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The Factorio Mindset

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Re: The Factorio Mindset

#11

Post by ineedasername »

deltaonefour wrote: post #3

Every once in a while on the HN front page you get some article about a programming analogy or an entrepreneurship analogy. "Here's why the game factorio is like programming or here's why it's like life. yada yada yada" Yeah, AND this guy takes the next step and turns the analogy into a "mindset." Great. Revolutionary. First off.. analogy is amazing. Second... turning that analogy into a way of life blows my mind. Is…

It seems like this is merely someone's opinion that Factorio may have some transferable skills, namely a mindset-- along with the limitations-- of automation.

I'm not sure why this would be so frustrating for you. It's not like the author themselves went down your slippery slope to full blown theory. If they had? Sure, that would be a bit of the usually breathless attempts at "thoughtleading", but I see no need for preemptive criticism.

Also congratulations for being really tall. I'm about average height.

Re: The Factorio Mindset

#12

Post by skipants »

minihat wrote: post #8

My friend has 600+ hours played of Factorio. He just beat the game for the first time. I bought it, we played multiplayer. And I taught him the mantra "great is the enemy of good enough". Our run took 14 hours. I also know many people like this at work, and wish they could have the Factorio experience. If you refactor at the first sign of trouble, you remain blind to totally new to problems just around the corner.

That's been my takeaway from these games, too. It really helped with my perfectionism because it makes the negative effects of it tangible; you notice how much more time you lose by trying to be perfect rather than just getting your supply of materials up and running.

Re: The Factorio Mindset

#13

Post by jfim »

midjji wrote: post #7
juice_bus wrote: post #2

Shopify allowing Factorio to be expensed is really interesting. Someone higher up must really like it?

A tech company focused on logistics has at least one boss or founder who really likes factorio, the game for and by programmers who like logistics? Who could have guessed^^ It is cool if they let people expense it though, but motivating the 20$ per employee cost is pretty trivial. Compared to similar expenses like a yearly fruit basket, Id wager giving programmers/logistics workers a free factorio probably has a bett…

> Id wager giving programmers/logistics workers a free factorio probably has a better impact on work performance.

I'd be skeptical of that claim. I'm sure there would be at least a few engineers that showed up to work pretty tired because the factory needed more iron plates. :-)

Re: The Factorio Mindset

#14

Post by shane_b »

minihat wrote: post #8

My friend has 600+ hours played of Factorio. He just beat the game for the first time. I bought it, we played multiplayer. And I taught him the mantra "great is the enemy of good enough". Our run took 14 hours. I also know many people like this at work, and wish they could have the Factorio experience. If you refactor at the first sign of trouble, you remain blind to totally new to problems just around the corner.

In software dev, my team has a “naive, naive, refactor” rule for this problem

Re: The Factorio Mindset

#17

Post by toomuchtodo »

DiabloD3 wrote: post #10

I have over 5000 hours in Factorio. I am part of a group where several of us are over 5000 hours. Some of us have Autism. Some of us have ADHD. Some of us have both. The majority of us are in the tech industry. The companies we work at have been made to understand that the factory must grow.

Factorio should be the interview test ;) Tech’s Ender’s Game.

(factorio fan, but with little time to enjoy it)

Re: The Factorio Mindset

#18

Post by midjji »

jfim wrote: post #13
midjji wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A tech company focused on logistics has at least one boss or founder who really likes factorio, the game for and by programmers who like logistics? Who could have guessed^^ It is cool if they let people expense it though, but motivating the 20$ per employee cost is pretty trivial. Compared to similar expenses like a yearly fruit basket, Id wager giving programmers/logistics workers a free factorio probably has a bett…

> Id wager giving programmers/logistics workers a free factorio probably has a better impact on work performance. I'd be skeptical of that claim. I'm sure there would be at least a few engineers that showed up to work pretty tired because the factory needed more iron plates. :-)

Yeah, think I'm less assuming that people wont let it negatively affect their work, as much as assuming that the people for whom it does would have been playing something else with the same effect.

Re: The Factorio Mindset

#20

Post by julianeon »

I often encounter this issue when it comes to programming-like games. I’m wondering if I should adjust my thinking here.

1) Hmm, this game is a lot like programming. A lot like it.

2) Maybe I should just program? That is real work & I can get done more work done, be more productive.

3) [stopped game, started programming]

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