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[TicklemeFeather]

As the title suggests, whats your definition of Dwarf Fortress?

[Untelligent]

Sort of a cross between Sim City, Lord of the Rings, and Grand Theft Auto.

[TicklemeFeather]

I need an awesome definition to pursuade my friends how awesome this game is. Thing is they wont believe me because of the ascii graphics.

[NecroRebel]

Usually people who are convinced to play become so because they hear a story about one of the more impressive/insane/crazy-awesome people have managed. Have you pointed them towards the saga of Boatmurdered, or One Dwarf Against the World, or Headshoots, or Undergrotto, or anything like that? If anything will convince them to try it, it's "Here's this awesome that you can do in Dwarf Fortress. Go try it and see if you can top it!"

Alternatively, what sorts of things do those friends like? That'd help narrow down what to say to convince them.

[They Got Leader]

To me, it really is that DF is a true sandbox game, the player is given the tools to make his own fun, and then everyone can have his own kind of fun. Be that building a metropolis, a utopia, a war camp, or a wooden above ground fort designed to provoke war with everyone. If I can't decide to go somewhere random with just the dwarves and exactly 38 cows and 81 stones, only to build up the stones into a huge tower and toss the cows off it, then it's not a sandbox game.

The fact that DF is extremely detailed really helps. Weapon traps cutting out the liver of invaders? Can't get that kind of gruesome detail in other games.

Yeah.

[Xenos]

Basically talk about how detailed the body scheme is, mention that with the right tools, using a height map and general wind direction you can create fairly accurate maps of real formations.  (points to maps of Europe and N.A) and anything built with magma (points at magma defense thread.)

Also, !!SCIENCE!!

[thehippopotamus]

Show them Boatmurdered, I was on the fence about playing DF, read the saga of epic dwarfs, elephants, and fire... so so much fire, then bam, I start and now I can't stop...

Also, you could just tell him that it's the first game to allow you to butcher cats and then to instead of eating them, pile them in front of a floodgate that's the input for a drowning chamber so that any one you drown finds themselves surrounded by a swirling pool of cat parts... Honestly... how could you not play this game...

[Jusman]

How come I never hear anyone talk about Syrupleaf?
Sure the two stories before it were great but Syrupleaf is almost novel quality.

[Pan]

Sure the two stories before it were great but Syrupleaf is almost novel quality.

 I agree. I actually liked it over Boatmurdered...

[Leeko]

I usually define Dwarf Fortress as SimCity and Oregon Trail having a threesome with Warcraft 3. Alternatively, the closest equivalent possible to digital PCP.

[Astramancer]

I just talk about my fortress defense.

"Yeah, so I got these dwarves who dug out a home.  Occasionally, goblins show up and try to kill them.  I rigged the bridge they have to enter through to drop them into lava.  After crushing them.  Then I turn that into obsidian.  Then I use said obsidian to make the bridge for the next group..."

Also:  So I accidentally locked a dwarf in a room and poured lava on his head.  I meant to do that to the noble.

[Namfuak]

My friend just got me into it when I came over to his house one day and he showed me his fort.  He talked about how you dug down and found caverns that were inhabited by big evil monsters and how you could dig to a circus, then explained how he had created a drawbridge across a dammed and diverted river.  Of course, I'm a huge fan of Roller Coaster Tycoon and Civilization type games, so I immediately wanted to make a fortress that had no design restrictions.

[KillerClowns]

It's like the Sims, in the same way that changaa is like lemonade.

[WrathNail]

It's not a game. It's a fantasy world simulator. What you can do is only limited by your own mental capacity. Or lack thereof.

[jellsprout]

Dwarf Fortress: Fun with a capital F.

You should show him the Bronzemurdered story. It is short enough to actually read, and it still shows just how Fun DF actually is.
You could also try the "Have you ever wanted to make a tower out of soap?" line.