Dwarf Fortress is some sort of crazy mind virus, I swear to God Murphy ARMOK. I scrolled down through the LP Archive and read the sagas (occasionally while they were still in the making) and went 'Oh that's awesome-sounding despite the ASCII, but eh, I don't really have time to learn crazy physics and a whole new game.'
Then I went to Youtube and watched the hilarious videos, my mind's eye supplying what the dwarves must be seeing. Once more I wondered about the game, but said to myself, 'No, that took a crazy amount of work/patience/sanity, and I'm not known for any of that.'
Eventually I got very curious and Googled for a walkthrough. Well I didn't find it first off, since such a thing didn't exist at that point, but I did find the wiki. And the D for Dwarf category, and I laughed my behind off. Multiple times. Occasionally I even poked my lurker head in here to read the threads.
And then I DID find the walkthrough. Once it was all explained to me so nice and simply, I realized, 'Eh, this isn't so bad! Maybe I should try it on my own!'
Five Ten Numberless forts later, I learned what NOT to do and have nearly perfected the art of setting up and surviving long enough to become a mighty fortress.
...And then I started dreaming in ASCII. I've been enthralled by the game and I could not break its grip if my life depended on it.