Well that's much more compelling.

One interesting thing to note is that the players in the bottom quarter here are actually not likely to be newbs in the literal sense.

There are virtually no wins in the bottom half. What separates the two bottom quarters is the size of their track record of failure. Players in the bottom quarter have all played 250+ games without a win. Players in the next quarter have a mere streak of 50-250 losses (or, rarely, a single win out of >1,000 games).

So it might be more correct to say that this suggests that successful players are attracted to deep dwarves and unsuccessful players (not necessarily inexperienced players) are uninterested in DDs.

4. Early rune grabs¶

A couple months ago I introduced my boyfriend to DCSS, and it's been a lot of fun watching him progress. He's committed to not reading spoilers until he's won a game, so he's a great subject of observation when it comes to newbie traps.

He recently got his first rune ever. How he managed it at level 15, I have no idea. I was playing a Deep Elf in parallel with his, and I picked up my first rune at level 18, after having cleared the Dungeon, the Orcish Mines, and the first 3 floors of the other S-branch. He cleared up to D:9, cleared the Lair, then waltzed straight down to the bottom of the Swamp.

I would guess that this is not an uncommon mistake. When you get to a staircase, the natural thing is to go down it. Incrementally clearing and backtracking isn't an obvious strategy. And the spike in danger of the final floor of a branch is something you either read about, or learn from painful experience.

(This tavern post has a cool idea about restructuring the dungeon to make this less of a trap.)