the DF development model doesn't follow the traditional game development cycle.
...and even though this development cycle is a lot better*, it'll probably never get adopted by the general public. People like to say, "Yeah, I'm awesome at Call of Duty 4." With Dwarf Fortress, when the next update comes out, I'll be able to say, "I'm still learning how to play," even though I'm awesome at the current version. 'Normal' people don't like to do that; they want to be perfect, or not do it at all.
*I
HATE what's happened to games like Left 4 Dead. That was a great game, and I expected it to only get better. When I bought it, I was thinking, "4 weapons and 4 short campaigns? Oh well, it'll get better, right?" Instead of releasing updates, however, they're making an ENTIRELY NEW GAME. I paid $50 for a
beta when I expected a full product. A soon-to-be-finished full product, but a full product none the less. What I got was nothing of the sort. Soon, the original official servers will be entirely empty because everybody else will rush to buy L4D2. It won't even be fun to play after the second is released.
That
should not happen. Games should be more like Dwarf Fortress and Team Fortress 2. (Hmm, could have to do with having 'fortress' in the name?) Gradual free updates to make the game better, eventually coming as close to perfect as possible before development stops.
</rant>