Game: In relation to electronic literature, a game is usually something that reaches one conclusive ending no matter which way it is played. Whether it is played through hypertext, lexias, commands, etc.. Examples include, "Photopia," "Zork," "Penetration," etc..
Alternatively, a game is a kind of software wherein there are many inputs possible, each of which will contribute a substantive change to how the output reacts, and how the game proceeds.

Input: Content which the user gives the application or program data, usually by mouse or keyboard. This can take the form of a directive, such as "quit", or a command, such as "open the door". Basically, the text the user inserts to change the course of the game or the expierance of the game.

Interaction Text: Exclusively the input from a session.

Interactive Fiction: In the context of computer science, interactive generally refers to the idea of being able to submit input during a process, usually for the purpose of affecting the output of the process somehow. Thus, Interactive Fiction is fiction that requires a user to click through hypertext or lexias or to submit some sort of command that creates a relationship between the user and the fiction. "Photopia" is an example of Interactive Fiction.

Narrative: A story that describes a sequence of fictional or non-fictional events. It is the telling of a story put in ways such as poetry, essays, comics, etc.

Output: 1. n. text produced by the program in response to input. This can be at either the diegetic or extradiegetic level. The former takes the form of a reply such as "the door has been opened," while the latter takes the form of a report such as "you have been ejected from the game!"
2. n. Any sort of response generated by a computer as a result of input.

Puzzle: A task or objective within the game which specifically requires the player to solve a problem. This could be an object which needs to be found or fixed or rearranged, or a series of actions that need to be performed (perhaps in a certain order), or the pieces of the story coming together like in "Photopia"

Session Text: All the resulting text from a session in a text adventure or similar program. Includes input and output, but usually not internal workings.

Story: An imaginative or historically based description that usually contains a beginning, middle, climax, and conclusion. It is common that an author (the story's creator) includes archetypal themes and conventional ideas within their work, but not required.

Text Adventure: A story (series of words, see below) that seem to be interactive in more of a game like sense. Typically a player issues commands to a parser, which produces appropriate textual output in response. Through this interface the player may explore an environment, interact with computer-controlled characters, or solve puzzles.

potential literature: A special category for interactive fiction, allowing it to be a narrative only in when a player brings it into existence.

diegetic: That which is interior to the diegesis of the story. An input into the world which tells the game what to do. i.e. a command.

command: the player telling the game what to do within the bounds of the IF world, i.e. "Player: eat cake"

directive: asking for hints from the game. Examine commands usually contain some sort of hint.

extradiegetic:anything that happens outside the IF's story-world, i.e. a directive

meta-command: it means the same thing as "directive", but Montfort doesn't want to use it because it also means something else in programming

hypodiegetic: An embedded tale‐within‐the‐tale which is a lower level of the over-all story.

report: A response from the game world that is the result of a command.

exchange:The player commanding and the progam responding is one exchange. i.e.: Player: smell leaflet
Zork: The leaflet smells like a small white leaflet.

reply: outputs that describe anything about the IF world and events in it (including "You can't do that" or "You are standing in a clearing").

metalepsis - occurs when the ostensible boundary between two narrative worlds is breached

initial situation
The first situation, the beginning of the narration. Example: prompt or quotation.

final reply
The last reply; when that narration cannot be continued.

final situation
The last situation; the end of the narrative. Example: the character dies, or you can't continue.

traversal- course of the narration extending from a prologue to a final reply; from an initial situation (beginning) to a final conversation (end). "crossing"

character- an actor in the interactive fiction which may or may not be controlled by the user; Examples: the "Thief" from Zork or Wendy from "Photopia"

player character
The character or characters that the player has direct control of--at least partially. Example: The different characters in
"Photopia", the imaginary characters and Alley's mom are characters the player controls.

non-player character(NPC) - a character in the story that the player has no (or little) direct control over; the troll and thief from zork are both examples of NPC's

actors
The characters (and occasionally objects) which play a part in the story.