[HN Gopher] Ask HN: Why doesn't SpaceX make a simulator game to ...
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Ask HN: Why doesn't SpaceX make a simulator game to help build a
city on Mars?
For example, SpaceX could release a highly realistic space and city
simulator game. Gamers would then build cities on Mars with various
degrees of success. By watching what the gamers do, SpaceX could
get valuable insight into what might work better for building a
city on Mars.
Author : amichail
Score : 13 points
Date : 2022-02-05 20:34 UTC (2 hours ago)
| maxander wrote:
| It's a nice idea; perhaps something along the lines of a mix
| between Kerbal Space Program, SimCity, and Satisfactory. There's
| a big problem for making this a practical step towards Martian
| colony planning, though; making a simulation game accurately
| reflect the real world is hard! If you've played any of the three
| games I mentioned, and have even general knowledge of the fields
| they simulate (rocketry and space travel, civic engineering and
| economic management, and manufacturing, respectively) you'll see
| immediately that they misrepresent reality to a huge degree, and
| that as a result good ideas in the game don't at all translate to
| reality. (Arguably, KSP reflects its subject matter best, but
| it's still limited enough that discussion of the game often
| involves talking about "very Kerbal" designs that would be
| outright absurd as real aerospace engineering.)
|
| Even if you can map out the elements of a Martian colony's
| technological, social and economic underpinnings, having a game
| reflect those elements realistically is likely to take a heavy
| toll on its quality as a _good game_ - simply because the world
| is very complex. There's only a limited amount of complexity even
| the nerdiest gamer wants to deal with. If you doubt me, try
| playing some of the older Paragon Studios games- and even then,
| e.g. Victoria 2 was a downright impressionistic take on 19th
| century geopolitics. An accurate rendition of a 21st Martian
| colony would be far worse. Your player base would be limited to
| extremely wonky enthusiasts, and those people are likely already
| writing papers on the subject regardless.
|
| _Regardless of all the above_ I like the idea and have thought
| song similar lines myself in the past. But I can see why it
| doesn't stand out to Musk as an important use of his time. He
| seems to feel someone else will come along to solve the actual
| colonization problem, as long as he just provides the rockets.
| nnoitra wrote:
| Sounds like a brilliant idea. Let's make a game which simulates
| the universe and all aspects of the Martian climate and then
| people can experiment and restart their worlds as they see fit.
|
| Like Minecraft but real life. I wonder why this hasn't been done
| already.
| hapidjus wrote:
| This comment could have been: It's too hard to simulate it to a
| degree where the results are interesting.
| LinuxBender wrote:
| I like the idea. This could be a VR simulator.
|
| Hypothetical question: Would this game be realistic enough to get
| some understanding of the psychological and physical risks? e.g.
| Player has a mental breakdown and damages a pod. Everyone in that
| pod not in a space suit suffocates and their account is deleted.
| To that end will players be vetted for psychological aptitude to
| take the mission seriously? Assuming they get past that barrier
| will there be somewhat random events that test the players
| ability to adapt, improvise and overcome mortal risks, testing
| their knowledge of science, space technology and all other facets
| of living on a hostile planet?
|
| Would there be a training mode and a realistic mode described
| above?
| politician wrote:
| Martian Minecraft would be a lot of fun, but I doubt it'd be a
| great way to plan for a city. Then again, "serious games" are a
| real thing.
| throwbigdata wrote:
| Why don't you?
| meowface wrote:
| Maybe they will one day. We're very far off from even landing a
| person on Mars, let alone starting to build a city.
| pizza wrote:
| Worlds aren't game engines
|
| (a reference to the title of the paper "the world is not a
| theorem" https://arxiv.org/abs/2101.00284)
| Flankk wrote:
| Elon can't get Starship into space, never mind 40 million miles
| away. The astronauts will require a machine to create oxygen.
| There is also a problem of radiation. If adequate shielding is
| not provided, the astronauts will die of cancer. The energy
| requirements for maintaining room temperature on Mars will also
| be huge. These problems are all solvable. Not by gamers.
| inglor_cz wrote:
| "Elon can't get Starship into space"
|
| You sound very dismissive. Starship is work in progress, but
| not vaporware. It has already cleared a lot of practical flight
| test hurdles and it does not seem to be stalled technically.
| (Regulatory approvals are a different story.) "Can't get into
| space" description would fit SLS better.
|
| If any Musk promises deserve righteous bashing, Tesla "self-
| driving capability" comes to mind.
| haunter wrote:
| https://store.steampowered.com/app/464920/Surviving_Mars/
| Rebelgecko wrote:
| I think they'd be better off spending their efforts on actually
| getting to Mars
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