How I Started Adventuring

                  By Fred Darlington

Although I have been a computer owner since 1984 and the days of
my trusty Atari 800 XL, I did not really start adventuring until I
got my Atari ST in 1987. I did play one adventure game on my 800
XL. It was a game called The Incredible Hulk. I remember that it
was a text adventure about the Hulk's attempt to escape from a
dungeon.

Unfortunately, my first introduction to adventure games did not
last very long as although I knew the solution to the problem (it
involved lifting a flagstone) I could not find the right words for
the game. And, after getting a number of replies like "you can't
do that", I gave up playing the game in frustration. The game was
put into a drawer and never played again.

My playing of adventure games really started when I bought my
Atari ST. A friend lent me the game Dungeon Master and from that
moment I was hooked. The next few weeks were spent in front of a
TV set until the early hours of the morning as I slowly went
deeper and deeper into the dungeon, fighting monsters and casting
spells. Finally the day came when Lord Chaos was destroyed and the
game was over.

It was not too long before I started on my next adventure, this
was Bloodwych. And since then I have played all the major
adventure games on the ST. Although I have played some very good
games, I have never seemed to quite experience the thrill of my
first game.

I wish I could say I have completed these games without any help.
But sometimes I have to ask for help with a problem I cannot
solve. Then it is time to consult the solution or contact somebody
who has completed the game.

My methods of solving a problem in an adventure are:

1. Logical - I work out the solution by using thought and logic.

2. Illogical - I use this method if logic has failed. It involves
trying things at random in the hope I will hit the right solution.

3. Read the solution - this involves using somebody else's brains.

It is hard to define what attracts me to adventure games.  It may
be the urge to try just one more room or just look around the next
corner. Whatever it is, any adventurer will tell you that you
cannot say "I will just spend another half an hour on the game"
because, before you know it, two hours have gone and you find it
is 1 o'clock in the morning and you have to get up for work in 5
hours.

I do not know what will happen when virtual reality comes, and you
are part of the game instead of just looking at it on a TV screen.



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