How to explain Trainz in a nutshell to people who unfamiliar with it

I showed him a demo of what I was doing the other day and he said he could not understand what Trainz was all about. He said he failed to get the entertainment value of this game. He also said he need to take up a new hobby. He also said a friend of his had a train layout in his garage and he might be interested in my Trainz game.

He is age 58 and a die-hard NASCAR fan here in California. He is the type of fellow who spent $300 for a special headset to listen in to pit crews and drivers talking at the races.

He rides a Harley and is the kind of man who never owned a computer or even bothered to learn how to use one.

The point is that Trainz is not everybody's cup of tea. It certainly won't appeal to anybody who doesn't know how to use a computer. Railroad enthusiasm has largely died in America also.
We just don't see Lionel trains advertised at Christmas time on television anymore like we did in the '70's.

We Trainzing computer geeks are a rare breed, a special club in this world.

I was nice enough not to tell my old-fashioned technophobe train-hating NASCAR buddy that watching cars going around an oval track puts me to sleep real fast. :hehe:

Now, I have a question:

How does one explain what Trainz is all about in a nutshell to people who unfamiliar with this game, PC gaming in general, PC game simulators, railroads, trains and/or PCs?

I try telling people that it is a "virtual model train" layout for a lack of a better definition for the simple-minded but sometimes they still don't get it.

In all honesty you probably can't. They don't want to know. Their minds are made up and you are not going to be allowed to confuse them with the facts.

I usually start out with "You've heard of Fight Simulator 2 haven't you"? (I almost always get a positive reply). Then I say "well its the same idea but instead of flying airplanes you drive locomotives". I usually works (sort of, lol).

As for those who don't - they remind me of folks who are always extolling the virtues of "the good old days". So I ask them "so you are willing to live without penicillin, anesthesia, modern medicine, really painless dentistry, and so on? Of course they say no. What they really want is to be able to pick and choose what parts of the good old days they prefer while retaining the rest of modern advantages. Sorry flat earth society folks - time machines don't work that way.:hehe:

Ben

I've stopt explaning : "sóó , you are playing with little trains" ?

JonMyrlennBailey said:

How does one explain what Trainz is all about in a nutshell to people who unfamiliar with this game, PC gaming in general, PC game simulators, railroads, trains and/or PCs?

Click to expand...

It's simple. Collect all the excellent forum threads you've started, print them out, and force your friend read them. All of them.


.

Ahhhhhhhhh! Death by post(s)

Explanation in a nutshell.............3D Desktop Design / Simulation software with perks

I tell people that it's model railroading on your computer. That's simple enough.

Dinorius_Redundicus said:

It's simple. Collect all the excellent forum threads you've started, print them out, and force your friend read them. All of them.


.

Click to expand...

Bwahahahahahahahah!!!

Dinorius_Redundicus said:

It's simple. Collect all the excellent forum threads you've started, print them out, and force your friend read them. All of them.


.

Click to expand...

You sir win the internet lmao

I agree with post#6. After that, don't bother and get back to enjoying Trainz in your own way - whatever that is.

Ray

I tell people it is a virtual model railway with all the advantages of the real thing but at a fraction of the cost and space. I have a couple of N3V video for T:ANE and TS2012 plus some other bits and pieces downloaded from YouTube on my tablet to show people and describe Surveyor as 3D modelling. Mentioning that there are close on 400,000 items on the download station which can be freely downloaded and used in your sessions often attracts interest. Peter

It's a virtual train simulator, but unlike other train simulators, it lets you have freedom to build your own world to drive whatever trains you want to in it.

I know that you can build your own routes in Dovetail Games' Train Simulator, but it's very difficult to build even a simple route, let alone a really good-looking one. That's where trainz comes in. It's so much easier to build good-looking routes in Trainz. however, Trainz is something that's easy to play, but hard to master.

Tell them not to get involved in Trainz ... as there will be millions of problems ... and endless headaches ... error fixing ... and go play a Playstation platform game instead ... unless you really want to drive a boring train, down a boring track

...........and have a sleep inducing time on the forum.....

Doug

If they really want to know, it's a world in your computer where you can do just about anything you can imagine. With that power also comes the responsibility to actually do everything. Nothing happens unless you do something. Some people want all of that control, others would rather have a more passive experience. Depending on where they are in that spectrum, Trainz may or may not be for them.

Oh yeah, there are also trains in that world.

In a nutshell, one word:

Innovative

:wave:

Lokomotive

butler57 said:

Ahhhhhhhhh! Death by post(s)

Explanation in a nutshell.............3D Desktop Design / Simulation software with perks

Click to expand...

or just throw the original version in there face and say "Play your way up!".

JonMyrlennBailey said:

How does one explain what Trainz is all about in a nutshell to people who unfamiliar with this game, PC gaming in general, PC game simulators, railroads, trains and/or PCs?

Click to expand...

Step 1:

Don't.

Kieran.

Well this is an interesting topic...

I've been on the road in and around the Midwest and southern Canada. I brought my laptop with T:ANE installed on it so I could have something to do at the airport and hotels. I was sitting in the airport terminal waiting for my delayed flight to be called and started up T:ANE. There was an older couple sitting next to me and the woman's husband went off to get some coffee. She said boy her husband would love to see this, he as a basement full of those "big" trains which take up all the space.

He came back and sat down and we chatted. And then the questions started.

I explained that Trainz is a railroad simulator that let's one build routes as big as their imagination but only limited by their computer's capabilities. I used my own routes as an example with one of them being close to 300 miles in length. When I showed him the simple to use Surveyor, he smiled and when I showed him the route, his eyes widened. His wife looked at me and smiled as well as she was probably thinking that this would be a great way to clean up the basement, den, and garage.

A bit later, I showed him the in-progress older version of the Hoosac Tunnel route that Mike K (Steamboateng) is working on. I explained, without going into too many details, that he took National Geologic Survey information and maps and brought them in, in place, and then Mike put the details in. His eyes got bigger.

At the same time, I explained the different modules with Surveyor and routes being the layout and the building tools. He smiled when he saw me sculpt and flatten some land in a test route, then place track and details.

The thing is the people who have an interest in trains and model railroads will have an interest in Trainz. It's only sensible if you think about it. If the other guy has no interest in railroads or model railroads, and only likes race cars, no explaining about trains will get anywhere.