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[angelious]

I'm not really sure if there's an official answer to this, I'm doubting it, but who are "you" in terms of your position in the fortress when you play?

Please keep this quote in a secure location, and copy-paste it into every one of these silly debates where players claim to be God:

Our eventual goal is to have the player's role be the embodiment of positions of power within the fortress, performing actions in their official capacity, to the point that in an ideal world each command you give would be linked to some noble, official or commander.  I don't think coaxing is the way I'm thinking of it though, as with a game like Majesty which somebody brought up, because your orders would also carry the weight of being assumed to be for survival for the most part, not as bounties or a similar system.  Once your fortress is larger, you might have to work a little harder to keep people around, but your dwarves in the first year would be more like crew taking orders from the captain of a ship out to sea or something, where you'd have difficulty getting them to do what you want only if you've totally flopped and they are ready to defy the expedition leader.

You are the nobles. 

Not God, but the ones players always complain about being fat, lazy, and too high on their own delusional self-importance to be helpful. 

Thank you, that is all.

this.

[Skullsploder]

You are the collective will of the executives, apparently?

So strange when the collective will of the executives is to build a system that enables the fortress to be filled with magma at the pull of a lever, or is to cook all of the plants and alcohol into meals so there is no more booze, or is to carve out a giant dong only visible from above at a cross-section of underground.

The collective will of the executives wants to build a system for killing the executives in magma?

[NW_Kohaku]

You are the collective will of the executives, apparently?

So strange when the collective will of the executives is to build a system that enables the fortress to be filled with magma at the pull of a lever, or is to cook all of the plants and alcohol into meals so there is no more booze, or is to carve out a giant dong only visible from above at a cross-section of underground.

The collective will of the executives wants to build a system for killing the executives in magma?

This presumes that there IS a collective will. 

I think this may well sum up how a new dwarf overseer feels frequently:

I have no idea where anything is. I have no idea what anything does. This is not merely a madhouse designed by a madman, but a madhouse designed by many madmen, each with an intense hatred for the previous madman's unique flavour of madness.

One administrator may well hate a noble, and lie to the noble about what a given lever does, arranging for an Unfortunate Accident.  Others may simply be suicidal.

This isn't unique to DF, for that matter.  In Crusader Kings, having a depressed liege (player character) is useful, because it means you have the option to commit suicide, which allows you to precisely time the moment of your death, and by extension, your succession, for maximum personal dynastic gain.  Without it, you just have to send your emperor into battle and hope for glorious death in battle or maybe lead some troops around wherever the nearest epidemic of typhus is spreading, and hope your guy drinks from the wells.

[Hamiltonz]

I am an intelligent spirit that has some magical power to influence (but not control) a group of hard working but rather suicidal (or was that my mistake, so sorry) little physical beings.

My purpose: to evict the current Genius Loci http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genius_loci  and assume it's place.

The assault begins!

[LMeire]

I'm still going with "The player is god" but in a minor god sense rather than the familiar omnipotent blood-wizard, like a fort-wide possessed mood. My reasoning is that retired forts are listed as having "come to their senses" in Legends mode, which seems to indicate that dwarves are in a sort of trance state whilst being controlled; allowing them to ignore their traditions or even their ethics in constructing whatever crime against civility the player is planning at the time. For instance, a canonical DF dwarf would never willingly torture a living creature; but through the whims of a player they have no problems with setting up traps specifically made to slowly cause inhumane amounts of pain like drowning, fire, or syndrome traps.

[NW_Kohaku]

Well, there's reason to caution people not to assume that the game will always be like it is forever. 

People were far more deadset against magic in the past, and prone to talking about how DF wasn't really a game with magic all the remaining magical creatures should be removed from the game back in 40d before we had more and more obviously magical events occuring.

The quote I linked shows Toady is intending to take away the "God powers" of oversight players have now, and he's been talking recently about taking away the labors screen from dwarves, and making them decide on their own what labors to take up. 

You can point to how things work currently, and say that you have omnipotent sight and control over the way dwarves choose to do different jobs, but that's little more than an inside joke that will die out when things are changed.

[Dunamisdeos]

I drew this on a post-it for a different thread. It is relevant.

This is universally how I see my invisible overseer in dwarf fortress.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

HA HA HA wow this fiddle is amazing!

[i2amroy]

I've always favored the "genius loci" theory, myself, where you are some sort of spirit of the location/fortress (as shown by the fact that you are technically there before the dwarves ever start to actually build anything, and the fact that the fortress will keep going even after you leave it now).

[Showbiz]

Usually retire my adventurer named as myself in the fortress.

[Graknorke]

In Dwarf Mode I believe that Toady has said that you play as a sort of abstract collective of all the managing nobles, which is why you need a bookkeeper to see all of the items in the fort, a manager to properly delegate large orders, and so on.

[angelious]

In Dwarf Mode I believe that Toady has said that you play as a sort of abstract collective of all the managing nobles, which is why you need a bookkeeper to see all of the items in the fort, a manager to properly delegate large orders, and so on.

I'm not really sure if there's an official answer to this, I'm doubting it, but who are "you" in terms of your position in the fortress when you play?

Please keep this quote in a secure location, and copy-paste it into every one of these silly debates where players claim to be God:

Our eventual goal is to have the player's role be the embodiment of positions of power within the fortress, performing actions in their official capacity, to the point that in an ideal world each command you give would be linked to some noble, official or commander.  I don't think coaxing is the way I'm thinking of it though, as with a game like Majesty which somebody brought up, because your orders would also carry the weight of being assumed to be for survival for the most part, not as bounties or a similar system.  Once your fortress is larger, you might have to work a little harder to keep people around, but your dwarves in the first year would be more like crew taking orders from the captain of a ship out to sea or something, where you'd have difficulty getting them to do what you want only if you've totally flopped and they are ready to defy the expedition leader.

You are the nobles. 

Not God, but the ones players always complain about being fat, lazy, and too high on their own delusional self-importance to be helpful. 

Thank you, that is all.

[Graknorke]

What, you expect me to actually read a thread before I post in it? Absurd.

[angelious]

What, you expect me to actually read a thread before I post in it? Absurd.

but its on the top of the third page

[Loud Whispers]

First page if you're 50ppp master page

[thehman03]

Yeah i always just saw the player as the head honcho of the fortress. makes more sense that way as you can't see underground layers before your dwarves can and the like.