Roleplaying and text adventure games

So, somehow text adventure games eluded me. I graduated straight from drawing things in MS paint to sending settlers out to cut down trees and dig for iron ore. I love Twine games now (I've posted some of my favourites at the bottom) but I completely missed this stage of development. (Now I think about it, I think I had to play a game where I was on board a ship at school. My crew mutinied and I got kicked off after three turns!)

So my friend decided show me. By GMing one. It went something like this:

Her: You are standing in front of a red brick house in a clearing in a forest. The doors and windows are boarded up.

Me: OK I want to go and have a closer look at the house

Her:  Sorry, I do not understand 'closer look at'.

Me: Aaaarrgghh? Fine. Look at house

Her: Sorry, I do not understand 'look at.'

Me: Examine house?

Her: Yes. You go up to the house. You can see that the windows and doors are nailed shut.

Me: Examine window

Her: It has been nailed shut.

Me: Push the plywood away.

Her: It will not move.

Me: hmmm (obviously stumped)

Her: (in a whisper) Try asking where the exits are.

I'll spare you the rest of the dialogue because it went on pretty much like that. A lot of my peers must have possessed a great deal more patience than I ever did - or learnt the magic words pretty quickly. I will still tell you the story because it was messed up in all the best ways.

After I had ascertained that the best (or at least one possible) way into the house was onto the roof and down the chimney (and why was I asking for exits and not entrances?!) I landed in the fireplace, got burnt and jumped out quickly to see my character's mother and father staring at me and asking for my name. When I gave my in game name (the name of the friend who was running the game obviously) they insisted that they had sent me away because I was a bad child. Then my younger sister, Sadie ran out from behind the mother, hugged me and wanted to show me her toys. I went to her room where she had doll's houses and stuffed animals. She was 17. I tried to lead her out the house and she got added to my inventory (!) After exploring the house for a bit I found a letter from a doctor saying that he had been examining Sadie for the last 8 years and she was possibly suffering from delusions and multiple personality disorder. When I turned the corner the doctor was standing there with my parents. I tried to question the doctor but failed at this bit which lead to my mother locking me in my room and saying "things will be OK Samantha". I tried again and this time got the doctor to explain (away from my parents - which should have been obvious to me!) that he thought they had been implanting false memories in me and every 8 years or so when their daughter disappointed them they started over by making her believe she was someone else. I eventually managed to escape the parents and leave the house but wow. Firstly, I was impressed she had come up with that on the spot (after a bottle of wine!) and secondly, I must find some text adventure games and see if I can experience their magic. 

Below - my favourite Twine games:

http://jayisgames.com/games/the-uncle/   The uncle who works for Nintendo: You are staying the night with your friend. Everything seems normal. Almost normal. Until it's not normal at all. (Scary)

http://www.depressionquest.com/  Depression Quest: A simulation of depression (I can't get through this without crying. Only play if you're in a good place.)

http://correlatedcontents.com/misc/Father.html My Father's long, long legs: Hard to describe. A horror game. There are no branching story options but you are left with a feeling of dread.(Somewhat scary)