I still pull forward a game to be challenged and drawn into whatever story, the creative minds behind it dreamed up. If you don't know what a text adventure is then imagine reading a book, but only getting a short introduction and then only being able to move the story forward by typing in commands, based on whatever you want to do in any given situation.
That sense of freedom makes it necessary to have a game system as invisible as possible, to make the immersion complete, and the game a success.
In that respect, Infocom were masters of their game.
Online: Sunday, March 22, 2015