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[Max™]

Go show him Roomcarnage, TLCM, go find the childcare thread and try to explain why he shouldn't call the cops.

[TheKaspa]

I suggest getting them drunk, forcing them to dig an unsafe pit while vomiting and then releasing the honey badgers.

Or this guy has some good let's play stuff. https://www.youtube.com/user/Nagidal146

How did I not think of that first option? It's so obvious

Because it doesn't involve magma

[omniclasm]

Generally stories about automated magma showers and sacrificial chambers for kittens in dining halls.

[Thisfox]

I tend to read the good bits of Boatmurdered to people on a regular basis. And I'll play the game while letting them be a backseat driver. I play vanilla, so teaching them what they're seeing is a great big part of that process.

To be fair, the addiction of DF is dangerous, so I try not to actively recruit people to the game {grin}

[omniclasm]

To be fair, the addiction of DF is dangerous, so I try not to actively recruit people to the game {grin}

Seems pretty healthy within the group of people I know.

They play it heavily for 4-5 days, get some fun stories to tell, then put it down for 3-4 months. Rinse and repeat.

[Naryar]

Make him read Boatmurdered.

If he spends half his time laughing, then he is prime DF player material.

[quekwoambojish]

To be honest, at first I too had difficulties getting people to try DF, but there is one method I found that works much better than ALL of the others. (Now 7 of my friends play it, 3 are super into it) Here it is.
 
Talk about how you did some pretty unheard of stuff in game, and when they ask more about it; SAY THE FOLLOWING;

Tell them it's probably too complex, and the gameplay is likely too challenging for their taste. Warn them about how the steep learning curve only makes this game enjoyable for pretty hardcore players.

It's worked wonders for me, seriously.

[Broseph Stalin]

Make references to boatmurdered. You can't just ask someone to read it because in their mind it's just a weird fan fictiony thing about a game they don't play. You mention burning artists drinking magma and punching babies, armies of rampaging elephants and monkey raiding parties, you tell them about people trying to remember which lever kills the elephants and which lever kills everybody else Their brains will struggle to find context for these things and then they'll read it on their own.

[Unit88]

To be honest, at first I too had difficulties getting people to try DF, but there is one method I found that works much better than ALL of the others. (Now 7 of my friends play it, 3 are super into it) Here it is.
 
Talk about how you did some pretty unheard of stuff in game, and when they ask more about it; SAY THE FOLLOWING;

Tell them it's probably too complex, and the gameplay is likely too challenging for their taste. Warn them about how the steep learning curve only makes this game enjoyable for pretty hardcore players.

It's worked wonders for me, seriously.

Make references to boatmurdered. You can't just ask someone to read it because in their mind it's just a weird fan fictiony thing about a game they don't play. You mention burning artists drinking magma and punching babies, armies of rampaging elephants and monkey raiding parties, you tell them about people trying to remember which lever kills the elephants and which lever kills everybody else Their brains will struggle to find context for these things and then they'll read it on their own.

I see we took a psychological route to the subject

[angelious]

got two of my friends to try it simply by telling them what was going on in my own fort.

dunno if it worked with the other one since i cut ties with him soon after that and the other one found it "too confusing" and "hard" and other excuses. he then said i should try a real hardcore game like starcraft...

[quekwoambojish]

Hardly anything in Starcraft can magma; how is that supposed to be hardcore?

But really tho, the only thing hardcore about Starcraft is that it's PvP, and games are very short by design. Dwarf fortress is hardcore even without players, heck even without combat it's challenging.

Imagine if Toady decided to take the 'hardcore shortcut', and made dwarf fortress PvP (take out pausing to make it work). The game would break the definition of the hardcore competitive scene.

[angelious]

Hardly anything in Starcraft can magma; how is that supposed to be hardcore?

But really tho, the only thing hardcore about Starcraft is that it's PvP, and games are very short by design. Dwarf fortress is hardcore even without players, heck even without combat it's challenging.

Imagine if Toady decided to take the 'hardcore shortcut', and made dwarf fortress PvP (take out pausing to make it work). The game would break the definition of the hardcore competitive scene.

"starcraft has tournaments and its popular"

was his response to that... also pvp dwarf fortress would be chaos. i cant even imagine the horrors some of the magma meisters here could come up with in order to destroy their opponents...

[maxcat61]

No, ask him to watch you. And ask for suggestions on what to do next.

besides, if he is interested in D&D or Lotr or fantasy in general, try to do something linked to his interests. i.e., a Durin's Bridge, a Tavern, a Tomb of Horror dungeon.

That's how I got intraduced: I noticed my friend ridge was playing a game that had a screen that I just could not understand, full of aphostriphies and comma's. I asked him what it was, and then watched him play for a few days. Then I downloaded it, and started the slow climb up the dwarf fortress learning cliff. I played timid at first, but now all my friends describe my management as "horrifying", "disturbing", and "I'd never want to be a dwarf in any of your fortesses". All I did was talk to them about kitten explo(d)ers and about how my last 3 forts had died (in grand detail, with many, many deaths).

[Corona688]

Show him a Megaproject.

I think megaprojects kind of miss the point...  To someone who hasn't already played DF, megaprojects in DF look like crap.  You can do them in Minecraft more easily, and they look better there.  Why bother slaving away getting 200 dwarves making something silly when you can hit the 'import' button in someone's minecraft mod and have it already done and properly rendered?

Not that I advocate that, but to someone who hasn't played the game, that's the key -- what makes it fun to do that, or anything, in DF?

I think the key things to point out are:

1) The game world is an intricate story which is never the same twice, all the way down to trading partners and wars.
2) The game is the struggle to lead your dwarves to survival and prosperity in an environment of your choosing.
3) It's a managerial game.  Your interaction is even less direct than things like Simcity.
4) Combat is gruesome enough to make one grateful it's just ASCII.

[maxcat61]

Show him a Megaproject.

I think megaprojects kind of miss the point...  To someone who hasn't already played DF, megaprojects in DF look like crap.  You can do them in Minecraft more easily, and they look better there.  Why bother slaving away getting 200 dwarves making something silly when you can hit the 'import' button in someone's minecraft mod and have it already done and properly rendered?

Not that I advocate that, but to someone who hasn't played the game, that's the key -- what makes it fun to do that, or anything, in DF?

I think the key things to point out are:

1) The game world is an intricate story which is never the same twice, all the way down to trading partners and wars.
2) The game is the struggle to lead your dwarves to survival and prosperity in an environment of your choosing.
3) It's a managerial game.  Your interaction is even less direct than things like Simcity.
4) Combat is gruesome enough to make one grateful it's just ASCII.

5) You can play it in any style you want: you can be a benevolent dictator, or a crazy overlord who executes all children. You can focus on making your dwarfs life's happy, or you can just forget your troubles and love the magma cannon.
6) The random name generator: Nothing more needs to be said.
7) What I personally view as the most important: The community. I am personally inspired by what I see go on these forums (both the good and the bad). Deathgate inspired me to invade the Clown Car, Boatmurdered gave me a fear of elephants, and a deep appreciation of magma, and Doomforest reminded me that even if 199 out of 200 dwarfs die, you can still come back. It's not over till every dwarf is dead and haunting.