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Author Topic: Dwarf Fortress Gathers at the Statue and Attends A Party  (Read 3795 times)

Vercingetorix

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Dwarf Fortress Gathers at the Statue and Attends A Party
« on: May 17, 2010, 04:22:57 pm »

I was doing some rummaging around online for things related to Boatmurdered/Headshoots/Syrupleaf and found this:

http://cms.mit.edu/research/theses/JoshDiaz2009.pdf

It's long, and probably tl;dr for those uninterested in its subject matter, but definitely an interesting perspective on the community aspect of DF.  I'm just pleased to see someone at MIT could submit a Master's thesis based on Dwarf Fortress...if only we could do that for accounting.
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Do you always look at it in ASCII?

You get used to it, I don't even see the ASCII.  All I see is blacksmith, miner, goblin.

Retro

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Re: Dwarf Fortress Gathers at the Statue and Attends A Party
« Reply #1 on: May 17, 2010, 04:27:08 pm »

Just read the first few pages so far but this looks to be really interesting. Cool that some forum stories are discussed as well!

Vercingetorix

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Re: Dwarf Fortress Gathers at the Statue and Attends A Party
« Reply #2 on: May 17, 2010, 04:29:12 pm »

Just read the first few pages so far but this looks to be really interesting. Cool that some forum stories are discussed as well!

Right after I posted this, my metalcrafter got a strange mood and produced a masterwork steel mail shirt.  I think Armok is pleased.
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Do you always look at it in ASCII?

You get used to it, I don't even see the ASCII.  All I see is blacksmith, miner, goblin.

Urist Imiknorris

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Re: Dwarf Fortress Gathers at the Statue and Attends A Party
« Reply #3 on: May 17, 2010, 04:34:03 pm »

Just read the first few pages so far but this looks to be really interesting. Cool that some forum stories are discussed as well!

Right after I posted this, my metalcrafter got a strange mood and produced a masterwork steel mail shirt.  I think Armok is pleased.
How did that work? Was your metalcrafter an armorer?

Also, Boatmurdered.
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YOU CANT NOT HAVE SUSPECTS IN A GAME OF MAFIA

ITS THE WHOLE POINT OF THE GAME
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Vercingetorix

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Re: Dwarf Fortress Gathers at the Statue and Attends A Party
« Reply #4 on: May 17, 2010, 04:41:15 pm »

How did that work? Was your metalcrafter an armorer?

Also, Boatmurdered.

I did check it and he was a novice armorer...it was one of his weaker skills, so I didn't notice it, but now I've got a legendary armorer with only 22 dwarves in the fort.

Also, Boatmurdered.
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Do you always look at it in ASCII?

You get used to it, I don't even see the ASCII.  All I see is blacksmith, miner, goblin.

Mfbrew

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Re: Dwarf Fortress Gathers at the Statue and Attends A Party
« Reply #5 on: May 17, 2010, 05:35:21 pm »

Interesting that a book report on dwarf fortress passes for thesis work at MIT.  I bet that kid's parents are happy about where their tens of thousands of dollars a semester are going... Lol
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Urist Imiknorris

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Re: Dwarf Fortress Gathers at the Statue and Attends A Party
« Reply #6 on: May 17, 2010, 05:40:36 pm »

A 225 page "book report."

Also, Pirates of the Fondled Waters.
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Quote from: LordSlowpoke
I don't know how it works. It does.
Quote from: Jim Groovester
YOU CANT NOT HAVE SUSPECTS IN A GAME OF MAFIA

ITS THE WHOLE POINT OF THE GAME
Quote from: Cheeetar
If Tiruin redirected the lynch, then this means that, and... the Illuminati! Of course!

Retro

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Re: Dwarf Fortress Gathers at the Statue and Attends A Party
« Reply #7 on: May 17, 2010, 06:07:54 pm »

Read most of it. Yeah, a lot of it seems to be "This is a system in Dwarf Fortress" or just recounting stories with an obvious rephrasing of the information contained. I guess that's how discussing the technical aspects of narratives in gaming has to be, but it's a bit dull. For example, the section about Boatmurdered was basically listing player posts and then talking about what the player did.

Also, early on he calls the Tax Collector the Bookkeeper repeatedly. Hopefully his professor doesn't play the game too :P

Mel_Vixen

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Re: Dwarf Fortress Gathers at the Statue and Attends A Party
« Reply #8 on: May 17, 2010, 06:45:37 pm »

I bet the next one who does a thesis based on DF will let us peer review his/hers work here :P.
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Vercingetorix

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Re: Dwarf Fortress Gathers at the Statue and Attends A Party
« Reply #9 on: May 17, 2010, 08:19:27 pm »

Read most of it. Yeah, a lot of it seems to be "This is a system in Dwarf Fortress" or just recounting stories with an obvious rephrasing of the information contained. I guess that's how discussing the technical aspects of narratives in gaming has to be, but it's a bit dull. For example, the section about Boatmurdered was basically listing player posts and then talking about what the player did.

It is pretty dry...I imagine it would be more interesting if you were in communications, but I skipped through a few parts.  The exploration of player-created narratives is pretty interesting as a general concept, and particularly so in the case of DF due to its open-endedness and variation.

The best part is I found this paper by doing a google search for "complete with useless hillbillies" to find the exact quote from Boatmurdered.

Quote
Also, early on he calls the Tax Collector the Bookkeeper repeatedly. Hopefully his professor doesn't play the game too :P

Of course, all of the critiques would be in the form of Committee cancels Award Degree: Interrupted by Error.
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Do you always look at it in ASCII?

You get used to it, I don't even see the ASCII.  All I see is blacksmith, miner, goblin.

Vertigon

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Re: Dwarf Fortress Gathers at the Statue and Attends A Party
« Reply #10 on: May 17, 2010, 09:06:16 pm »

I read 113 pages and found it pretty fascinating.
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