When I was in 7th grade in the late 80s I sent Sierra a letter asking for something...perhaps a disk exchange or maybe it was just fan mail, I don't remember. But since I wasn't used to sending letters I completely forgot to put my return address on the letter and possibly not even on the envelope I sent it in. I did however include the name of my junior high school and several weeks later I was called to the principals office and told that they'd received some mail for me. I was stunned to find a letter from Sierra with whatever it was that I'd requested. They'd literally tracked down the address of my junior high to avoid disappointing one of their fans.
Many of my most formative game playing experiences were with Sierra adventure games.
It was really a different time.
I got stuck in the Mystery House forest back in 1981 or 1982, and wrote a short letter to them to get help. They wrote back a typewritten, personalized, and hand-signed response that thanked me for buying the game, told me how to get out (dropping things, moving forward/up, and paying attention to the exact text in the messages), and giving me a couple extra hints for the next challenges I'd hit.
A different time indeed, I feel like I'm the last generation to embody those days in any way, shape or form culturally. Everything feels so foreign today, there was a definite cultural shift around 9/11 permanently, for the worst.
To continue this chain with my own letter writing story.. I was a little younger than you two since I was born in the very early 80s, but I sent a letter in the very late 80s or early 90s telling whatever address was in Interaction magazine that I was one day going to work at Sierra.
They wrote me back telling me they'd be waiting for me. Of course being a Xennial (Oregon Trail Generation), I never made it in time. But wow, would I love to be there today. Two moments in gaming history that I've witnessed that were outstanding for me, 1989's Hero's Quest and the launch of the 3dfx Voodoo 4MB in '96. It was thanks to King's Quest & Space Quest that I learned how to type and spell at an early age. As well, a little later on when I got my hands on them, thanks to Police Quest, Leisure Suit Larry and Hero's Quest.
I was a totally ignored child, I can't say how many days & nights playing those games, eating up bologna and Velveeta sandwiches that I made myself at a pretty tender age, and washed down with RC Cola. Pretty terrible mental image, I know. The isolation just made it all that much more impactful. It was the happiness & high point of my life and honestly, still is. Sometimes I still sit and think about the worlds that Sierra created to bring myself a bit of happiness.
Sierra, and especially Hero's Quest / QFG will live within me for the rest of my life and die with me as probably the most cherished memories, characters and stories in my heart. Tolkien and the rest could never have anything on the impact Sierra adventures had on me.
Breaking the chain, I was amazed at King's Quest V and Conquests of the Longbow when I was 8 or 9 and sent a letter out asking how they made it and how I could learn to make something like that, never got a response.
