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[PlumpHelmetMan]

Also, I don't think Theetoe gets enough recognition from the community as co-designer. Plus, where would we be without his crayon drawings. .

Don't forget about his amazing stories.

[BlackBronze]

For me (and I apologize if this is all starting to sound too familiar) what's great about this game is the complexity. There's just so much you can take in! There's times when I boot up the game, generate a world, and kill a few hours simply in Legends Mode. There's nothing quite like tracking down every descendant of very firsts dwarf king, like some detective or crazed historian, only to discover that EVERY SINGLE ONE eventually was eaten by a saltwater crocodile XD. or that the Vault named "LostCorridors" happens to literally be in the middle of an impenetrable Mountain range, of which the only remaining dwarf Civ coincidentally decided to grow, never daring to leave the mountain's shadow despite a 100-years-long history. I've practically teared up after following the tale of a General returned home from war only to find his loving wife and children dead, eventually retreating from civilization to grieve before making his life goal to study the secrets of life and death.

I've spent a whole day, after reading into Deity Spheres on the wiki, drawing out a HUGE flowchart just so that I could visualize all of the Parent/Child and Friend relationships (I lost momentum upon reaching the Preclude lists..). I was breath-taken, not only after realizing what ridiculous task I had signed myself up for, but seeing how so many small parts connect to each other, interacting in the oddest of ways!

I got bored once and decided to compare all of my dwarfs' facial features, and it was then that I realized that each Civ has a gene-pool of sorts (My dwarfs were all Jade eyed and Bronze-skinned), with minor characteristics, and even distinguishable traits within a dwarf's family! Again, I was just awe-struck with the depth of this game!

It's not often that I pause while a game to take a moment to acknowledge that there's literally a WORLD at my fingertips, but when it's Dwarf Fortress it's every time. 

[KittyTac]

And it'll get more complex as it goes! It's less than half-done! You still won't be able to do everything, however, you would have to convert the universe into computronium.

[Pancakes]

Cross posting from What keeps you playing Dwarf Fortress?:

The sheer amount of possibilities in the game world, and the limitless things you can do.

Want to try and make a fort with a 1000 dwarf pop cap? Go ahead!
Want to make a fortress out of solid steel? Go ahead!
Want to raze every site outside your fortress? Go ahead!
Want to purge the world of every titan, megabeast, and forgotten beast? Go ahead!
Want to turn every dwarf into a vampire? Go ahead!
Want to farm merpeople for their valuable bones? Go ahead?
...

The list just goes on and on, and it's what drives me in every fortress or adventurer I start. It's how I can make a fortress based around one single idea out of a list of thousands and run it for decades without becoming bored. The end game possibilities that you can create and aim for yourself are completely unparalleled in any other game in existence, period. The trick to not becoming bored of DF is to spice it up every fortress or adventure, because as much as I love DF, I know it can be boring if you fall into a rut.

And, with constant progress being made on the game by Toady, if you ever stop playing for a little while there will (usually) be a new feature to play around with when you come back.

[quekwoambojish]

Because once you understand what you're looking at and how to interact with it, you can do any goddamn thing in the universe.

Sounds like over-enthusiasm. You can't do everything in DF.

I disagree, agree, and disagree.

First disagree. I think you’re taking ‘everything’ as misunderstanding of context. I think by everything, he just means to do much and is happy about it not literal.

I agree that if he literally  means everything, then I agree that context is rediculous, but it is more likely a misunderstanding of context.

But then I disagree...because what if everything is actually possible, because theory of if you can create simulations within the simulation, you can technically simulate anything with millions of years effort.
Example, person makes space invader using DF computation.
I’m sure if someone dedicated their whole life (in current version of the game) to simulate a 3D world game, it is totally possible.

Can this game eventually allow me to taste the bacon? I don’t know.

[KittyTac]

But you cannot simulate a system inside of itself. Maybe a simpler version of a universe, yes, but then that would not classify as "everything". </pedantry>.

[Bumber]

But you cannot simulate a system inside of itself. Maybe a simpler version of a universe, yes, but then that would not classify as "everything". </pedantry>.

You must simulate the simulation of the simulation inside of the simulation, all the way down!

[PlumpHelmetMan]

But what if somewhere down the line of the simulated simulation the simulation simulator is incapable of properly simulating a simulated version of...of...*smoke and sparks begin erupting off of cranium*

Anyway let's get back on topic before someone is tempted to resurrect a certain long-dead meme.

[scourge728]

tell me the meme

[Bumber]

tell me the meme

Yo dawg?

[scourge728]

Yo dawg, I heard you like simulations, so I put a simulation in your simulation, so you can simulate your simulation.

Did I do it right?

[forgotten_idiot]

Yo dawg, I heard you like simulations, so I put a simulation in your simulation, so you can simulate your simulation.

Did I do it right?

So you can simulate while you simulate.

[fishboyliam]

My favorite thing here is the sheer absurdity of how complex it is. Sure, a lot of stuff isn't shown, but the fact that this game simulates hundreds of years of cultural development, war, myth, and even god damn erosion before even receiving player input (aside from the different starting parameters but that's kinda an aside). You could open a book and find out "Oh! Lord Asshole of Totalshitole was slain by Brandy Beard the Drunk 237 years ago! Neat!" and that will have actually been a thing that was generated. Not just the game deciding "Ok, I'll have a person die now" or "Ok, we gotta make something to fill this spot in." The game straight up every variable to come to the conclusion that this would be the outcome due to prior events; and that is STILL true, even if you never pick up that book in the first place. Lord Asshole lived, and died, to bring the world to the point it is today.

I find that comforting in a way, because at the end of the day, that's kind of true of us as well. Sure, life is far more (possibly infinitely so) complex than this game, but at the end of the day, we still exist, and even when we die, we still will, regardless of whether we get a book.

I didn't mean to get all philosophical there, but ah well. I still think it's nice.

Insert some shitty meme here for ironic effect.

EDIT: I just remembered that I once noticed a random goblin in my fort, got really nervous (I didn't have any military at the time), only to realize that he was the Outpost Liaison; I don't know what he did to get a Dwarven Civ to trust him so much, but that is the one goblin I couldn't kill. Crazy how you can still be surprised by this game in such ways.

[Eschar]

Spoiler: Returning to the 'doing everything' discussion for a moment... (click to show/hide)

Sounds like over-enthusiasm. You can't do everything in DF.

But the technology cutoff (Tarn will only put things into DF that existed before a certain point in Earth's history) ensures that the "everything" people have referred to is finite. It would take truly massive amounts of computing power, but you could hypothetically eventually be able to do everything within that time. </alsopedantic>

[PlumpHelmetMan]

I think we should put that discussion to rest to be honest. Not really accomplishing anything and it clearly wasn't meant to be taken as absolutely literal.