I wonder - did you not play other types of games before?
I tried getting into IF several times and never really managed to get very far - both the frustration of trying to get the parser to understand me & the "gameplay" (puzzles I guess) just not being very interesting.
Maybe it's one of those things where "you had to be there at the time".
One thing to keep in mind is at the right point in history, Zork and Star Trek might have been among the only games available on the computer one had access to. Both were available on the DEC mainframe we had free access to at my local community college in the early 80's while in school. I can't remember if we had Space War on those, but the limited selection and novelty made everything about the games fascinating. Even later on C64/Atari 1040 when I tried some of the later Infocom games the convoluted logic needed for some of the puzzles turned me off for more accessible games, though Kings Quest and related series seems to be the graphical version of the puzzle logic of some of the Infocom games.
Back in the day, they seemed powerful. The lack of graphics was a clear trade for what seemed a lot of text and fairly sophisticated input.
I loved them. Have only finished a couple though.
I still really like IF. One gem today is lost pig. Hilarious!
Later, as my understanding had improved, I appreciate the art. Harsh limits back then. Despite that, for those people for whom words light up fun parts of the brain, the result is compelling.
I have wanted to do one with all sound. Maybe text to read, maybe those words just spoken. Dunno.
For what it is worth, Dungeons and Dragons invokes a similar mindset, given a good DM and group of players.
Maybe give that a go should you encounter an opportunity.
For me, we had lots of different games. Various systems to game on too. The text adventure stood out, but not for everyone.
No worries. I also think when it stands out, is compelling, it is super compelling! You maybe need the right triggers, or maybe just are not the type.
Triggers for me were actually teachers endorsements. They wanted us to play those text games. I know that had an influence on me.
> Maybe it's one of those things where "you had to be there at the time".
Nope, not really. I didn't get into IF until 2002, and I suspect that it's just a matter of taste. If you'd been around in the early days, maybe you'd be more into pinball or reading or bowling or something.
> I tried getting into IF several times and never really managed to get very far - both the frustration of trying to get the parser to understand me & the "gameplay" (puzzles I guess) just not being very interesting.
> Maybe it's one of those things where "you had to be there at the time".
Zork 1 is pretty hard/frustrating, so you shouldn't necessarily give up on IF in general based on that. You could try Zork 0, Beyond Zork, or the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (only the beginning is really hard) which are basically different genres from Zork 1.
^yes. this, and access to technology. there was a pretty significant time where low-end PC tech could support little of the more "advanced" gaming trends. i played many text-adventure, MUDs and 2d platforming games (PoP, chopper commando, etc) because that was what would run on the machine i had access to. my neighbor had a pentium with a cd-rom...which is where i learned of myst ;)
i have a deep love of text gaming (online and off) because of this...and i can 100% see why it may not resonate so well with others
I still occasionally play a MUD called Shattered Kingdoms. I played that game for 15 years: really nice ANSI color and you sort of can’t beat it because of the roleplaying.
My first computer was a PC XT clone with a monochrome monitor - but there were plenty of simple action and some strategy (like The Ancient Art of War) games that were more appealing (to me) than IF.
Interactive fiction games were the only "intelligent" games available for quite a while. All other computer games were either poorly re-created board games, or poorly re-created simple arcade games.
Right, which is what I meant by "you had to be there at the time" - I had a computer very early but by the time I was able to read and understand English well enough to play IF I was well into my teenage years and the mid/late 90s (I mostly played RTSs like *craft/c&c and story-rich RPGs like the Fallouts/Baldur's Gates).
I tried getting into IF several times and never really managed to get very far - both the frustration of trying to get the parser to understand me & the "gameplay" (puzzles I guess) just not being very interesting.
Maybe it's one of those things where "you had to be there at the time".