What's an adventure? What's a Quest?

[OB1]

You're right, those text-based adventure games are computer games, since you play them on a computer. However, they are not in the same category as pong or monkey island. Video games are defined by manipulating images on a screen. The first real video game ever made was "Space War!", created by Steve Russell in 1962. What made this program different from everything else, you ask? You were able to manipulate the little dots on the screen. It was the world's first interactive video game. Like you said DJ, all video games are computer games, but not all computer games are video games, which is why this topic is so slippery. Space War is a video game. Mario Bros. is a video game. Monkey Island is a video game. Text-based adventures games are not video games, but they are computer games since they are played on a computer.

Many people misuse the terms computer games, console games, and video games. The term "video game" is the most important one here, and the only reason why we have the words computer games and consoles games is because consoles and PCs have become completely seperate markets, so we needed some terms to help differentiate between the two platforms. The term "video game" has only one meaning, which I already gave to you. Console games (so far) are simply video games for a console. Computer games, however, can be video games or other forms of games being played on a computer. So that's why text-based adventure games are not video games but rather a type of computer game, and should not be confused with the likes of space war or quake.