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[ottottott]

So, I'm trying to get my friend to learn DF, but he keeps avoiding it. Even after I suggested to teach him over TeamViewer or something like that.
So, seems the reason is that the darned fool tried it alone once. Without any assisting tools. So now he's scared, and thinks it'll be way too hard.
So, I was hoping for some ideas on how to make the game seem as easy as possible to him. I'll OFC send him a version with a tileset and DT, but I need something to reassure him before he opens the game.
Silly request, I know, but... Uhm... Yeah. ^_^

[GoombaGeek]

Be a man. Give him plain vanilla and MAKE HIM PLAY.

[ottottott]

He won't. It's not like I can go over to his place, chain him to a chair, and force him to learn it before allowing him to leave.

[GoombaGeek]

He won't. It's not like I can go over to his place, chain him to a chair, and force him to learn it before allowing him to leave.

You can in Dwarf Fortress.

There's your selling point right there.

(Or you can put the chain right next to a chair so that he can only occupy the same tile as the chair.)

BEST OPTION: Get him to read my "I badly draw your reports" thread in Fortress Mode Discussion.

It shows all the wacky stuff you can get up to in the game, and illustrated too.

[ottottott]

Nice pics, but, yeah, uhm, seriously please?

[GoombaGeek]

Nice pics, but, yeah, uhm, seriously please?

That was the best option. If people can get into DF from famous stories (Boatmurdered etc) that show the fun stuff without the hard gameplay, I don't see why forty-odd pages of illustrations of funny in-game events should be any less alluring.

Besides, I could use the publicity :U

[daveralph1234]

Buy him a copy of 'Getting Started with Dwarf Fortress', then hit him over the head with it and go with the chair idea.
EDIT: a print out of the wiki would also work (Just don't use that cheap thin printing paper).

[GreatWyrmGold]

Sounds like a target for the Lazy Noob Pack.

[Talvieno]

It's "Newb", and that would make it easier for him, yeah. If you want to ease up on the learning curve as much as possible, give him a copy of DF with the Lazy Newb Pack (as per GreatWyrmGold's suggestion) and have invaders and aquifers turned OFF. Have him start in a neutral, calm biome - nice and peaceful. When you think he's about ready for a challenge, turn invaders back on and watch the hilarious madness ensue. OR - just tease him into breaching HFS. By that point he'll (hopefully) have become incredibly attached to his fortress, and he'll be mad as hell (no pun intended) at the perpetrators of his destruction. He'll want to take revenge on them with a second fort, in the most sadistic, roundabout, bloody, inconceivable, unlikely, humorous, dwarfy way possible. And that is when you have him:
    "Welcome to Bay12, my friend. Welcome to Bay12."

[Sonlirain]

I don't really think it's possible to "Make" someone start playing DF.

Same thing goes for every game and fandom in existence.
Talk too much about DF and he will start hating you for it and passively hating DF because of you.
And you can replace DF with pretty much anything from Aliens to My Little Pony.

[Bloodyharbinger]

GoombaGeek has it right. Being inspired by silly pictures and epic stories is what got me started down the road. If someone doesn't want to play, there isnt much you can do to make them. Just tell them about all the fun you have and if they are interested they will ask how to get started.