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How 'Factorio' seduced Silicon Valley and me

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Re: How 'Factorio' seduced Silicon Valley and me

#231

Post by Aeolun »

Aeolun wrote: post #124
satvikpendem wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course not. I think you misunderstand, if a game is too similar to real life, I am unsure why I should play it, whereas if it is fairly different, such as an FPS, it becomes much more fun for me. My question is primarily on the former, of why people seem to play a game that basically is like work but has no benefit for them. If it's fun for them, then that's fine, but my question more, why is it fun for them in th…

I think I can answer this to some extend. I kinda feel like you do, that playing factorio is time that I could more productively spend on side projects (especially considering how much time it costs), but I don’t kill bugs in side projects, don’t build train lines, don’t build spaceships. I play factorio because the dopamine hit when something comes together is nearly the same, but the actions I take are different en…

Did someone really downvote my opinion? That’s just, like, pretty demotivating.

Re: How 'Factorio' seduced Silicon Valley and me

#232

Post by newswasboring »

satvikpendem wrote: post #35

I know lots of people who play Factorio but for me, I guess it just feels too much like work? Whenever I play it, I get the distinct feeling that I could instead do the same thing but productively instead, such as by contributing to my OSS projects (sometimes, maybe even for profit instead). I never got into these types of programmatic games for precisely this reason but I'd like to understand other perspectives on t…

For me it's because it looks pretty. The light and sounds of factorio are so much fun. Trains going zoom, research centers going zip etc.

I wish real programming tools were this much fun.

Re: How 'Factorio' seduced Silicon Valley and me

#233

Post by pjerem »

satvikpendem wrote: post #35

I know lots of people who play Factorio but for me, I guess it just feels too much like work? Whenever I play it, I get the distinct feeling that I could instead do the same thing but productively instead, such as by contributing to my OSS projects (sometimes, maybe even for profit instead). I never got into these types of programmatic games for precisely this reason but I'd like to understand other perspectives on t…

That’s why I prefer Satisfactory : it’s the same principle but it also allows you to build gigantic great and beautiful things. For me it’s the perfect mix between Factorio (for building factories) and Minecraft (for allowing you to create your environment) and, contrary to those two, it’s also aesthetically beautiful. In fact building production lines is not even what I prefer, what I prefer is organizing them in chaotically beautiful buildings.

(Don’t think I want to start a debate, I loved the 3 games and played them a lot, it’s just that Satisfactory won my heart… even the name is great).

Re: How 'Factorio' seduced Silicon Valley and me

#234

Post by gambiting »

pjerem wrote: post #233
satvikpendem wrote: post #35

I know lots of people who play Factorio but for me, I guess it just feels too much like work? Whenever I play it, I get the distinct feeling that I could instead do the same thing but productively instead, such as by contributing to my OSS projects (sometimes, maybe even for profit instead). I never got into these types of programmatic games for precisely this reason but I'd like to understand other perspectives on t…

That’s why I prefer Satisfactory : it’s the same principle but it also allows you to build gigantic great and beautiful things. For me it’s the perfect mix between Factorio (for building factories) and Minecraft (for allowing you to create your environment) and, contrary to those two, it’s also aesthetically beautiful. In fact building production lines is not even what I prefer, what I prefer is organizing them in ch…

Same here. Played both, both are extremely satisfying to play, but Satisfactory is just..... pretty. It's nice to take a break from building the factory to just explore the world too.

Re: How 'Factorio' seduced Silicon Valley and me

#235

Post by ivanjermakov »

satvikpendem wrote: post #35

I know lots of people who play Factorio but for me, I guess it just feels too much like work? Whenever I play it, I get the distinct feeling that I could instead do the same thing but productively instead, such as by contributing to my OSS projects (sometimes, maybe even for profit instead). I never got into these types of programmatic games for precisely this reason but I'd like to understand other perspectives on t…

It does feel like work, but that's okay! Some mechanics are mundane than others, e.g. compare clearing enemy bases to designing rail blueprints, but the game does everything to make it efficient and ejoyable: high performance, keyboard shortcuts, immense amount of quality of life features - all you get when devs love playing the game themselves.

And, even Factorio being my favorite game, I still need to take a long breaks from it because building a factory is a lot of mental effort.

Re: How 'Factorio' seduced Silicon Valley and me

#236

Post by 0xB31B1B »

satvikpendem wrote: post #68
duckmysick wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I can make whatever software I want, for whatever purpose Such freedom is extremely rare when you get paid for writing or maintaining software.

It depends on whether you make software for a living or for OSS. One does not preclude the other, even if one is rarer. Given my situation, as I had initially stated, I am part of the latter. Even still, were I the former, I still don't get why one would work "for free" basically, especially in terms of a game versus real life.

Even oss has users to satisfy.

If you’re building oss with no users, or just for yourself, you’re functionally doing something more like art than coding in terms of how you prioritize and execute.

Re: How 'Factorio' seduced Silicon Valley and me

#237

Post by ivanjermakov »

brundolf wrote: post #212
satvikpendem wrote: post #35

I know lots of people who play Factorio but for me, I guess it just feels too much like work? Whenever I play it, I get the distinct feeling that I could instead do the same thing but productively instead, such as by contributing to my OSS projects (sometimes, maybe even for profit instead). I never got into these types of programmatic games for precisely this reason but I'd like to understand other perspectives on t…

Not the same, but Slay the Spire could be described as a "programmatic game". I play it when I just need to burn some spare cycles (especially if programming is inaccessible to me at the moment, like when I only have my phone)

I think there is a quite big player intersection between Factorio and Slay the Spire, despite being completely different genres. And I agree that StS is a nice way to relax from programming.

Re: How 'Factorio' seduced Silicon Valley and me

#238

Post by patrickk »

satvikpendem wrote: post #85
gessha wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The hacker culture is still there but hacker social media (unless carefully curated) is flooded with optimized content to the point where the cool stuff is hard to find and you only see the grifter techs.

Nah, they're still there, you merely have to know where to look. Most hackers I know eschew social media appearances.

There’s loads of hacker spirit still alive in the homelab and home automation space just to give one example.

Having lots of fun tinkering with Proxmox, Wled, Shelly devices to manipulate electric rollers, and more. Couldn’t quite get Valetudo running on my robot vacuum (my model isn’t the easiest to hack) but the concept is so cool. Triggering automations With dirt cheap NFC tags or a cheap wireless numpad is so satisfying.

Building an *arr stack is another area where there’s tons of amazing creativity online and the hacker spirit still lives on.

Re: How 'Factorio' seduced Silicon Valley and me

#239

Post by ivanjermakov »

aphantastic wrote: post #31
Xeronate wrote: post #7

The article mentions one of the main appeals of factorio is you get to think like a programmer without bosses/overhead from actual work but it’s always been hard to get into games for that reason because I could just work on a side project with the same result. I really don’t understand the appeal.

Mindusry scratches the same itch, but in perhaps a slightly more appealing way for me at least. Rather than the entire game being dedicated to creating one massive monolith dedicated to the one goal of rocket building or whatever, there are many different levels each where you’re just playing classic tower defense and using the layout of the map to your advantage to extract resources and kill bad guys. It’s casual an…

I think Factorio, Mindustry and Satisfactory is a "choose one" trio for any gamer to like. They share similar goals (factory building), but approaches are quite different.

Re: How 'Factorio' seduced Silicon Valley and me

#240

Post by ivanjermakov »

herval wrote: post #127

Lots of comments on this thread in the vein of “I dislike this game because it’s not productive”. My honestly question is… why? Why is “being productive” this goal that has to consume your entire life?

Oh yes, without getting too political, that's just what capitalism is about.

Ironically, Factorio is all about productivity. Mine more resources, produce more items, expand more land and build more factory.

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