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fizix · 04-02-2007, 10:44 AM

Reasons why I play NetHack (to the exclusion of most other video games):
1) The Game Is Fun. Duh.
2) It feels like an actual challenge (so winning is actually worth something). Character death is permanent (you can't save and restore your characters if they die), so it takes far more than simple persistence to win the game. I've won perhaps twice in nine months. Many people take years before their first "ascension." One person ascended in a week. She was hailed as amazing. (Of course the drawback to this sort of thing is it's tough to introduce friends to NetHack, because it takes them forever to learn the commands, let alone be good enough to survive for a reasonable amount of time. But who needs friends when you've got NetHack?)
3) The community is splendid. NetHack's open-source, so there's a lot of discussion on rather nerdy topics like "what's the minimum number of turns required for an ascension?" Most of the posters on rec.games.roguelike.nethack seem incredibly educated and dignified. When they get into flamewars, it's usually more along the lines of witty repartee than an insult-fest. They're awfully generous -- they're always patching the game and offering suggestions and improvements to the "DevTeam" (all for free!). They're very courteous to newbies, and sometimes even answer posts that have no relevance to the newsgroup. (Not to say you should post those sorts of things.)
4) You can always find NetHack players in the IRC channel #nethack on freenode. They're somewhat less well-spoken (how well-spoken can you be in a chatroom?), but no less helpful or friendly. You can get people to watch you play from miles away.
5) Did I mention NetHack's open-source? This has obvious benefits (free gaming!), and besides, since it's open-source the game is easily patched/improved.
6) I need to have something to do with my life besides going on CollegeConfidential. Or actually working.

I'm warming up to ADOM as well, but the community is not nearly as friendly. And I can't seem to get a character past the early game, ever.

04-02-2007, 10:44 AM	#9
fizix Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: 4-space Posts: 1,377	Reasons why I play NetHack (to the exclusion of most other video games): 1) The Game Is Fun. Duh. 2) It feels like an actual challenge (so winning is actually worth something). Character death is permanent (you can't save and restore your characters if they die), so it takes far more than simple persistence to win the game. I've won perhaps twice in nine months. Many people take years before their first "ascension." One person ascended in a week. She was hailed as amazing. (Of course the drawback to this sort of thing is it's tough to introduce friends to NetHack, because it takes them forever to learn the commands, let alone be good enough to survive for a reasonable amount of time. But who needs friends when you've got NetHack?) 3) The community is splendid. NetHack's open-source, so there's a lot of discussion on rather nerdy topics like "what's the minimum number of turns required for an ascension?" Most of the posters on rec.games.roguelike.nethack seem incredibly educated and dignified. When they get into flamewars, it's usually more along the lines of witty repartee than an insult-fest. They're awfully generous -- they're always patching the game and offering suggestions and improvements to the "DevTeam" (all for free!). They're very courteous to newbies, and sometimes even answer posts that have no relevance to the newsgroup. (Not to say you should post those sorts of things.) 4) You can always find NetHack players in the IRC channel #nethack on freenode. They're somewhat less well-spoken (how well-spoken can you be in a chatroom?), but no less helpful or friendly. You can get people to watch you play from miles away. 5) Did I mention NetHack's open-source? This has obvious benefits (free gaming!), and besides, since it's open-source the game is easily patched/improved. 6) I need to have something to do with my life besides going on CollegeConfidential. Or actually working. I'm warming up to ADOM as well, but the community is not nearly as friendly. And I can't seem to get a character past the early game, ever.
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