Adventure, also known as Colossal Cave Adventure, was the forefather of text gaming. (See also Zork)
The origins of ‘Adventure‘
“I had been involved in a non-computer role-playing game called Dungeons and Dragons at the time, and also I had been actively exploring in caves Mammoth Cave in Kentucky in particular.
“Suddenly, I got involved in a divorce, and that left me a bit pulled apart in various ways. In particular I was missing my kids.
“Also the caving had stopped, because that had become awkward, so I decided I would fool around and write a program that was a re-creation in fantasy of my caving, and also would be a game for the kids, and perhaps some aspects of the Dungeons and Dragons that I had been playing.”
My idea was that it would be a computer game that would not be intimidating to non-computer people, and that was one of the reasons why I made it so that the player directs the game with natural language input, instead of more standardized commands. My kids thought it was a lot of fun.”
– William Crowthe
Ps. As a side note. Colossal Cave Adventure was the first computer game I ever played, back in 1979 on my fathers 1mhz IBM clone computer. I was hooked, making maps and notes, and I never did get it all solved. When I found MUDs, in particularly Ansalon, many years later… I was hooked, it was the old game, but smarter, and a world much more immense, and there were other people! Thanks to all of those who paved the way. – Zivilyn.