As long as it is an adventure text based game, the game itself can be about anything. If you do want a goal you could do a game about comedy, but that's just optional.

I should probably be more specific in the jam page about that as well. I would primarily consider excessive gore the overuse of visceral body fluids. So, zombies are allowed as long as they are not too dramatic.

I am aware of both types of games and either should be fine as long as it can be considered a "game" and follows required rules.

Although those are great games, I would not exactly consider them text based even though text may be a huge component. With that said, games are publicly voted on so it could be possible to create a game like your examples and still rank very well.

I would consider those text based yes.