The lack of an auto-map wasn't really a choice back in the day, though.
The history of CRPGs is one of slow and subtle evolution - which is the case with most things.
They grew out of the PnP tradition, we must remember. In PnP - there's no such thing as automapping, well - unless you're the DM.
I don't remember when auto-mapping became the norm, but I believe it was sometime after the Goldbox games - as they all had a sort of primitive built-in automap feature, and they became very popular.
As for what's good or bad game design - as JDR is saying - is subjective. It's refreshing to hear him being so reasonable
Since I can clearly remember having the greatest (and most frustrating) time mapping old CRPGs - it must have been great game design for me, back in the day.
I don't think we can really talk about game design that's inconsiderate of our available time as inherently bad. It will depend on the particulars, and what audience you're targeting.
Personally, I'm a little annoyed they put auto-mapping into these remakes, because I was looking forward to hearing people talk about how "fun" it is to map out teleporter/spinning dungeons
As an anecdote, I can tell a little story:
A couple of years ago - I took my dog to the summerhouse at New Year's - because he hates loud noises - and I hate him not feeling good even more.
One cold-ass experience, I don't mind telling you
Anyway, I brought along my Android tablet (it's dead now, *cries*) - and I had made sure to install a couple of old adventure games.
The good thing about being in a summerhouse during winter - is that you're forced to be creative - and you're forced to "make do" with what you have available.
So, it wasn't long until I got bored watching shitty TV and I decided to turn on my tablet, and give a few games a go.
One of those games was The Legend of Kyrandia. A fantastic little gem, by the way.
Anyway, at some point in that game, you come across the "Fire Caverns" - or something like that. It's essentially a maze where you have to carry fire-berries in your inventory to light up the environment - or it will get too dark and you'll die. These berries last only a few moves, so you have to keep finding more to survive.
Now, you can potentially "wing it" - but I figured I'd map those caverns out, and I was lucky enough to find some nice graph-paper and a pencil.
Kyrandia is a very short game - and I think the combined playtime was around 4 hours. I think I spent 1-2 hours mapping out that cave on graph-paper.
You know what the interesting part of this story is?
That mapping experience was among the most fun I've had in gaming for years - and I actually saved my map to treasure it.
I would never EVER have bothered doing that, if it didn't feel necessary - or if I'd had other games available to distract me.
Just saying