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Can someone explain to me why people enjoy Factorio so much? I finished it once because a friend told me it was awesome and I had time on my hands. I remember

Can someone explain to me why people enjoy Factorio so much? I finished it once because a friend told me it was awesome and I had time on my hands. I remember trudging through the beginning, spending a lot of time calculating ratio in a spreadsheet, a lot of time spent lying belts and a huge sense of relief when I finally got the bots. The whole experience felt like work to me. What am I missing?

robswc 4y ago
Some people find join in making an efficient factory (and maybe defending it). Might not be for everyone though, even if you like those elements. I personally love Factorio, one of my most favorite games of all time.
WaffleIronMaker 4y ago
Yeah, it's certainly not for everyone, but I can explain why I like it. In short: My brain likes to design systems. The prospect of accomplishing a clear goal with an unclear path is something I find naturally enticing, as I automatically start to anticipate ways to accomplish that goal, but then I find theoretical problem with those ways, which makes me want to play the game to see if my mental model is correct. Sometimes, I'm just playing the game for hours because I really want to see if the design I came up with would work. Basically, Factorio gamifies the process of building systems, where you have to progress through multiple roles such as gathering resources yourself, building the factories that produce the resources you need, and then being an architect for your factory at a large scale, all while defending against the threat of the "biters". In every stage, I often feel like I'm in a trance like state, where I'm almost playing multiple games at once, trying to anticipate the long-term ramifications of my immediate actions, while balancing that with the need to get something working quickly. Basically, to me, most of the game doesn't occur on screen. It occurs in my mind, as I try to design and optimize lots of different things, in a very similar way to the programming I do for work. So, I can totally see why that might not be appealing to you, but I hope that helps you understand what I find appealing, and I hope others can chime in with their experiences :) Edit: I also never really focus on the numbers directly, and I try to focus more on the rough proportions, because I find the game has a great system of not using up resources unless they're needed, so I'm okay with overproducing in certain ways. Taking the game too seriously can be tempting, but I do stop myself from micro-optimizing everything, and I focus more on just accomplishing something that's "good enough".
theshrike79 4y ago
...you finished Factorio without getting addicted or spending hundreds of hours optimising everything? Clearly your brain lacks the "organising and optimising is GRRRREAT" -bit. I can't play any Civilization-type games or - as I discovered - Factorio-type games. It rubs some primitive part of my brain just the right way and I can't stop. Literally my first "let's see what kind of game this is" attempt at Factorio stopped when I saw the sun come back up. And with Civilization I almost got fired for playing "just one more turn" way too many times and turning up for work groggy, tired and late. Now I only play games with plot that has a beginning, middle and an end and very little replayability.
b0afc375b5 4y ago
When I initially played the game and was still learning the game mechanics, it was extremely fun and addictive. After a while I wanted to optimize my base, and so like you mentioned, I also tried calculating ratios, making my base modular, etc. At that point it was no longer fun.
cybrox 4y ago
Sounds to me like you played through the whole game under the assumption that you have to use a lot of guides, calculators and perfect ratios to get anything done. While some people do enjoy this, it is absolutely not necessary and can take a lot of fun away.

robswc 4y ago

Some people find join in making an efficient factory (and maybe defending it). Might not be for everyone though, even if you like those elements. I personally love Factorio, one of my most favorite games of all time.

WaffleIronMaker 4y ago

Yeah, it's certainly not for everyone, but I can explain why I like it. In short: My brain likes to design systems. The prospect of accomplishing a clear goal with an unclear path is something I find naturally enticing, as I automatically start to anticipate ways to accomplish that goal, but then I find theoretical problem with those ways, which makes me want to play the game to see if my mental model is correct. Sometimes, I'm just playing the game for hours because I really want to see if the design I came up with would work. Basically, Factorio gamifies the process of building systems, where you have to progress through multiple roles such as gathering resources yourself, building the factories that produce the resources you need, and then being an architect for your factory at a large scale, all while defending against the threat of the "biters". In every stage, I often feel like I'm in a trance like state, where I'm almost playing multiple games at once, trying to anticipate the long-term ramifications of my immediate actions, while balancing that with the need to get something working quickly. Basically, to me, most of the game doesn't occur on screen. It occurs in my mind, as I try to design and optimize lots of different things, in a very similar way to the programming I do for work. So, I can totally see why that might not be appealing to you, but I hope that helps you understand what I find appealing, and I hope others can chime in with their experiences :) Edit: I also never really focus on the numbers directly, and I try to focus more on the rough proportions, because I find the game has a great system of not using up resources unless they're needed, so I'm okay with overproducing in certain ways. Taking the game too seriously can be tempting, but I do stop myself from micro-optimizing everything, and I focus more on just accomplishing something that's "good enough".

theshrike79 4y ago

...you finished Factorio without getting addicted or spending hundreds of hours optimising everything? Clearly your brain lacks the "organising and optimising is GRRRREAT" -bit. I can't play any Civilization-type games or - as I discovered - Factorio-type games. It rubs some primitive part of my brain just the right way and I can't stop. Literally my first "let's see what kind of game this is" attempt at Factorio stopped when I saw the sun come back up. And with Civilization I almost got fired for playing "just one more turn" way too many times and turning up for work groggy, tired and late. Now I only play games with plot that has a beginning, middle and an end and very little replayability.

b0afc375b5 4y ago

When I initially played the game and was still learning the game mechanics, it was extremely fun and addictive. After a while I wanted to optimize my base, and so like you mentioned, I also tried calculating ratios, making my base modular, etc. At that point it was no longer fun.

cybrox 4y ago

Sounds to me like you played through the whole game under the assumption that you have to use a lot of guides, calculators and perfect ratios to get anything done. While some people do enjoy this, it is absolutely not necessary and can take a lot of fun away.