Aquifers are one of those things that, in general, I have not had to think about much as a gamer.  Whether this is a shortcoming of game design or a personal failing, I am not entirely sure.  What I have learned about them recently, though, is that unless you know what you’re doing, you don’t want to fuck with them.

I was introduced to Dwarf Fortress a little over a month ago, and in the weeks that followed, I have sunk an awful lot of time into the consideration of aquifers, irrigation control, and the proper gutting and boning of fish.

For those of you unfamiliar, Dwarf Fortress, by Bay 12 Games, is a free game in which you take control of a brave party of dwarf settlers, set out into the wilderness to carve a new home from the very earth itself.  As you will soon see, that simple explanation belies the incredibly complexity of this game.

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I remember the day Master of Orion III came out. After heading off to the mall during lunch, I returned to work, bag in hand, and ripped open the package in the car. Tucking the game itself safely under the seat, I stealthily smuggled the manual into my office where I proceeded to read it, a few pages at a time, as soon as the opportunity arose.

While I would eventually learn that the game itself left a lot to be desired, the manual was, on its own, a delight:  Long passages about the history of the Master of Orion universe, plenty of shots of all of the game’s interfaces, and discussions of strategy as you made your way through the game. I read the manual twice that afternoon, and as soon as I got home, it found a place on my bookshelf, among a collection of others.

For a lot of people, the moment they get a new game in their possession, they race home, tear off the shrink wrap, and pop it into their systems to get playing.  For me, however, there is always that one critical step in between: reading the manual.

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