The strategy game Dwarf Fortress is one of the most popular games on Steam. For many players, simulating a dwarf culture provides a unique and special gaming experience. The secret, explains developer Tarn Adams, lies in the dwarves themselves.
Why does Dwarf Fortress hold such a special place? When you delve into Dwarf Fortress, you quickly encounter its own culture and the quirky humor that has developed around the game. Players spend hundreds of hours with Dwarf Fortress on Steam, experiencing their own stories.
Because the game gives its players hardly any templates, but allows them to act freely in the world and solve problems. The developers rarely intervene in the game. They trust that players will grow fond of their fortress and the dwarves within it, captivating them with the game.
In 2022, we reported on MeinMMO about an incident in Dwarf Fortress where players developed a completely absurd factory-like method to breed mermaid babies, launching them against walls with catapults and grinding them to bones. In that case, developer Tarn Adams did intervene – otherwise, he usually stays out of things.
But why are players of Dwarf Fortress so fascinated by the dwarves?
Dwarf Fortress benefits enormously from the image we have of dwarves
What is the secret? In a conversation with PC Gamer, developer Tarn Adams explains that the dwarves are the secret of Dwarf Fortress.
Because the image of dwarves, shaped by fantasy novels and films, fits perfectly with the NPCs in the game. They do all kinds of things that one would not attribute to or forgive a human or elf.
If a dwarf locks himself in his workshop and decides not to eat or drink until the player finds him that one extremely rare metal to forge a magical artifact, then that is “typical dwarf behavior” and the player accepts it.
If a dwarf walks past an attacking goblin army because he is determined to go fishing, players do not complain about the “stupid AI” but think: That’s just how he is, the dwarf fisherman. He doesn’t care about goblins.
And if a dwarf falls into a murderous rage because his most beloved goblet was stolen – typical dwarf behavior.
Adams states:
Dwarves are allowed to embody bigger emotions. They are allowed to make bigger mistakes. They can be stubborn – they can do anything.
Much feels right only because a dwarf does it
This is how the community reacts to dwarven nature: The community fully embraces this ideal of “dwarvenness”. For them, it feels dwarven to devise a complex plan to redirect magma to bury enemy armies under a flood of hot lava.
Tarn Adams states:
“Dwarven – we see this adjective all the time. Whenever something goes terribly wrong, we say: Oh, yes. That fits a dwarven story. Dwarves have it all: They can be drunk, but also very honorably delusional. All of that exists. Dwarves allow us to explore these different aspects of ourselves. If they were human, we would judge them much more harshly for it.”
For Adams, this also has very practical results: A dwarf acts like an AI NPC. If the AI NPC has thirst at the top of its agenda and it wants a beer, it will do that, even if it endangers its own safety. It might walk through toxic sludge for a beer. No human would likely act that way, and neither would an elf, but a dwarf would:
This is how players express their enthusiasm for dwarves on Steam: The unique role dwarves play on Steam and how much players have embraced them is also evident from the fact that players insisted in February 2024 that “Dwarves” receive their own day on Steam. Dwarf Fortress and Deep Rock Galactic had teamed up and gotten their way at that time. Because a dwarf always gets what he deserves. For 20 years, two brothers have been working on a fantastically deep game – now coming to Steam because they actually need money
