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[DizzyCrash]

Well, Toady himself does not want DF to become mainstream, otherwise there would be ads. Small communities > big communities.

Really I doubt Toady gives a shit, he probably is just happy he doesn't have to worry about the hassle, he seems relatively unconcerned with the popularity as long he can work on his passion project. I highly doubt he is opposed to a big community and is probably indifferent to it either way.

[KittyTac]

The less time spent moderating a large forum (and that's very time-consuming), the more can be devoted to DF. These extra wasted hours really add up.

[DizzyCrash]

At its hight 10 years ago the community was vibrant, we had fanart coming out all the time, the modding scene was explosive and the tilesets and graphics were never ending,everyone was making them.
Now most fan content produced is done by the same like 20 old vanguards who have been doing it for 10 years or more. Nobody is suggesting dwarf fortress will ever be "Mainstream" It just doesnt appeal to a huge amount of people, it will always be niche. But I would like to see some new people contributing to the community in big ways.

[KittyTac]

I wouldn't. I like relatively quiet communities. Your mileage may vary, though. Let's end this argument, shall we?

[thompson]

Be careful what you wish for. If those key developers ever find themselves encountering life-changing transitions that prevent them from supporting community utilities and mods (having children or cancer, for instance), and no one from the community has the skills/time to replace them, we could loose some outstanding third party content. It's not hard to imagine the community entering into a death spiral if too many key supporters are lost. Without donations, Toady could be forced to sell the rights to Disney just to pay the rent.

We need young people with plenty of free time to replace the veterans who are forced out by other responsibilities. A larger community is less exclusive, but you have a large pool of support and ip-and-coming developers to draw on.

[KittyTac]

Still, large communities don't have the same feel as smaller ones. Like I said, I would do everything I can to ensure it does not become too big.

[Dyret]

Dorf Fort's problem isn't lack of visibility, it's lack of retention. It's difficult to learn and difficult to stick with. I think there are things to be done about that without 'dumbing down the game' (whatever the fuck that means), mostly in terms of interface, optimization and documentation. Ultimately though, the technical side of the game is still a one man project, so it is what it is.

That said, I'd love to see the community as active as it was back in the day, sans the shitty wolf memes.

[Xyon]

I must not browse enough of the forum, there's wolf memes going on here?!

 

[Dyret]

There were back around 2010-2012. They spawned a lot in adventure mode back then, so the 'draw your adventures' thread and similar ones were flooded with very persistent and very unfunny 'dAe GeT kIlL bY wOofS?'-type posts. It was quite the thing.

[KittyTac]

If Toady wanted to have a bigger community, he would have launched advertising already. DF has been around for 15-ish years. Ask on the Future of the Fortress thread.

[PatrikLundell]

If Toady wanted to have a bigger community, he would have launched advertising already. DF has been around for 15-ish years. Ask on the Future of the Fortress thread.

Not quite a valid conclusion. If Toady had valued a larger community at the expense of more boring administrative work (and money), yes, he would presumably have done so. It can be noted that he does not take measures to keep the community size down by e.g. shying away from participating in activities that raises the awareness of DF, such as various talks.

[thompson]

Why would Toady pay for advertising? The game is widely publicised for free and is the go-to example for video games journalists looking for an example of a difficult -to-learn absurdly detailed cult classic. He could sell merchandise, but I suppose he has his own reasons for not doing that.

I'm expecting things to get real quiet around here once the long wait sets in. Winter is coming...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

But when spring returns, it shall be glorious!

[Shonai_Dweller]

Why would Toady pay for advertising? The game is widely publicised for free and is the go-to example for video games journalists looking for an example of a difficult -to-learn absurdly detailed cult classic. He could sell merchandise, but I suppose he has his own reasons for not doing that.

I'm expecting things to get real quiet around here once the long wait sets in. Winter is coming...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

But when spring returns, it shall be glorious!

If the game is stable(ish) with all the features Toady's threatening and those features add up to Fun and sieges and no frustration for casuals (besides the UI and ascii of course), the Big Wait could be the perfect time to attract new people. A time when Fun can be had, new mods are released and less time is spent explaining that the reason people are finding the game boring and not Fun is their own fault.

[thompson]

To be clear, I don't view the Big Wait as a negative personally - it'll be the perfect opportunity to update and roll up a new world. It could lead to less forum activity, as I suspect a lot of players come here specifically for updates on when new releases are due. Personally, I played many years before paying much attention to the forums, and it was interest in the update cycles that drew me here.

So, the Big Wait shouldn't hurt the game, but it could affect forum activity. I'll be happy to be proven wrong on the latter though.

[Xyon]

In general I think it would be nice for more people to be a part of the community, the more people who try out DF, the more people who never have been exposed to such a game might actually find they like it, or don't mind learning how to control the game, etc.   I don't ever think there will be a threat of the game being changed by popular demand if the community gets huge, so I don't really think there's much danger in the community getting "too big"