Pseudo ASCII graphics: What is the point? [closed]

Dwarf Fortress uses tiles; tiles that are images of ASCII characters no less! I see this as counter-intuitive. I thought the idea of using ASCII characters instead of graphics is so you could run in terms and have a huge performance gain. With this in mind, why is the default tileset not more "pretty" and "friendly"?

I don't know why this choice was made for Dwarf Fortress, but I can highlight a few possible reasons:

• It'a retro, gives you nostalgic vibes and all that.
• It stimulates your fantasy to actually imagine what the world could be like
• The author maybe didn't know how to draw those graphics
• The author maybe just wanted it like that. His game, his choices.

In case real ASCII had been used, the following advantages would have existed as well (though this is not the case):

• It is, in some cases, easier to program
• The creator just wasn't familiar with the right tools
• Works on older hardware, doesn't require a graphical screen and should be more performant

As far as I know, they are working on bringing out new tile-engines (with "real" graphics).

Using images instead of ASCII allows for GPU acceleration for the drawing, which offloads work from the CPU to the GPU, freeing more cycles from the CPU which allows it to process things in the game faster.

It also allows for tilepacks which make DF look much better.

Try doing this with ASCII