It’s interesting often reading people’s negative reactions to how those old games would have so many deadly consequences depending on the actions and paths you took. Perhaps it’s because I grew up with games like these, but finding and experiencing all the deaths were actually often more interesting than trying to beat the game itself.

I remember especially with Choose Your Own Adventure books, flipping through to find all the pages that said “The End” and then figuring out how to follow the paths that lead to the most interesting deaths. Getting a “happy ending” was almost always a disappointment.

I guess games for me were never actually about trying to “win” but rather about trying to “experience” interesting or unusual things.

I remember reading that article back in the day (Infocom spent zillions on their clipping service, for no apparent reason) and thinking she wasn’t playing the right game (“Wishbringer” or “Seastalker” would have been better choices).

– Dave Lebling

But the treatment of failure in games is still a big issue… it turns people off, even today. It’s made worse by reactionary fans, who cried out that the new Prince of Persia game was too easy because it doesn’t force you to replay a big chunk of the level after you fail, but just lets you resume from just before the latest obstacle.