As I stared at the screen glassy-eyed, reveling in this whole new subculture I did not even know about, I stumbled across a Web site for Inform 7, http://www.inform-fiction.org, a design system for interactive fiction. Much simpler than a programming language, Inform 7 is a free, easy way for nerds like me to create their own games, albeit after investing endless hours of time and forgoing many nights of sleep.

I now had in my grasp a way to create my own world — to play God. —Chuck Pizar —Hidden in the shadows of towering 3-D graphics, text games still survive (Home Tribune News)