Orbiter in your life

[Eli13]

Just an off topic thread here. Do you show it off to others or keep to yourself?
I've kept it mostly to myself as I just moved well 400 miles from my home. I don't really come across to others as a person who might like this stuff. At least thats what some of my friends have said. Ive told some friends about and they wanted to try it, well they did, but it was "too complicated but it was cool anyways". That statement alone makes me feel smart :lol: Feel free to post your own orbiter life story (if you will) here!

Hail the probe!

Eli

If you see my profile you'll see why :lol:

 

[squeaky024]

I don't really have anybody at my school who is into any flying of anything, but I have 3 good friends I met on other games that love flight sims, and are planning to pursue aviation as a career.

I just love how when someone says the phrase "looks like the cockpit of a jumbo jet." To us, it's more like "as easy as the cockpit of a 747."

 

[ky]

I've told some teachers and students about Orbiter.There's even a kid in my digital video class that steals orbiter out of my folder on the mac computer.I've given Orbiter to my Pre-engineering teacher,Science teacher and Digital Video teacher.Kids in my class just want to blow up spacecraft in orbiter and do not actually see the scientific value of it.

---------- Post added at 12:35 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:34 AM ----------

seems like squeaky024 beat me to post first lol :lol:

 

[Eli13]

I wouldnt give it to my old science teacher, she was too annoying and i think shed just want to blow up the ships too. she was clueless. i want to give it to my science teacher here, hes a former software engineer, hey that gives me an idea :idea: :lol:

 

[statickid]

alot of people I know I've showed it to and some think it is really cool but won't try anything except my jedi starfighter or they try to launch the shuttle into the ground, some people think it looks nerdy and once the launch takes more than 20 seconds they immediately ask why "nothing is happening" or "why does it take so long" or if i am waiting for an orbital maneuver they ask why nothing is moving and what's so fun about a black screen with white spots and some green lines and numbers. i also get the response of it being really cool some statement like "YOU would fly space ships for fun" and "that's beyond me, but i can't believe you learned all that!"

 

[Keatah]

I have to be careful who I tell this to. It is too easy to get labels applied to you. But who cares anyways..?

The typical response is nothing is happening and why stuff takes so long, and how you blow up other ships.

 

[Spacethingy]

I recommended Orbiter to a friend, but I'm not sure he even got past the .zip file...

 

[Keatah]

Once in a while, I set up Orbiter on the rec-room tv set. It's a big door-sized one. And turn down the lights. You set up a scenario with a gas giant crescent and real sky backdrop. Pick a ship and put it there. Dim the lights and serve good drinks. Get a movie going on the other tv, the smaller one. And with a little imagination you can pretend you're on-board a space station outpost, in the rec-room, after-hours. Folks will sometimes want to control the ship or something. But most like the view and are content to watch it. And if you get the mechanics right, you get a hella view! Very relaxing. Scrolling the cockpit panel into view makes you look like a rocket scientist and that's when interest gets lost But they sure like the screensaver otherwise:shrug:

 

[Ripley]

After "seriously" getting into Orbiter last summer (when O2010 came out), I began posting about it on my IL-2 1946 Squadron website, involving some of my squadmates all the way up to the Moon.
I was a bit tired of flying so close to the mud, and I needed something different.

Now I am the proud maintainer of the Orbiter section of that website!
I constantly post updates to keep their interest alive on a subject which can be quite different from what they are used to.

As far as involving other real-life people, I remember my 75yo father watching my "how-to" printed guides with some curiosity, while I was avidly studying in the beginning. My GF knows about it too, my brother-in-law likes to watch it, but they either think it's too difficult, or it's too nerdy.

 

[mc_]

Looks like i'm the only orbinaut in my town... No one else hails the Probe here.

 

[Rtyh-12]

One friend of mine saw the Orbiter icon on my computer and asked me what it was. I told him that it's "some kind of flight simulator, but you can go to space". He told me to open it, and I showed him the "Brighton Beach" scenario.

Some time after that I found him flying a DG over the Cape on my computer again... he hasn't downloaded it yet, but at least he didn't say it was nerdy. I didn't show him the orbital maneuvers, though.

 

[Jarvitä]

It was a big hit at the gliding club. Never listen to glider pilots who tell you they fly gliders because it's "elegant" or "the cleanest way to fly". We're just stuck in our plastic toys because we can't afford real air/spacecraft. :tiphat:

 

[Izack]

I've been carrying around a copy of Orbiter with a few addons on the off chance I ever meet my old physics teacher again. He would love it, both as a simple flight sim (he teaches aviation as well) and probably out of personal interest.

I've shown it to a few friends and my girlfriend, and they think it's cool, but way over their heads/attention spans (except for that one guy who thought I was stupid for spending time on it, since of course it's all fake and a hoax...we aren't friends anymore.) I've still rallied a few exclamations of "Hail Probe!" though!

For whatever reason my family dislikes spaceflight, atmospheric flight, science, engineering and everything else I've ever found interesting, so I don't bring it up with them, and pretend not to like it or ever get excited when a rocket launches.

Hopefully I'll find a few like minds at university to spread the Orbiter love to. I've met with a few of the physics department guys up there, and they seem really interesting. Maybe Orbiter will make it onto the lab projectors some day, at least for recreation.

 

[diogom]

Same as many here. It seems I'm the only orbinaut in my school, or my town. If anyone else is, like me, they don't speak.
At home, same as your family Izack, I get "There you are again in that boring game", "How do you have patience".
If I hadn't found this community, with other people I can talk about Orbiter and spaceflight, think I would have gone mad.

 

[Keatah]

When I am among normal people I often get talked about in the 3rd person when it comes to orbiter. Ya gotta admit it folks, we are not a typical bunch.

 

[Jarvitä]

I don't understand how you can consider people who openly despise your interests as "friends". Ambivalence is ok, ignorance can be tolerated, but why do you stay around people who find something you love "boring" and "a waste of time"? :facepalm:

 

[diogom]

Well, everybody has their interests. Unfortunately not many like Orbiter, but I'm not gonna stop talking to people just because they find something I like boring. Surely there are some stuff others do that you find boring.
Just don't talk about Orbiter if they despise it.

 

[Eli13]

I know im the only one in like the nashville area, at least i think i am. Before a month ago, it was devoid of orbinauts. At least columbus had some....
Anyways ive never heard anyone call me nerdy or anything, but they find it way to complicated. Like i did at first but i tried to learn. And well i did. Just not that well

 

[Blacklight]

Everyone I know who has any interest in using a computer for anything other than Facebook or tweeting gets bored after five seconds if they aren't shooting at things and watching them explode. They are very much the stereotypical console gamers. They can't handle Orbiter for more than two seconds because as they say, "You're looking at nothing for long periods of time ! Nothing happens !".
Orbiter fails for them because it doesn't have constant gun fire and explosions every several seconds to keep their attention. They don't even find Orbiter remotely cool and classify it among their "suck" list along with Dangerous Waters, Sub Command, Harpoon III Advanced Naval Warfare, and Silent Hunter III (games I love as well). These types of deep games will NEVER appeal to the average console, action, or casual gamer. Heck ! They can't handle it when they actually have to read a manual for the game ! They just want to jump in and expect to know how to do everything or have everything spelled out for them. I think it's a sign of the times. Seriously. When is the last time you saw a hardcore sim get released by a major game company ?

 

[Keatah]

It really is a matter of seconds. I see folks with multiple monitors doing facebook, warcraft, irc, blahh blahh all that stuff going at once. Their attention span jumps from here to there in seconds. Staying focused on one thing like a complete orbit would be an impossibility.

I also noticed the same crowd doesn't know how to spell, they keep forgetting vowels and silent letters too much.