Kelly Slater Pro Surfer had a mode where you could turn off all the HUD items, clock and music and just float and surf without distractions. Most of my time playing Shadow of the Colossus I was just running around riding a horse, same for GTA San Andreas, but taking a motorcycle out on desert roads.

There’s a lot of background to train-sets-being-turned-into-quasi-games; long ago I read a hand-typed account of a card game system to be played with your model train system.  You draw up cards with loads, locations, and destinations and then run the train to the different spots.  The instructions were very specific about how the cards were handled, you were to pick a card at random and then place it in this box, then upon delivery you put it in that other box over there.  You slowly worked through the stack of cards until you were done.

No points, no nothing.  It has me thinking about “games that you operate”, something I saw written about some of the solo wargames from the 70s-80s.  You don’t make decisions, you just roll dice and consult charts, this feels similar. 

(Also, the engineer in the video is insane.  He clearly progressed through a Class 2 Bulmer-Fessinger type underpass without deploying freblesters, while the second car’s thirpworthe was engaged, and without reducing engine load to the required 15 rods to the hogshead.)

How can anyone not find this exciting?

(Unless you’re a rail fan, however, you’re apt to be disappointed.)

Although, it could do without the eye-roll-inducing “which is frequently derided for its lack of monsters, magic, aliens, or eastern european gangsters.” comments, mind.

And speaking of physics, can you derail the train by taking curves too fast, crash with other trains or anything like that?  (Not that I’d want to, mind you…)

But when you get to things like STREET CLEANER SIMULATOR…
http://kotaku.com/5820617/a-brave-attempt-to-play-a-game-about-cleaning-up-the-streets-the-boring-way

That is a head-scratcher.

That’d be worth something.

They are _hard_! When I lived in Tokyo I would regularly play a portable version of the Yamanote line (Tokyo’s central loop) while riding the same train.  The fidelity of the simulation was impressive, enough that you could drive the simulation 1:1 with the real train, arriving and departing stations at the same time, overpasses passing overhead at the same time as they pass on screen, signals passing at the same time in game as they did out the window. When you bring it into the station you’re docked for each inch you’re off being aligned from the platform, and you only get one chance. Stop to suddenly and it’s game over. You’re late by 15 seconds? Sorry.

They take the humdrum commute that anyone in Japan is familiar with, and show  the nail biting finesse that it takes to get that 12-car commuter train to stop on time, on a dime, without knocking all the passengers on their butt. These and flight sims are the only computer games I can think of where it really does take finesse to play. I like my video games pretty agressive, and toy train sets when I was a kid were regularly turned into smoking rail disasters, but I never play Japanese rail sims with the intent to destroy, the existing challenge was intense enough.

I know a fellow flight simmer that runs his own virtual airline. This is actually common as there are software packages that help make this happen. However, this guy flies a Grumman Goose around the Caribbean Islands- using spreadsheets to manage fuel costs, charge passengers and freight, maintenance costs, etc.

But anyway- Train Simulator was never intended for the gamer demographic- no points, no level ups, no finish line. The funny thing is listening to the basement dwelling gamer community making fun of anyone.

 http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-embzZd-Plyo/T3HlcT9-o6I/AAAAAAAAFQQ/uLdTq_OJ4Sw/s1600/South-Park-Basement-Make-Love-Not-Warcraft.png

http://www.simutrans.com/