I tried mapping and didn't like it

In the last one-shot I ran, I had the players map out the dungeon. To prepare I asked for a volunteer who wanted to try mapping and gave them graph paper. Then while playing I mixed detailed descriptions of rooms^[1] while narrating the story.

The rest of table was engaged and asking questions about the adventure. But the mapper was trapped in the graph paper, asking questions like "How many feet were there to the left again?" and "Sorry, how many windows did you say?" They were pulled out of the main game and into a separate, less fun mini-game.

The only highlight was comparing the player-drawn map to mine at the end of the adventure. Overall it was pretty close, but everyone had a good laugh at the differences.

I spoke with a player who had experience from the 80s, and he said that mapping functioned similarly back in the day. The novelty of making the map quickly gave way to tedious questions and fiddling with the drawing. The rare payoff of a secret room did not outweigh the time spent mapping. That summary captures my one-time experience well.

The purpose of playing adventure games is to tell a collaborative story with friends. I want the focus to be on the story, so any mechanics or procedures that pull anyone away from that should be avoided if possible. Mapping falls into that category, so I won't try it again.

In the future, I will cut my map into room pieces and revealing them to the players one piece at a time. That preserves the feeling of exploration for the players, and assembling the room puzzle pieces could still indicate secrets the be discovered.