编者按
从农田耕种，到卡车运输，再到公共汽车驾驶，这些精确还原日常工作细节的游戏，为什么数百万人都在玩？和小Q一起来看看工作模拟游戏玩家们怎么说吧！
Unremitting attention to detail … Farming Simulator 20.
Photograph: Giants Software
坚持不懈地复制细节，模拟农场
图片来源：Giants Software
There is no escape for me this time. The rear axle of my pick-up truck is wedged on a boulder protruding from the mud in the middle of a deserted backwater road in Michigan. I’ve tried to attach a winch to a nearby tree to pull myself out, but it’s not working. I will have to abandon the vehicle, fit up another and try again. This load of timber is not going to deliver itself.
这一次对于我来说，没有逃脱的机会。我的皮卡车后轴卡在了一块岩石上，这块岩石是从密歇根州一条废弃的回水路中间的泥泞中伸出来的。我试图把绞盘和附近的一棵树勾在一起，把自己拉出来，但是不起作用。我不得不放弃这辆车，装配上另一辆，然后重新再试一次。这堆木材可没法将自己运走。
I am playing Snowrunner, the latest in a series of painstakingly authentic offroad delivery simulator games in which players have to haul goods through a variety of unforgiving landscapes at speeds that would shame a garden snail. Before each trip you have to select exactly the right vehicle for the job, fit the correct tyres and work out your likely fuel consumption to the nearest millilitre.
我正在玩《雪地奔驰》，这是一系列精心设计的现实越野交付模拟游戏的最新版。在这个游戏里，玩家必须要用让庭院蜗牛感到羞愧的速度，在各种条件恶劣的场景里拖运货物。在每一次上路之前，你要为接下来的工作选择正确的车辆，安装合适的轮胎，并且计算出你可能消耗的燃油，精确到毫升。
On the frozen roads of northern Alaska, there is no room for shoddy planning.
在阿拉斯加北部结冰的道路上，没有让你做粗略的计划的余地。
Over the last five years there has been a renaissance in serious job simulator games.
在过去的五年里，严肃的职业模拟游戏已经复兴。
Titles such as Euro Truck Simulator, Bus Simulator and Train Sim World have attracted huge fanbases and critical acclaim, each replicating its profession with unremitting attention to detail. In an entertainment sector where ludicrous power fantasies rule, where players get to be space marines, ancient warrior princesses and football superstars, it seems antithetical that 25 million people have bought Farming Simulator, a game in which your main challenge is to harvest a successful wheat crop.
《欧洲卡车模拟器》、《巴士模拟器》和《火车模拟世界》等游戏都将各自涉及专业领域的部分完美复制，精益求精，因而收获了大量粉丝与好评。在一些非现实的权力幻想构建的游戏世界中，玩家们可以扮演星际战士，古代的勇士公主，抑或足球巨星；但2500万人却反而购买了《模拟农场》，为小麦成功大丰收而奋斗。
Devoted following … Bus Simulator 18.
Photograph: Astragon
《巴士模拟18》的忠实追随者......
图片来源：Astragon
But it is the very precision of these games that has attracted such a devoted following. “Throughout development we gather a lot of questions,” says Julian Mautner at Stillalive studios, the team behind the Bus Simulator games. “When you turn the ignition key once, which functions of the bus actually work, and which icons on the dashboard light up? What happens afterwards when you turn it into second position? These are the details our players really care about.”
但正是这些游戏的精准性吸引了如此多的忠实粉丝。“在开发过程中，我们收集了许多问题，”来自《巴士模拟器》制作团队Stillalive工作室的朱利安·莫那说，“当你转一下钥匙点火时，巴士的哪些功能可以运作，仪表板上的哪些图标又会亮起？当你把车挂到二挡之后又会发生什么？这些就是玩家们真正关心的细节。”
According to Mautner, the studio has a partnership with its local transport company, IVB (Innsbrucker Verkehrsbetriebe), which they regularly visit to inspect real-life buses and take hundreds of pictures.
莫那表示，工作室与当地的因斯布鲁克运输公司（简称IVB）有伙伴关系。他们会定期参观考察真实的巴士，并拍摄数百张照片。
“We also talk to the bus drivers about their everyday challenges, about special situations or tricky manoeuvres they had to execute,” he says.
“我们还会向巴士司机了解他们的日常问题，特殊情况，又或是他们不得不采取一些棘手操作。”他说。
“That provides us with immensely valuable insights into the workings of a transportation company.”
“这为我们了解运输公司的运作提供了非常有价值的见解。”
In an unpredictable world, it is calming to open the doors of a bus at the right time, to give the correct change.
在一个变幻莫测的世界里，在正确的时间打开一辆公交车的门，挂上正确的档位，这是令人安心的。
Meanwhile, the coders accurately simulate all aspects of engine performance – gear changing, torque, acceleration – using information from manufacturers. The audio team makes more than 1,000 recordings of sounds from all around different buses. The artists recreate interiors exactly. As Mautner explains: “Nowadays we aim to get actual 3D data for the cockpits, because replicating the details from images and blueprints often led to small inaccuracies that the community noted.”
同时，编码人员利用制造商提供的信息准确地模拟了发动机性能的各个方面——换档，扭矩，加速。音频团队录制了1000多份不同公交车周围的声音。艺术家们精确地再现了车内环境。莫特纳解释说：“现在，我们的目标是获取驾驶舱实际的3D数据，因为从图像和蓝图中复制细节往往会导致玩家发现一些小误差。
The landscapes are vitally important, too. With truck and train driving simulators much of the appeal is the scenery that whizzes past as you’re hauling goods from Berlin to Bonne, or driving a Great Western train to Cornwall. “Real-world references are essential for the world creation,” says Ondrej Dufek, a project leader at SCS Software, the creators of Euro Truck Simulator and American Truck Simulator. “Google Earth, Maps and Street View are a vital tools and sources of photo references. On YouTube, there are also videos from truckers who drive across various states and countries, commenting on their surroundings and pointing out interesting stuff. Information about elevation, economy, industries, markets, traffic density, freight routes, weather, even demographics – everything is important and helps us decide what roads and cities to put in our world.”
风景也至关重要。有了卡车和火车驾驶模拟器，当你把货物从柏林运到邦内，或者开着西部大火车到康沃尔时，吸引你的是呼啸而过的风景。“参照现实世界对于创造虚拟世界至关重要，”《欧洲卡车模拟器》和《美国卡车模拟器》的创建者、SCS 软件公司的项目负责人翁德里·杜菲克说：“ 谷歌地球、地图和街景是重要的工具和图片的参考来源。在YouTube上，也有卡车司机开车穿越不同州和国家的视频，他们评论周围的环境，并指出有趣的事物。关于海拔、经济、工业、市场、交通密度、货运路线、天气，甚至人口统计的信息——所有这些都很重要，帮助我们决定在游戏世界里要修建什么样的道路和城市。”
Not just for pernickety obsessives … Train Sim World. Photograph: Dovetail Games
不仅仅是为了吹毛求疵的痴迷者…火车模拟世界。
图片来源：燕尾游戏
“Sometimes we’ll take photos straight against a wall so our artists can see what kind of brick is being used,” says Matt Peddlestone, a senior producer at Dovetail Games which makes Train Sim World. “As you go down a route, the supplier of the brick changes because the bricks are being made locally and the colours of the building will change. We want to capture that.”
制作了《火车模拟世界》的燕尾游戏的资深制作人马特·帕尔斯通(Matt Peddlestone)说：“有时我们会直接对着墙拍照，这样我们的艺术家就能看到墙面使用了哪种砖块， 当你沿着一条路线走下去时，因为砖块是在当地制造的，所以砖块的供应商会改变，建筑的颜色也会随之改变。我们想抓住这一点。”
It’s easy to think of hardcore sim fans as pernickety obsessives, but there is a quiet joy in interacting with these lovingly replicated systems of lights, switches and signals. In an unpredictable world, it is calming to open the doors of a bus at the right time, to give the correct change, to set the heating system correctly, to obey the traffic signs. It is gratifying to see a button, to press it and to know something will happen.
人们很容易把模拟游戏的死忠粉认作是挑剔的上瘾者，但这些灯光、开关和信号系统精心复刻了现实，与它们互动有一种寂静欢喜的感觉。在一个变幻莫测的世界里，在正确的时间打开一辆公交车的门，做出正确的改变，正确地设置供暖系统，遵守交通指示，这就让人感到安心。看到一个按钮，按下它，就知道会发生什么，这是令人满足的。
“I play simulators because by their nature they are internally consistent,” says fan Melissa Harper. “If you’re playing a game and you’re in a cockpit, and you can’t press all the buttons, that absolutely slaughters the experience for me. But in Microsoft Flight Simulator, you can press all the buttons, and they all do something. That’s SO satisfying, and then you can learn what they all do.”
粉丝梅丽莎·哈珀(Melissa Harper)说：“我玩模拟器，是因为它们本质上是内部一致的。如果游戏里你正坐在一个驾驶舱中，却不能按下所有的按钮，这绝对会破坏游戏体验。但是在《微软飞行模拟器》中，所有按钮都能按，每个按钮都有各自的功能。这太太太令人满足了，然后你就可以摸索这些按钮是做什么的。”
Her favourite example is the ultra hardcore Stormworks: Build and Rescue, where you run your own sea rescue service. “It’s the most brutal game I’ve ever played,” she enthuses. “You have to make the whole plane yourself – and all those hundreds of buttons? You have to place them by hand! The developers just toss you into a ridiculously complicated editor and say, ‘Hey, it’s only aircraft propulsion and electrical engineering, how hard could it be? F*** you.’ It is my favourite game.”
她最喜欢的模拟游戏是超级硬核的《风暴工程:建造和救援》，在这里你可以经营自己的海上救援服务。“这是我玩过的最凶残的游戏，”她兴奋地说。“整架飞机都需要你亲手制作——飞机里的上百个按钮？你必须手动把它们装上。开发人员只是把你扔到一个异常复杂的编辑器中，然后说，‘嘿，这不过是飞机推进系统和电子工程罢了，能有多难?你自己安装去吧！’这是我最喜欢的游戏。”
First build your own aircraft … Stormworks.
Photograph: Green Man Gaming
首先，建造一架属于你的飞机... 风暴工程。
图片来源：小绿人游戏
All the simulation developers I spoke to know that some of their players are professionals in the field being simulated. The Train Sim World creators are quickly told when a siding has been placed in slightly the wrong position, or if a certain signal outside Stratford never shows a green light, only ever yellow because that’s the way it’s been wired.
我采访的所有模拟器开发人员都知道，他们的部分玩家是被模拟领域的专业人士。如果一条铁路旁轨的位置被稍微放错了，或者斯特拉特福镇外的某个信号灯因连接问题从来不亮绿灯，只亮黄灯，那么很快就会有玩家告知《火车模拟世界》的开发者。
“Drivers send us tips,” says Dufek. “What truck stops and unique landmarks we should include, which parts of the roads are infamous for their difficulty (steep climbs, mountain passes).”
杜菲克说：“司机们还给了我们一些小建议，比如我们的应该包含哪些卡车停靠站、独特的建筑地标，还有那些因条件艰难（陡峭的岩壁、危险的山口）而臭名昭著的道路。
Beyond all this, simulators have an emotional and nostalgic value. Train Sim World lets players drive historical trains and journeys, which has allowed retired drivers to rediscover routes they once travelled every day. Fishing: Barents Sea Simulator was inspired by the life of co-creator Goran Myrland’s grandfather, a fisherman in 1950s Norway. “He owned a classic boat just like the Follabuen, which is in our game,” says Yasemin Hamurcu, COO at Misc Games. “He spent months with his crew on the rough sea to find the best catch, to earn money and provide for his family. His wife always worried about him, hoping he would come home safely.”
除此之外，模拟器还有其感性和怀旧的一面。《火车模拟世界》允许玩家驾驶历史上的列车和线路，这使得退休司机可以重新探索他们曾经每天行驶的路线。《巴伦支海模拟器》的灵感则来源于共同创作者戈兰·迈兰的祖父，他在上世纪五十年代的挪威过着渔民生活。米斯克游戏的首席运营官亚瑟敏·哈米尔库说：“他拥有一艘老式的船，就像我们游戏里的Follabuen一样。他曾和船员们在波涛汹涌的海上待了好几个月，只为了捕到最好的鱼，挣钱养家。他的妻子总是担心她，盼望他能平安归来。“
I have friends who drive for hours in Euro Truck Simulator, using the game’s real in-game radio app to pick up local stations. For me, Snowrunner has been almost hypnotic – it’s given me longer to take in the scenery, to get the feel of rural North America. Many players aren’t here for the authenticity of the equipment of the simulation minutiae; they’re here to experience a landscape in their own way, in their own time. A slow and steady escape.
我有几个朋友，他们在《欧洲卡车模拟器》里开车兜风，还用游戏内置的广播程序收听（游戏中）当地的电台。对我来说，《雪地奔驰》更像是一种慰藉，它让我拥有更多的时间去欣赏沿途风景，去感受北美田园。其实许多玩家来这里并不是为了体验细节模拟装置做得有多么逼真，他们只是来游戏中用自己的时间，以自己的方式去欣赏美景，权当是对尘世繁杂的一种解脱。
原文链接：
https://www.theguardian.com/games/2020/may/25/job-simulation-games-farming-trucking-bus-driving
编译|穆沁阳 杨林姗 赵寒旭 罗清婳
排版|靳晓乐
指导老师|刘佳
