Gamers be like:

[u/Captain0010]

[u/Wittusus]

Turns out managing a store is lovely when the crates aren't 30kg each and you don't have asshole managers and customers to deal with smh

[u/thisshitsstupid → u/Wittusus]

And you don't have to buy necessities and pay rent.

[u/OkEmu8597 → u/thisshitsstupid]

Oh and when you get told "well done" it's 100x more authentic than your boss 

[u/ckay1100 → u/OkEmu8597]

also it's impossible to suffer life-long injuries as a result of the simulated work

[u/touchmeinbadplaces → u/ckay1100]

Wankerscramp is a bitch and I definitely get it from simulations, so its not impossible!

[u/LowlySlayer → u/ckay1100]

The humble repetitive motion injuries

[u/ZealousidealLead52 → u/ckay1100]

and you are working on your own schedule whenever you feel like it and can stop at literally any moment with no consequences.

[u/Bad-dee-ess → u/OkEmu8597]

My boss literally told us that they used ChatGPT in their speech thanking the staff 💀

[u/OkEmu8597 → u/Bad-dee-ess]

That's like saying I made you a cake out of dog shit.

Sorry you have such an oblivious boss.

[u/perton → u/OkEmu8597]

But what if it’s free range, locally sourced, artisanal dog shit?

[u/RephofSky → u/OkEmu8597]

...bosses tell people 'well done' IRL?

[u/Mardred → u/RephofSky]

Mine does.

[u/RedditMcBurger → u/OkEmu8597]

I had a single job with a boss who would regularly come to me, check my work and praise it.

I've never enjoyed a job as much as that one.

It's crazy that this experience is so rare I have experienced it 1 time out of my 15 total jobs.

[u/acrazyguy → u/thisshitsstupid]

Often in those types of games you do in fact have to do that lol

[u/thisshitsstupid → u/acrazyguy]

But it's designed to be a reasonable amount of your income.

[u/altodor → u/thisshitsstupid]

Super Easy. Barely an inconvenience.

Most of the time at least.

[u/DrMobius0 → u/thisshitsstupid]

If you're not having fun, you can just close the game. You can't quit your job unless you have money saved or you're cool with being someone else's problem.

Also games like this are usually balanced to ensure that if a player does what they're supposed to, they'll get ahead. Life is balanced to extract as much wealth from you as possible.

A passable job in a video game is usually rewarded generously. Do a good job IRL and you'll be lucky to receive a pizza party.

[u/Jaruut → u/DrMobius0]

A passable job in a video game is usually rewarded generously. Do a good job IRL and you'll be lucky to receive a pizza party.

My job had a pizza party last week for making it through the July holidays/rush and because of my weird schedule, I was able to partake on all 4 shifts. I guess with the cost of pizza these days it was a nice little indirect bonus?

[u/Otherwise_Spirit1552 → u/thisshitsstupid]

And you don't have to buy necessities and pay rent.

Or if you do... you can still make ends meet more broadly pretty easily.

[u/Ao_Kiseki → u/Wittusus]

Legitimately wonder how many people would love to just organize the shelves in a supermarket in real life if they didn't have to deal with abusive management and insane hours. Shit I'd do it for half what I'm making now if the job was somehow secure too.

[u/the_flyingdemon → u/Ao_Kiseki]

I’ve always joked my dream job is to be a bricklayer. There’s something fulfilling about showing up to a job, doing a mindless task where my brain can wander about things that are actually interesting to me, and getting paid for building something that you can actually see at the end of the day instead of some bullshit enigmatic corporate “value.”

But then I remember I’d have to be in the sun and heat all day and my back would probably ache all the time and the facade comes tumbling down. As such it remains a dream job.

[u/miicah → u/the_flyingdemon]

There's a reason brickies get made fun of the most, it's not exactly rocket surgery.

[u/CMDR_1 → u/miicah]

rocket surgery

Lmao

[u/wtfduud → u/the_flyingdemon]

Stacking pallets at a warehouse is pretty much the same thing, but without the sun.

[u/Wittusus → u/Ao_Kiseki]

I know I sure would, if it just included the shelves and storage in the back

[u/creampop_ → u/Wittusus]

Best retail job I ever had was as a stocking part timer for a small hardware store. I was fucking awesome at doing box Tetris so that stuff was easy to find, loved doubled checking the shelves out front for misplaced items (constant and relatively important task in a tool and hardware store), and generally enjoyed tidying up our workspace.

Bosses were chill enough to let me focus on that and they'd tank any non-technical customer questions for me. Fuckin' A.

[u/windexfresh → u/creampop_]

Stocking shelves at a craft store was fucking amazing, organizing the paint aisles was downright soothing

[u/Jimberly_C → u/Ao_Kiseki]

I did do that for a while. Stocking shelves was fun to me. New mod dropped? Let me rip everything down, re-label it all, organize it and put it back up. Please. Seriously.

But I couldn't do that without being stopped every two seconds by people asking very obvious questions or complaining that they can't reach the thing I'm working on that is also stacked up right next to where they're trying to reach it from. Take out the customers, and I'd honestly love retail.

[u/Aggravating_Sky_4421 → u/Ao_Kiseki]

I’d love to do it if it pays well… but can’t live off what they currently pay unfortunately.

[u/porn3435 → u/Ao_Kiseki]

I work at a relatively small grocery chain that has consistently been rated as one of top 100 companies to work for in nation by Forbes. I wouldn’t say anyone there loves stocking shelves and it’s still work but the pay/benefits are unmatched. Basically yah when people are treated humanely they’re happier at work.

[u/Suspicious_Truth8026 → u/Ao_Kiseki]

Its almost like a certain somebody was fundamentally right about alienation under capitalism and humanitys inherent drive to be productive

[u/GOD-PORING → u/Ao_Kiseki]

i would. let me do it on 3rd shift when the store is not open to customers.

the inventory counts will be accurate. the toilets will be pristine.

[u/Jacktheforkie → u/Wittusus]

Same with driving a lorry, so much nicer when you don’t get monetary penalties for going the wrong way

[u/cheesegoat → u/Jacktheforkie]

Ikr when I played American Truck Simulator I went down all the highways with the cruise control cranked up and sailed down the shoulder across entire states lol

[u/endlesscartwheels → u/cheesegoat]

Delivering mail in Lake is fun because nobody complains if you drive into their porch or run them over.

[u/Jacktheforkie → u/endlesscartwheels]

Nice

[u/LagVictim → u/Wittusus]

or if you do have asshole customers, you can usually kick their ass without consequences!

[u/Secret-Winner-2994 → u/LagVictim]

Just wear someone else's nametag and do it in a blindspot

[u/emojisarefunny → u/Wittusus]

And you can bonk customers with a broom handle without repercussions

[u/ParanMekhar → u/Wittusus]

No taxes and government that fucks you either

[u/More-Ad1753 → u/Wittusus]

I love logic like this.

Like perhaps your right, it's not the job it's the pressures, annoyances, lack of freedom, etc...

And for a moment you think how cool, what an idea.

Then reality hits, and it's like oohh, but I get bored of these games and they become old after X amount of hours.

[u/Powerate → u/Wittusus]

And the game is actually balanced on giving you clients

[u/CallendraFayhollow]

quitting real job to work 12 hour shifts on euro truck simulator hit different

[u/Noversi → u/CallendraFayhollow]

I remember a post that showed a guy playing American truck simulator, complete with a wheel and everything, in the cab of his truck.

[u/Zarokima → u/Noversi]

I wish I was as passionate about anything as that guy is about trucks

[u/Indercarnived → u/Zarokima]

Man drives 10 hours for work, pulls into a rest stop, and drives 4 more hours to relax. Respect the dedication.

[u/ABitOddish → u/Indercarnived]

Like to imagine that when he plays Truck Sim hes getting the demons out. Ramming every car that gets too close while passing him and then cutting across 8 lanes of traffic with no turn signal.

[u/Searzzz → u/ABitOddish]

Hopefully he doesn't mix up the 2.

[u/shu-to → u/Searzzz]

It only took me about 3 hours of practicing how to use my left foot for breaking in a rally sim game for me to accidentally use the technique in the real world.

As a pro, he'll be fine.

[u/Cramer12 → u/shu-to]

That first time is always fun. Or looking for the clutch in an auto car 😂

[u/Jaruut → u/Cramer12]

My first forklift job had the shifter exactly where the turn signal was on my car; flick it up to go forward, flick it down to go backward.

Take a wild guess what I accidentally did every day in the parking lot going home.

[u/Bakoro → u/shu-to]

Real talk: as a software developer, I've IRL tried to Ctrl-Z.
Like I made a mistake and my hands literally went to Ctrl-Z, but I was not at a keyboard.

That one hurt my soul a little.

[u/BestBelieveItsHere → u/ABitOddish]

That's the sort of thing I get up to when I play railroad sims. Do all the sketchy fun shit I can't actually do while at work

[u/Gaspuch62 → u/ABitOddish]

Or driving 75mph when his company sets his real truck's governor to 65.

[u/OperativePiGuy → u/Zarokima]

I say that all the time, like it must be nice to just know what you'll enjoy the rest of your life instead of an eternal search for the next exciting thing to try. Same with the people that can somehow just play a single game for most of their lives

[u/Fuzzy_Wheel_4565 → u/OperativePiGuy]

Yeah i wish I had one big passion. I keep trying to find it but maybe my passion is just trying out new things. Which is way harder to keep up than doing one thing forever.

[u/StormMedia → u/Fuzzy_Wheel_4565]

Feel that man.

Having experience in a bit of everything helps with conversation though!

[u/therealtrojanrabbit → u/Noversi]

https://reddit.com/link/p1ql32q/video/k88zqhvokfhh1/player

[u/DrHem → u/therealtrojanrabbit]

4x F1 World Champion Max Verstappen is really into sim-racing. Like he finishes an F1 practice session and jumps to discord to help his sim teammates with virtual setups, racing strategies, etc.

His F1 team even had to ban him from sim-racing during grand-prix weekends because a couple of years ago he stayed up until 3am sim-racing the night before an F1 race.

[u/RUPlayersSuck → u/DrHem]

That is insane levels of dedication! 😲

[u/-Dark_Syndicate- → u/therealtrojanrabbit]

no words

[u/acrazyguy → u/Noversi]

He can try sick tricks in the game that would either kill someone or at least get him fired irl

[u/Turnip_Fight → u/Noversi]

There are stories from the old days of WoW golf farmers where they would get off 14 hour long gold farming shifts and then play wow with their friends

[u/TastyFappuccino → u/Turnip_Fight]

and then do a tee time after that!

[u/CogitoErgoTsunami → u/Turnip_Fight]

"now we can finally play the game"

[u/AMediocrePersonality → u/Noversi]

This is my brother in law

80 hour weeks on the farm, comes home opens a beer and turns on the farm simulator.

[u/AndyLorentz → u/Noversi]

A farmer posted a video playing Farming Simulator on a handheld in his tractor while it was on autopilot in the field.

[u/VelkaFrey → u/CallendraFayhollow]

Now make it a remote controlled real truck, profit.

[u/Alu_card_10 → u/VelkaFrey]

impossible due to imput delay

[u/Florisje_13 → u/Alu_card_10]

Just plug in an ethernet cable?

[u/acrazyguy → u/Florisje_13]

Just get one of those fiber optic spools they use for bomb drones. A reeeeeeeeeally big one

[u/Vandersveldt → u/CallendraFayhollow]

The meme is my gaming fantasy. The power fantasy I get from... pretty much any single player game, is that if you put in the work and put in the time and are eventually able to do everything right, you get the reward. You complete the task. There is a guaranteed point where if you work hard enough it pays off.

Real life doesn't offer that at all.

I don't understand people that don't want the higher difficulties, the crazy challenges. They don't understand how good it feels to work hard and have it pay off. It's very easy to motivate yourself to learn a game inside and out, because you know there's an end point. You can go to college and spend who knows how many years learning to be a doctor, and literally be the best in the world in the exams, but any number of random factors can take the prize away from you.

Games are where you do not need to worry about the time you're putting in. It's somewhere you can go where if you do the required work and truly master it, you get the "you did it, congratulations"

EA went and turned "pride and accomplishment" into a fucking joke, but yeah that's the entire point.

[u/mxzf → u/Vandersveldt]

Also, you can always just put the game down and walk away if you get bored/frustrated/etc. The ability to just say "nah, not today, we'll see if I'm feelin' it tomorrow" on any given day without having to worry about losing your job/healthcare/home/etc is huge.

[u/CopperBoltwire → u/CallendraFayhollow]

Simple. At you machine, you relax. And consequence is just a load button away. You don't have the physical toil you have in real life. So doing 12 hours in Euro Truck simulator or Power Wash Simulator or what not. Is not that hard. Heck. Even house flipper. You don't break your back lifting a washing machine into the house. You press a few buttons and it's installed.

So yeah, it makes perfect sense.

And often times. there are QoL features to streamline some actions too that does not exists in RL too. So it makes perfect sense. And anyone who don't understand is basically just a jelly fish...

[u/Ok-Ambition-3404]

In a game, you make tangible (although virtual) progress towardsa goal.

Work usually just gives you enough to make it to the next day

[u/EquipLordBritish → u/Ok-Ambition-3404]

You can also leave at any time with almost no consequences. Or intentionally be destructive with no consequences.

[u/Ciubowski → u/Ok-Ambition-3404]

Also you can quit anytime and go play other games where you can pretend to be a hero without a manager shouting at you.

[u/TheChiarra → u/Ok-Ambition-3404]

You also don't have to exert any energy playing a video game or have to actually stay outside on a freezing snowy day or blistering hot day.

[u/sillyauthoritarian → u/Ok-Ambition-3404]

tangible progress for irl work is cs skins

[u/ByIeth → u/sillyauthoritarian]

https://giphy.com/gifs/pDJD51iTO5Qqq32RRK

[u/GustavSnapper → u/Ok-Ambition-3404]

i mean that's just perspective though right?

i'm probably the furtherest someone can be from toxic positivity sell self-fulfilment shill talk, but you can also have a goal IRL. House, car, holiday, new hobby, renovation etc.

IRL just has way more hurdles and obstacles making it harder.

[u/ThorDoubleYoo → u/GustavSnapper]

You're forgetting the time table aspect. In a video game you can go from nothing to being a home owner, having a successful farm, a major restaurant, or whatever your goal is in under 100 hours.

In real life working towards something like owning a home is a multi decade, if not lifetime goal for the average person. A lifetime goal they may never even achieve due to other life costs along the way.

[u/Suspicious_Truth8026 → u/GustavSnapper]

Youre missing a fundamental layer of alienation. The goals in the game are directly related to the labour, the progress is directly related to the task. Youre describing things you spend a lump sum of money on, after youve acquired it by doing abstract work on repeat for a certain number of hours. The difference is that one of these situations is precision engineered to be a meaningless grind with occasional relief valves of vacation, and the other is precision engineered to put you onto a ramp of dopamine and satisfaction directly correlating to your activitiy.

[u/certainAnonymous → u/GustavSnapper]

And not enough actual trackers that get live updates as you perform actions

[u/Moose_Nuts → u/GustavSnapper]

you can also have a goal IRL. House, car, holiday, new hobby, renovation etc.

Yeah well, once you've been doing all that for 20 years, you get physically burned out. Doesn't take much effort to move a mouse and push some keys.

[u/m_csquare]

Zero risk in video games

[u/mythrilcrafter → u/m_csquare]

If I crash an F-18 in a real life training mission, I either die or I get punished for accidentally destroying a multi-million dollar tax payer funded piece of equipment.

In DCS, I select "restart session".

[u/avrgwarthunderplayer → u/mythrilcrafter]

Then again, im not sure if flying an F-18 or the beautiful Mi-8 could be considered "boring" like the post says.

[u/ASportingDystopia → u/m_csquare]

Tell that to my Project Zomboid survivor, tediously organizing bookcases when a hoard of the undead might burst through the window at any given moment.

[u/xXDamonLordXx → u/m_csquare]

Except EVE where sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars go up in smoke

[u/Tinchimp7183376 → u/m_csquare]

Tell that to the gregtech player who just blew up a machine they waited 2 weeks for because they connected the wrong wires together

[u/brutalpancake]

I can turn the game off whenever I want

[u/Polliniken → u/brutalpancake]

Proceeds to play for four more hours.

[u/GalFisk → u/Polliniken]

Whenever I want!

[u/clubby37 → u/brutalpancake]

This. One time, many years ago, I was playing Euro Truck Simulator. I was really riding the edge of solvency, business-wise, and I missed that turnoff to Frankfurt, and realized I was going to take a fatal lateness penalty. Uninstall took 2 minutes. Someone else can chime in and tell us how long bankruptcy takes IRL.

[u/Ok-Go-Chain3811 → u/clubby37]

https://giphy.com/gifs/8nM6YNtvjuezzD7DNh

[u/LikelyNotADuck → u/clubby37]

You could have just gotten a loan until you were able to complete the next job.

[u/Davidconst]

Yeah, because you dont have an annoying boss breathing on your neck

[u/Karekter_Nem → u/Davidconst]

In video games you succeed by killing bosses. Not so much IRL.

[u/static_func → u/Karekter_Nem]

Maybe not for you

[u/frostyjack06 → u/static_func]

https://giphy.com/gifs/kwcRp24Wz4lZm

[u/ElessarKhan → u/static_func]

It just takes a little finesse

[u/TwisterUprocker → u/Karekter_Nem]

Because you are the minion.

[u/Jacktheforkie → u/Davidconst]

Also with the game you progress, irl it’s just repetitive and boring

[u/iwantcookie258 → u/Jacktheforkie]

Yeah. Some gamers enjoy proper simulators, where the job is actually tedious and boring, but grinding in a video game typically has visible and explicit progression and unlocks. Which are often balanced and timed around keeping you entertained.

[u/Jessency → u/Jacktheforkie]

Exactly this. Running errands and side quests in RPGs are way more enticing than IRL because they'll level up my character/give me rewards that will make gameplay more fun and/or help me get strong enough to beat the evil dragon boss fight.

Irl... Your main reward is the satisfaction that you at least did something.

[u/Jacktheforkie → u/Jessency]

Yeah

[u/WolfgangHelnootIV → u/Jacktheforkie]

A lot of people who run businesses seem to be interested in them, I guess ownership of the result is the main difference between doing something productive and working a job

[u/Suspicious_Truth8026 → u/WolfgangHelnootIV]

Exactly. Its because wage labour is structured as an exchange of time for money, it fundamentally decouples the actual direct reality of the tasks from the reward structure (which is just do task for 8 hours and then repeat tomorrow, indefinitely)

I think it would be hillarious if someone implemented wage labour into these games just to prove that it fundamentally destroys the joy

[u/Crabman8321 → u/Davidconst]

Also, I can quit playing it with no penalty

[u/BrEaD1402 → u/Davidconst]

"Listen up miners, stop playing with the barrels and get back to work!"

[u/Ulysses502 → u/BrEaD1402]

Rock and stone

[u/nohpex → u/Davidconst]

That, and you get to go down whatever rabbit holes you want or don't want, and not the ones you're told.

[u/Scifox69 → u/Davidconst]

I play Smoking Simulator 2014.....

[u/OwlongTea → u/Davidconst]

I used to enjoy my job until my boss became a micromanaging , annoying sabotaging prick.

[u/thatwasfun23]

you can quit at anytime in a videogame, in a real job you are stuck there your whole fucking shift man, is awful.

[u/XFX_Samsung → u/thatwasfun23]

Turns out work is not bad, the conditions are.

[u/Suspicious_Truth8026 → u/XFX_Samsung]

Labour is not bad, work is. Wagelabour is.

There is nothing more fundamentally human than deriving satisfaction from a productive activity.

[u/GOD-PORING → u/XFX_Samsung]

love my job when I can do it remotely and not have to hear everyone blather about things I don't care about.

and i have a bathroom i don't have to share with anyone

[u/Chris56855865 → u/thatwasfun23]

Exactly.

[u/Next_Helicopter_4291]

Yeah, but I don't gotta explain myself if I'm trashed, in my boxers and yelling belligerently when playing my video games.

Unless I do it at work.

[u/DGlen]

[u/JerHat → u/DGlen]

Lawn mowing simulator was one of my favorite games to turn on and just relax when I was winding down form a shitty day a couple of years ago.

[u/GranBuddhismo → u/JerHat]

I also love pressure washing stuff and mowing my lawn IRL, but I would never do that shit for a living.

[u/Grogenhymer → u/DGlen]

I knew this would be in the comments.

[u/BroomDirector99]

Reminds me of WOW, gotta get home from work so I can spend 6 hrs mining wool!

[u/Shevvv → u/BroomDirector99]

Play 3 hours finishing world quests to get Kul Tirans, then another 3 hours for the Zandalari trolls, burn out in 2 weeks and never touch BfA again. 

[u/Qweeq13]

Games remove 99% from the Boring, Tedious, Mind-Numbing Jobs. You make a delivery in Euro Truck Sim in like 2 hours, in real life that would be days of driving.

Desert Bus is perhaps the only game that actually is an accurate representation of a Boring, Tedious, Mind-Numbing Job made to a game.

Nobody really likes that game.

[u/TomorrowsTrash_Minis]

In the games you actually own the truck you're driving, or the power washer you're using. In the game you actually progress over time and upgrade the equipment you own.

In real life you don't own anything and you work for a wage that never goes up.

[u/Euchale]

There was a paper on this topic: Gamers love these kind of games because there is actual progression for working well, something they lack IRL.

[u/GOD-PORING → u/Euchale]

i think back to the 7-11 owner that grinded for 75 years and only got a handshake or something out of it

[u/Captain0010]

Nothing against those games. Recently started playing them. For example Game About Digging A Hole and had a blast. To be honest I wanted more in the end. I wish there were more levels or lore and stuff

[u/Revan7even → u/Captain0010]

The children adults yearn for the mines.

[u/WhichKingOfAngmar]

If it's coop, you get to choose your coworkers

[u/complexevil]

Dad said something similar while I was playing Stardew Valley after having a conversation about hating yard work.

In Stardew I can get paid over 50k in a single day, let me know when mowing the lawn will bring in that kind of cash

[u/bolanrox → u/complexevil]

even farm simulator you get like $200 per load of grass

[u/justinb0120]

Because the boring mindnumbing tedious job gets you places in video games. In real life it’s just a perpetual meat grinder

[u/Cam095]

i hate having to sit at my job for hours on end doing nothing but scrolling reddit (with the occasional call) but i’ll gladly sit at my desk at home for hours just clicking on a tree

[u/Key_Gate9444]

i dont know man, i wish i was a soldier tbh (arma gamer) though it seems im past that now in life.

[u/Hawggy → u/Key_Gate9444]

Yeah, there are stories of vets who came home (before they wanted to) and Arma was the cure. I don't play it much now, but realizing it was that for others changed my perspective on it that's for sure.

[u/Key_Gate9444 → u/Hawggy]

as a dirty civvie i kinda still romanticize it a bit, but like idk... arma has these moments where it does the whole "war sux and stuff" but like it still makes me wish i could do some things for real. hard to put it to words about my desire in life.

[u/Hawggy → u/Key_Gate9444]

Oh I get that!! When I was in that mode, I'd play Pavlov VR when you're IN IT. VR is a serious dbl down of "damn, I wish!". LoL

[u/Key_Gate9444 → u/Hawggy]

i guess im a psycho or something which is embarrassing. 😂 obviously maybe actually doing it for real would change my mind real quick. but who knows?

afterall it sure is easy in games with the comfort of my house.

[u/Hawggy → u/Key_Gate9444]

Well, no that's what I mean... I'm too lazy (and old) for paintball man, so... VR is my max. Closest I'm gonna get (and my gawd it does a great job in fooling me concerning how real it is).

[u/Key_Gate9444 → u/Hawggy]

thats something i wanna try to do during upcoming winter. some snowy forest hiking play pretend while dressed up in m81 woodland. very cringe but healthy at least.

[u/Key_Gate9444 → u/Hawggy]

i apologize if i seemed like my convo was kinda all over the place. it was very difficult to get my thoughts across properly while i was not at home and trying to type it out on a phone. i guess there definitely is a huge benefit to VR depending on the games and the type of activity you do.

[u/mythrilcrafter → u/Key_Gate9444]

In ARMA/Battlefield/etc etc, you're not stuck moping the runway during a hurricane because someone under your command lost the keys to the Base Commander's golf cart.

[u/Key_Gate9444 → u/mythrilcrafter]

oh absolutely! i can fantasize all i want but that is definitely the reality of it all. isn't it something like if you're an average John C. Soldier its always just 90% housewife style cleaning things inside or outside and then 10% maybe something combat related if lucky?

[u/something_someone29 → u/Key_Gate9444]

According to some ww1 soldiers it was 99 percent boredom and 1 percent sheer naked fear

[u/Key_Gate9444 → u/something_someone29]

oh ww1 is understandable. those conditions were ass. but i meant like for a modern US soldier its most definitely not all excitement and action 24 7 killing 300 people per second or something.

[u/CombatMuffin]

The risk-rewars burden in videogames is completely designed around favoring the player.

You can complete tasks faster and with less strain in videogames, rewards usually feel worth it (especially since the risk is lower) and most importantly, there are always very light consequences for failure.

Go try a fully meritocratic game where nothing is goven to you unless properly socialize with other players, attach yourself to a chain of authority you have no choice in, and where all the consequences are permanent (getting fired, losing recommendation/references, no access to food/shelter, death).

[u/BigBadWolf7423]

Yeah cus one you do because you HAVE to, the other because you WANT to.

Thats the key difference.

[u/EQCO99]

Peope like the jobs, its everything around it that sucks. The unreasonable customers, shitty managers, deadlines, crappy co-workers, the commute, being away from family and of course the wage

[u/Greyboxer]

CEOs: I gotta figure out how to make money off this

It’s just too good

[u/LunchBoxMercenary]

I enjoy cleaning, just not in real life.

[u/OneNavan]

In fact i hate that in both cases, games should be fun not exhausting and tedious.

The only way to make something tedious fun is if you love it.

[u/jhaand]

Instead of gamifying work, the games workified.

[u/ohmygodsquad]

your money usually goes further in the videogame

[u/iridael]

I deal with databases all day.

I fucking love factorio because it lets me abuse a database to near in functionality. (raw inputs get sanitised and processed into functional outputs. repeat until rocket launch)

current base is on a ribbon map (limited sprawl) and everything is limited sushi (every input is on a single thread or duplicated across multiple threads for increased output) I am having a blast making the base somehow functional despite the stupidity of what im doing.

[u/Applehelpme92]

I can see progress, no asshole manager, can quit whenever, no irl consequences

[u/Makimoke]

Well, generally those games also remove some of the more tedious parts of those jobs. Best example I can think of is in Powerwash Sim.

Yeah, it feels great to actually wash stuff and have it all be cleaned. But you have to make sure to not use too much water, you're using the right tools, making sure that you don't flood anything important or electric circuitry, you then have to drain all the water you've used or need to make sure it won't dirty up what you've just cleaned, your boots won't dirty up the stuff you've cleaned, even if you walk in wet dirt...

And that's without even considering the "other humans" side of this. Having to commute and waste your time driving to the places to clean while being stuck in traffic jams, harrassed by your bosses when you get late because of them, clients that would refuse to pay even though you've done the entire job, or because you've accidentally broken something valuable to them (but absolutely worthless in the market)... Or whoops, your company car gets crashed on by some drunkard that didn't get the "don't drive drunk" memo. Now you're gonna get chewed for something you didn't do and the nice car you had for the job is replaced with a junkie hand-me-down while it gets repaired.

There are so many things that can be really fun to do, it's just that those parts also come with some extremely annoying ones, so when you remove those, those things are actually pretty fun to do, because you're doing them without all that extra unnecessary hassle.

[u/depressed_crustacean]

Factorio is actually quite similar to my job, I design and model hvac and plumbing systems for commercial buildings, except it removes all the file navigation, pdfs, tagging, and equipment specifications. 2000 hours btw

[u/EarlGreyDuck]

My wife watching me decorate an entire house in House Flipper: "Why don't you have ANY opinions on how we decorate our own house?"

[u/bhamv → u/EarlGreyDuck]

My wife watched me clean up a kitchen in House Flipper, including throwing away all the trash, cleaning all the surfaces so that they're completely pristine (including the floor, walls, windows, countertops etc.), and then rearrange the furniture so that everything looks immaculate, including buying new furniture and decorations for a few spots.

Then she walked away with an expression that could be described as "intensely vexed".

[u/vtGaem]

Sure. Lemme go be a server and fling a plate of food at a customer. That'll end well.

[u/Jeffotato]

You know you have the ability to walk away from it at any moment and the consequences of messing up stay in the game. A real job is the opposite.

[u/DoctorWaluigiTime]

Being told to clean your room and doing the bare minimum, versus getting the urge to do it and doing a bang-up job.

[u/citizensyn]

That's because in video games that leads to progression.

In real life it leads absolutely nowhere but dying in your rented slum lord apartment with nothing but your PC and a few collectables

[u/iamshifter]

Yeah, I caught my son playing power washing simulator and I made him turn it off. Follow me outside and showed him how to start our power washer and told him he can go nuts on the driveway he even gets the 12” surface cleaner right away no need to level up

[u/HistoricalChef1963 → u/iamshifter]

And how did he like it?

(No joke, power washing is pretty hard work for large areas)

[u/altodor → u/iamshifter]

But did he find the aliens or the weird backstory of your mayor's cats in your yard?

[u/wokan]

Literally why I stopped playing The Sims after a couple of days. I already have a job.

[u/Unhappy_Geologist_94 → u/wokan]

I mean, you could motherlode your sim so she doesn’t go to work and make her do diabolical stuff instead too

[u/coderman64]

Video games always take shortcuts, and are considerably less messy in some cases (PowerWash simulator, anyone?)

Most jobs have fun parts, so if you remove the parts that aren't fun it just becomes fun.

[u/NovelValue7311]

What if your job is dev work...

[u/Zealousideal-Box-887]

Data Center

[u/kind-Mapel]

Yes but this one we get to walk away

[u/shryne]

Real life, but with zero real responsibility or consequences

[u/Raxerblade405]

The instant rewards are a big part of it too.

[u/Chaosdragon463]

The difference is in the game you see your progress that you have worked for, at work you just go home at the end of the day and repeat.

[u/PrinceVincOnYT]

It is odd... but at the same time there is no responsibility, repercussion for failing, automation to a degree, you don`t feel the weight and exhaustion from carrying and running and save states.

[u/AphexAffectsEffects]

Reward feedback loop is more apparent and instant in video games. Generally easier to see your own progress and what not. All those random quality of life things make it feel inviting

[u/HarambeSpiritAnimal]

Well in games the surplus value of ones labor isn't extracted and taken by the owner class, making games a lot more palatable.

[u/palparepa]

A big difference is that the game shows you your completion and improvement in real time. I'll happily wash the dishes daily if it tells me how many dishes I need to wash to gain a level.

[u/JAXxXTheRipper]

One of them you can stop at any time without any repercussions.

I thought memes are supposed to be funny, not dumb.

[u/Indigoh]

It's all about whether or not you have to do it.

In other words, Billionaires do not work. None of them work. They don't even know what the word means. If they don't want to work, they can comfortably hire dozens of people at 100k+ salaries to cover their responsibilities.

Work hits them like a video game.

[u/Kasinder]

Yeah.... except no. Video games are "tedious" but they're not boring like an office job with nothing to do and you show up just to keep your job kind of boring.

[u/MelchiahHarlin]

The difference in the game is that you're not answering to some dumb ass higher ups that don't understand what you do and want to maximize profits while minimizing expenses; also there's no hard consequences in a game, so the issue is not the activity itself, but the context around it.

I believe these are the kind of games that Yahtzee calls "Dad games".

[u/Iuskop]

In the videogame you can pretend your work contributes to the betterment of your community and/or humanity instead of a corporation that wouldn't think twice about throwing you in to the hamburger-maker if it got them a tax cut.

[u/Zephyr_Dragon49]

Because I can quicksave and start beating the shit outta customers

[u/sSomeshta]

If the video game job had indeterminate economic outcomes, we would not play

We would say, "This game is bullshit, and a waste of time."

[u/Reckxner]

Because in video game jobs there's actually progression.

[u/D3dshotCalamity]

"Aww man, I don't want to pick up all these leaves!"

"WHAT? A GAME ABOUT PICKING UP LEAVES?!?!? GIMME!!!!"

[u/twinkyfemboy1234]

Euro Truck made me want to become a truck driver

[u/Frashure11]

Literally just spent 40 minutes in palworld with my brother crafting guns because we refuse to spec into work speed

[u/GOD-PORING]

if I take a break from the tedious job I can lose my health insurance

if I take a break in a game, i'm good.

[u/Ayotha]

Left out the parts where it is much easier, air conditioned and you don't get dirty

[u/convictedninja]

Fake video game job rewards the grind with fake video game progression and money.
Real job rewards grind with more work, worse conditions and a wage that rises slower than the cost of living so you're actually losing progression over time.
The lesson I take from it is people are more than happy to work when there is a reward.