Comment by _9omd | Hacker News Reader

Comment by _9omd | Hacker News Reader

My problem with games like Factorio (and more recently Oxygen no Included), is that after I get addicted and get up past 100 hours of gameplay I start to question what the hell I'm doing with my life. Up until that point it's great fun designing, building, and optimizing, but then a switch in my head flips. I start to become anxious about the fact that I was excited about getting better at skills in a virtual world. Usually around this time I start watching videos of more advanced builds, and then become increasingly depressed about the idea of sinking 1000+ hours into a game, when I could just be building something in the real world, or out riding my bike. This is usually the time I put the game down and never play it again.

I think the problem for me is that these games give me the illusion of learning, building, and accomplishing things, which my little engineer brain loves. But once I come out of the haze of addiction, I realize it's nothing more than an illusion, and I just stomach going on.

I feel this way too. I feel like games like factorio "sap my energy" for applying the same skills in real life.

I'm sure that if I applied myself in the same obsessive/borderline-autisitc manner that factorio brings out of me, I could accomplish real world things that actually matter to my life.

I feel like HN browsing also does this to some extent. Makes me feel smart and very technical - but I don't actually DO anything with this knowledge.

Yeah, I feel you. However, remember that these are games. It's fun to play. It's unlikely in real-life that you will get the opportunity to control resources and strategy on the level that Factorio and such offer. Enjoy the opportunity to build. To imagine and see where your imagination takes you. It's good practice, mental exercise.

Much like with story-telling in the form of books and movies, playing (good) games is an opportunity to learn about yourself and reality, and then grow in response.

You are the player of games. Be mindful so the game doesn't play you. ;) It sounds like you're doing well to recognize "enough," when the trade-offs don't make sense anymore, though a bit late. Maybe next time you'll slow down before anxiety need kick in. Good luck, have fun!

Optimizing and organizing are skills that you develop and can practice by gaming, there are plenty of transferable skills, and opportunities to learn from what sticks you up (from one side: i spend so much time optimizing i don’t get anything done, from the other: my stuff is such a mess it’s not getting much done)

You can like doing something and then realize you’re spending more time on it than you want and stop, both things are fine.

I like to explore the game mechanic. I abandon games once I feel like I figured out the game loop and don’t want to invest in the grind.

Why do it? Because building stuff in the real world isn’t necessarily better. What are you gonna do with things you build? In a game, at least you’re not wasting real resources.

Riding a bike is probably better, but what do you do when you’re done?

So personally, I think it is totally fine to invest these 100 hours and then abandon, because they were entertaining. You don’t have to deeply invest and hence, I don’t see it as "a problem".

I feel the same way about games like this.

Many games can be social experiences. Even if the game isn't multiplayer, like a rogue-like (or Wordle -- is Wordle a rogue-lite?) you can compare "runs" with others. Other single-player games have a compelling story or characters you can discuss with friends who have also played it. But some games don't work for meaningful social discussion at all, and it can be hard to want to play them!

"How Much Are Games Like Factorio And EVE Online Sapping Away The Intellectual Potential Of Humanity?"

https://www.reddit.com/r/slatestarcodex/comments/ml00ac/how_...

>I often wonder if these specific types of games are redirecting a nontrivial amount of human intellectual output into a deadend. They're explicitly geared to lure in the kind of obsessive tinkerer types who've historically driven scientific and engineering progress. Only now, there's little to no payoff for the rest of humanity if they spend thousands of hours consumed by one of these games. What's Newton's modern equivalent doing right now? Probably perfecting a build order in Stellaris.

As the first response there says "Play is a way to learn and hone skills."

And there's an assumption that people who aren't 'playing' would automatically be doing something 'worthy' instead.

I suspect the reality is that most of us here went through an obsessive period of learning something which paid off in unexpected ways later. Eve could be teaching all sorts of things, including business and organizational skills: https://youtu.be/6rEfQ3GT73A?t=878

I got really into it for a while and had to stop for the same reason. Plus the whole aesthetic and theme of the game felt gross to me.

Fair side downside : I feel I’m playing some type of world destruction simulator while playing factorio.

Why can't you just enjoy a hobby? Why do you feel the urge to extract productivity gains from something fun.

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