this isn't an ask, I'd like to say I liked your work when I was younger, all those flash games were some of the most compelling experiences I've played. My mom isn't really bigoted but she's anti-violence, and this was back when not everyone had a smartphone. I was basically locked into a small selection of nintendo games for quite some time, but flash was still playable in browser, so I did that.
How to Raise a Dragon probably planted the seeds for my current identity, before Todd Howard Skyrim'd me several times. The Day and Babies Dream of Dead Worlds were also very moving to me.
But the one I liked the most was the story of the original Exploit, along with the music (which I've downloaded from your blog a few times). I didn't appreciate it myself at the time (being like 13-17), but the narrative resonance of plot and gameplay helped cement the vibes, and "doing the wrong things for the right reasons, and then doing the right thing ultimately" is still a very appealing plot to me today.
I found you when I was scrolling through the #text-adventure tag when signing up, and thought I'd leave this here.
I hope you're fine with me responding to this publicly! I'm always super pleased when I hear from folks who played my stuff when they were young. It's often hard to respond with anything that feels worthwhile, in part because it's a bit of a mindboggling responsibility to know that your work influenced folks in early and lasting ways. "Not really bigoted but anti-violence" is doing a lot of work here, and while I can't speak to your personal circumstances, I feel like video games in general have been ill-served by the fact that the loudest critics of their violent themes have been a bunch of disingenuous prudes and conservatives.
We've recently seen a bit of a backswing in terms of enthusiasm for "wholesome" games that has faced justifiable (if overzealous) skepticism. As the Wholesome Games organizers point out, calls for more games that are non-violent can be a mask for reactionary and normative values on one front and can prompt impossible purity tests from well-meaning leftists on the other. Personally, I'm a pacifist and I'm glad that I've had the opportunity to explore the complexities of committing violence or destruction in the course of the greater good in a way that has resonated with folks. Doing right is hard.
(And in case you or others reading this aren't aware: there's more Exploit! Me and my partner @maw at @fpg continue to work on Exploit: Zero Day, a free web-based hacktivism puzzle game that carries on exploring questions of what to do with what little power you have when facing systemic oppression.)