I'm not trying to argue your points, but there was a lot of "serious gaming" in the 80s and 90s, too. I highly recommend Infocom's Trinity, Lurking Horror, most

I'm not trying to argue your points, but there was a lot of "serious gaming" in the 80s and 90s, too. I highly recommend Infocom's Trinity, Lurking Horror, most SSI titles, etc. The list is vast.