Leigh Alexander recalls the lost art of mapping games, such as Colossal Cave, by hand:
The terse text lent itself to that kind of dreaming. The game was littered with treasure objects: a Ming vase, a pearl, an emerald, clearly meant to be carried, but for what purpose? Points? Why were we in a cave, for what were we searching, to what end? Why was there a pirate? We never asked. We never even thought about it. It was about the exploration, and we cared only about how to get to the next room, and how to put it all in order. We never finished the game, of course
Gaming Made Me: Colossal Cave Adventure [Rock Paper Shotgun]
