Hey all,
I'm completely new to Dwarf Fortress, but as a lover of everything that is strategy and simulation gaming, I'm excited. I know that there is a steep learning curve with this game, and that's actually something that I seek in a game. I enjoy the process of trail and error until I find a system that works well for me.
Given that its sometimes quite humorous to watch a new player struggle through the first lessons in learning how to play a game that makes no apologies for being difficult, I thought I could turn my inevitable frustration into something positive. I want to run a 24-hour stream of my trials and accept donations through chipIn for the charity, Child's Play. Donations through chipIn go straight to Child's Play, so there's no worry of funny business with the donation transactions. If you aren't familiar with Child's Play, its an organization that donates video game entertainment to children in hospitals to make their stay more pleasant.
To make things more interesting than having me sitting there with a webcam and trying to learn this game, I thought of a few ideas to involve the community. Since the game would be streamed live, I'd like to have experienced members of the community join me for however long they wish via skype to answer questions from the stream, and provide me a tip or two as well. It would be fantastic if I could get any one of the game's developers to join the session for however long they please to answer questions from the community. With any game I know that there are artists who make their own fan-art and I think to encourage viewers to donate it would be great if we could give away prints to a random viewer as we hit various donation landmarks. If there's enough viewers, someone gave me the idea of naming a dwarf after a donor of a certain amount of money, which could make for some level of hilarity.
Anyways, if you have any ideas to contribute, please do, and if you know how I could get in contact with popular community members or developers I would appreciate it. I think this project would work, and could have a very positive effect.