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[Shinotsa]

Yeah, I have to admit you guys have spoiled me. I went on the minecraft forums to look up something and I think my faith in humanity was "reworked" with a baseball bat. My grandfather used to say everyone has the same amount of intelligence and it's just a matter of how they use it... but he never got to see the minecraft forums.

I play both games and like them both. I spend more time on Dwarf Fortress and base a lot of my structures in minecraft off of things I've already made in Dwarf Fortress. Hell, nowadays the only time I play Minecraft is to show off my DF maps to my friends. But I have to admit the only reason I ever even found DF was by mistake while googling something or another for minecraft. I feel like making some sort of social comparison between the success of the two games and what that says about the attention span, level of dedication, and general intelligence of most people but that's a topic for another thread. I'll just be happy that another developer's success brought a good deal of new people to Toady's side, and that having such an exclusive group is the only reason we manage to have forums that can carry intelligent discussion without minimal flaming, trolling, and meme abuse.

[Archereon]

Fortunately for Minecraft, Notch has gone of to work on a different game. Jeb the only competent member of Mojang is now Minecraft's lead developer. Plus they just hired an AI programmer. Thank god, it's about time, the man was already doing all the porgramming work while Notch went on vacation 20 or so times.

[Oliolli]

No matter how you feel about Minecraft and Notch, you have to agree it is still better than Angry Birds. Every time I see Angry Birds merchandise or advertisements I die a little inside. And by now I am practically a zombie.
I don't like Notch and the Minecraft fanbase, but the Apple Drones who have managed to make an unoriginal non-free Flash game the most popular game of this time absolutely sicken me.

It's probably even worse for a Finn then for someone not a Finn. With so many people seeing Angry Birds the best creation of Finland in this day and age, makes a Finn break to tears.

[Archereon]

Eh Angry birds is a decent time killer. Consider the fact that dwarf fortress would make an iPhone explode, it's probably for the best that it's not an app.

[Teneb]

Eh Angry birds is a decent time killer. Consider the fact that dwarf fortress would make an iPhone explode, it's probably for the best that it's not an app.

It would be a glorious explosion.

[peskyninja]

Indeed it would.

[dlite]

Why not rip off their business model instead? =)

1) Add graphics / gui / etc.
2) Start sales immediately and call it BETA/Alpha/whatever
3) $$$ (bay12 would make 6 figures in an instant, 7 figures within a year, probably more)
4) Hire couple of developers and artists
5) Perfect the game (with initial feature-set)
6) watch money pouring in as it'd be the greatest game ever
7) launch sims-like expansionpack every year to keep the franchise funded and development alive
transform it into a cloud-hosted MMO-sandbox to make billions. or something.

[peskyninja]

Spoiler: My and Toady reaction to that post (click to show/hide)

[Shinotsa]

Oh my god. I just realized how realistic DF actually is. Gamers don't want complexity or thought provoking scenarios, they just want a fine set of graphics to admire, the ability to tantrum at other people, and to feel the joy of slaughter. Then, assuming you've attracted them to the fortress, they'll do whatever you tell them (buy expansions, do the same thing daily acting like it's fun rather than a chore) until you flood your fortress with magma or die to a forgotten beast.

I really hope I'm just tired from exam cramming, but it seems like there are a startling number of similarities between the average gamer and the AI of dorfs.

[Levi]

Why not rip off their business model instead? =)

1) Add graphics / gui / etc.
2) Start sales immediately and call it BETA/Alpha/whatever
3) $$$ (bay12 would make 6 figures in an instant, 7 figures within a year, probably more)
4) Hire couple of developers and artists
5) Perfect the game (with initial feature-set)
6) watch money pouring in as it'd be the greatest game ever
7) launch sims-like expansionpack every year to keep the franchise funded and development alive
transform it into a cloud-hosted MMO-sandbox to make billions. or something.

...

I'd buy it.   

[Shook]

I really hope I'm just tired from exam cramming, but it seems like there are a startling number of similarities between the average gamer and the AI of dorfs.

Personally i always try to attack my foes from west, then north if that path is blocked. If north is blocked too then i tear that fuggin wall down because nothing shall get in the way of my intelligence. :U

Anyhoo, although i agree that too many people get turned off by lacking graphics, i dare say that shiny graphics aren't a bad thing (Shook has admired a completely sublime virtual landscape recently). I for one would LOVE to see dorf fortress in glorious HD, but it's just that i know it won't ever happen, so i don't bother thinking about it too much. (not to mention how difficult it actually is to imagine in all three dimensions)
People just don't always like having to imagine their own things. It's kinda like the difference between reading books and comics, except that this book also punches you in the face while you read. DF is a hell of a niche product, but it fills out that niche incredibly well. There is no other game quite like it, really.

[tasteful]

angry birds stole dwarf fortress ideas from Tarn Adams forcing him to not have graphics to avoid lawsuit

[Shinotsa]

It's kinda like the difference between reading books and comics, except that this book also punches you in the face while you read.

Sigged. And I certainly love good graphics, and I did spend a few hours when I first got skyrim just staring at the damn thing, but most games (like Crysis for instance) will take repetitive, thoughtless gameplay, a gimmick, and a handfull of good ideas and turn them into a coveted product through the use of bloom amazing graphics. I have to agree with you on the niche front, I guess we're the few masochists who like reading books but hate the fact that they rarely deal physical and psychological damage to us.

[Jerg]

Minecraft is quite possibly the most accessible video game...ever, you gotta give it up to Notch if only for that. 4-year-olds are having as much fun playing it as 70-year-olds because of that, which is rare in video games industry.

[GreatWyrmGold]

A forceful rant but it doesn't really belong in DF General Discussion. 

Anything that promotes the idea of a DF/Minecraft/Terraria rivalry is pretty un-fruitful.

...Looking up Terraria to see what it is. MineCraft looks interesting to try, if not worth the $15 dollars when DF is free and more complex/interesting/etc.

I am, in no way, trying to tell you that you are "Better" in any way for playing dwarf fort, though I can't help thinking that myself sometimes. I play both minecraft and dwarf fort, and I simply think that they are different types of games. Minecraft is good in it's own right, but I prefer my dwarf fort.

My brother won't touch DF. I don't think I' better because I play it; I think I'm better because I try it, as well as the FPSs he plays.

...we manage to have forums that can carry intelligent discussion without minimal flaming, trolling, and meme abuse.

MAGMAAAA!!!!
Huh, bold impact doesn't work well, does it?

Spoiler: My and Toady reaction to that post (click to show/hide)

I think this applies. Or at least hope it does...