Dwarf Fortress creator Tarn Adams believes that the game's notorious nobility system offers surprisingly relevant lessons for real-world societies, particularly regarding the management of elites. In a recent interview, Adams suggested that the extreme measure of simply walling off troublesome dwarf nobles could be a viable strategy for maintaining an equitable society.
Nobles in Dwarf Fortress, as the game's simulation progresses, tend to commandeer industries without qualification and issue demands that are often unsustainable for the general dwarven populace. Adams proposed that players can manage this by isolating these nobles, allowing the rest of the fortress to operate based on genuine need, preference, and capacity. This approach, he stated, has merit and can be considered for real-world application.
While Dwarf Fortress currently lacks the simulated depth for dwarves to engage with political ideologies, Adams has long-term plans to implement systems for simulating civilizational law codes and even philosophical concepts. He draws inspiration from historical legal texts, like the Tang dynasty law code, which featured broad penalties for undefined transgressions. Adams views such historical legal structures as akin to conditional programming statements, which he feels are well within the scope of what can be modeled in the game.
"That feels like an if-else-if-else-if-else-if—and then you have your final else in your law code. I'm like, I can do that. I can model a civil law code," Adams explained. He also noted that the advent of Lua scripting in Dwarf Fortress opens possibilities for simulating more complex legal systems, akin to a self-interpreting scripting language, though he acknowledges the need for safeguards to prevent system collapse.
Adams humorously noted that such complex legal simulations could devolve into chaos, with scenarios like a dog interrupting a court case or goblin invasions occurring.
The effectiveness of walling off nobles, however, hinges on the absence of an enforcement mechanism for their decrees. Adams pointed out that if a fortress guard remains active, they will continue to enforce the demands of nobles, even those who are confined. To achieve true equality, players must therefore also disband the fortress guard. "If you put a wall around your nobles, their demands still somehow get into the aether, and your little justice system will still punish dwarves," Adams stated. "So you have to not assign a captain of the guard either. Another lesson to be had there."