Orbiter in your life

Eli13

Fish Dreamer
Joined
Mar 5, 2011
Messages
1,562
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
Somewhere, TN
Don't get me wrong I love me some Black ops on the weekends but nothing gives you more satisfaction than landing at a small UCGO base you have created. Or starting your own LEO space station or even just launching into space straight up and enjoying the view. :lol:
 

Fabri91

Donator
Donator
Joined
Jun 2, 2008
Messages
2,176
Reaction score
228
Points
78
Location
Valmorea
Website
www.fabri91.eu
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 ?
The DCS sims are a fortunate exception to this.
 

Keatah

Active member
Joined
Apr 14, 2008
Messages
2,218
Reaction score
2
Points
38
Yes indeed! My current lineup of simulations, which makes up about 80% of my pc entertainment time is, in no particular order:

1) Orbiter
2) X-plane
3) FSX
4) A2-FS1
5) A2-3D1
6) Tower
7) DCS series

All of these elicit the same response of boredom by normal people. And you(me) immediately get relegated to "non-happening", resigned to irrelevancy, brushed off and pushed aside.

Sometimes something with good graphics can get the occasional wow, but that is short-lived and in the end MarioBros or Guitar Hero win out. O'hell, even Farmville and AngryBirds beat out DCS and Orbiter. Runman's Monster Fracas took the cake above Orbiter. When pressed and interrogated I find out that others think Orbiter is not real, its some stupid boring game, an unfinished shooting StarWars game. Unfinished because there's no laser guns. Slow, plodding, introverted, anti-social, gay, dumbass. Orbiter is not real like the movies are. Worse than 2001 and Solaris. Tedious, patience-trying. Not worthy of pc gaming status. I've heard it all. When I took a call-center job, briefly for a few weeks, years ago, as part of special project..when Orbiter first came out. I showed it to my co-workers and after that I was excluded from all "goings on". Amazing.. And Orbiter doesn't stand a chance against the facebookers and twitterers.

I am quite happily surprised, now that we have good hardware these days, that FSX is looking better than X-plane! 5 years after being published, do we 1st, now, have good graphics cards and the installed driver base and proper DX libraries to run FSX as it was meant to be run. I used to love X-Plane, but they got out of the desktop business and are now focusing on dumb iPhone and even dumber Android ports. Besides, X-Plane is seriously lacking systems simulation. Hell, even the Orbiter freeware ships are more complex than some of the payware for X-Plane.

Orbiter has good staying power if I set it up as a "screensaver" as background. We have the basement set up as a mod lounge and when we get Orbiter going, it's not too difficult to imagine we're in the observation lounge of a starship. Something like a smaller version of Ten Forward or the Mess Hall on Voyager. More realistically though, making it look like an orbital hotel room is much more within grasp. Ahh well..


People can actually be downright mean about it. Eventually you get excluded and labeled and what not.. Not that I give two- :censored: about it. Though it is not shown at first. It shows up in the events you get invited to and social outings you get to attend. As is typical of psychology and interactions and stuff like that - The disappointment comes in trying to join the activities of normals. And that is not a problem until you get labeled a gamer. Orbiter is best kept a secret.

Sorry to be so harsh about our favorite sim, though I'd say I was treading rather softly!!
 
Last edited:

ky

Director of Manned Spaceflight
Joined
Jan 22, 2011
Messages
1,409
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
Boynton Beach
Yes although some kids say its nerdy they still think im cool.A kid in my class just likes crashing into the vab and stuff like that.I really dont care what they think though.The IT guy at my school uses a lot of flight simulators so that gives me an idea for tomorrow :idea: :hmm:
 

DanM

Поехали!
Joined
May 23, 2010
Messages
1,131
Reaction score
1
Points
38
Location
Chicago
I might show it to a friend of mind who wants to be an Air Force pilot, he's like the only person at my school who is into aviation or space.

Back in the '60s and even '80s space would be considered cool. Though I don't really mind being called a nerd at all.
 

theflyingfish

Falling with Style
Joined
Sep 17, 2010
Messages
82
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
Litchfield
I know that I am the only person in my school who uses Orbiter, possibly the only one in all of New Hampshire. (I have never seen anyone else on the forum with a New Hampshire flag sitting to the right of their USA flag. :hmm:) I think it takes a different kind of person to play Orbiter, people who are more focused on the technical aspects of the sim; the physics, programming, and planning that go into the mission, rather than how fun the ride is. Sort of a "Left-brain vs. Right-brain" deal. We enjoy certain aspects of life more than other people do, be it a flawless manual re-entry that places you exactly where you want to be, or a perfect docking that would impress Chuck Norris. The same way a businessman feels when a risky stock venture pays off big, or the way a SWAT team feels after a dangerous raid runs smoothly with no casualties. We would probably already be to Mars right now if everyone liked Orbiter as much as we do, but then who would run the businesses and save the hostages if everyone wanted to be an astronaut? (Or cosmonaut, take your pick.)

We have all been shaped by our life experiences to be who we are right now, be it through your genetic makeup or the way your parents raised you. (Nature vs. Nurture debate, anyone? :cheers:) We cannot be angry at someone for rejecting us when we raise the topic of Orbiter when we ourselves disapprove of their constant Twitter- posting and Facebook-checking. Pick your poison, we all have our own dreams amd ambitions. Put yourself in their shoes.

Sorry if this post seems unprofessional. I tapped this whole thing out on my Android at 11 pm. :blush:
 

Blacklight

New member
Joined
Jun 15, 2008
Messages
259
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
In space ?
Website
www.myspace.com
You know, it's funny, but I get bored to death of "Guitar Hero", shooting games, and all those other games that the average gamer finds exciting. I get bored of them VERY fast. However, Sit me in front of something like Dangerous Waters where I'm in a submarine trying to secretly track an enemy ship without being detected for hours on end and I'm hooked. Orbiter is the same kind of thing for me. I set a challenge for myself and then usually end up spending weeks of time learning how to do it properly and then practicing parts of it before doing the whole thing.

It's like a Chess game for me. You know, come to think of it, none of my friends can handle board games like Chess that require any depth of thought either, yet they love first person shooters, console games, Farmville, Angry Birds, and Guitar Hero.... This probably says something.
 

Keatah

Active member
Joined
Apr 14, 2008
Messages
2,218
Reaction score
2
Points
38
Isn't there some sort of mental illness diagnosis that can be applied here?? Like when you have an unusually long attention span for some trivial detail thing?
 

Eli13

Fish Dreamer
Joined
Mar 5, 2011
Messages
1,562
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
Somewhere, TN
I don't know most likely though. Still deciding on a demonstration, probably just a simple DG lunar transfer, and slingshot back to earth.
 

Izack

Non sequitur
Addon Developer
Joined
Feb 4, 2010
Messages
6,665
Reaction score
13
Points
113
Location
The Wilderness, N.B.
Isn't there some sort of mental illness diagnosis that can be applied here?? Like when you have an unusually long attention span for some trivial detail thing?
Yes, it is an unfortunate disease known as 'intelligence.' :p

Disclaimer: that was a joke.

Seriously though, I wouldn't call such a thing as interest in complex subjects an illness or a disorder, for the same reason I don't call an intelligent child autistic or a short-tempered man bipolar. Psychologists IMO seem too trigger-happy with their diagnoses.

You wouldn't accuse a scientist who pursued his interest in his career of having a mental illness, would you? :p
 

marcheenek

Donator
Donator
Joined
Sep 7, 2010
Messages
54
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Well, I have to admit that it takes some serious degree of nerdiness to get one's eye sparkle while playing and talking about Orbiter. I am a nerd and I am proud of it - I am a scientist (molecular biologist and bioinformatician working for a pharma giant), amateur astronomer and telescope builder. My cubicle has HAL 9000 eye on its wall and I have a bubblehead figurine of James.D.Watson, DNA discoverer. It cannot get nerdier than that! :lol:

My wife 'hates that game' (I correct her every time that it is a simulator ) - every time she walks in my office and sees MFDs she just can't get what it's all about. :rolleyes: Some of my friends were truly interested in Orbiter, but never beyond actually trying to fly, because the mere view of a DG cockpit discourages them.

I think that Orbiter is for people who like to challenge themselves. For those who can repeat failure hundreds of times to just learn a lesson and get it finally done with the satisfying feeling of completion. I always liked masochistically hard games, including simulators. And these days, most of people want things that come easy...
 

Eli13

Fish Dreamer
Joined
Mar 5, 2011
Messages
1,562
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
Somewhere, TN
Yeah, my teacher thought orbiter was pretty cool. I did a simple little take-off from KSC acheived orbit (into the moons inclination) matched orbital planes ejected into lunar orbit, stabilized and stayed for two orbits before sling shotting back to earth. Re-entered and landed shuttle style at KSC. But, he won't use it in class, because he realizes most kids won't do much other than launch a shuttle straight up (we all know how well that works... :rolleyes:) then again, I never asked him to use it in class. As for him, he probably won't use it much. He's more into the biology part of science, but whatever. I showed someone I can do something! I feel accomplished! :lol:
 

Kyle

Armchair Astronaut
Addon Developer
Joined
Mar 17, 2008
Messages
3,912
Reaction score
339
Points
123
Website
orbithangar.com
I told a friend who was into aeronautics when I was in 9th grade back in early 2009, was too complicated for him and I haven't told anyone since.
 

Tedson

New member
Joined
Apr 10, 2011
Messages
14
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
Natal
The average people dislikes Orbiter, because they think it's a game. A friend of mine asked me "how many levels are in this game?", "no enemies?"
They do not know the diference betwen a game and a simulator. And Orbiter is a simulator.
One day, someone said: "You are accelerating forward, but the ship is moving backward, is that a bug of the simulator?" :rofl:
(I was executing a deorbit burn)
 

Keatah

Active member
Joined
Apr 14, 2008
Messages
2,218
Reaction score
2
Points
38
There is one scene in ST:NG where the Enterprise zooms into a low orbit and gets the orbital mechanics right. It enters low orbit and quickly slows and rises to a higher orbit, next to a garbage barge(i believe, it's been a while). At least that's what the director and special effects guys were trying to get across.

I thought StarTrek was geeky, but Orbiter (and other technical simulations sure as hell take the cake!)

BTW: who else here noticed that the jimbalian fudge cake shown in Voyager episode "twisted" is actually decorated with the "map" image of Neptune from the real-life Voyager probes?

Here's a pic http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/File:Jimbalian_fudge_cake.jpg
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...m=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&biw=1024&bih=606
 
Top