The Passion of the Garbage Truck

[Dooly95]

Come on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEJHrmliVQw

I knew about the awesomeness of Farming Simulator since... like, forever.

Also, the rockpapershotgun coverage was pretty cool too.

 

[Robert Rath]

It's been a while since I laughed so hard at an article. Your descriptions in the first half the piece were blindingly funny. Loved it.

Thanks! I enjoyed writing it. Not necessarily playing the games, mind you, though I have to admit I actually laughed until I cried more than once while playing Garbage Truck Sim.

Heh there is a RockPaperShotgun writer who plays all these simulators because he finds them incredibly amusing. Article very much reminded me of his articles, (in fact I did crosscheck the name to see)

Yeah, a few people have brought that guy up. I had no idea, and it's probably best that I didn't. I think a lot of the fun of this article came from the fact that I came to these games entirely fresh.

I honestly think that a world where someone, somewhere, is pouring all their love, affection and creative care into modeling and programming a dustcart is a beautiful world. I... Don't know why, but I just feel that way.
It's just such a beautiful thought. I can't for the life of me understand why anyone would be excited to their very heart by a simulated haygather machine, but I can't deny that I'm glad someone is.

I feel the same way. The whole culture has this very genuine charm to it that's both incredibly funny yet immediately endearing. Check out that link to World of Simulators Magazine... really, it's worth it.

How come you don't mention the educational aspect? I know from experience that some flight sims are close enough to the actual thing that they can be a useful training exercise for pilots, i imagine part of the appeal of these simulators is that they can teach you a little bit about the small corner of the world they are simulating.

Astragon didn't seem to push the educational aspect when I talked to them, and I would guess there's some kind of licensing process you need to go through to certify your sim as "educational." I get your point about flight sims (I played some of the flight school-sanctioned takeoff/landing ones when I went to ground school) but this article was focused more on the blue collar-type sims. See, I understand where the market is for flight sims, but Garbage Truck Sim? Street Cleaner Sim? Underground Mining Sim? Those types of games I just couldn't fathom an audience for, past depressed civic employees who've been suddenly laid off.

Of course, when you add in the modelmaking community that sort of thing makes perfect sense - especially since some of the most popular sims are flight and train sims. What kind of machines to modelmakers love? Planes and trains.