The fact still remains that someone can turn on Minecraft, mine a few blocks, and "get" the game, especially if they've played with LEGOs. Dwarf Fortress not so much.
I would imagine a good example of this is when my ten-year old decided to try Minecraft, I only had to show her the basics before she was off and running on her own. She's now up there with mods and console commands with no input from me. She then taught her five-year old sister to play without my involvement at all.
I can't imagine the two of them playing Dwarf Fortress.
You'd be surprised. I've worked a lot with kids, and I've seen pre-teens get into Dwarf Fortress very independently. It's not necessarily true that all kids will have the interest/attention for it, but it's still not that crazy. People routinely underestimate kids.
