I don't understand, I can make whatever software I want, for whatever purpose, and it can still be impactful, depending on the user. It feels way more impactful than anything I can make in Factorio or similar.
When I asked Kovařík about this, he brought up Euro Truck Simulator, a wilfully mundane game about hauling cargo. The developers, who are friends of his, once told him that many of their most enthusiastic players are ... truckers. Truckers who spend their time off from their trucking jobs pretending to do more trucking ... a lot of people actually enjoy the work they do. They just don’t always enjoy their jobs that much, because of all the things that get in the way of the work.
If you like Power Wash Simulator, you'll LOVE the relaxing meditative idle game Paint Drying Simulator, and the exquisite organic fractal patina of its sequel, Paint Peeling Simulator. ;)
No, it’s boring to use cheap personal attacks (like I responded to) instead of actually engaging. If I wanted to read that, I could find it in YouTube comments.
I figured out a good cadence; first threads discuss a schema and sketch/iterate over an ERD and C4 diagram. Then we have threads to build modules on top of a framework. It knows if we're working with python/typer/pydantic or go or typescript and various frameworks/design decisions... Key is keeping topics separate so contexts don't overrun. And be explicit to say "don't re-generate code just talk high level" etc.
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.
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.
Here's to hoping things like Patreon and GitHub Sponsors make it more common. These platforms could truly change the way things are done in the software world. Given enough sponsors, I could quit my job and focus on free software every day.
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 the first place? That's really what I want to figure out.
Sometimes it's fun to do things when there's no real world consequence attached to failure and experimentation even if the mechanics are similar to something we do for work.
I sometimes do project euler puzzles for fun. I'm a CS professor - this starts to feel kinda close to my job. But it's relaxing and there's no pressure and no one is affected when I screw up; I just get to keep kicking at it, or put it down. The freedom makes a big difference.
The "solving an interesting problem" part of my job is the part I love. It's the other stuff I need a break from sometimes. :)
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 enough to stay fun.
Also, I just think it’s good to not look at something that’s too much like work once in a while. Even if factorio is closer than many other things.
It's fun to solve problems. How do I optimize this sub-factory? - That's the same fun as "how do I optimize this function" but instead of a green light from my test runner one gets a colorful display of a working factory with a visible result. The fact that I reduced memory usage of that function by 10% I don't see in that way. And probably both both are equal in benefit to humanity's progress (zero)
