In the past I’ve mentioned I’m a fan of James Lileks, so it was kind of disorienting this morning to hit his site and see my quasi-famous RCT3 rollercoaster shtick in today’s Bleat. Hey! I’ve seen that one. Wait… I made that one!
And to comment on his point about using the game for building infrastructure: You know, I realize that’s the point of the game and all, but that’s not how I played it. Also, in spite of my movie of premeditated destruction, I didn’t do much of that either. When I was playing Rollercoaster Tycoon 3, all I ever did was fire it up in sandbox (free build) mode and play the world’s most in-depth videogame about landscaping. You have no idea. Trees, benches, flowers, topiary (in moderation) pools of water and attractive bridges over same. All colored just so. Arranged carefully. Once in a while I’d go crazy and throw in a ride (and then fuss around trying to cover up the ugly queue infrastructure with greenery) but only so I could lure visitors into walking through my meticulously designed gardens.
To grasp how demented this is you’d have to see the condition of my yard. On my block I’m that guy. The dandelion farmer. Everyone else mows and trims each spring, only to have my bumper crop of dandelion seeds float into their yard and try to drag the rest of them down to my lowest common denominator. Then fall rolls around and they rake their leaves, only to be buried under the brown and orange tsunami coming from my yard the next time the wind picks up. I’ll bet they’re praying I have a heart attack and my wife marries a guy more familiar with the basics of lawn care.
Outside, my allotted patch of earth runs wild to the endless vexation of my neighbors, and inside I’m working on a space to make the greens at St. Andrews look like the banks of the Amazon.
If they knew, they’d lynch me.
Added bonus: The video just broke 2 million views in the last couple of days.
Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.
T w e n t y S i d e d
