Gimli's Castle

## A Dwarven Introduction

In a hyper mediated society, things rarely find themselves used for just their intended purposes, and with the introduction of creative, sandbox-esque games, this artistic license becomes easier to achieve for the layman. Initially, art was the intellectual property of the painter, sculptor, or author, but as our definition of art has grown, so too has the audience's ability to interact with the art they consume. Nowhere is this more apparent than in video games and their newfound addition into the pantheon of art, and perhaps nowhere is a video games full potential explored more than in the game Dwarf Fortress. The lesser known inspiration for Minecraft allows users to eke out an existence in an extremely hostile environment, but users have found a way not just to survive, but to thrive. This subtle redistribution of power is no *Spoiling Survivor**,* the fans and developers do not have an antagonistic relationship. No one is undermining the work of another, and the relationship is quite wholesome, especially by internet standards. The Dwarf Fortress team goes so far as to regularly send its donors personalized crayon drawings This seemingly innocent relationship is a testament to the multidimensional beauty that this new artistic community opens up.

Dwarf Fortress pegs itself as less of a game and more of an experience, as there truly is no end directive. This is meant as an in depth fantasy simulation. Your objective is to create a civilization that rivals the grandeur of Moria, which is not an end goal as much as it is an experience that can't be found anywhere else. In this way, it is much like the game *The Marriage* Ian Bogost Describes in his book *How To Do Things With Video Games**,* there is fewer things to do and more things to learn. Learning from art is by no means a new phenomenon, from Shakespeare's Macbeth to Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel, art provides us with experiences we otherwise could not get ourselves and introduces all the relevant lessons therein. The weird thing that Dwarf Fortress is able to do is add an element of the finite to its constructions, as all fortresses inevitably end, some would argue that the beauty in the game is in the fleeting nature of its artistry. In other words, these lessons are to be learned, but only for a small amount of time, and that's awesome.This is in direct opposition to someone like Roger Ebert who posits that games will never be art because of their ability to "end," which completely disregards the beauty in short lived experiences these kinds of games provide.

Any cultures literary tradition is flexible and changes as time moves on and the culture itself naturally progresses. Video games and their initiation into the artistic sphere mark, and are a product of, a modern shift in the cultural attitudes and technological capabilities. To disregard their impact on modern culture is to improperly examine modern culture in and of itself. The fact that video games such as Dwarf Fortress have given rise to various knowledge communities, have been sufficiently re-mediated and reinterpreted -as all great works of art inevitably are- and even warrant certain interpretative disputes all give credence to their status as an important cultural phenomenon, as nothing short of a technologically adept artistic renaissance.

## Remediation

Art, given enough time, is subject to remediation, or at the very least, reference. The popularity of modern versions of Shakespeare plays or the prevalence of edited versions of the Mona Lisa illustrate how wide spread these remediations are. Mona Lisa was not a cubist internet painting, and Romeo and Juliet was not told with Emojis. But they are now. Dwarf Fortress is a relatively new work, but it is still subject to the same laws of remediation as the rest of the artistic community.

### Graphics

Dwarf fortress is, by video game standards, archaic. Initially released in 2006, the games graphics are "simplistic" in comparison to titles like the original *Gears of War* which was released in the same year. As such, the most apparent form of remediation in the Dwarf Fortress community is a revamped graphics mod, the most popular being PerudexisErrant's DF Starter Pack. This remediation changes the games iconic ASCII graphics into a slightly more palatable 3D version which, it must be said, is still not exactly up to par with modern graphical standards, owing partly to the sheer size of the game as well as the independent nature of the developers and small size of the community itself. Graphics are an integral part of any game, and the change from tree trunks being a simple "O" to a brown block was as drastic of a change as arrows to gunpowder. This change allowed Dwarf fortress to position itself to be more new user friendly, a problem for all games and an especially detrimental aspect of the games' intensely complicated playstyle and unintuitive UI. Perudexis described the mod as "Suitable for anyone- if you've never tried DF before or played for years. For beginners, everything is bundled and set up for you," a description that made the game equally alluring to veteran players.

### The Craftdwarfship of Merchandise

While the main game and all relevant mods for Dwarf Fortress are completely free, it is possible to purchase merchandise on various independent shops. The most popular, being that its the first to pop up on a Google search, is the significant RedBubble Dwarf Fortress section. This remediation is a firm example of Dwarf Fortress culture being changed from code into something that is tangible, and even wearable. Normally, something as simple as relevant text on a shirt would not be considered remediation, but seeing as the entire game is text based, any sort of replication is a sort of remediation as it inherently takes and reinterprets the text in order to serve its purpose, mainly to make money.

## A Dwarven Cult

Knowledge communities are likely to form around any and every video game, but the dedication to the game is often correlated to the complexity of the game itself. The Dwarf Fortress community can only be described as a cult. The game is currently twelve years old and still receiving regular updates, in fact the game is still not technically out of beta as DF 1.0 has yet to be released. The last update introduced worldgen, and the creator is working tirelessly to provide the "Most ambitious magic system ever implemented in a videogame," a testament to how lively the game is after such a large span of time.

### Bay12Forums

The main gathering place for DF die hards is the original bay12 game forum. This is not uncommon for games, as some forums really are genuinely visited by fans of the game who are grateful for the development staff. The better communities however are generally relegated to smaller indie style games, and while DF is most certainly indie, it is not small. As of now, the most popular post in the last year on the bay12 forum has attracted an astoundingly large 165632 reads. Of the 1263 active replies, all of them are civil discussions of people passionate about the game, a practical miracle apparent to anyone familiar with video game culture. Most, like this comment even find a part of the new developments to praise Toady on. The active participation of both the developers and wholesome support of current players has contributed to one of the last productive internet gaming communities. This is equal parts a cause and an effect of the longevity of the game, the audience sticks around for a better more active community, and as time goes on only the dedicated few remain anyway. In a world of microtransactions and gaming "planned obsolesence" DF truly is a diamond in the rough.

### Reddit

There truly is a Reddit for everything, and DF is no different. While the Bay12 forum provides a more sophisticated discussion over the direction in which the game is proceeding, the games Reddit sub is a much more relaxed community that allows users to post their own original creations. This is the place people post their art, both their IRL contributions as well as in game artistic talent. The casual nature of the sub is in no way indicitave of a small following, as it has 72209 current subscribers, and currently 291 members who have visited the sub within the last hour. DF's sub is even among its olded, boasting a community nine years old, only four years after the official start of reddit.Inc. The dual nature of both the bay12 forum and the reddit sub provide a nice community with which a fan could seek out the experience they wish to be a part of at any given time. There is a place for lively discussion and a safe place for innocent content creation, something most games do not have the luxury of.

## Dwarven Disputes

Every community on the internet has its own disputes in which it fights over. Dwarf Fortress is again unique in this regard, as its disputes are few, and when they do arise, are quite civil.The only large disagreement in my living memory is in regards to the inception of the graphics mod. Purists argue that it detracted from the game, and that they preferred playing without it, while others argued that it made the game easier to play for everyone but those whose muscle memory was so entrenched into the old system that it was too much of a learning curve to even bother. In the end, interestingly enough, both sides acted very maturely and it was decided that it truly was personal preference as to whether or not you used the mod at all. The mod, despite several issues on the install, was subsequently received very positively. The relatively minor nature of this dispute is proof that the DF community is comprised of true fans of the game, willing to put aside whatever differences they may have in order to better connect through their love of the game

## Additional Readings

Dwarf Fortress download

Dwarf Fortress Subreddit

Bay12 forum on Dwarf Fortress

## References

1. ↑ Tumblr.com, The Words of Notch
2. ↑ Jenkins Henry, "*Spoiling Survivo*r" Course Readings
3. ↑ New York Times article on DF
4. ↑ Bogost, Ian "How to Do things with Video games" Course Readings
5. ↑ Ebert, Roger "Video Games Can Never Be Art"
6. ↑ McDougall, Jaz "Community Heroes; Tarn Adams, for Dwarf Fortress"
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 bay12forums
8. ↑ RedBubble Dwarf Fortress section
9. ↑ Dwarf Fortress Download page
10. ↑ Fenlon, Wes "Dwarf Fortress Creater Tarn Adams Talks About Simulating the Most complext Magic System Ever"
11. ↑ Toady's Future of Fortress update on bay12 forum
12. ↑ ZM5 comment on Bay12 forum
13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Dwarf Fortress SubReddit
14. ↑ Reddit post of Fractal Fortresses
15. ↑ Google quick search result on reddit start date
16. ↑ User inquiry to mod creator