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After 20 years the Dwarf Fortress devs have to get used to being millionaires

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Re: After 20 years the Dwarf Fortress devs have to get used to being millionaires

#381

Post by yetihehe »

bartvk wrote: post #308
ElijahLynn wrote: post #3

Wow, this is such a #goodnews story! > "I'll have to rework… my, uh, whole life, figure out what the heck's going on there. I don't really have any ideas or plans right now. I've just been thinking about dwarf stuff." > "My wife has plans," Zach said. "We live in a tiny little house, so buying a new house, that's a major goal."

I wonder why not he but his wife thought about improving their material circumstances? So content with his life, or so focused on the code, or something else?

Focused on the code and just being happy with what he has. If you don't need much, you are more happy in life, like buddhists say.

Re: After 20 years the Dwarf Fortress devs have to get used to being millionaires

#382

Post by mensetmanusman »

jujube3 wrote: post #22
TrevorJ wrote: post #2

They are definitely in 'set for life if we make wise choices' territory. In another month I'm betting they will be in 'set for life even if we make foolish choices' territory. I'm really happy for them. They really stayed true to their passion and I'm happy to see them rewarded for this.

> They are definitely in 'set for life if we make wise choices' territory Sure it seems that way now, but what happens when a volcano appears under their house and it floods with lava? Or they go to war with the elves?

Or if their cats start getting sick from alcohol in the blood on the floor?

Re: After 20 years the Dwarf Fortress devs have to get used to being millionaires

#383

Post by INTPenis »

kodah wrote: post #379
INTPenis wrote: post #309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah this is a global offensive by the plutocrats to discredit public health care. It's going on in the UK, in Sweden too. When are people going to wake up and smell the class war?

Is there evidence of this or is it just a feeling?

Oh man, how many times have I considered saving all the evidence? I guess I need to start doing that.

Because the evidence just passes me by in the form of news articles, new laws being proposed, new budgets undercutting public health care and promoting the private sector.

I have stories for days. But as you say, I need to start saving the sources because I'm not really into politics. I'm a nerd, I live in a nerdy bubble. I just observe the world around me and see the corruption.

Re: After 20 years the Dwarf Fortress devs have to get used to being millionaires

#384

Post by AnIdiotOnTheNet »

spacephysics wrote: post #153
serverholic wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Healthcare and basic income are crucial for moving towards the next stage of civilizaiton. Like you said, I'm really glad it worked out for them but so, so many people don't get so lucky or are willing to take such a big risk. How many more dwarf fortresses could we have if we gave people the safety net to follow their dreams? Instead of worrying about basic necessities like food, shelter, and healthcare.

I agree there is a problem with high healthcare costs, and food costs especially now. However what we saw with covid stimulus and unemployment wasn’t the “everyone’s now an artist” outcome that is suggested with UBI. We definitely saw creatives able to express and build their visions into the world, thanks to the money and additional time. But we also saw, and still have ongoing, many people who choose not to work [0…

> Personally I think we should have a good UBI at the least, qualified for individuals who make under a certain amount and who are able and working, or legitimately looking for a job.

The "U" in UBI means "Universal". Once you add any kind of means testing you ruin the whole idea.

Re: After 20 years the Dwarf Fortress devs have to get used to being millionaires

#385

Post by betaby »

Ygg2 wrote: post #199
unity1001 wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Wait times for medical care seem surreal. Its due to the governments defunding public healthcare in order to 'strangle it then save it'. You defund it, make people say 'it doesnt work', then say that "We need to privatize it." Its de facto privatization method used since Reagan/Thatcher. Same method is being used in any country that ends up with a 'privatizing' government.

No, it isn't. Public health is just difficult to fund. Especially on a shrinking population.

How's Canada ' a shrinking population'? Canada is a fastest growing developed country, in % of course.

Re: After 20 years the Dwarf Fortress devs have to get used to being millionaires

#386

Post by shever73 »

100% well deserved. I'm disappointed that there's no Mac release yet, but I'm sure it will come. As soon as it does, I'll be switching from the Patreon brigade to paid-for on Steam.

I love Dwarf Fortress, and I'm delighted that this labour of love has paid off for them.

Re: After 20 years the Dwarf Fortress devs have to get used to being millionaires

#387

Post by jabroni_salad »

culi wrote: post #114
moritonal wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because no one explained. Notch made Minecraft and at one point was making £300k a minute in sales. After a few years of very intense life changing profits he eventually sold Minecraft for £4B and turned into a bit of a weirdo largely blamed on his sudden rise in wealth. If you read his blog you'd understand there was a lot of subtlety and complex relationships and emotions, but the gist is that.

Quoted post unavailable.

To me that's not weird, that is just politics. Lots of people are privately or publicly horrid and that isn't really noteworthy.

To me the weird thing is that he didn't seem to realize only kids were really worshiping the ground he walked upon and to everyone else he was just another rich dude. After the sale he moved to LA to throw parties in his lavish mansion but it seems nobody wants to hang out with him more than twice so instead he started lonelyposting from his ginormous empty granite rooms.

Re: After 20 years the Dwarf Fortress devs have to get used to being millionaires

#388

Post by jwfergus »

happyopossum wrote: post #287
ajmurmann wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article also mentioned money going to other people working on the game. Unclear how's much that is though. Edit: this also touches on a grievance I have with progressive taxation and annualized retirement savings. These guys might have been in a Lowe tax bracket for many years and be back in a low tax bracket depending on how sales go over the years. The one time they hit it home they are in the top tax bracket a…

They could easily set up a corporation and pay themselves over 10-20 years to avoid a windfall (and max out tax advantages over multiple years) if that’s the goal…

The corporation would actualize the income as profit at some I do get a kick out of the idea that these guys basically revolve a lot of their life around developing DF. I wonder how much of their lifestyle could be legitimately expensed from a corporate account without any IRS hassle.

Re: After 20 years the Dwarf Fortress devs have to get used to being millionaires

#389

Post by kzvezdarov »

Ygg2 wrote: post #199
unity1001 wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Wait times for medical care seem surreal. Its due to the governments defunding public healthcare in order to 'strangle it then save it'. You defund it, make people say 'it doesnt work', then say that "We need to privatize it." Its de facto privatization method used since Reagan/Thatcher. Same method is being used in any country that ends up with a 'privatizing' government.

No, it isn't. Public health is just difficult to fund. Especially on a shrinking population.

Yes it is. I live in Ontario. The provincial (conservative) government literally froze the wages of nurses and other public sector workers in 2019 (see Bill 124), creating a massive exodus of nurses and a severe staff shortage. The provincial government doesn't have money to pay nurses, but it has enough money to build a useless highway (see Highway 413) that just so happens to go through land owned by the Premier's friends and business associates; or to give out millions in license plate rebates just before an election. That's also the same provincial government that intentionally didn't spend about $2.7 billion of federal COVID-19 relief funds (which could have, you know, funded healthcare).

Lastly, Canada's population isn't shrinking. It's growing, thanks to a sensible immigration policy (well, mostly sensible; not recognizing the credentials of healthcare professionals is pretty dumb).

Public healthcare is only difficult to find when your government's priority is to personally engorge on a gravy train powered by corruption. All of the issues facing the Ontario healthcare system are intentionally self-inflicted.

Re: After 20 years the Dwarf Fortress devs have to get used to being millionaires

#390

Post by dnadler »

Lots of talk about the financials here, so I thought people might be interested in this financial simulator I've been working on.

Here's a very simple scenario that I set up to forecast Tarn and Zach's windfall:

https://thetortoise.io/shared-scenario/72ff9de5d4f64a408f83c...

I just set it up with an initial $4m balance and a 100k annual drawdown. It uses some fairly standard market assumptions and is all in real terms.

Feel free to experiment with it, and always happy to get feedback!

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