Could you build a game based on the most boring job you have done?

In the 80's there were lots of crazy games e.g. Paperboy, Elite, Ghostbusters, Spy vs Spy, Commando and even Flight Sims. I jest but some of which were simple but fun games derived from everyday boring jobs.

I worked in a supermarket stacking the freezer section.

Supermarket Freezer Stacker:

1. Keep your job without losing your fingers to frostbite
2. Don't let the food defrost.
3. Side mechanics could be pesky customers asking for directions.
4. Trying to impress the cashier you fancy.
5. Working your way up to the dizzy heights of Lead Freezer Stacker.
6. Or maybe not?

So what's the most boring job you have ever had to do and how would you make a game based on it?

 

Internet support technician back when dial up was still the main way of connecting. Damn I hated that job.

Not sure how you could make a game of it, perhaps try to find incorrect user settings from several dialogs within a certain time with a customer satisfaction level going down as you take more time?

Although the toughest part of the job was dealing with people and trying not to let them ragequit our ISP because the real problem was with their telephone line itself not our service.

I also worked on a game called Checkout Challenge on Windows Phone and Windows Store, where you need to scan stuff before it falls onto the floor.

 

The most boring job i ever held was working at a courthouse and building a game dedicated to that job would be even more boring.

 

I literally had the job of shredding lots of paper for a short time... .it was sort of therapeutic. Not much to do though, shove paper in, fix jams.

 

This is probably the only job mentioned so far that would be fairly straightforward. A game where you try to feed paper into slots and keep them actively loaded while not jamming them.

 

Sure. What's your budget?

 

I once had a job that consisted of loading a sewing machine, watching it stitch a pattern, and then unloading it. Repeat. (Technically it's an "embroidery" machine.)

The only excitement was when it broke a needle. Which is why it needed watching. In that case, you had to stop it quickly, then repair the mess it made if possible, and then get it to continue the stitching.

While I'm sure I *could* make that happen as a game, I'm not sure anyone would care. The difference between things like Paperboy and those burger/beer games was that someone could conceivably romanticize them, but that just doesn't happen with watching a sewing machine.

 

No but I would do a Unity game based on the game Super Trolley, which was a product of an episode of Jim'll Fix It back in the late 80s.

It was kind of a Supermarket simulator.

 

Why the hell would I do that when I can be an astronaut instead

 

I was a professional window washer from 14ish to 21 (worked for my dad). Not particularly boring I guess, but the criteria was "most boring job you've ever done". I've thought about doing window washing games before. Seems like there might be a good puzzle game or donkey-kong type game in there.

 

You do realise that astronauts are just space mechanics or scientists doing experiments, or as some famous Apollo crew said 'They are just spam in the can'.

Most games are only interesting when antagonists are introduced or control mechanics that require skill to master.

 

Are we actually seriously contemplating a game derived from the MOST BORING JOB? good luck. lol

 

Oh Arowx, wrong again, as usual.

 

Cubicle Drone Simulator. The game practically writes itself.

 

Err...

Also see Papers, Please.

 

How many MMORPGs could we compare to having a real life job with the grind they present?

 

Indie Startup Simulator, Its a game about managing client expectations, moral, and burnout.

 

The only thing really missing from Factorio to match my day job is maintenance break downs and office politics.

Most boring job I had was grinding soil samples for a analytical lab. However even that could be made into an interesting time management game.

 

Literally had a colleague say to me about Agile "Is there really another sprint, can't we just walk for a bit"

 

Ah, a jokester after my own heart.

Truly, though, I found scrum to be a good pace that is sustainable. I felt like things weren't being pushed too fast or too slow, and it was pretty nice to see things getting done at a fairly constant pace, instead of the usual ups and downs.

I miss it. And yes, I've tried to get it implemented here. It's too much process for them, apparently. *sigh*

 

OK, drains need big machinery to do the big digging, engineers to work out the angles to make sure water flows correctly, surveyors to make sure things are to plan, and I held a shovel, glued some pipes, held stuff. Not sounding too exciting yet. I guess there is always juice:

• As a 16yo, you have to negotiate the local bottle shop as your Irish co-worker says he needs a tall can of Guiness for lunch every day. This could involve some intuitive shop AI, does he really care you are underage, or does he feel "what is a 16yo doing buying a single tall Guiness every day, and I need the business anyway." I guess you'll have to play to game to find out.
• I may not have a car license, but why can't I drive a tractor on a major road eg. try not to draw too much attention to your 20km/h vehicle without a license. How do you do that in a huge tractor as a rakey 16yo?
• Perhaps you have to help with plans. Huge excavator claws can just smash through a gas main really easily ... I mean I'm guessing they could if you didn't check the plans?
• Speaking of excavators, a certain driver could pick a fight with literally every single worker until randomly not coming in one day, never to be heard of again. You could add an element of how to deal with a character that literally can't be dealt with, could be kind of interesting if you had multiple goes at it
• Speaking of co-workers, this sort of work place would always do well with a character that goes for anything that moves. And when you explain the house owner is a 55yo and awful, and he's still intrigued, now you've got a game on your hands to communicate to this guy.

Yeah, no game here.

 

Agile is OK. I'm a scrum master, though he works on another project. I've modified it a bit to be Agile-, meaning there is Agile, but there is also some things Agile wouldn't approve that I allow. That said, there is a lot of good, and I try to emphasize all those things.

 

"Programmer Simulator 2018"

Your goal: develop an Enterprise financial consulting application over the course of two years (non-real-gametime) while managing constant pressure to produce code (and not necessarily functional), mounting burnout, frustrating bugs, existential crises and mind-numbing boredom.

Yeah, I went there

 

I love that you are instantly thinking there would be a series. This sounds like a base product, like this is what it's like to be a programmer, some quirks, but you are essentially a good worker if you nail this, the fun comes because there are a few quirky and interesting things to get in this job. But as the sequels come along, there are ever more crazy plot lines as the character gets more and more... "creative" . Like trying to manipulate the board and the rest of the company to hate your boss... not because you hate, just because it's more interesting than not doing it. Or trying to make the social club think you really care about the upcoming party, I mean who wouldn't be if it meant less meetings with the client? Or making sure all new starters think you are king of the office, even though you are scum to most of the office, everybody loves a disciple or two at work.

 

OK I'm a bit bored how about I write a game based on the most boring job?

So to vote on the most boring job simulator/game I should write click like on that post.

Or post a boring job you have done and think I should write a game for.

The first boring job to get 100 likes is the one I will write!

 

I wish a game where the player makes the retopology and uv unwrapping for me!
Where the player thinks is making a sweater!

 

Now we are talking. A game that makes the player responsible for actually doing the boring bits of your job. Then you aggregate the results into something meaningful.

I hear it's working well for protein folding scientists.

 

I worked in a restaurant off and on for 8 years. For that reason, I could never bring myself to play Diner Dash, even at the height of its popularity.

I have always had a sick desire to make a "realistic" military FPS sim, though:

• You are The Rifleman! A standard-issue, E-4 rifleman. You follow the orders of your team leader, who takes his orders from the squad leader, who does what the platoon sergeant tells him to, who acts on the instruction of the platoon leader, who is a fresh college graduate and totally lost on what to do.
• Drive one of 3 outdated and under-maintained vehicle types available to your unit! In order to drive a vehicle, you must first get the appropriate log book from the supply sergeant (who is nowhere to be found, so you'll spend 2 hours trying to find someone who is authorized to sign out the log book to you first) and then find the vehicle in the motor pool. Mini-game: negotiate a three-way agreement with the vehicles blocking you in on how to get out of your parking spot.
• Shoot at the same paper targets every year, ensuring you'll be fully prepared to engage the real enemy, as long as the enemy sits still at 50, 100, 150, 200, and 250 meter distances from you. Learn that he's not worth shooting at if he's at 300 meters!
• Train hard, or at least until it's time to head back for chow. Argue with your friend in 2nd platoon that you totally shot him like 3 minutes before he shot at you, and if your damn MILES gear was working for once, you'd have hit him. Accuse your friend of removing the batteries from his harness, and insist that 2nd platoon is where they put all the idiots!
• Experience combat like you never imagined, hanging out the top of a multi-million dollar vehicle designed specifically for the brutal conditions of the desert, that still can't seem to stay running for more than a few days without some type of major maintenance procedure.
• Find your enemy. Seriously, who the hell are we supposed to be shooting at? Even when something blows up, there's no way to tell who had anything to do with it. Accuse any civilian that happens to look at you for too long, and detain them until the Lieutenant can question them through the assistance of a local interpreter, whose translations seem iffy at best and downright suspect at worst.
• Count the days until you'll return home to your family, while trying to think of how to explain your experience to them, including your grandfather who participated in WW2.
• Spend your cash on stupid stuff at the base PX, like bootleg video games and the Complete Steven Segal movie collection compressed into one, unwatchable DVD. Hurry, if you don't spend it quickly enough, your wife back home will take it all and leave you for your best friend upon your return!
• Battle the VA as you pretend to have back problems in order to collect partial disability. Abandon that effort when they ask you why you never reported to sick call for the problem in country, and instead decide you have PTSD from that time someone on base you didn't know was shot 4 miles away from where you were.

Note: The post above represents a collection of actual events I witnessed or experienced combined with sarcastic interpretations of those performed by others. I do not claim - nor have I ever claimed - any type of injury to be covered by the VA. 2nd platoon is composed almost exclusively of idiots, though.

 

You forgot duty/ECP and random formations at all hours...also SNCO's hiding in tall grass.

 

That vaguely sounds like Minecraft. LOL

OK the most boring job I had as a kid was envelope stuffer. I don't know what it was really called, I think it was free labor.

 

Who can start an open source game project call MineYourMesh for micropayments...

 

What about painting the grass green and peeling potatoes as punishment or is that just the movies?

 

By movies, I assume you mean Bugs Bunny cartoons. I have to imagine a lot of that stuff was based on military experiences that some of those animators had during their time, which differs significantly to how the military operates today.

While at basic training and during my summer training periods (National Guard here), lower enlisted personnel were often assigned details like kitchen duty (where we really only washed dishes, swept floors, wiped tables) or ammo detail (constantly loading magazines with the appropriate number of rounds at a firing range), I never had to peel potatoes and certainly never painted any grass.

 

Is your job truly boring? Or have you simply not found a way to make it entertaining?

 

Make a game about making the most boring game you ever made

 

That reminds me of one of the early VR experiences people made Guillotine, that would be a fun addition to that experience, although might require sick bags (assuming it's the player's head rolling down the lane).

 

My most boring job involved sitting in a shack in a desert. Well, until the warplanes came in for arming/disarming, then it got a little noisy. When there was a weapons system malfunction, it got a little interesting.

 

The most boring job I ever had was as a programmer and no you couldn't make a game of that.