Nerding out

[smithcorp]

OMSI 2 bus simulator. Here I am in my Mercedes 0305 somewhere in Spandau. Perfect for relaxing dorky bus simulation fun.

[durbster]

Excuse what is probably a dumb question but are these simulator games exactly as they seem? You drive a route, picking up and dropping off passengers? Are they open-world and you can go anywhere if you want? Are there penalties for driving your passengers off a bridge?

I can see how that might be a pleasant way to spend a bit of time, I'm just a bit confused about what you do in them.

[smithcorp]

Yep Durbs, the bus one involves starting a bus using all the buttons and switches the real one has, setting up the heating so its comfortable for the passengers, programming the ticket/display/schedule machine so it shows the right destination and route number then driving on the real route, stopping at the right stops picking up and dropping off passengers, selling tickets and collecting fares (and giving change), interacting with other traffic and keeping to timetable. If you drive roughly, or don't keep to the timetable, then the passengers complain (you can hear them grumbling and calling out) and if it gets bad enough they all get off at the next stop.

I find it strangely relaxing but some folk take it seriously indeed. There are bus fans and bus-spotters who want to drive a particular type of bus, or a route overseas, or just wish they were bus drivers. On YT there seems to be some serious folk who stream hours of themselves driving, and people who make mods (at one point there was a Sydney map with routes on the Warringah peninsula and out to Taronga Zoo) of buses and routes. You can even drive trams.

Its not an entirely open world - there's AI traffic and peds that go about their business and some maps have comprehensive streets and details if you go off route, but in general the maps only provide a bit of detail away from the actual routes. Here's a map for the default Berlin-Spandau map.



Something for everyone it seems. I guess its a bit like Flight Simulator-light. I fired it up after the Christchurch attack. I wanted a non-shooting/killing thing to play...

[norbs]

Excuse what is probably a dumb question but are these simulator games exactly as they seem? You drive a route, picking up and dropping off passengers? Are they open-world and you can go anywhere if you want? Are there penalties for driving your passengers off a bridge?

I can see how that might be a pleasant way to spend a bit of time, I'm just a bit confused about what you do in them.

Ask Smiss what he does for a living Durbs