A text game is a computer game that uses text characters instead of bitmapped or vector graphics. Text games are typically much easier to write and require much less processing power than graphical games, and thus were more common from 1970 to 1990. However, terminal emulators are still in use today, and some people continue to enjoy playing MUDs and exploring interactive fiction. The advent of aalib has allowed games such as Quake to be played on displays that might otherwise not be able to display 3D games.
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