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[Nyan Thousand]

I don't know if this topic's been talked about before, but here goes: This isn't exactly a suggestion for a new in-game feature, but more of a suggestion for Dwarf Fortress in general.

DF is an amazing game, everybody knows that. The fact that everything's done by just Toady and his brother makes it even more amazing. But wouldn't DF, and everybody else in general, benefit if more people are helping? Crowdsourcing. Right now, this is what the suggestion forum is all about, yes, but I mean more than that. I'm talking about having more hands actually helping out with the coding, the balancing, the information, and all that. I know that if given the chance to help out and effect change in DF, I'd do it in a heartbeat. I'm sure a lot of you would too. And, I'm sure a lot of us have something to bring to the table. I'm shit at coding, and my (soon) EE degree doesn't really matter much in the world of Dorf Fort, but a lot of people here can code, or do know a lot of things that are relevant to Dwarf Fortress. (The guys who made DFHack and Dwarf Therapist come to mind, for example)

What I'm saying is this: What if instead of just the two of them doing all this on their own, we actually help out? I'm not saying I don't appreciate the work that's been done already, or anything. Frankly, I am amazed at the sheer volume of work that's been put into this game, and I really just want to help out, and add something tangible. Don't you guys want to help too?

[10ebbor10]

- Suggested before

Short version: Toady doesn't want to do it, because it is

A: His project
B: Hell to coordinate
C: Likely to break the fanbase as different versions of the game evolve in multiple directions..

[weenog]

Hard to tell if this is a joke post or not given the timing.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Doodooist]

Short version: Toady doesn't want to do it, because it is

A: His project
B: Hell to coordinate
C: Likely to break the fanbase as different versions of the game evolve in multiple directions..

Is there somewhere long version that I can read? Do want some FLOSS critique.
I lurked around a bit, but didn't find out anything.

[NW_Kohaku]

The short of it is that Toady isn't going to let anyone else code anything he wants to feel he needs to have a grasp of.  He let Baughn handle the Interface stuff because Toady despises interface with the blazing passion of a million angry suns. 

The closest we will ever get to crowdsourcing is something like this thread that Uristocrat did on raw values, where people basically just wrote out what Toady should put as the values, and put sources to it all, and proved it all, and just try to get Toady's attention to it so that he'll include it in the game himself. 

[Belteshazzar]

He makes money from this project, that would be significantly harder to justify if what went into the game became less and less 'his work'.

He has an artist/creator approach, which indicates to me he takes some not insignificant pride in his work. Hard to take pride in another person's work.

Once someone can't take pride in their work, and they arn't being paid for it, why bother?  Why should he give a damn if it was even an objectively 'better product' due to crowd-sourcing, it wouldn't be his.

It's like telling Monet "Okay, you are seriously going blind, so you can't see some of the details when painting, I could help you out some with that and let you do th-"  "NO." "If you'd just let me help."  "I'D RATHER DIE."

[NW_Kohaku]

He makes money from this project, that would be significantly harder to justify if what went into the game became less and less 'his work'.

He has an artist/creator approach, which indicates to me he takes some not insignificant pride in his work. Hard to take pride in another person's work.

Once someone can't take pride in their work, and they arn't being paid for it, why bother?  Why should he give a damn if it was even an objectively 'better product' due to crowd-sourcing, it wouldn't be his.

It's like telling Monet "Okay, you are seriously going blind, so you can't see some of the details when painting, I could help you out some with that and let you do th-"  "NO." "If you'd just let me help."  "I'D RATHER DIE."

Yes, he clearly looks at DF more as a work of performance art that is more about the process than some sort of product he is selling or even an end result. The metaphor to Monet is an excellent one, however, I'll have to use that the next time the topic comes up.

[Nyan Thousand]

Makes sense. I understand if Toady doesn't want anybody else touching his work. I'd like to read that long version too, if that's ok.

[Mr. Palau]

Makes sense. I understand if Toady doesn't want anybody else touching his work. I'd like to read that long version too, if that's ok.

There are a bunch of threads that NW_KOhaku can find for you on this subject, or if you want to do it yourself just search it.

[Footkerchief]

Makes sense. I understand if Toady doesn't want anybody else touching his work. I'd like to read that long version too, if that's ok.

The main posts are these two:
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=21806.msg237594#msg237594
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=21806.msg238694#msg238694

[Mrhappyface]

[remarks removed]

[Uristocrat]

I see that my little project, which only amounted to gathering and organizing a few uncopyrightable real world facts is already mentioned.

But there's also Baughn's code on GitHub, which is more of a contribution.

[Sus]

I have a feeling of déjà vu...