when gaming is too real
2022-Jan-01, Saturday 10:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mellowtiggerI woke up this morning to -23C/-10F air temp (-34C/-30F wind chill). Between this cold weather and recent episodes of the depressing post-apocalyptic Station Eleven, my thoughts are naturally about long-term sustainability.
I don't mind games with a steep learning curve, but Oxygen Not Included has a learning cliff. I'm nearly 100 hours into it, and I still don't know how to use most of the mechanics in this fun (and funny) exploration and base-building game. I'm NOT recommending this game now, because it's just so difficult. I AM, however, recommending these top-10 hints. Human civilization will need them.
I've long argued that zero growth is a necessary phase for humanity. Degrowth will be the painful part for everyone, since there is no unexplored land to exploit and temporarily tip the balance toward growth's favor. (It appears that endemic flu was more deadly than we commonly realized. Endemic Covid-19, however, will surely lead us to a higher death rate, potentially giving the USA negative population growth thanks to anywhere from 2-10x higher mortality than flu.)
Stifled population growth is hint #1 for this game. Keeping my colony to only 6 duplicants is how my 2nd game attempt is surviving so far. That, plus switching to solar at the first opportunity while maintaining extremely low power demands. I'm at the point now, though, that adding complex systems is the only way forward, and that complexity includes air quality maintenance in the workplace to prevent disease.
Sound familiar? This game is 2 (or 4) years old already, and it predates the current pandemic. It's not specifically about economics or politics either, but when your game emulates a long term fight against the harsh physics of entropy... it has lessons to offer.
I don't mind games with a steep learning curve, but Oxygen Not Included has a learning cliff. I'm nearly 100 hours into it, and I still don't know how to use most of the mechanics in this fun (and funny) exploration and base-building game. I'm NOT recommending this game now, because it's just so difficult. I AM, however, recommending these top-10 hints. Human civilization will need them.
I've long argued that zero growth is a necessary phase for humanity. Degrowth will be the painful part for everyone, since there is no unexplored land to exploit and temporarily tip the balance toward growth's favor. (It appears that endemic flu was more deadly than we commonly realized. Endemic Covid-19, however, will surely lead us to a higher death rate, potentially giving the USA negative population growth thanks to anywhere from 2-10x higher mortality than flu.)
Stifled population growth is hint #1 for this game. Keeping my colony to only 6 duplicants is how my 2nd game attempt is surviving so far. That, plus switching to solar at the first opportunity while maintaining extremely low power demands. I'm at the point now, though, that adding complex systems is the only way forward, and that complexity includes air quality maintenance in the workplace to prevent disease.
Sound familiar? This game is 2 (or 4) years old already, and it predates the current pandemic. It's not specifically about economics or politics either, but when your game emulates a long term fight against the harsh physics of entropy... it has lessons to offer.