I have to object to the claim that choosing ASCII is a snob choice for everyone. I am a casual player, I usually don't embark on aquifers, I turn sieges off, set pop cap to 7, and otherwise evade nasty challenges of the game. And I am open and honest about this being my way of playing the game. How does this fit in with a claim that I choose ASCII for prestige reasons.
Thanks for pointing that out. Actually, now that I think about it, "prestige" and "snob appeal" might not be the best words to describe what I was trying to say. What I meant was that DF's image and culture is that of a game that is intentionally difficult and complex, and the ASCII graphics are a part of that. I guess Tarran's use of the word "flavour" is a better way to capture this sense.
My general point was just to say that this debate is really not about functionality/ease-of-use alone. People choose to prefer ASCII or graphics based upon many factors beyond functionality, including the flavour of DF and personally being used to a particular tileset. While I don't think that anyone can really make a convincing argument for ASCII based upon purely functional grounds, ultimately each player values different things in DF, and it would not be right for us graphical tileset users to say that our way is the "right" way
only because it has better functionality.
