[OrigamiPastrami]

I remember when Guitar Hero came out I didn't understand why anybody would play that instead of just buying a guitar. The point is the videogame itself is designed to be fun and remove plenty of other elements from the real life equivalent that focuses more on enjoyment and less on grinding it out. If you're thinking about "what have I accomplished?" instead of "I'm having so much fun!" then it might not be for you.

The other aspect is there are plenty of people that like to think like programmers, but have no experience programming and the barrier to entry for a videogame is substantially lower than even figuring out a "hello world!" program for someone who wouldn't even know how to pick a programming language.

[cole-k]

Your comparison hits home for me. I have been playing guitar on-and-off for over a decade (OK, maybe more like trying to play guitar) and I still really enjoy Guitar Hero.

It's instant gratification: I don't have as much fun practicing at .75x speed with a metronome to learn the hard part of a piece. Instead a video game tells me how great I am at "guitar" by being able to push buttons and strum on the beat, not to mention that I hear the sounds of my favorite songs come out when I do it.

For a similar reason, I like Rocksmith (guitar hero but with a real guitar), but the gratification is not quite so instant. They gamify the practicing part but I still need to do it, otherwise the part I'm playing actually sounds bad. And sight-reading is so much harder when there are more than 5 buttons.

[scarecrowbob]

As someone that plays music professionally and who enjoyed Rock Band, I think that the issue is a lot of folks find satisfaction in matering skills and checking off boxes that other folks design for them.

Designing a satisfying skill progression takes a lot of work. I know what I will have to do if I, say, take up mandolin again seriously, and it's daunting- and worse, maybe it won't even lead to a satisfying or useful end... I will still do that at some point. I had the same feeling about cello or pedal steel guitar, and they all turned out okay.

At the same time I totally understand why following simple tutorials, running a preset course, climbing an established route, riding already-cleared bike trails, or playing a video game with few possible outcomes can be satisfying.

[blueblimp]

I agree: a well-designed educational course can feel like a video game in some ways, in that you're learning at a high, consistent rate.

[alexjplant]

I can't stand Guitar Hero because it's nothing like playing a real guitar and I'm therefore no good at it. At least the Rock Band drums vaguely approximate playing a cheap e-kit and the vocal part has proper pitch detection... unfortunately a real guitar is hard to replicate with cheap plastic hardware. There's also the fact that memorizing a real song is easier than memorizing colored buttons because you can build a mental model of the song around your knowledge of music theory.

On the topic of complex games a la Factorio: I've been playing a lot of Age of Empires II with my friends lately and have come to enjoy it. I previously shied away from RTSes because I was terrified of the meta but I've gotten decent enough to consistently beat the CPU on Moderate. I have no shot of ever commanding an army of trebuchets and knights in real life so doing it on my ThinkPad via Proton is the next best thing :-D

[pinkmuffinere]

Omg aoe2 is so addictive! Some things you might enjoy:

- YouTuber “spirit of the law”

- watching some build order guides. Fast feudal and fast castle build orders are super useful

- watching commentated games of the Viper

[r3trohack3r]

Being someone who grew up on these games, I often think of the steep trade offs I made in childhood playing them.

If I’d spent all the time playing Guitar Hero playing an actual guitar instead, I’d be a real guitar hero.

I could also be a pro skater.

[zackbrown]

On the other hand, video games enable a wide breadth of intellectual experiences.

Being a simulated guitar hero and simulated pro skater is more enriching than the likely baseline of having zero experience with either.

And, video games can help in discovering real world passions — the number of guitarists who found their inspirational spark through Guitar Hero is likely significant. Same for Factorio or Minecraft -> programming.

[craz8]

If I could have got a steady hand with tweezers, I could easily have been a surgeon. Real patients probably don’t have noses that light up, which reduces distractions too!

[the_gipsy]

Maybe you would have tortured yourself and still wouldn't be any good.

[wiseowise]

But we’re talking about professional programmers here, not amateurs role playing.

[SauntSolaire]

So? There are a lot of not fun aspects of programming; Factorio is what it's like if it was all just the fun parts.