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[Nil Eyeglazed]

It was really strangely personal.  It makes me wonder if NYT doesn't interview anybody else with messy bedrooms.  Christ.

[Siquo]

It was a very poetic article, if a bit bittersweet in description, but it was definitely praising, and high praise from people like the New York Freaking Times and Museum of Modern Freaking Art.

Not to mention the other devs. Dwarf Fortress: it's what game-developers play.

[Capntastic]

Heh. My bad. It is Richard Garfield. He is a lot cooler than Richard Garriot, anyways.

I dunno man, M:TG never become a complete mockery of itself.

[Solifuge]

Reading that article brought a sad smile to my face. I have tremendous respect for Tarn, his close relationship with his family, his strength of principals and character, and his drive to pursue his goals despite any sacrifices he might have to make. It's like the result of distilling selfless human creative ambition, and putting it into the receptacle of an awkward and beardy mathematician. I have nothing but honest admiration for him.

What makes me sad is that, despite everything that he represents as an man, a giver, and a truly uncommon artist, society will continue to value the uninspired and uninspiring, or the careless and thoughtless at hundreds of times the value he will ever be- those derivative and selfishly created things that permeate the markets of the world, consume the smallest and most inspiring enterprises, and bleed them dry. Billions will be paid for shallow sequels to played-out films and stories, and games that tread those same, thoroughly explored waters of creative mediocrity. All the while, something groundbreaking sees its creator drinking soda like water, because he doesn't get enough calories in the one meal he can afford to eat per day... because we live in a culture that values the ability of an idea to earn money independently from its actual and intrinsic value.

To say it's truly heartbreaking would be melodramatic- especially considering the world and its people as a whole- but within the sphere of our culture, and its evolution and progress, it's simply not right.

[Yoink]

Wow, an interesting read. Pretty amazing that Toady devotes his entire life to this... That's dedication!
And the amount of recognition the game gets, and the sources of that recognition, is surprising also, not to mention pleasing!

EDIT @ Solifuge: Yes, I agree. That is sad, how you know people will still be clamouring for the next Call Of Duty or Assassin's Creed or Halo game like ravening game-eating monsters, yet if someone mentions Dwarf Fortress, a far more fully-featured, unique, rewarding, and dare I say it, !!FUN!! game, they'll look at them like they're crazy.

[Pan]

I'm definitely going to donate the moment I have the means.

[Capntastic]

What makes me sad is that, despite everything that he represents as an man, a giver, and a truly uncommon artist, society will continue to value the uninspired and uninspiring, or the careless and thoughtless... those derivative and selfishly created things that permeate the markets of the world.

I can easily see how reading about Toady in the NY Times and knowing there's a Dwarf Fortress exhibit at the MoMA would make this leap into your mind.

[Solifuge]

<.< You're just going to be that sarcastic fellow, aren't you Cap'n?

I'm so glad for him and Zach, getting this kind of recognition, and I hope it serves as a source for future inspiration for them, and for other aspiring people. Nevertheless, I don't see this shaking the world up from its laurels and causing a dramatic revision of the things a market economy invests its power, value, and importance in.

[Grimlocke]

A great read, definetelly one of the most detailed and well done interviews on DF I have read.

Just a bit worried about their rather unhealthy lifestyle, though im hardly one to talk.

[Capntastic]

I just can't see the advent of Bay12's widest PR blast so far being the trigger for comments about media as a whole being in the sewer as anything but overly-pessimistic.  Nothing's going to change Sturgeon's Law  I also find those sorts of discussions to be rife with 'othering', and generally lacking in empathy.  That sort of tone doesn't really fit into the discussion at hand, I feel.

[KaelGotDwarves]

Yeah, the article was not just about DF, but rather a testament to the reason that DF is a successful cult-classic in the first place - Tarn and Zach. I know that people will scoff like other times I mentioned this sort of thing, but that article was as much a subtle critique of the artist as it was of the art.

[Nil Eyeglazed]

It's just irritating to me.  Like, imagine if it was an article about Lady Gaga.  Okay, she wakes up at 3pm.  Has a messy bedroom and a sparse living room.  Drinks caffeinated beverages rather than water.  She's tried meth but doesn't do it anymore.  Okay, she doesn't have a boy, doesn't think that's going to happen.  Do you think the tone would be nearly the same?  Like, all this crap that they would totally spin as "crazy artist, who knows what she'll do next" elsewhere is spun as "lol math major dropout" instead.

It's so totally not about dwarf fortress.  Dwarf fortress barely enters into it.  It's about the author's prejudices (admittedly, frequently valid prejudices) about video games and the people that play and develop them.

[Siquo]

Try re-reading it as an article about Tarn and Zach, instead of a review of DF.

[Capntastic]

the author's prejudices (admittedly, frequently valid prejudices) about video games and the people that play and develop them.

It's funny you feel that way, because I see it was a completely no-nonsense, straight account of what goes on at Casa de Adams.  It's not glamorous, it's how some normal people live.

As for 'what if they wrote about lady gaga?  it'd be totally different', here's an article by the same journalist that has pretty much the same even-handed tone.

[Solifuge]

I just can't see the advent of Bay12's widest PR blast so far being the trigger for comments about media as a whole being in the sewer as anything but overly-pessimistic.  Nothing's going to change Sturgeon's Law  I also find those sorts of discussions to be rife with 'othering', and generally lacking in empathy.  That sort of tone doesn't really fit into the discussion at hand, I feel.

None of that was meant as an "us proud few versus the teeming stupid masses" comment, but one that comes from an earnest wish that people like him could somehow be valued for the Value of their works, and not be pressured into (or cast aside in favor of) the mass-appeal market.

Basically, I wish he wasn't a starving artist, because it pains me to see that... and I can't see a way that I can help change that, beyond donating what I can when I can.