<i>Adventure</i> Before Adventure Games

Abstract

The original Adventure by Crowther and Woods (1977) has an important place in computer game history. It is not only considered the first adventure game but also the ancestor of interactive fiction, point-and-click games, action adventures, and even massively multiplayer online role-playing games. Adventure often defined in terms of categories that did not exist at the time of its making. The concept of video games as the cultural institution we know today was alien to its authors. This article reframes Adventure in its historical context. If it is not yet an adventure game, what is it? The proposed methodology is inspired by the work of early cinema historians and consists of identifying the cultural practices within which an early piece was developed. Adventure is analyzed as a program, a hack, fantasy role-playing, a cave survey, and a game. This approach delivers a new perspective on Adventure, freed to some degree of teleological preconceptions.