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Author Topic: Introducing the DF fanbase to a friend?  (Read 8994 times)

Mrhappyface

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Introducing the DF fanbase to a friend?
« on: July 01, 2011, 01:33:31 am »

I've tried to introduce one of my friends to play Dwarf Fortress. Along the way, he asked me a question "How's the fanbase?"
This was my answer:
"Imagine a creative, patient person, just brimming with brilliant plans on how to build flourishing communities and architectural marvels. Now imagine that person with a broken moral compass, a desire to see the world burn in magma, and 7 dwarves. The fanbase of DF doesn't measure the quality of an idea on its inherent practicality, but in the length of its implication, and level of insanity. These players inhabit a world unlike the gameworld has every seen. A world of madness, complexity, and Fun."
Did I scare him?
« Last Edit: July 01, 2011, 01:40:21 am by Mrhappyface »
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Bdthemag

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Re: Introducing the DF fanbase to a friend?
« Reply #1 on: July 01, 2011, 01:38:59 am »

If he wasn't scared then he'll fit right in, if he was scared he'll still fit in.
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Eoganachta

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Re: Introducing the DF fanbase to a friend?
« Reply #2 on: July 01, 2011, 02:01:15 am »

I've tried this with my brothers (who mock me), a friend at school who did start to get into it but stagnated, and several others who found DF wasnt their style of game. Really you are either a DFer or you like video games for the blood and gore or just not at all.
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Girlinhat

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Re: Introducing the DF fanbase to a friend?
« Reply #3 on: July 01, 2011, 02:14:34 am »

The best way to explain the fanbase, is that we are debase, violent, OCD, and we schedule our psychotic breaks with train-station frequency.  But, in all that, we are real.  We don't puff up, we don't brag (ok we do), we don't cheat and lie and troll (much).  What we do is what we play, and we're earnest in our endeavors and we're open with our relationships to other fans.  You want to know how to designate a stockpile?  We'll put you on the experimental multiplayer server and hold your hand.  You need to kill a mayor very fast?  We will outline the details of a magma purge system within ten minutes.  Tired of tantrum spirals?  We can engineer a death fall trap in your dining hall, organized and synchronized to encourage death at the times of highest foot traffic and designed so that none of the falling animals/migrants are accidentally saved by landing on a wandering dwarf.

We are sick.  And we do it right.

The game itself also lends credence to the fanbase's style.  Your fort will die.  It will.  You will not win.  You will only have fun as you come closer to failure.  Your entire goal is to have fun, as the only measurable success of a fort is enjoyment.  Got steel clad legendary axedwarves?  Got a platinum plated dining hall with waterfalls?  Got a magma-duct that ritually kills goblin sieges with clockwork precision?  It doesn't matter, because you will fail.  The only measure of success, is how much you enjoyed the route to failure.  That's what makes Dwarf Fortress, and its players, so unique.  We don't strive to level up, or to get top-tier gear, or to finish the quests, or to earn achievements.

We play for fun.  And we do it right.

JoshBrickstien

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Re: Introducing the DF fanbase to a friend?
« Reply #4 on: July 01, 2011, 02:31:06 am »

The best way to explain the fanbase, is that we are debase, violent, OCD, and we schedule our psychotic breaks with train-station frequency.  But, in all that, we are real.  We don't puff up, we don't brag (ok we do), we don't cheat and lie and troll (much).  What we do is what we play, and we're earnest in our endeavors and we're open with our relationships to other fans.  You want to know how to designate a stockpile?  We'll put you on the experimental multiplayer server and hold your hand.  You need to kill a mayor very fast?  We will outline the details of a magma purge system within ten minutes.  Tired of tantrum spirals?  We can engineer a death fall trap in your dining hall, organized and synchronized to encourage death at the times of highest foot traffic and designed so that none of the falling animals/migrants are accidentally saved by landing on a wandering dwarf.

We are sick.  And we do it right.

The game itself also lends credence to the fanbase's style.  Your fort will die.  It will.  You will not win.  You will only have fun as you come closer to failure.  Your entire goal is to have fun, as the only measurable success of a fort is enjoyment.  Got steel clad legendary axedwarves?  Got a platinum plated dining hall with waterfalls?  Got a magma-duct that ritually kills goblin sieges with clockwork precision?  It doesn't matter, because you will fail.  The only measure of success, is how much you enjoyed the route to failure.  That's what makes Dwarf Fortress, and its players, so unique.  We don't strive to level up, or to get top-tier gear, or to finish the quests, or to earn achievements.

We play for fun.  And we do it right.

*Stands, clapping*
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gawwy

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Re: Introducing the DF fanbase to a friend?
« Reply #5 on: July 01, 2011, 03:42:20 am »

The best way to explain the fanbase, is that we are debase, violent, OCD, and we schedule our psychotic breaks with train-station frequency.  But, in all that, we are real.  We don't puff up, we don't brag (ok we do), we don't cheat and lie and troll (much).  What we do is what we play, and we're earnest in our endeavors and we're open with our relationships to other fans.  You want to know how to designate a stockpile?  We'll put you on the experimental multiplayer server and hold your hand.  You need to kill a mayor very fast?  We will outline the details of a magma purge system within ten minutes.  Tired of tantrum spirals?  We can engineer a death fall trap in your dining hall, organized and synchronized to encourage death at the times of highest foot traffic and designed so that none of the falling animals/migrants are accidentally saved by landing on a wandering dwarf.

We are sick.  And we do it right.

The game itself also lends credence to the fanbase's style.  Your fort will die.  It will.  You will not win.  You will only have fun as you come closer to failure.  Your entire goal is to have fun, as the only measurable success of a fort is enjoyment.  Got steel clad legendary axedwarves?  Got a platinum plated dining hall with waterfalls?  Got a magma-duct that ritually kills goblin sieges with clockwork precision?  It doesn't matter, because you will fail.  The only measure of success, is how much you enjoyed the route to failure.  That's what makes Dwarf Fortress, and its players, so unique.  We don't strive to level up, or to get top-tier gear, or to finish the quests, or to earn achievements.

We play for fun.  And we do it right.

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revara

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Re: Introducing the DF fanbase to a friend?
« Reply #6 on: July 01, 2011, 03:44:04 am »

-snipped-

We play for fun.  And we do it right.

So true :o

May I ask how long it took to write that? (All of it) It's very well written, quite poetic even, and of course it's a little too true.

Also, I'm quite sure any modern person wouldn't be scared by that, looking at the sheer number of blood and gore type game players, we've grown used to the broken moral compass a long, long, time ago.
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Patchouli

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Re: Introducing the DF fanbase to a friend?
« Reply #7 on: July 01, 2011, 03:48:01 am »

I don't think there's really anything that makes the DF fanbase stand out that much from others, other than it's pretty small, and the portion that actually posts in the forum is pretty small too.
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kotekzot

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Re: Introducing the DF fanbase to a friend?
« Reply #8 on: July 01, 2011, 03:50:11 am »

I don't think there's really anything that makes the DF fanbase stand out that much from others, other than it's pretty small, and the portion that actually posts in the forum is pretty small too.
You should play a couple of games of Halo on Exbox Live, just to see how lucky you are. The worst you get here is constant hurr-durring about magma.
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revara

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Re: Introducing the DF fanbase to a friend?
« Reply #9 on: July 01, 2011, 03:52:45 am »

It's true, been stalking around on the forums for quite a while now. I've seen comments and threads that'd be impossible elsewhere (I even saw someone write: "You were right, I was wrong") - The DF fanbase is a well-mannered friendly bunch, when they bash and troll, people take it lightly and instead join in on the fun.

The Dwarf Fortress fans are truly magnificent in all of their dwarven glory.
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Patchouli

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Re: Introducing the DF fanbase to a friend?
« Reply #10 on: July 01, 2011, 04:01:15 am »

Oh.

But I guess that's just compared to Halo. I think most other small game communities will sort of naturally settle into the same sort of general interaction you get in other forums, with a quiet friendly majority and just a few annoying vocal people, and some other small groups here and there. Which is stupidly vague and generalizing, but I think it's sort of hard to think of something crazy specific that makes us stand out significantly. I mean, while a lot of us can figure out the schematics for a pumpstack really quick and all, that's basically the fanbase knowing a lot about the game they like.

EDIT: On second thought, I think community/succession forts are one of those things that make the fanbase stand out, because the game just lends itself to it so well, not to mention that it's one big reason people got into the game in the first place.

EDIT2: Sorry if I sound like a bit of a buttmuncher. It's just that I've made my way around a few forums, and it doesn't seem too terribly different from my POV, that's all.
« Last Edit: July 01, 2011, 04:29:39 am by Patchouli »
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Ledi

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Re: Introducing the DF fanbase to a friend?
« Reply #11 on: July 01, 2011, 05:15:18 am »

Nothing to See here, please move along.
« Last Edit: April 17, 2016, 08:38:19 pm by Ledi »
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AutomataKittay

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Re: Introducing the DF fanbase to a friend?
« Reply #12 on: July 01, 2011, 05:20:35 am »

Yeah, this is among the better gaming forum I've seen and been to. DF is complex game that forces people to consider things and patience. Not to mention even the best of us still falls for newbie mistakes from time to time :D

I think the community/succession part of the forum helps a lot also, get people together, even ones not too experienced, and everyone can look at what others' done and either admire it, or despair at it.
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accoro

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Re: Introducing the DF fanbase to a friend?
« Reply #13 on: July 01, 2011, 05:56:24 am »

I tried introducing a friend to DF, he got as far as digging into the mountain and thought "Sack this."


Add patience to the list of us in the lovable fanbase!
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Monk321654

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Re: Introducing the DF fanbase to a friend?
« Reply #14 on: July 01, 2011, 05:58:31 am »

Reminds me of when my friends introduced me to DF...
The first few times I was just "This is too bloody complicated."
And then it grew on me.
And here I am now.
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