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Love for Rogue-Likes

Love for sim/strategy games

The off-beat random stuff that happens

Interpreting the stuff that happens (story writing and role playing)

!SCIENCE! (learning and testing a hypothesis)

Retro/Indie gaming

other (state in post)

[sal880612m]

Over the last little while there have been numerous topics about doing something to help new people get into DF, but it made me wonder not so much about what drew people to DF but what keeps them here. I figure if we take this seriously we can get some sort of idea what sort of person would actually enjoy DF.

I tried to cover my bases with the options but suspect there is probably a massive list of things that could be added. If I can I will add any other common ones to the poll but as my first poll I can't be sure.

Edit: I meant for people to be able to select any combination of the options from none to all of them but I think I set the number of votes to six and apparently can't/don't know how to change it.

[knaveightt]

I'm posting because so far I am the only one who checked the "love of Rogue-likes" option.

I think I pointed out before on these boards that playing rogue-likes was why I was first interested in DF, but many of the other poll options certainly stuck DF in my mind.

...may also explain why I prefer ASCII to tilesets/graphic sets. But I'll still be the first to admit many of the graphic sets make DF look awesome 

[Mesa]

I'm posting because so far I am the only one who checked the "love of Rogue-likes" option.

I think I pointed out before on these boards that playing rogue-likes was why I was first interested in DF, but many of the other poll options certainly stuck DF in my mind.

...may also explain why I prefer ASCII to tilesets/graphic sets. But I'll still be the first to admit many of the graphic sets make DF look awesome 

o/

[Cobbler89]

The Lego-like ability to build whatever I want, plus the general idea of making my own goals and just going on instead of trying to beat some boss and be done with it, plus the endless opportunities to explore, plus the staggering level of detail and massive scale both available, plus the way so much interesting stuff is procedurally generated, plus the awesome stuff like fighting random and terrifying forgotten beasts using magma and/or jerry-rigged megatraps, plus the Iliad-like combat logs for all the other fights. It's not so much "what genres does DF share elements with" as it is DF taking some ideas that other games merely dabble in and making a whole game out of ramping those ideas up to eleven (or multiplying them by six, or whatever).

And then, I have so much fun reading others' stories and exploits too.

[Irist GuruNoob]

I checked all the options because all, and more, apply.  There just isn't anything like it and it takes my adult mind on magnificent adventures in the same way the original pc and atari games did with just square pixels when I was a kid.

Drunken dwarves building engineering wonders that awe the world all the while fighting off reanimated toddlers while your best friend is having his eyes pecked out by some winged/beaked monstrosity and your wife has fallen into the well crippling herself only to be washed away in the sewer to get trapped at a flood gate surviving on fish she catches in her mouth as they swim by.

Just a typical day in DF

[Dyret]

Emergent stories and living worlds, but most of the above apply to various degrees.

[NAV]

Toady literally said that he is making this game for himself. Anyone else playing is just a bonus. So the target audience for DF is Toady and Threetoe.

[Alestance]

I am on board with Dwarf Fortress for adventurer, first and foremost. I don't really like Fortress mode all that much, I'm more content to read the stories of thriving bastions in the middle of the darkness than actually forging my own, but while the game mode is limited now, the plans on the development page for Adventurer mode have me salavating. Even just the stuff that will be ready next release has me excited. When Dwarf Fortress is complete, it will boast one of the most immersive open world role playing games ever made (at least from the current perspective.) It will feature a truly unique experience with each world, and with each game. The incredible depth to the history as it is now, and the sheer amount of things you will be able to do is just mind boggling.

Adventurer mode's complete feature list looks like a single player DnD campaign with a sadist, blood-thirsty, but also unequivocally patient DM. He doesn't mind the detail of the world he has to create for you, and he won't gripe once if you want him to make a new one. He is just as content to cut down a hero of justice, as he is letting that hero cut down hordes of bandits and warmongers. He doesn't care and is just as satisfied to run a game if you want to be a hermit farmer content to simply feed yourself, or a caravan runner seeking to make your own fortune. He doesn't care if you are the 12th century equivalent to Indiana Jones, or the 12th century equivalent to Jesse James. He will be just as satisfied if you start with the blessings of the Gods, or the curse of being a mundane peasant. Pacifist or berserk. Honorable, or a bastard. King or slave. Hero or villain. None of these matter to our faithful game master. All he cares about is that you have Fun.

[TheDarkStar]

I like it because of the Fun.

[Kamsko]

I chose story and interpretations. After all that is what sets this game apart from any other fantasy game out there.
The fact that the world is actually living and breathing, the fact that every character I meet will be guided not by strict script, but a collection of personality traits and relations with various other characters and entities.

 Other titles have claimed the same thing in not so many words, but are tightly scripted and/or make it impossible to kill quest related characters. Though you are in an open sandbox as it is called, you are still restricted to following a script to a degree.

That is what dwarf fort isn't, and that is why I love this game. This time the adventure really will be my own unique story unfolding before my eyes. The ascii really plays in well to this as it is almost like reading the book of your adventure while you write it. The events you can potentially end up in give a feeling of playing a game of D&D with a very creative and !FUN! loving DM. Though the new update isn't here yet I can't bring my self to play any other fantasy game. I just make a character, start wandering, and imagining how bad ass dwarf fort is going to be.

 

[Melting Sky]

So far the poll results are interesting. Although I didn't check off the "other" category, I think one of the things that keeps people coming back is actually the Bay 12 community itself. There are all kinds of crazy, interesting and or creative people here. You can find everything here from artists illustrating epic forgotten beasts, to cartoonists creating humorous panels of dwarf life, to writers bringing to life gritty dwarven sagas in short stories and song, to engineers creating water and gear powered dwarven computers.

I think for every hour I actually play the game I probably spend at least that much time reading through crazy and fun Dwarf Fortress community stuff ranging from the wiki to this forum.

[superbob]

Love for sim/strategy games, The off-beat random stuff that happens, Interpreting the stuff that happens

I like the building and planning, also testing stuff out but not to the point I'd actually consider !SCIENCE! to be a primary reason for my playing the game.
I like that when I'm a few seasons into the game, there's plenty of interesting stuff going on, and like taking the interpretation of that beyond the simple gameplay value of the events.
I like thinking that once masterwork traps are laid all around the fortress, the dwarves start to loathe sieges not because of the danger but due to the mundane and tedious cleanup that follows.
I like going around the fortress and recalling the story of some random dwarf or critter I recognize for some reason - like a cat that arrived as a kitten, grew up hunting vermin in the dirt tunnels leading to the main fortress before being adopted by one of the fishery workers, somehow survived being stabbed by a kobold thief, was ran over by a minecart and soon after recovering from the injuries ended up clawing an invading minotaur while the army dwarves tried to get a shot in. She eventually died of old age as a fat and lazy old mother of countless kittens that helped feed the dwarves during the hunger that lasted winter-spring 219 until a caravan arrived and this time the broker got to the depot in time to trade for food and drink.
I like how stories like that just arrange themselves in any fortress that existed for a few seasons.

[Tawa]

I like it for the following:

-How easy modding is. Yesterday I modded in ashandarei over the course of a couple minutes and deployed them for Dwarven use.

-All the random crap you can get up to. Circus fun, finding that off message for doing something Toady expected someone would eventually do, de-limb an entire person and beating them to death with their own fists, having the never-the-same bandit battles.

-The complexity. Simple games tend to be either frustrating if hard or boring if easy; this game tends to be enjoyably... peaceful when easy and enjoyably evil when hard.

-Designing traps like the classic atomsmasher hallway and cave-in, last resort semi-self-destruct is fun, especially if you're building a dungeon to release to the community.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I had a fun idea: present an adventurer with two raised bridges with levers in front. One lever opens the retractable "door"; the other comes smashing down to atomsmash the unfortunate adventurer.

-Random people-smashing in Arena mode is fun as hell.

[Gatleos]

I first heard about DF when I was in highschool, and I introduced it to my friend by telling him about the complex pressure simulation and machinery. That was what attracted us to it.

We were weird kids.

[Putnam]

The target audience is the Adams Brothers.

Their tastes just happen to coincide with a lot of other peoples'.