF, and IF personalities." --Emily Short... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --perching path... Vote for this game

	AAS Masters, by Stephen Granade 2 votes (No comment) [+](No comment) ( - Full review) --Sam Kabo Ashwell... "This always felt..." [+]"This always felt more like a "this is who THEY are" piece or "this is who WE are, showing who we THINK they are," but it's totally apropos ("WE" being the larger IF Community, "THEY" being a subsection of the IF Community with a GUI-based development environment for non-programmers and somewhat infamously annoying combat system)." --DB... Vote for this game

	ADRIFTmas Party, by Dana Crane 2 votes "Features several..." [+]"Features several then-members of the ADRIFT community. More significantly, the NPCs conversational responses were written by their real-life counterparts." --David Welbourn... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Denk... Vote for this game

	IFDB Spelunking, by Joey Jones 2 votes "This is almost..." [+]"This is almost the inverse of a community piece; it's about the alienation of being lost in the detritus of tradition, and having to work out what to do with it on your own." () --Sam Kabo Ashwell... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Denk... Vote for this game

	Pass the Banana, by Admiral Jota 2 votes "Full of..." [+]"Full of contemporary ifMUD injokes and references." --Emily Short... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Sam Kabo Ashwell... Vote for this game

	Sins Against Mimesis, by Adam Thornton 2 votes (No comment) [+](No comment) --Sam Kabo Ashwell... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --perching path... Vote for this game

	Retro-Nemesis, by Robb Sherwin 2 votes (No comment) [+](No comment) ( - Full review) --Sam Kabo Ashwell... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Marius Müller... Vote for this game

	Ninja's Fate, by Hannes Schueller 1 vote "An odd but..." [+]"An odd but sincere tribute to the late Paul Allen Panks. Probably incomprehensible to anyone to didn't encounter Panks's unique presence in the IF community back in the day." --Jubal... Vote for this game

	Tragedy strikes at the XYZZY awards!, by Adam Biltcliffe 1 vote (No comment) [+](No comment) --Emily Short... Vote for this game

	Shrapnel, by Adam Cadre 1 vote "Perhaps not so..." [+]"Perhaps not so much a comment on the community, but certainly a riff on the death-and-restart aspects of IF, with refs to the little white house." ( - Full review) --Emily Short... Vote for this game

	Acid Whiplash, by Ryan Stevens and Cody Sandifer 1 vote "Slightly oblique,..." [+]"Slightly oblique, but people's reactions to Rybread make increasingly little sense outside their 90s (mostly newsgroup) context." --perching path... Vote for this game

	CosmoServe: an Adventure Game for the BBS-Enslaved, by Judith Pintar 1 vote "More 'who we WERE' than 'who we are' nowadays, but it fits" [+]"More 'who we WERE' than 'who we are' nowadays, but it fits" --Molly... Vote for this game

	Are You A Chef?, by Adam Biltcliffe 1 vote "Probably seems..." [+]"Probably seems less sensible to those outside ifMUD." --DB... Vote for this game

	Forum, by Woodfish 1 vote "ADRIFT community..." [+]"ADRIFT community in-joke, featuring members of the community from that time" --DB... Vote for this game

	The World Model is Really Problematic, by Spankminister 1 vote (No comment) [+](No comment) --Tabitha... Vote for this game

	Coke Is It!, by Lucian P. Smith, Adam Thornton, J. Robinson Wheeler, Michael Fessler, Dan Shiovitz, David Dyte 1 vote "Filled with..." [+]"Filled with in-jokes, such as references to previous IF games and takes on common IF tropes." --David Welbourn... Vote for this game

	Sycamora Tree, by David Dyte 1 vote "A response to an..." [+]"A response to an RAIF post that would otherwise have been instantly forgotten (unlike Sven)." () --perching path... Vote for this game

	Thread unlocked., by Max Fog 1 vote (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Tabitha... Vote for this game

	Re: Dragon, by Jack Welch 1 vote (No comment) [+](No comment) ( - Full review) --Spike... Vote for this game

	AFGNCAAP - IF Agent! Todays Adventure: Holy Goat!, by Marius Müller 1 vote "Has shamelessly cringeworthy fanboyish cameos by IF people" [+]"Has shamelessly cringeworthy fanboyish cameos by IF people" --Marius Müller... Vote for this game

	Cana According To Micah, by Christopher Huang (as Rev. Stephen Dawson) 1 vote "Possibly a..." [+]"Possibly a stretch, but I've always suspected that this portrait of a proto-Christian community is readable as being about the IF community." ( - Full review) --Sam Kabo Ashwell... Vote for this game

	IF is Dead. Long Live IF., by Joshua Houk 1 vote (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Sam Kabo Ashwell... Vote for this game

	Yay Games, by David Welbourn 1 vote "A peek in at one..." [+]"A peek in at one of the annual XYZZY Awards ceremonies. (Disclaimer: This is one of my own games.)" --David Welbourn... Vote for this game

	Fingertips: I don't understand you, by Matt Weiner 1 vote "One of many joke..." [+]"One of many joke games about IF conventions, even more quick to the punchline than most." --Joey Jones... Vote for this game

Is there another game that you think should be on this list? Just fill in the title of a game you'd like to vote for.

Poll created on September 12, 2012