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Comment by TaylorAlexander | Hacker News Reader

Interesting. I used to play video games but now I mostly 3D print stuff and design robots for fun. I don’t think video games are a bad use of time generally, but I feel so good about doing actual engineering for fun that I’m always a little surprised with games that are supposed to be fun for engineer types. I kind of wonder why actually doing engineering for fun isn’t more popular?

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Certain game types basically are puzzles that are similar to the kinds of puzzles one would encounter during engineering things.

Factorio is one of them, but other puzzle games such as topological ones (Spacechem, Opus Magnum, Infinifactory, Molek-syntez), programming (Shenzhen IO, TIS-500, Human Resource Machine, Silicon Zeroes) or logic ones (Baba is you) kind of scratch similar itches.

As for doing engineering for fun, some of us are stuck doing rather boring tasks at the office, and the idea of having a game that one can just put away seems less daunting than having a code/hardware project that could potentially sit uncompleted. Designing robots definitely is fun, although it requires a fair bit of working space and tools.

Well I guess the idea behind engineering at home for fun is that it doesn’t have to be boring tasks. And I tend to work on completely unnecessary things such that there’s no time pressure. That makes it a lot more fun and rewarding than working at the office. Like I recently designed a pair of headphones from scratch. They sound better than any of my other headphones which are all a bit cheap. It totally didn’t need to be done so I could put it away whenever. But it was lots of fun to dig in to. That feels more rewarding to me than a task where all of my progress is virtual. I should say I’m not trying to criticize others who play games, I’m just curious about it. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

That's pretty cool with regards to the headphones. Do you have a link to your project?

I agree that it's really enjoyable to build physical things. I have one 3D part that I've been meaning to print for a while, but without a 3D printer at home it's a bit trickier to get it done. I wish I had a home workshop, but Silicon Valley prices make that a rather expensive proposition. There's no more TechShop either. :-(

(I know nearly nothing about audio equipment).

Weren't you afraid that you'll somehow botch the headphones and they'll play an excessively loud sound, which will permanently damage your hearing or give you tinnitus? Or can that risk be ruled out somehow?

I wasn’t worried about that. I tend to assume I’ll figure things out. And indeed the wiring for the headphones is “cut a 3.5mm cable, solder the leads to the purchased headphone speakers.” The only thing I brought to the table was design of the enclosure for the headphone driver, which can’t really create bad loud sounds.

I think there is just too many options how to build things in real life so it can be overwhelming. In video game, the selection of tools is intentionally limited so it isn't so daunting.

Perhaps there should be a wiki or something just about all the different skills a human can have. And each skill would have some description how to get started ("first couple levels") and links to other skills. The links would describe that if you enjoy skill A, here's why you might also enjoy learning related skill B for this and that reason. So you could choose in what direction you want to continue the learning.

Yes, the game is a tailored experience you can pick up and quickly become engaged in. I suppose engineering for fun takes more self direction. Your idea for a wiki sounds interesting, though there’s enthusiast communities on reddit and elsewhere that may already have answered “how to get started” questions. So in a way, the resource you mention exists as data on the internet. For much of what you want to learn, you’ll find out how to get started with some time at the search terminal.

Engineering as a job often requires a lot of grinding to get an outcome, even the “easy” engineering (?) disciplines like embedded software work in my experience.

Your “engineering for fun” is perhaps not what most engineers do day to day. And certainly our jobs and workplaces generally are not explicitly designed to be enjoyable with satisfying outcomes.

Well yes a lot of workplace engineering is drudgery. That’s why I love the freedom I have with projects at home. There’s usually no time pressure, and I can work on what I enjoy. I learn constantly and develop new skills. It’s super fun!

I had the impression of working while playing Space Chem, a really good puzzle game with awesome music. I think the developer made another game but haven't tried that yet. In the game you can compare your results with others and in most cases you have to decide between optimizing for simplicity or speed. Seriously, if I just had a sliver of the ambition I had while playing this game for other projects...

Relevant Vice article: Why Do We Play Video Games That Feel Like Work? (2015)

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/4x38aq/why-do-we-play-vid...

I would claim that playing Factorio constitutes as doing engineering for fun

Well when I do engineering for fun I’m learning skills that directly apply to my jobs. So I gain experience with PCB design, CAD and 3D printing, or software. Perhaps Factorio flexes general cognitive skills like problem solving and algorithmic thinking, but it’s not going to help you get better at learning KiCAD for example.

Parent is doing some very interesting work. Check out his profile.

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