Bay 12 Games Forum

Here’s a guy that indirectly speaks of an individual’s “societal obligations”, and then illustrates it by presenting (and defending) early civilization’s ”greatest hits” of non-elective body modification on children as a glistening example of why all individuals should (and must) conform to societal whims and perspectives.

He then goes on to essentially suggest that anyone that has any kind of unique contribution – be it idea, art, lifelong dream or perhaps just something you’d like to see realized – must immediately hop on the fast train to commercialization and perhaps begin marketing an exclusive, limited edition set of autographed mouse pads with Your Idea™ emblazoned across the surface (order now, and we'll double the offer!) OR ELSE YOU ARE DOING IT WRONG.   

In MalstromWorld, anyone not interested in making a buck first and foremost is officially wrong.  Anyone not immediately and vigorously coding or marketing their game based on the random whim of his communal brothers (i.e. “Everyone Else”) needs to report to the Malstrom Department of Societal Adjustment.  Apparently, something went wrong when we surgically implanted the Herd Chip after your birth.  You need to stop in so we can adjust the Altruism dispenser.

His words might initially sound like those of a liberating laissez-faire capitalist trying to show a befuddled traveler the easiest path to [financial] freedom and unchallenged personal sovereignty, but really he is just trying to confirm his own belief that individuals are somehow obligated to serve both our society and its conventional perceptions.  That's what he likes to call "Ethical Goodness".

Wolf in sheep’s clothing?  Naw, Malstrom is more like Ellsworth Toohey parading around in a Howard Roark mask. 

What would happen if you took away this forum?  Took away the fanbase?  Took away the donations? I have always strongly suspected Toady would continue coding this game, working on it for decades, even if he was the only player to ever see or play it. I could be wrong about that, but I don’t think I am.

That’s a concept Sean Malstrom, and the others like him, seem to be unable to understand.

Same issue here on Windows 7, playing at 1920 x 1200...

It's especially impairing for me, as I am coming back after a break and have forgotten many of the hotkey combinations....

I have had no luck getting Reveal to work with D9.  I usually just copy the save file over to an older DF version, run reveal, research what I want, close it and play on my D9 from memory.