4 ms·

The Hajj Trail: historical simulation of the hajj journey

107 points by sohkamyung 4y ago

mercy_dude 4y ago
So fascinating. Hajj is very tolling and expensive. I used to always complain the Saudi government does a good job in my opinion but there is still left to be desired in terms of management and accommodation conditions. But after seeing how it used to take 62 days to go to hajj and another 62 presumably to come back, it pales the comparison.
- curiousgal 4y ago
  > Saudi government does a good job in my opinion The fact that people die every year because of stampedes is to me a testament to their failure. They have infinite resources and a religious benefit to make sure that does not happen and still it does.
  - self 4y ago
    Every year? It's usually over 5 years between major incidents. There's not much they can do about the crowds, except limit the number of people who perform pilgrimage every year. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/03/hajj-crush-how-crowd-disasters-happen-and-how-they-can-be-avoided https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/03/hajj-crush-how...
  - albatrosstrophy 4y ago
    I'm not a big fan of the Saudi government, but people die in stampedes there EVERY year? As someone who follows the hajj closely, the last stampede was in 2015, and previously 2006. Not that these are insignificant, but they are a rarity considering some 2 million people descend into a small city over a 10 day period. And there have been commendable efforts to avoid a repeat.
- jacooper 4y ago
  This has stopped now that hajj costs about 15k SAR(3K USD). Hajj this year is way more organized and luxurious because there were only 1 million Hajis since its became expensive.
adnanc 4y ago
This is wonderful and incredibly insightful. My grandfather undertook months long journey to perform Hajj in the 1960's, travelling by so many different means. Carrying dried fruit, bread and meat with them, it truly was a once in a lifetime trip. Having performed the Hajj in 2014, there is a sense of nostalgia for what it was but equally the practically of accommodating millions of pilgrims from across the world has led to a number of changes. In University I developed a simulation and model of crowd evacuation based on certain rites of the Hajj. Something which was previously not an issue.
mmmuhd 4y ago
This is a nice, my mother always told about how tough hajj was when they perform in the 60s, this is completely on different level of adventure.
2Gkashmiri 4y ago
so much thanks for this. i tried the shorter route and it is looking like a great experience. there are some typos in english, if your project is on github or something, i am willing to help
dwater 4y ago
I just started playing and I'm already engaged. This is clearly based on Oregon Trail, with different choices for how you start the journey and what your goals are. And for me it has the same historical intrigue of "what was this world and experience like, on both a large scale and a personal one?"
mrwnmonm 4y ago
I never expected to find something like this on HN :) Thanks for posting. There is an error when you click on Full Map: Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'bio') at Array.eval (eval at call.output.output (game:3:140549), <anonymous>:25:39) at c (game:57:28327) at Object.fireWith [as resolveWith] (game:57:29072) at Object.<anonymous> (game:57:31255) at c (game:57:28327) at Object.fireWith [as resolveWith] (game:57:29072) at l (game:57:79901) at HTMLScriptElement.i (game:57:83436) at HTMLScriptElement.dispatch (game:57:43064) at v.handle (game:57:41048)
Temasik 4y ago
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107 points by sohkamyung 4y ago

So fascinating. Hajj is very tolling and expensive. I used to always complain the Saudi government does a good job in my opinion but there is still left to be desired in terms of management and accommodation conditions. But after seeing how it used to take 62 days to go to hajj and another 62 presumably to come back, it pales the comparison.

curiousgal 4y ago
> Saudi government does a good job in my opinion The fact that people die every year because of stampedes is to me a testament to their failure. They have infinite resources and a religious benefit to make sure that does not happen and still it does.
- self 4y ago
  Every year? It's usually over 5 years between major incidents. There's not much they can do about the crowds, except limit the number of people who perform pilgrimage every year. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/03/hajj-crush-how-crowd-disasters-happen-and-how-they-can-be-avoided https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/03/hajj-crush-how...
- albatrosstrophy 4y ago
  I'm not a big fan of the Saudi government, but people die in stampedes there EVERY year? As someone who follows the hajj closely, the last stampede was in 2015, and previously 2006. Not that these are insignificant, but they are a rarity considering some 2 million people descend into a small city over a 10 day period. And there have been commendable efforts to avoid a repeat.
jacooper 4y ago
This has stopped now that hajj costs about 15k SAR(3K USD). Hajj this year is way more organized and luxurious because there were only 1 million Hajis since its became expensive.

adnanc 4y ago

This is wonderful and incredibly insightful. My grandfather undertook months long journey to perform Hajj in the 1960's, travelling by so many different means. Carrying dried fruit, bread and meat with them, it truly was a once in a lifetime trip. Having performed the Hajj in 2014, there is a sense of nostalgia for what it was but equally the practically of accommodating millions of pilgrims from across the world has led to a number of changes. In University I developed a simulation and model of crowd evacuation based on certain rites of the Hajj. Something which was previously not an issue.

mmmuhd 4y ago

This is a nice, my mother always told about how tough hajj was when they perform in the 60s, this is completely on different level of adventure.

2Gkashmiri 4y ago

so much thanks for this. i tried the shorter route and it is looking like a great experience. there are some typos in english, if your project is on github or something, i am willing to help

dwater 4y ago

I just started playing and I'm already engaged. This is clearly based on Oregon Trail, with different choices for how you start the journey and what your goals are. And for me it has the same historical intrigue of "what was this world and experience like, on both a large scale and a personal one?"

mrwnmonm 4y ago

I never expected to find something like this on HN :) Thanks for posting. There is an error when you click on Full Map: Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'bio') at Array.eval (eval at call.output.output (game:3:140549), <anonymous>:25:39) at c (game:57:28327) at Object.fireWith [as resolveWith] (game:57:29072) at Object.<anonymous> (game:57:31255) at c (game:57:28327) at Object.fireWith [as resolveWith] (game:57:29072) at l (game:57:79901) at HTMLScriptElement.i (game:57:83436) at HTMLScriptElement.dispatch (game:57:43064) at v.handle (game:57:41048)

Temasik 4y ago

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