Hi everybody.
I did originally retire in two thousand thirteen but within a few months returned to the company to “help out” for a few weeks due to personnel problems and that few weeks eventually has turned into two years (long story). However, at the end of this week I will again step into retirement for the second time.
When I originally retired in 2013 I had no doubts that Trainz would play a big part as a hobby in my retired life, which it did for those few months of the original retirement. However, this time round I have no such plans for Trainz at this point in time. For me the simulator and hobby associated with it has become too complex and heavy and something for computer orientated geeks and nerds rather than those who simply wish to develop their own routes or content in a straight forward hassle free environment.
The launch of T:ane with all its glitches has brought this forum to discuss little else but the complexity and depth of those difficulties causing many divisions among forum members which six months after T:anes original release date still pervade thus making the boring site that we see.
To add to the above, the IT gaming world surrounding the Windows-based PC has also changed out of all recognition. It is mobile gaming that is seen as very much the future enabling millions throughout the world to access their games on the move. Originally frowned on by the Windows PC fraternity as being lightweight apps not in the same class as PC gaming, it is time and development that has proved that thinking to be very untrue.
Above all other gaming apps in the mobile market it was “Angry Birds” that established the mobile gaming environment as a serious alternative to the long established but static desktop PC platform. I am one of the many millions who saw angry birds as enjoyable and hassle free gaming that seemed even at that time as already being lost on the Windows platform and perhaps more importantly could be accessed from anywhere during the course of your day.
Angry birds has been followed by other landmark games in the mobile market, for who has not in that environment enjoyed “Hay Day” or “Candy Crush” provided at low cost to their users and yet has made millions for their producers to name but two.
The Trainz franchise has always existed in a niche market within the much larger PC gaming market. However that Windows PC platform has now been superseded in many ways by its mobile counterpart which even Microsoft in its last financial quarterly statement acknowledged as being the future. That stated, for long-standing supporters of this simulator such as myself, it is the loss of the enjoyment in the hobby that is making us turn our backs on N3V and the simulator as much as it is the changing IT environment surrounding it.
On a lighter note, to celebrate my retirement at the end of this week me and the wife decided on a well-deserved luxury break which we booked last month. And where have we booked That celebration……. Paris
Bill
I have confidence that T:ANE will go beyond what even the devs have envisioned.
