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[GreyGoldFish]

I've been playing DF on and off for around 6 years now (albeit only really making any progress in the most recent 3 years). I've always been a fan of complex games like Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead, which I used to play on the school's computer EDIT: and Caves of Qud, how could I forget! These days, a question popped into my head: "why do people play these games?" And so here I am, asking the question of why do we play Slaves to Armok: God of Blood Chapter II: Dwarf Fortress Fortress Mode? (quite a mouthful, eh?).

I'll start:

• Building things just the way I want, but having to organically adapt my design as new situations come up. Also, when my designs work, it's very satisfying to see it all come together (i.e. designing the most elegant dining hall, over and over again).
• The challenge of having to manage the dwarves' immediate needs while also taking care of future issues, such as sieges or trading with other civilizations.
• Collecting a bazillion of finished goods and obsessively collecting wealth and artifacts (gotta love me some fungiwood anvils).
• How sometimes you just have to invent a solution that wasn't planned by the devs (i.e. the double slit method).
• EDIT: Something I've never seen in other games... for us the game is hours (or perhaps days?) of gameplay, while for the dwarves months, years pass as you play. I don't think that there's any other game that simulates the passage of time like this, without going too fast or too slow.

Thank you beforehand for answering, and I wish you all a good 2019.

[Grimmash]

I have been playing for probably 6 or so years, off and on. Here are a few thoughts as to why I play.

I've joked with friends that a proper DF fortress (or minecraft base, as I find DF and Minecraft to be very similar in many way) should basically play the game itself, outside emergent issues.  I enjoy getting systems and suplly chains set up that automate the basics.  SO things like farming, military training, automatic stockpile flows, etc all really appeal to me.

From an RP perspective, I usually try to give each fortress a theme if it is a solo fort.  I'll try to color code things, and once I get on in the game, I will rebuild large parts of my fort to account for this.  I also enjoy the idea of rooms, tombs, and meeting halls all themed around dwarves and the fort itself.

From a mechanics perspective, I very much enjoy how DF challenges you to come up with a plan, but then have that plan get laid to ruin by a bad designation or very obscure mechanic that just destroys your careful planning.

Finally, it really seems like the game encourages a weird combination of player sadism and empathy.  I care a surprising amount about my dwarves MOST of the time, but when that one guy kills someone during a tantrum, it is Amontillado time!

[Grand Sage]

I too, like how the game this complex goes beyond what the devs have foreseen, and how there is framework to handle that kind of thing  (for example slade mining).

Even more I like how the game goes beyond "the game". Take a look at kisat dur for example. An emergent martial art style that has moves with names, none of which is included in the program itself.

[Pvt. Pirate]

i play it because of minecraft. at least thats why i started.
DF is the most complex economy-sim/strategy-gamesimulator.
though it is lacking a lot of things and some complexity is just beyond me, there is nothing that can reach to where DF is.
Rimworld tries that and i will try it out once i buy it, but i doubt it will ever replace DF for me.

also DF is so easily moddable yet complex in that too.
one can easily lay the foundation for a totalconversion or just add creatures from other games.

[Sarmatian123]

Ubuntu I use and DF "just works" on it, no matter how butchered Ubuntu os release is. If not Steam crew howling on them in utter horror, the gpu driver would still be an issue to install.

[delphonso]

For me, it's the emergent humor the game has - things are absurd but somehow make sense. In a fort full of spiralling lunatics I check what our manager is doing outside. He's standing alone, surrounded by vomit and dead goblins. He's 'socializing'.

Likewise the randomized engravings and art are something that both fascinate and entertain me.

[pamelrabo]

Consistantly playing for ¿6? ¿8? years now.

For me, it's the combination of systems, player freedom and a lot of possibilities to achieve different (and mostly catastrophic) outcomes.

I'm at the stage of "let's megaproject stuff" like green glass pyramids or necropolis with 2000 rock coffins for every citizen in my civ.

And also, Legends Viewer has given me roleplaying raw material to pick a civ and play from there. Revenge forts, extermination of necromancers campaigns, etc.

Also, as an amateur artist, I like to do sketches of the Forgotten Beast that finally destroys the site, last stands, etc.

[scourge728]

it's fun

[Splint]

I like to create stories from the forts, the majority of which I've had the misfortune of losing saves or losing interest in. Mostly the latter.

[Sarmatian123]

it's fun

You're founding in adventure mode tavern, founding your own group and claiming the place. You are reciting 100 times a short poem and then you go out. You notice crowd of 100 animals amassing at your claimed tavern's entrance. So this fun is then like:

1. Hahaha! Wild animals adore my poetry and want few drinks at my tavern!   

or

2. Urgh! Urgh! The lag... 

[Telgin]

I like to create stories from the forts, the majority of which I've had the misfortune of losing saves or losing interest in. Mostly the latter.

Same.  I used to really like running or playing in community forts as well, but got terminally burnt out on that.  I sort of recreated that in personal forts for a while afterward, but that started feeling very samey so I tend to lose interest quickly these days.

Outside of the story and RP aspect, I do like the architectural, planning and general simulation aspects of DF.  That's what originally drew me to the game.

[Splint]

I like to create stories from the forts, the majority of which I've had the misfortune of losing saves or losing interest in. Mostly the latter.

Same.  I used to really like running or playing in community forts as well, but got terminally burnt out on that.  I sort of recreated that in personal forts for a while afterward, but that started feeling very samey so I tend to lose interest quickly these days.

Outside of the story and RP aspect, I do like the architectural, planning and general simulation aspects of DF.  That's what originally drew me to the game.

I think my main issue is not having enough... External involvement I guess. I want people to enjoy those stories after all.

Also, I suppose I should add, I absolutely love the hilarious amounts of violence, and there's something insanely satisfying about driving your enemies from your fortress with nothing but good and honest iron and steel. But that's the blood hungry psycho in me.

Occasionally finding interesting history behind various people is cool too.

[Sarmatian123]

Same.  I used to really like running or playing in community forts as well, but got terminally burnt out on that.  I sort of recreated that in personal forts for a while afterward, but that started feeling very samey so I tend to lose interest quickly these days.

Outside of the story and RP aspect, I do like the architectural, planning and general simulation aspects of DF.  That's what originally drew me to the game.

This is why I am pushing in suggestion part of forum for more automation in late game of fortress mode. So it is more fun to play, then boring experience to remember all things important to keep all 220 Dwarves constantly entertained, clothed, happy and drunk. I do not mind to build 13 stills to produce 13 different alcohols, so long the automation works and releases me to tend to more entertaining stuff. Rather that, then constantly paranoid-checking on the levels of the stocks. Setting automation up is fun, as it is using it.

[Telgin]

Improved automation would help with some of the late game tedium, certainly.

In my case though, the fact that the game does more or less reach a stable equilibrium late game where nothing much interesting happens is the main problem.  I stopped playing for the most part a couple of major versions ago, where there was something wrong with armies that led to very few or no invasions, although I know that has been fixed.  I'm looking forward to some more of the upcoming changes though, since villainous plots and fort members should lead to more interesting events happening late game even if you don't have goblins knocking on your door.

Better ways to set up construction projects, on the other hand, would be very interesting to me.  I like building above ground forts with lots of outside fortifications, but right now it is an immense hassle compared to digging.

[GPeter]

Considering the damage to my mental health, I don't know why I still play this...