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[WanderingKid]

I don't believe simple monetization would be an issue, personally.  There are plenty of ways to drag some cash out of the fanchise (that we would consume with happy adoration).  For starters, picture a T-Shirt with a smiley face next to a blocked 'g'.  Or an actual leather backpack with the word 'MASTERWORK' down the sides.  Or a Coffee Mug with "Unused by Dwarf" on it.

Either you'd get it or you wouldn't, and that's pretty trademark for the DF community from what I've witnessed. 

So, I don't believe cash alone would stop the DF game as long as the Tarns were willing to work with a bit of that.  As long as the donations can carry them though I can also see why they wouldn't want to get directly involved in things of that nature.

There will always be a hardcore fanbase to DF.  Heck, even I come back off and on after a year of other stuff and learn new stuff and goof around.  If DF was to die though, it will be when something similar enough comes out from a different indie that doesn't FPS to death or has a UI that isn't a mental blockade to get through.  A large enough portion of the fanbase would move to that, enough that the Tarns would get discouraged.  Personally I think that would be the only real killer, Toady One and Threetoes getting discouraged because of their fanbase leaving.

Barring that, as long as the Tarns are willing to keep refining and working on their dream game, it'll be here for us to keep dumping children into magma pits so they stop breaking our workshops and figuring out ways to weaponize dust breathing hydras... and trying to line their pits with pillows so they don't kill themselves while they're doing it.

[Nagelfar^^]

Nothing is more graphical than a person's imagination, which is the graphics card that DF uses.

That's.. that's beautiful man. Sig'd

[Inarius]

Nothing is more graphical than a person's imagination, which is the graphics card that DF uses.

That's.. that's beautiful man. Sig'd

That's exactly what I think.
What graphic DF could use, it would be someday  obsolete and ugly. Without graphics, the game is eternal.

[Mudcrab]

An ASCII game is never gonna get picked up by a big company and go mainstream. Dwarf Fortress was the beginning and it will be the end.

[guessingo]

no reason to monetize is easy for people on the outside to say. We are talking about 2 guys in their 30s who are living on a combined pay of $50,000/year with no medical insurance included. I saw in the latest interview that they discussed medical insurance. With Obamacare, it may be easier for them to get medical insurance (this is not a political post and I did say 'may'), but its not going to be cheap.

These guys have very advanced skills. If they decide to get married and have kids, they will probably have to look for some other way to support a family. I think a publisher may be able to make some money by just building a 3d interface for Dwarf Fortress and then building their own mods. This would not be high valued and it wouldn't be using the 'DF name' to produce generic stuff which they already turned down (which was smart $100k for that is WAY too low giving the communities size). This idea probably wouldn't make the publisher a ton of money, but could be worth say $20-30k/year plus medical insurance to the guys. The medical insurance being the big one. I read alot of science/fiction and fantasy author blogs and lack of medical insurance is a big deal to them. They are all self employed. There is a new Short Story book that just came out called 'Unfettered' (has alot of well known authors in it) that was put together so 1 author/editor could cover his medical bills from cancer.

so just floated an idea. There is a difference between 'monetizing just to get rich' and 'monetizing so they dont have to scramble for every last dime'.

It is really incredible what these two guys have done. As a community it might be fun to push science fiction conventions (like Comic Con) to invite these guys as guests of honor (GoH get free travel/hotel/food, etc...). There are probably alot of people who want to meet them and the trip could be fun for them.

[Inarius]

Or he can move to a civilized country where treatments aren't so ruinous.

[Urist McDwarfFortress]

The problem with "monetizing," is that it would involve charging money for DF, which is something Toady has said he will never do. Also, I'm not sure it would actually get him any more money then he does now. If he charged for it, a lot less people would bother trying it. Sure, most players who are already DF fans would probably gladly pay for it, once. But then that would be about it. Everyone else would come along, take one look at the "graphics" and say "I'm not paying for this crap," and leave without even trying it. So Toady would get a one time (rather large) infusion of money, and then go bankrupt, because people who have already paid money to buy the game are much less likely to donate money on top of what they've already paid.

Or he can move to a civilized country where treatments aren't so ruinous.

Inarius used flamebait. Its not very effective...

[Inarius]

Not it's not :/ At least I have tried

[Xantalos]

DF shall last as long as humanity can sustain data.

[Snaake]

Or he can move to a civilized country where treatments aren't so ruinous.

Or heck, where the insurance isn't quite so ruinous. I only pay around 100€/year for travel insurance, which includes quite good healthcare coverage, and my accidents-only (no diseases) health insurance isn't much more (that contract is quite old, so might not get as good a rate now). Public healthcare makes for damn good competition for both private healthcare AND private healthcare insurance. And don't cry for the doctors, they're still pretty much the highest-paid profession as well as being at the top of the most respected professions lists.

</derail>?

I'm also inclined to believe that donations are the way to go. Or rather, keep going. Although, what's to say they can't continue to accept donations even if they do publish on Steam/GoG/whatever at some point. Personally I haven't donated yet because I'm a poor university student, but definitely intend to once I have a steady job, and would probably ALSO buy the game on wherever it is, if only as a way to advertise it (more sales = more "free" advertising from the service, both on Steam and on other platforms, in one form or another).