Surprise: the Wall Street Journal has an article about interactive fiction, focusing specifically on the yearly competition. The journalist focused heavily on the amateur aspect of the community:
Steve Meretzky, one of the best-known game developers at Infocom, says he receives occasional emails from fans, but has not participated in the online community. The creator of popular text-based games like "Planetfall," "Leather Goddesses of Phobos" and "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" now works at a company that designs cellphone games. The 48-year-old says he doesn't have time to write text adventures for fun. "I have to pay the bills," he says.
