Why are survival + craft games so popular and appealing?

[RepresentingSilence]

It's called the Faustian Spirit and it's a white man thing.

You know what I was going to say that's racist but then I remembered a conversation my mother told me she'd had with a female black coworker who'd recently moved from the city to our rural area and at the time the black lady was asking everyone "what do y'all do for fun around here?" My mother told her "camping hunting fishing" the black lady was shocked and said "we don't do that us black people don't go in the woods" my mom just laughed

 

[SirDogeTheFirst]

Constant progression and how your brain rewards you for every step. For example, in Factorio my brain goes like this: Coal production increased by %1, monkey happy. It is similar in games like Minecraft. Last year I was playing on a modded server with my friends, and when I finished my fortress, my brain went monkey happy mode.

 

[TheEldritchGod]

The long dark.

I like to set it on Deadman difficulty. That's with no healing except for 2% of your total per day from tea

Then I add mods to make it harder.

For example, it'll reach -80 Celsius by day 100.

When the sun stops rising in the morning and it is now eternal night.

Then I restrict containers for how much water I'm allowed. And basically everything to make it even more difficult.

When sometimes I play the game on interloper, I get bored because I have so much loot by day 20 it ain't funny.

Why? Because I love a challenge of fighting against impossible odds while being hunted by a demon bear when I'm armed with nothing but a flare gun.

Because few people can.

 

[Nym]

As a person who has spent over 300 hours in factorio, I can tell you it's incredibly engaging. People can say whatever they want about story-focused games being immersive, but they are like reading - you are just the observer of a predetermined story. Even if the game tries to make it feel like you're taking part in the events, it's all just an illusion and feels artificial unless done extemely well. The modern AAA games take it up a notch, but they can't truly get rid of that fundamental problem.

Games like Factorio, meanwhile, are different in the way that they don't tell you what to do. Everything you do is your own decision and your own accomplishment. Building new things, you see your own progress - unlike some statistics or a next cleared mission or area, you actually see and make further use of the result of your work. That makes them addicting and engaging.

Then, if you add the fact that games of that kind are replayable, you get the result you see.

TLDR:The Factory Must Grow

 

[Deleted member 84247]

Nothing wrong with survival + craft games, but a lot of them are terribly lazy. The devs just looked to capitalize off of the genre's popularity.

I like the feeling of wonder and starting out insignificant to slowly working my way up to duking it out with literal gods. The progression is a very strong aspect imo, and it feels super rewarding. Usually these games are also packaged like sandboxes, meaning you have the freedom to also shape your world and take things at your own pace.

Good survival + craft games don't require you to have prequisite knowledge to have a good time, which I think is why alot of them are fun since you can discover things on your own.

Remember the first time you realized a creeper would explode your stuff? Or that the Corruption in Terraria was a ticking time bomb? Or when you threw in that voodo doll into lava for the sake of it? Or that cute fuzzy dino in Ark (therazeno) was actually 10x stronger than a T-Rex? Or going from chopping wood and mining diamonds to creating a microchip assembly line that Intel would blush at.

I kind of feel like you're making your own story in those kind of games. But sometimes they're absolutely overboard, like Green Hell. That is torture.

Also the thing you said about Ark made me laugh. I wish I could recapture that first experience again.

 

[melchi]

My games list. XD
View attachment 19355View attachment 19356View attachment 19357

7D2D, ARK and Conan are my survival + crafting games.

Disclaimer: I know some would see some weird games on the list. That's what happens when your team are full of weirdos, including me. lol


Yep. And when my team and me go in a crafting game, we're always well-supplied...even greater than the admins.

Also, @Sola-sama 'Quartermaster' is the fancy term for us, Camp Mamas. lol

Wonders how many hours cities skylines has.

 

[Notadate]

They’re cool

 

[Ellieporter]

My games list. XD
View attachment 19355View attachment 19356View attachment 19357

7D2D, ARK and Conan are my survival + crafting games.

Disclaimer: I know some would see some weird games on the list. That's what happens when your team are full of weirdos, including me. lol


Yep. And when my team and me go in a crafting game, we're always well-supplied...even greater than the admins.

Also, @Sola-sama 'Quartermaster' is the fancy term for us, Camp Mamas. lol

You even collect those weird indie games huh?

 

[Deleted member 54065]

You even collect those weird indie games huh?

Yep, as long as my teammates are playing those, I'd be playing it as well. ^_^

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Yep, as long as my teammates are playing those, I'd be playing it as well. ^_^

Northgard and Shogun 2.

 

[Deleted member 54065]

Northgard and Shogun 2.

Yep, I love RTS games. I've been a fan of Total War games (at least the historical ones) ever since I discovered Medieval 1 back when I'm in High School (2002).

For NorthGard? My brother introduced me to it.

My introduction to RTS, however, is Red Alert 2. lol (I'd even skip classes just to play it in computer cafes back then, hence I know the modus of students to skip class)

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Yep, I love RTS games. I've been a fan of Total War games (at least the historical ones) ever since I discovered Medieval 1 back when I'm in High School (2002).

For NorthGard? My brother introduced me to it.

I own both, if you know what I mean. Also, I'm surprised you don't own Rust, The Forest, or Terraria.

 

[Deleted member 54065]

I own both, if you know what I mean. Also, I'm surprised you don't own Rust, The Forest, or Terraria.

Writing issues, but I'm planning to buy all of those the moment I finished my Saint Series. (As a reward to myself)

You know the lengths I take just to focus writing my work. XD

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Writing issues, but I'm planning to buy all of those the moment I finished my Saint Series. (As a reward to myself)

I forgot about Valheim. Valheim is fun, though it's a bit too short and grindy at the moment.

 

[Deleted member 54065]

I forgot about Valheim. Valheim is fun, though it's a bit too short and grindy at the moment.

I'll check on that then. XD

As for now, I have to finish my commissions. ^_^

 

[Deleted member 54065]

The town I made in Conan Exiles.

Aerial shot of my town looking towards the main keep.

 

[ManwX]

I have more than 190 mods on Minecraft just playing vanilla. I have actually never beaten Minecraft. It's embarrassing but I just get lost with hauling resources and making big projects lol

 

[Deleted member 84247]

I have more than 190 mods on Minecraft just playing vanilla. I have actually never beaten Minecraft. It's embarrassing but I just get lost with hauling resources and making big projects lol

I thought that was how you played it? (ㆆ_ㆆ)

 

[CheertheSecond]

I have more than 190 mods on Minecraft just playing vanilla. I have actually never beaten Minecraft. It's embarrassing but I just get lost with hauling resources and making big projects lol

Like sculpturing big interstellar empires? :3

 

[Succubiome]

We are gatherers and hunters.

I think this is true.

Also, I theorize that modern life doesn't allow most people to build, hunt, or forage that often, if at all, and that probably helps make this sort of gameplay more appealing?

...although having said this, I heard secondhand of some farmers who would finish with farming for the day... and then go play a farm simulation game.