The strange hidden "games" on the ground within Microsoft Flight Simulator

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Originally published at: The strange hidden "games" on the ground within Microsoft Flight Simulator | Boing Boing

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Interesting. I enjoyed this, because it plays with something I think we all do all the time, some more consciously than others: try to turn things into a game. In this case, turning one game into something completely different, but the point remains. I’ve done this so many times in my life that it’s routine for me to make an onerous activity into a game to get through it.

I’m a strong proponent in gamification when done by the person, not the company. Companies gamifying their work places are often trying to hide bad environments and low pay with an idea of fun, and it generally falls flat. That’s how you turn games into work, instead of the other way around. The game has to be personal to the person involved, not imposed upon them.

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Does he have his bing maps data turned off in a lot of the melted waxy shots?

I have been flight simming for over 30 years. Watching the world generate in front of me, only spawning the necessary details and at the right distances, it would fancifuly suggest that the real world was too a simulation… how do I know someone lives in all the houses on my street if I have never seen them? Are they really there before I need to interact with them?
It’s kind of like a digital equivalent of ’ does a falling tree make a sound…". It also helps me understand why some tech people think we live in a sim, people that don’t interact with virtual worlds would probably never come to that conclusion in any serious way.

Thought provoking indeed!

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As I don’t feel like watching the video right now - does one of the “games” involve doing something with (in?) Excel?

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Uh, anyone else get far enough in (abt 21:57) to be perplexed by
The Mystery of
8800 Blue Lick Rd, Louisville, KY
?

Only explanation that seems reasonable is: it was abandoned, suddenly, 20+ years ago or so, and is only now being put up for sale. (But what’s the cat doing there?) Or maybe 1-2 people have been there for last 20 years(?)

EDIT: ah, I didn’t realize this location was a well-tred meme.

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Also the comments in the previous post about it have some reasonable speculation:

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So for those who don’t want to watch the video, he seems to have found a way to use an in game camera drone to turn the flight sim into a “walking sim.” I didn’t the whole thing, but a love of the experience has to do with the awe of these expansive in game landscapes with simulated weather. All just sitting their as eye candy for the vast majority of players.

I have to say, as someone who first played computer games in the early 90’s, the extravagance of the game design hours (and processing power) put into this landscape is stunning. His narration highlights this well. The experience of expansive awe within a well done video game world can be quite dramatic, especially for those of us who remember the highly pixelated days…

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Indeed, this is the Chuck Yeager (blue for sky, green for land) nexus with Oblivion (running seemingly forever through the rolling wilderness) of time long past.

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I have just watched the whole thing with a big, goofy grin on my face at all times. This is truly glorious. I believe he is using the drone viewpoint that shows you the aircraft as you fly it from different angles, and he is using this to step out of the (probably crashed) aircraft and explore the weird world that has been designed to look fine from way above, but goes all Cabinet of Doctor Caligari when you see it from the ground. There is the entire Earth there, but everything weirdly out of kilter, and Dutch tilted, with plants growing in the roads, and traffic but no people…

You didn’t watch the whole thing? How not?

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