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Text Adventure Playthrough #10: Bureaucracy
BUREAUCRACY!
Everyone, at one time or another, feels bound up in an endless swathe of red tape. In Bureaucracy, best-selling humorist Douglas Adams draws on his own battles with beadledom to create a hilarious adventure. You’ll find yourself in the midst of a bureaucratic middle so convoluted that you can’t help but laugh.
You’ve just landed a great new job and moved to a spiffy house in a nice little town. You’re even being sent to Paris this very afternoon for a combination training seminar and vacation. What could possibly go wrong? The answer, of course, is everthing. When the bank refuses to acknowledge your change-of-address form, you’ll find yourself entangled in a series of bureaucratic mishaps that take you from the feeding trough of a greedy llama to the lofty branches of a tree deep in the Zalagasan jungle.
Before we begin:
Please browse through the “feelies” included in the original game box, which are uploaded for your convenience at The Infocom Gallery. Some of these might even be important in solving the game!
We will be with you shortly. Thank you for your patience.
Important!
Our records show that you do not have a licence to operate this software.
Normally, you would be required to complete a Licence Application Form and mail it (with proof of purchase) to our Licensing Department, and then wait the customary four to six weeks for processing.
Luckily, for your convenience, we have, at the last minute and at great expense, installed a remarkable new on-line electronic application form on this very disk, which will be processed by our modern 24-hour computer service moments after you fill it in.
An unexpected move. But I’ll certainly participate if enough people are willing to form the much needed hive mind. Veggie? Pegbiter? Timovieman? Giom? Anybody else?
Butter my buns and call me a biscuit! - Agent A
If you can deal with the occasional “SJW” commentary I’m in.
True story: This morning I received a letter from the Dutch equivalent of the IRS. I have to pay a fine for not submitting my tax return form before the deadline date. But I DID! So now I have to go through all kinds of boring motions to prove that I don’t have to pay 368 euros.
BUREAUCRACY!
If you can deal with the occasional “SJW” commentary I’m in.
Eh… is this meant for me? A green-leftie? A second-wave feminist? But I guess it’s true that I’m not woke enough in the eyes of many people.
Butter my buns and call me a biscuit! - Agent A
@Karlok: it was aimed at everyone and not meant in a disparaging way. 
I have no issue with your level of “wokeness” (would’t use the term to describe myself, though other people can, if they want) and I tend to enjoy your commentary.
DE BELASTINGDIENST can be such a nightmare.
BUREAUCRACY!
I’ve just filled in the form, with hilarious commentary on my name, previous employment and dating history.
I am, as of now, Mrs. Orbo. Couldn’t go for NB, which is, to this day, a realistic representation of bureaucracy, where it’s apparently really important to gender you, but only on binary terms.
I’m all set up and ready to go.
I think we’re supposed to fill it in officially or the game won’t start.
BTW I’ve sent both Pegbiter and Timovieman a PM to tell them about the CP because I haven’t seen them around much. I tried to send Giom one too but something went wrong. 
I’m getting real fed up with all the annoying problems I’ve been having at the forums for the past months. Maybe someone else can notify giom?
Butter my buns and call me a biscuit! - Agent A
I think we’re supposed to fill it in officially or the game won’t start.
BTW I’ve sent both Pegbiter and Timovieman a PM to tell them about the CP because I haven’t seen them around much. I tried to send Giom one too but something went wrong.
I’ve been having the cookie and bad gateway issue as well. Maybe the site was preparing us for this playthrough all along.
I’ll try to notify giom. Operation collect the hive mind is go!
I think we’re supposed to fill it in officially or the game won’t start.
I was scratching my head on how to translate this part of the game to playthrough format. While it’s not exactly essential and more of a humorous prelude, perhaps anyone who wants to fill it in can do it in the browser version (which I think VP has already done) and meanwhile we’ll get started with the game.
However, the game will be using the name and details that we select for the duration of the playthrough, so any ideas for who we want to be?
(during a trial run I entered “Advgamers” in the “Last employer but one” field and it returned with “Note: now in liquidation”!! Sorry Jackal!! )
I think we’re supposed to fill it in officially or the game won’t start.
BTW I’ve sent both Pegbiter and Timovieman a PM to tell them about the CP because I haven’t seen them around much. I tried to send Giom one too but something went wrong.
Thanks for thinking of me. I just went online today to see what was new in the forum and saw the thread Then saw the message from Vegetable Party.
Fun fact, I’ve spent the day today dealing with bureaucracy and will be dealing with Taxes this week. So I’m fully primed to make fun of bureaucratic processes and vent my frustration
Thanks Luhr28 for starting a playthrough, always love them!
Fun fact, I’ve spent the day today dealing with bureaucracy and will be dealing with Taxes this week. So I’m fully primed to make fun of bureaucratic processes and vent my frustration
Haha, nice! I now realize the third question of my little questionnaire was unwittingly well-timed. Either that or I’m a secret revenue officer.
Shall we wait to see if Pegbiter and Timovieman will join the CPT? We could decide on the way to fill out the form. Even if it’s more for the sake of comedy than anything else.
Here’s my form.
Comments:
Last name Adams - A well-known criminal family.
Previous girl/boy friend Doe - You were better off then.
PS: The Dutch word Verweggistan means somewhere-very-far-away.
Butter my buns and call me a biscuit! - Agent A
I just wanted to show what I’d filled in. We can come up with something entirely different for the playthrough.
Butter my buns and call me a biscuit! - Agent A
Comments:
Last name Adams - A well-known criminal family.
Previous girl/boy friend Doe - You were better off then.
Shouldn’t house number 0000 also have given you the comment “ERROR: We know it’s actually 15.” (This is, of course, so that the game can generate addresses with both higher and lower numbers than yours.)
Other than that (and some error handling), the comments are random:
Last name: “How embarrassing for you” / “A well-known criminal family”
First name: “Your parents had the last laugh”
House number: “Due to be condemned”
Street name: “The bad part of town” / “Next to the dump”
City: “What a dump” / “What a pit” / “You’d better move again”
Last employer but one: “Now in Chapter 11” / “Now in liquidation” / “A sweatshop” /“Run by Bozo the Clown” / “Much happier without you”
Name of girl/boy friend: “What a dog” / “Still? You should have learned” / “Surely you can do better” / “One of a long line of losers”
Previous girl/boy friend: “You were better off then” / “One of a long line of losers” / “Now a millionaire” / “Now a famous porno star”
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