My first experience with NetHack was in college, when my roommate convinced me to give it a try. I took about 10 steps in and saw "a rock falls on your head. you die." After several more failures (who knew eating kobolds was bad for you?), starvation, and death, I found the most fun in gaming the character creation system until I got a ring of teleport, going to the nearest shop, taking everything I could, and escaping without paying :D