Amadeus H

Any framework, poorly implemented, will result in convoluted and messy code.

Properly implemented MVC should be fine for a text-based game. What matters more is what you feel works best/makes you more efficient/best fit for the language you use (MVVM for C# for example).

Perhaps it would be better to look at the solution you arrived at with MVC to pinpoint what could improve, instead of changing it completely.

To share some recent experience!

We did some user testing when implementing an installation bootstrapper (installing tons of big packages) last autumn, and when there was both a normal progress bar and a spinning wheel at the side the users felt that the installation was faster than with just a normal progress bar. And a lot faster than only a spinning wheel. The worst user experience though came from the indeterminete progress bar though, which is interesting because it's as useless as the spinning wheel. But maybe not as pretty!

Obligatory XKCD:

Maybe I'm alone in this, but a secret guilty pleasure of mine was Blitzball in Final Fantasy X.

Very simple rules, a bit like handball underwater. Enclosed area, RPG "combat" throws and defence. Missing a bit of tactic, but I liked it.

I'd play an IT-Support Manager kind of game. Think the IT-Crowd with all its crazy humor included.