I found the interactive fiction novel ‘Colossal Cave Adventure’ to be very interesting but rather frustrating. I have never read a ‘novel’ like this or played an interactive fiction game. The input output reminded me of Computer Science 101 which I took my freshmen year. Similarly, there were certain words, which you needed to input in order to have certain outputs in a version of blackjack we created via computer program.
I felt that it would be more helpful if the ‘key’ words were contained within the story itself, possibly on a sidebar of possible options. I also figured out that you can group things together such as ‘pick up keys, food and bottle’ rather than doing each task separately. I finally realized that entering directions such as north or south helped me a lot in moving forward with the novel. It was very cool and unique how you can create the story yourself and imagine what each room or place looked like in your head. I continually got stuck and ended up ‘quit’-ing several times. I felt that maybe an easier first novel would have been helpful to get through.
Why “novel”? As a literary genre, a novel is a specific type of prose fiction, but I don’t think Colossal Cave is an example. Your comparison with a terminal-based input/output is more apt, not only because that’s literally what you’re doing (typing commands into a terminal), but because your controlling a fictional person by commanding them to do things — both activities are generally unavailable to the traditional novel.
Now, I will say that there are some IF works that are novel-like, both in scope and in terms of structure. Blue Lacuna is an example.
Colossal Cave, though, I’ve got to say is much more of a game than a story.