As someone once put it "Because I wanna be Han Solo goddammit!"

So for me its generally a desire to see something that does catch elements of those Space Adventures of my youth, the epicness of Star Wars, the discovery of Stak Trek, those awesome fighter launch sequences of Battlestar Galactica, being part of a ragtag crew like Farscape and later Firefly, the politics and manipulations of Babylon 5, stomping giant alien insects while wearing hightech power armour from Starship Troopers, heck even the campy adventures of 'James Bond in Space' Buck Rogers ... all those things is what draws me to these games. I'm still hoping for one, or perhaps to work on one that manages to capture near all these elements, but off course that is an ambitious dream.

I love space sim because i love space more than all the other things. My dream is to have a real spaceship and fly for all my life in the deep space discovering other planets and life forms. Another reason is that i love dogfight, also with planes but in the space is far more better.

I really got into them thanks to Frontier : Elite 2.

The knowledge that I could explore endlessly doing essentially whatever I wanted really appealed to me.  It still does, even though most space sims are massively smaller than FE2 was in terms of exploration area.

What everyone else is saying!

No, really though, it's because of Escapism (getting away from the humdrum of a sad life), Yearning (The need to explore, just you and a spaceship pointed in any direction you want.), The Endless Possibilities (Be who you want to be and do what you want to do in a stunning and vast universe ready for your changes and choices).

If only they wouldn't keep making space-sims cockpit-only or online-only....grmbl..needless constrictions...grrmbl...

As someone once put it "Because I wanna be Han Solo goddammit!"

 Pretty much sum it up for me as well and these game are about as close as I will ever get to having my own starship.

Why I play these games in 2016, like the above posters I have been playing these sort of games for years and I'm thrilled to see where for the most part indie game developers are going with this genre. They have already created several new sub genre  which did not exist a few years ago, the FTL style of game, the build em up (Space Engineers ect) and the crew em up (Pulsar ect). Also their is a more willingness to try ideas out instead of just making another Elite/ Wing Commander clone with better graphics although you still get them being made.

Do I give a damn about No Man Sky, I do, it probably won't be the perfect space sim but it's going the right direction with what look to be a fully functioning biosphere for the planets although I don't think it has any Human/alien cites to explore, maybe in No Man Sky 2. We will know more in couple of months but there is a very good chance that this will set a new standard for these games to aspire to.

Is it a space sim, well it all depends on you definition.

Wow, thanks for the awesome, thoughtful feedback guys, this is great.  I'll drop a link in here when the feature posts.

A wall of introspection:

The love of space simulation games stems from a love science-fiction.

If I say “I want to be Han Solo”, I do not mean that I actually want his identity, to relive that exact life and do those exact same things.  I saw the movie:  been there; done that.  What I mean is that I would like to live in the kind of society where those kinds of things are possible.  Really, even that is inaccurate, because it’s not about those specific actions and events.  It’s one level of abstraction higher.  It’s really that quasi-philosophic “aura” projected by the characters or societies I find admirable: A “sense of life”.

Made explicit, that “sense of life” is the romantic aesthetic:  the projection of things as they might, and aught, to be.  (There are exceptions, such as the dystopias of the cyberpunk sub-genre but, as I am not aware of any cyberpunk space sims, I hold romanticism to be an implicit attribute of the space sim genre.)

That covers the fiction side of it, but what of the “science” part of “science-fiction”?  Why science-fiction (and simulation), as opposed to science-fantasy or just plain old fantasy?

The answer to this was concretized for me at a very young age by, ironically enough, a children’s fantasy movie:  The Flight of Dragons.  The film featured an average modern entrepreneur  transported to a world of mysticism and confronted with its many problems.  In the end, he defeats the evils and repels the dangers around him quite literally by stating the relevant facts of reality.  Yet, he did not dismiss the fantasies when it was all over, for they would the inspiration for his immanent success.

The film was remarkable because it communicated its point about the non-reality and inspirational value of fantasy clearly and unambiguously to a child less than 10 years of age.

The “science” constraint of science-fiction uniquely focuses the artist’s fantasy toward things that are plausible applications or consequences of modern human knowledge.  This concrete grounding in reality enables the art’s consumers to seriously consider the applications of the science, and the creators among them to seriously consider how they might make it so.

Space sims make science-fiction interactive.  They project plausible future and offer the player the opportunity to take their curious new tools and make of them what they will.

The old-school closed-world story-driven types, like the Wing Commander series, just provided the space combat experience.  More modern games, such as the X3 triumvirate, Elite: Dangerous, and Star Citizen offer nearly limitless opportunity for unique and creative experiences in an open-ended sci-fi world. 

It is that opportunity for creativity in game-play that is key to a good space sim.  The basic activities of trading, fighting, and building must the means to some end, not an end in themselves.  Now that I have the best ship in the game, do I have a use for it, or have I just run out of things to do?  I may have more money that God, but is there anything to spend it on?  A great space-sim is never about the grind to the top tier.  It is about the many unique and fascinating things that become possible as the players skill and assets increase.

It is this combination of intellectual skill driven problem solving and subsequent multi skill driven implementation of that solution in a unique science-fiction world that is the ends for which the simulation is the means.

I think there is something uniquely frustrating about being born into one of the first generations in human history in which it is possible to be raised with some awareness of just how big and variegated the universe is.  Granted, all of us suffer from poor sense of scale to some degree, and our abilities to extrapolate what is and isn't possible, what one is and isn't likely to see out in the real universe vary greatly, and never truly develop until later in life when we are educated, but knowing that we don't have perfect perceptions of these things only enhances our frustration.  For the first time in history, we are raised knowing through real evidence (as opposed to mere speculation) that we live in a system with a couple of dozen large planetary bodies, in a galaxy with a few hundred billion stars with (on average) similar systems, in a visible universe with a few hundred billion such galaxies.  It seems very nearly certain that there are trillions of other worlds in the universe which are more interesting than bare rocks, and that there are at least billions of alien civilizations within the visible universe.  Regardless of how scary the problem of propulsion is, how depressingly we are (probably) doomed to explore one system, living in a world where the vast majority of the population has no interest whatsoever in anything outside of one planet, any of the 1-epsilon overwhelming, unfathomable majority of all that on any night we can see exists brings on a deep, existential torment too unbearable to conceptualize.  I'm not quite sure what initial conditions are needed to foster such thoughts: probably as simple as being raised in a safe, plentiful environment (so we were not instead preoccupied with basic necessities) and lifelong social alienation (so we are not overly preoccupied with other humans); causing the vast majority of us who feel this way to be males raised in the middle class.  It's so difficult for me to feel joy from, or even have access to, the things that define most people's lives, but so easy for me to feel the sense of wonder epitomized by 2001: A Space Odyssey, and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

And, by the way, yes, I care about No Man's Sky.  I suspect that there will be a lot of vitriol over that game because people will have crazy expectations for it (and, for me, it looks like it will be lacking in the sorts of things I'm usually most interested in), but I would absolutely love even a sufficiently nice sci-fi walking simulator.

All very good posts so far....

For me... it's the kid inside me. From watching BSG, Star Trek, Star Wars with my dad. Imagining the possibilities of stepping foot on another world. Actually having a ship to pilot it, checking my fuel and food and just pick out a point in the galaxy and go for it. It's the unknown, and if upcoming games can capture that unknown (like No Mans Sky) I will be playing it. With people being so absorbed with social media and whatever these days most people missed that great feat of putting a rocket up into space and bringing it back down to earth all by remote control.... how f'ing cool was that! It's like no one even cared.

We are all going to be gone someday and my ultimate bucket list #1 is to be in space.... even better to step foot on a moon or a planet (have maybe 30-40yrs to attain that goal). But in the end its the danger and the unknown that I think fuels our imagination for space and with today's movies and games becoming so visually impressive it makes that imagination race even more.

Being able to read and experience all this with the like minded people here on SSC is a gift as well. I have a bunch of scifi non-believers in my home, so I guess I am the only sane one.

 

I think there is something uniquely frustrating about being born into one of the first generations in human history in which it is possible to be raised with some awareness of just how big and variegated the universe is.  Granted, all of us suffer from poor sense of scale to some degree, and our abilities to extrapolate what is and isn't possible, what one is and isn't likely to see out in the real universe vary greatly, and never truly develop until later in life when we are educated, but knowing that we don't have perfect perceptions of these things only enhances our frustration.  For the first time in history, we are raised knowing through real evidence (as opposed to mere speculation) that we live in a system with a couple of dozen large planetary bodies, in a galaxy with a few hundred billion stars with (on average) similar systems, in a visible universe with a few hundred billion such galaxies.  It seems very nearly certain that there are trillions of other worlds in the universe which are more interesting than bare rocks, and that there are at least billions of alien civilizations within the visible universe.  Regardless of how scary the problem of propulsion is, how depressingly we are (probably) doomed to explore one system, living in a world where the vast majority of the population has no interest whatsoever in anything outside of one planet, any of the 1-epsilon overwhelming, unfathomable majority of all that on any night we can see exists brings on a deep, existential torment too unbearable to conceptualize.  I'm not quite sure what initial conditions are needed to foster such thoughts: probably as simple as being raised in a safe, plentiful environment (so we were not instead preoccupied with basic necessities) and lifelong social alienation (so we are not overly preoccupied with other humans); causing the vast majority of us who feel this way to be males raised in the middle class.  It's so difficult for me to feel joy from, or even have access to, the things that define most people's lives, but so easy for me to feel the sense of wonder epitomized by 2001: A Space Odyssey, and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

 

I totally agree with you! I have the same feelings about it...this world it's frustrating, poor, stupid, men are stupid. We have a whole infinite universe to explore but we spend all money and resources to make war or stupid consumist life style. This is sad and for us the universe is not only a big hope but also a natural environment...where all this stupid things can't reach us.

Hey guys, thanks again for all the input, here's a link to the feature, if you're interested:

http://www.gamesradar.com/why-no-man...m-renaissance/

No problem, nice article btw. I didn't notice any friendly plug for SSC in there 🙂 I know, you can't reveal your sources... I will keep your secret.

Pretty good read chapelzero.

Ludo ergo sum... and I wanna be Northwest Smith!

Han Solo is a legend but..  I want to be many "heroes" of space

Paul Foster (UFO)  - all around good guy, charming and very brave.

Kerr Avon (Blakes 7) - a handsome rogue who'd backstab you for a handful of credits but oozing charm and charisma.

G'Kar (Babylon 5) - a good guy..or is that a bad guy?  but intensely loyal.

Lister (Red Dwarf) - a lazy good for nothing, slob who purely enjoys life.

Han Solo is a legend but..  I want to be many "heroes" of space

Heh, I think the quote was more going for 'I want to be the iconic space rogue who does tons of adventures in space'. Not all games want you to be Han Solo, but Han Solo does a bunch of stuff I'd like to capture in a game, flies around smuggling and aiding rebels in dogfights/leading fleet battles, does repairs and stuff around his ship (and gets to walk around it and play some space chess), visit seedy spaceports filled with scum and villainy (and some that aren't), escaping from alien gangsters, take part in epic ground battles, infiltration missions down on planets, rescue missions on gigantic space super weapons, romancing rich ladies! That sort of thing.

Basically, if Han did it in the movies, it would probably be great to have in a Space Sim.

Because I still look up at night and dream.