Post Mortem

Dwarf Fortress is very much a Nethack derivative. In Nethack, you die over and over until eventually you learn the ropes. Then you die a bunch more because the game is so stacked against you. There's a feeling of accomplishment that accompanies beating such horrendous odds, using a user interface so bad it probably doesn't deserve to be called a user interface. There's a part of me that enjoys that. Many games these days (Mario Galaxy, Portal, BioShock) are designed with instant and consistent gratification in mind. They hold your hand, teach you everything you need to know, and make failure almost impossible. This also makes a feeling of real accomplishment from playing them almost impossible. Of course, if I'm gonna work that hard on a game, I'd rather be developing it, but I can definitely respect the very old school challenge Dwarf Fortress offers.