Grimrock

I've been looking forward to this game for a bit and was wondering if you guys find it more enjoyable to make your own map or let the game do it for you. I've never played a grid based dungeon crawler before and am new to the genre. So does map-making make for a better experience?

The "game" does not make map for you, dovelopers does

And yes, for some people creative activity can be more satisfying than playing the game - if not, there wouldn't be many mods for TES games IMHO

Oops, misunderstood the question

It's really up to the individual. Looking back on playing these games as a kid I loved drawing my own maps (and of course all of the mistakes that go with that), but there are plenty of times (and for plenty of people) that the added time of hand drawing these maps (and the added annoyance of screwing them up) aren't worth it.

I haven't seen much about the automap provided with LoG, but from what I understand it's pretty nice and even allows you to take notes directly on it (a huge plus).

Sorry, this isn't really much of an answer, but I personally think the manual hand drawn maps are a lot of fun (and the time I spend doing it is enjoyable for me). My advice (for whatever it's worth) would be to give hand-drawing the map a shot for a level or two with your first party. If you hate it, you can always just start over with a new party and you haven't lost too much time, but if you find it enjoyable you've probably added many hours to your overall game time and will have a pile of hand drawn maps at the end that you will feel really proud of.

Word of warning on manual mapping as it pertains to the "type" of puzzles that will likely show up in this game, as they are common in the genre (it's not too much of a direct spoiler for these types of games but some might consider this a spoiler, so I'll tag it):

Thanks for the answers, I think I'll give the hand drawn a shot.

Good luck! Like I said, if you find it to be less fun and more of a chore after 30 minutes or an hour, just start over with automap. No big deal (just try to decide before you get too far, because once you choose Old School mode, you can't switch back without restarting with a new party).

Odds are, however, that if you're even thinking that hand drawing your maps might be something that seems fun, it probably will be (the people who wouldn't enjoy that are typically turned off immediately by the concept, I think).

as a kid playing I never bothered with a map, I would run around and explore...

I'm going to try without a map but only turn it on everything truly looks the same or the dungeons are so complex i completely get lost....probably before resorting to a map I'll just start keeping junk items to leave on the ground. I find wandering around aimlessly a lot more fun in these games than to sit and draw a fancy map.

I think I'm gonna try it w/o the automap. We were talking (a lot) with my brother about that, and fact is, in 1987 (sic) when we first played DM, we did not bother about writing a map. We were just exploring and trying to memorize the level (we were young, it WAS easy), and times to times putting some little rocks at crossroads so we could find the way to, lets say, resurection hole, or fountain, w/o and headache.
Of course for the deapest levels, maps were an huge help, and we "cheated" it using some maps found in a game magazine, but :
1 - we were not stuck to it, only using it when we were really lost
2 - no pointer to say where you are, what you are facing, etc.
3 - have first to find yourself on the map

So it was fun, the feeling of being lost is part of those games for me. I think having the easy solution of hitting tab and having my auto-drawn map showing where I am and what I'm facing would kill it a bit, even if I don't promise not to throw one eye or two at some internet map I'm sure I'll find if requiere (or at my own drawn maps if I feel courageous)...