Mazes

Although 3D mazes with some more exploratory aspects were offered in the ''Ultima,'' ''Wizardry,'' and ''Bard's Tale'' series, the maze was more a frightening site for combat than a playful place of discovery in many first-person games. This could be seen as early as 1984 in the Commodore 64 game ''Skull,'' which allowed the player to search for treasure but sent threatening skulls into the maze as opponents. The later DOS games ''Wolfenstein 3D'' (1992) and ''Doom'' (1993) would make this perspective on a maze-like environment even more fearsome. First-person POV is a staple of horror films because it cuts off peripheral vision and so increases the opportunity for surprise. The first-person maze, in addition to connecting players to the perspective and to some extent the subjective experience of their maze-bound characters, was likely to inspire close and constant attention. The player needed to continually anticipate the position and movement of unseen opponents. Far from being abstract and mathematical, or contemplative, or amusing and playful, the maze in these games, not unlike the maze that Theseus faced, functioned as a challenging, dangerous arena.

Although 3D mazes with some more exploratory aspects were offered in the ''Ultima,'' ''Wizardry,'' and ''Bard's Tale'' series, the maze was more a frightening site for combat than a playful place of discovery in many first-person games. This could be seen as early as 1984 in the Commodore 64 game ''Skull,'' which allowed the player to search for treasure but sent threatening skulls into the maze as opponents. The later DOS games ''Wolfenstein 3D'' (1992) and ''Doom'' (1993) would make this perspective on a maze-like environment even more fearsome. First-person POV is a staple of horror films because it cuts off peripheral vision and so increases the opportunity for surprise. The first-person maze, in addition to connecting players to the perspective and to some extent the subjective experience of their maze-bound characters, was likely to inspire close and constant attention. The player needed to continually anticipate the position and movement of unseen opponents. Far from being abstract and mathematical, or contemplative, or amusing and playful, the maze in these games, not unlike the maze that Theseus faced, functioned as a challenging, dangerous arena.

Many of the earliest computer-presented mazes were not visual; they were described textually, narrated to the player from a second-person perspective. Second-person mazes of a sort were found in early text-based games such as ''Hunt the Wumpus,'' a 1973 BASIC program by Gregory Yob. ''Hunt the Wumpus'' departed from the standard grid-based BASIC game by providing a playing field of a different topology, one that was a dodecahedron. The player stalked and was stalked by a wumpus opponent, much as the dinosaur would later pursue the player in ''3D Monster Maze.''

Many of the earliest computer-presented mazes were not visual; they were described textually, narrated to the player from a second-person perspective. Second-person mazes of a sort were found in early text-based games such as ''Hunt the Wumpus,'' a 1973 BASIC program by Gregory Yob. ''Hunt the Wumpus'' departed from the standard grid-based BASIC game by providing a playing field of a different topology, one that was a dodecahedron. The player stalked and was stalked by a wumpus opponent, much as the dinosaur would later pursue the player in ''3D Monster Maze.''