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Because That's How The Game Is Made?

Because That's How The Game Is Played?

Because That's What Makes The Best Stories?

Because That's The Most Fun Part To Deal With?

Because That's All We Really Remember?

[Kohou]

So, I've been talking about Dwarf Fort to a couple of my coworkers for a couple weeks now, and am currently in the act of putting it, the tutorials, and some mods onto a thumb drive for one of them right now, when it suddenly hit me...
The only things I've EVER said about this game (other than how much processor power it uses, and why.) is negative, horrible stuff, often involving such terms as "failed moods", "noble-traps", "seiges" and "magma". 
In other words, stuff that, in any other sim...  heck, in any other GAME would make me back away with my fingers in front of me in an "X". 
And yet, this is the stuff that makes us go...  I WANT!
How do we have so much fun with so much horror?

I suppose there's likely a number of thoughts, ranging from "proving we can overcome a challenge" to "an actual desire to sadistically torment poor bearded midgets."
But really, I think it boils down to one thing...  it makes one heck of a story.

And I also think it takes a special kind of person to hear the stories and picture testing these things.  Perhaps these people simply have dwarven blood in their veins.  I hope my coworker does.

Anyway, that's my thoughts.  Feel free to tell me I'm nuts.

[Armok]

seconded.

[Rhenaya]

You are nuts!

I actually try to avoid any dead or tormented dwarfs, but to make it not that easy i use some restrictions as well, like only 1/4 of my military are markdwarfes,no trap hallways, atoizr traps etc.

but then again.. the stories i tell others are mostly about my failed attempts to save my forts from rampage

by armok, maybe you are not nuts

[Duke 2.0]

 But we are all such creative, savvy indavidua-

 Oh crap. We are all those public shootings people. Half of us are gun-savvy.

 I'm running away before the police get 'ere!

[Kohou]

Perhaps a better/alternate question is:
Do we tell the horror stories because:
A) That's all we remember?
B) That's how we play the game?
C) That's just how the game is designed?
D) That's the most fun part?
or
E) Because it's awesomer than the story about how nothing went wrong, and you did lots of crazy fending off of beasts?

(Hmm...  I smell a poll!)

[Skorpion]

Because 'I had another cave-in accident and toasted another miner' is more interesting than 'I traded more goblin skull totems to the humans and dwarves today'.

Also because the dangerous, nasty things are FUN. Magma, steam, obsidian farming, figuring out digging projects because the only way to test what lever did what was to pull it, and so forth.

[bob_smith]

Anybody noticed that while there are oh so few ways to succeed for long periods, there are many more ways you can kill your dwarfs. Heck the entire game revolves around these dwarves which are made dumb so as to run into that magma, and die from that siege. If the dwarves were a pinch smarter, and didn't need micromanagement every few steps, this game would be so much more boring. Although all of these deaths do make good stories, I think the game just revolves around the deaths of these dwarves.

[Rysith]

I'm going to go for "best stories" as well. Sometimes, a great story emerges without blood, sweat, tears, miasma, fire, and magma. Flarechannel, for example. Most of the time, though, the best stories are the ones where the dwarves take on a challenge that seems impossible, and either succeed beyond their wildest hopes (Nist Akath) or fail, but fail epically (Boatmurdered).
The "I embarked but then a GCS oppped up and everyone died" stories aren't memorable. The "We lived in peace until I got bored and made a new fortress" stories aren't memorable. The "There we were, the seven of us barely clinging to life as the skeletal elk moved closer. We barely managed to tunnel into the glacier and rebuild the ice wall before they reached us, but then we realized in our haste that we had left the wagon and our supplies outside with them." stories are memorable.

[Creamcorn]

Today I modded that chasm creatures, along with a few other creatures, be more common...

Oh god,





the body count,









the body count!!!
it's soooooo much fun

[RPB]

It's remarkably easy to avoid horrible deaths in the unmodded game, even without resorting to the more egregious exploits the game presents you with. It's just usually more interesting if you don't bother to.

[ThtblovesDF]

Once your a be hound "survival" you will look for "entertainment", obviously.

[Jackrabbit]

Obviously horribly dieing is fun! Duh.

[Dareon Clearwater]

The horror stories are certainly more entertaining.

I just related the following tale to some of my friends: "So, I've hit adamantine.  Walled up the important breach, but I've got a whole bunch sitting around getting turned into ingots.  A metalcrafter went fey and grabbed two pieces.  He just finished, and it's an adamantine... piccolo.  Encircled with adamantine and with a picture of a dwarf.  Worth over a million, but it's still a piccolo."

Their response: "Huh.  Cool."

Compared with this one I told them a while earlier: "Oh jesus.  You guys remember I told you about my obsidian works, right?  Well, I was doing a little dwelling space expansion, and one of my bedrooms nicked a corner of the magma chamber.   I only found out after I'd lost three dwarves who'd gotten trapped in their rooms.  I've dumped the water on the main pool, but there's still at least as much magma flowing around in my bedrooms.  I hope I can wall it off before it reaches the stairways."

Response: "Holy shit, that's awesome!  Is anyone running around on fire?  Anyone manage to survive and get dragged away?  How's their mood looking?"

It's true for any narrative, really.  Things going as they're supposed to is boring.