Status Line

A display element showing the current disposition of the player. Invented in its most recognizable form by Infocom's Interactive Fiction.

Typically, the Status Line displays whichever are relevant of the player's score, state of health, ammunition, location, orientation and time remaining to complete the current task.

The display is almost always above (or at the top of) the Main Window (though early FPSes are an exception).

"The Status Line" was also the name of Infocom's newsletter, after a certain publication took issue with its original name, "The New Zork Times".