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What is interesting about Factorio

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Re: What is interesting about Factorio

#131

Post by slfnflctd »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #98
chipperyman573 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eating, sleeping, and joy are not typically considered tedious or wearisome.

Eating and sleeping sure as hell are tedious and wearisome, since they're basic maintenance tasks that you have to do if you want to function, taking time and attention away from the things you're interested in doing. (Yes, I enjoy a tasty meal and a good night's sleep. But I'd much prefer to just live without having to sleep or eat at all. Or, eat a pill and recharge in a base station for 20 minutes.)

Oh man, I've been saying this for years, count me in. Let's find a way to reduce or eliminate the need for personal hygiene while we're at it. Robot bodies! We could theoretically still have sex virtually, too.

Re: What is interesting about Factorio

#132

Post by koheripbal »

LeonM wrote: post #127
piercebot wrote: post #124

> Isn't it amazing that someone could do something for 100 hours and not think about obvious improvements, and not even wonder if they've been setup? I have co-workers like this: people who don't bother to learn the tools of* their trade and waste dozens of minutes every day. Taking the time to master your tools is a COMPOUNDING benefit and, at the risk of sounding inflammatory, is the type of activity that creates "…

It takes a certain discipline to do that. Not everyone has that discipline, and not everyone cares about being the '10x engineer'. Especially not when they work a 9-5 job which pays the same regardless of being a 1x or 10x. I have been working for my own businesses for about 8 years now. I learned to value my time, so any improvement in efficiency is welcome. But sometimes you just need to get the job done and not in…

> Especially not when they work a 9-5 job which pays the same regardless of being a 1x or 10x.

This is a failure of forethought on their part. It's true that their _current_ job might not pay more for that knowledge, but it absolutely pays off in their career and during interviews as they develop their professional network and people begin to recognize them as a source of in-depth knowledge.

Re: What is interesting about Factorio

#133

Post by thedanbob »

fouc wrote: post #6

As someone that stopped playing games in university, I've found it weirdly hard to get back into games many years later. Factorio seems like the type of game I would've liked as a teenager, but now it just feels like work to me. As do most interesting games. It seems like there's a learning curve to games that I don't want to spend the time dealing with anymore.

Same here. I was introduced to Factorio by a friend who setup a multiplayer server for us and a couple of others. The teamwork held my interest for a bit longer than other games, but even there I eventually just spent my time clearing out enemy nests rather than working on the factory. I’m a programmer, I already spend most of my day wiring things together endlessly.

Re: What is interesting about Factorio

#134

Post by samsolomon »

fouc wrote: post #6

As someone that stopped playing games in university, I've found it weirdly hard to get back into games many years later. Factorio seems like the type of game I would've liked as a teenager, but now it just feels like work to me. As do most interesting games. It seems like there's a learning curve to games that I don't want to spend the time dealing with anymore.

As someone who has recently got back into games, Factorio is a ton of work—and I love strategy games like Civilization.

Playing Factorio is not unlike doing engineering work itself. Initially, I was hooked. After a while, the brainpower it takes to build and refactor large factories felt too demanding.

It began to feel more like work, than enjoyment.

Re: What is interesting about Factorio

#135

Post by Faark »

debaserab2 wrote: post #71
mosiuerbarso wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a former engineer. Toolmaker to be precise. I just could not get into this game no matter how long I tried. I love making stuff as a hobby, and reading all the good reviews this game had it seemed like a great way to kill a few spare hours. But I just couldn't gell with the game.It just seemed like I was back at work but now not getting paid for my time. For me, Rimworld is where it's at.

I feel the exact same way. It's interesting that you mention Rimworld - I dived into Rimworld when I first got it and came to appreciate the way little things add up in that game and make the simulation more interesting (be it positive or negative). The complicated UI is slowly unraveled and becomes intuitive as you learn the game because there are simple feedback mechanisms for actions that affect your colonists. Ev…

Yes, Rimworld is easier to get into for many. "Survive" is a way more obvious and natural goal.

But once I got more and more into the details, Rimworld was the one frustrating me. I probably just despise this kind of "Storyteller" aka Event choosen by Wealth & RNG. This ruined the fun for me and is probably the reason I played Factorio easily 10 times as long as Rimworld.

The closest Factory has to that is the pollution mechanic, but that doesn't feel nearly as contrived.

Re: What is interesting about Factorio

#136

Post by LeonM »

koheripbal wrote: post #132
LeonM wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It takes a certain discipline to do that. Not everyone has that discipline, and not everyone cares about being the '10x engineer'. Especially not when they work a 9-5 job which pays the same regardless of being a 1x or 10x. I have been working for my own businesses for about 8 years now. I learned to value my time, so any improvement in efficiency is welcome. But sometimes you just need to get the job done and not in…

> Especially not when they work a 9-5 job which pays the same regardless of being a 1x or 10x. This is a failure of forethought on their part. It's true that their _current_ job might not pay more for that knowledge, but it absolutely pays off in their career and during interviews as they develop their professional network and people begin to recognize them as a source of in-depth knowledge.

That was exactly my point: not everyone cares about that.

For many (most?) people the main factor in life is happiness. If you like your job, and it pays good enough, then why invest all the work into a future job that may pay better?

Also, there are many factors that come into play during interviews. How well you are able to combine complex Vim commands to shave 10 seconds of a particular task is probably very, very low down the list of competences the interviewer is looking for.

Re: What is interesting about Factorio

#137

Post by TeMPOraL »

slfnflctd wrote: post #131
TeMPOraL wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eating and sleeping sure as hell are tedious and wearisome, since they're basic maintenance tasks that you have to do if you want to function, taking time and attention away from the things you're interested in doing. (Yes, I enjoy a tasty meal and a good night's sleep. But I'd much prefer to just live without having to sleep or eat at all. Or, eat a pill and recharge in a base station for 20 minutes.)

Oh man, I've been saying this for years, count me in. Let's find a way to reduce or eliminate the need for personal hygiene while we're at it. Robot bodies! We could theoretically still have sex virtually, too.

> Let's find a way to reduce or eliminate the need for personal hygiene while we're at it.

Definitely. It's another maintenance time waster, another upkeep you have to pay. What's worse, only a fraction of it is needed for survival, the rest is just an elaborate social signalling game with almost unbounded costs in time and money.

> We could theoretically still have sex virtually, too.

Only if it offers improvement over status quo :).

Re: What is interesting about Factorio

#138

Post by Faark »

scotty79 wrote: post #79
winstonewert wrote: post #36

WARNING: stay far away from this game... way too addictive. I've lost so much time to it... you have been warned!

Was it really lost? Can you imagine yourself on your deathbed regretting that you played Factorio?

I hope I'm not even half the way to my deathbed and already regret how much time I spend on games (and the knock-on effects).

It's not that playing games (incl Factorio) doesn't feel satisfying. But the time we have is pretty much the only finite thing in life and thus what we can do is limited. Spending time somewhat deliberate seems like a good idea.

Again, that doesn't mean playing games is bad. It can be a great source of joy and broaden your horizon, just like other media. But moderation is key. Spending time in ways that allows us to meet people/ learn skills (we might even use professionally)/etc will probably have a bigger impact on our lives down the line than the 2000th hour of playing Factorio.

Re: What is interesting about Factorio

#139

Post by de_watcher »

fouc wrote: post #6

As someone that stopped playing games in university, I've found it weirdly hard to get back into games many years later. Factorio seems like the type of game I would've liked as a teenager, but now it just feels like work to me. As do most interesting games. It seems like there's a learning curve to games that I don't want to spend the time dealing with anymore.

Yea, after an hour Factorio feels like "can I just write a script instead?"

It's fine to play for a bit with the new tech branches that come out occasionally in the updates.

Re: What is interesting about Factorio

#140

Post by samsolomon »

3131s wrote: post #128
roland35 wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have the exact same feeling with games as you now that I have a job and kids. I used to enjoy games like factorio (SimCity, Civilization, Roller Coaster Tycoon, etc) but they do feel like work now! What I enjoy now instead is actually watching gameplay on YouTube. It gives me a quick fix of the fun without a big investment in time. Also many of the videos can be funny!

This is what I do too, either watch videos of other people playing new games or play the old games that I already know and love (Diablo, Alpha Centauri, Starcraft, Rollercoaster Tycoon, Minesweeper, etc.).

I would highly recommend Rollercoaster Tycoon Classic. It contains RCT1 and RCT2 scenarios and expansions recreated with the RCT2 engine. It's on iOS, Android and Steam. The game is a joy.

http://www.rollercoastertycoon.com/rollercoaster-tycoon-clas...

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