Having played both, I think they both have their perks.mago te said:
I play minecraft when I want to unwind. Generally I go back to my usual non-hardcore survival game and just add more crap to my ever expanding giant monolith tower rising out of the ocean.
Dwarf fortress I tend to play much more seriously (with the one limit now that I won't use spoilermetal or danger rooms). It's harsher because it doesn't progress at your own pace and because there are generally defined goals, even if it's just "survive this tantrum spiral" or "repel that siege which arrived a year before you were ready for it".