Who plays Kerbal Space Program?

[PsychSpec]

Hey everyone,

I'm pretty new to the game--I've only played a few hours so far--and just signed up for the community here. What I immediately noticed was how challenging KSP is. Part of this is the game not having the best tutorials (I'm grateful for all of the video tutorials out there), but part of it is the nature of the game. I got wondering what type of person finds this game compelling and interesting. I certainly do, despite being terrible at it. I'm currently working on my PhD in Educational Psychology, and I wonder if my interest in (social) science is one of the reasons I like it so much.

So why do others find the game interesting? Do you think it has anything to do with the path of study/career you chose? Or is there some other reason you are spending time with KSP rather than some other game?

[softweir]

I know that KSP attracts a lot of people with interests in rocketry, technology, engineering, flight (especially aerodynamics), astronomy, computing, astrophysics, pure maths, applied maths... OK, so most people are tech enthusiasts of one sort or another!

My interests are mechanics, engineering, science and technology, with a heavy interest in medicine as an offshoot of my chronic health problems. I like building things and understanding things, and found KSP to be a great outlet for both interests!

[Robotengineer]

<IMO> I think that engineers and technical people are attracted to it because it is Space, and it is *kinda* technical (it gets much more technical with mods). Then there maybe people who like it simply for the challenge, the people who want something that crosses Dwarf Fortress with Orbiter. </IMO>

[katateochi]

well, I grew up playing with lego...and then I became a programmer. I find KSP to be quite similar to both lego and programming, it has the creativity of lego (and coding, just without the stress of work) and a lot of the trial and error, experimentation and discovery of new techniques feels very akin to programming (but without the annoying customers/bosses!). I play it, no wait....I'm addicted to it (have been for several years now) because it's a fun creative outlet that poses interesting challenges (that explode when they go wrong) and it's open nature allows you to scale the challenges up as you go. The level of satisfaction when you get something for the first time is incredible, never had that from a game before.

I actually really really like the lack of any kind of built in tutorials. It makes the game more than just about discovering space, its about discovering how to discover space. Finding out little tricks about how to design or better approaches to piloting are more satisfying if you find them out for yourself (I think anyway). And as you say, there are excellent community tutorials if you really get stuck.

And that's the other thing that make KSP great; this community. So welcome to it!

[pearldrumbum]

I'm an Aeronautics/Aerospace Engineering drop-out turned Electrical and Acoustics Engineer. I also am a musician and rebuild classic cars and vintage motorcycles. KSP is literally the only game since Starcraft (1!) that I've invested more than a couple hundred hours into as I'm really not much of a gamer in general. Once upon a time I accidentally found a KSP video on youtube (round abouts .23 I think) and decided to give it a go. Needless to say my latest car restoration project has been moving along much slower over the last 1.5 yrs...

[Reddeyfish]

A massive part of why I started playing KSP was because of the frequent mentions of KSP in XKCD comics (tech/STEM/science webcomic, if you haven't heard of it).

[Megadeath]

Well, people from all walks of life enjoy it! For example, I'm a high school drop working in a bookstore. I'm pretty sure actual rocket scientists play too. (Didn't NASA contribute to the asteroid update or something?) All that's needed is a love of exploration and discovery, and either a basic understanding of some physics or a huge amount of patience and persistence. I also first heard through the amazing XKCD.

As Katateochi said, the community is one of the great parts of this game. welcome to it!

[almagnus1]

Just be careful of the Illuminati... there have been many confirmed sightings here.

[JetJaguar]

Well, I'm an Aerospace Engineer, and I work for the Navy supporting the F-18E/F program. I suppose that's why my airplanes always work. I'm into KSP because I've always been interested in jets, rockets, and science.

I discovered the game because my 4-year-old son loves Minecraft, and when he's not playing it he is watching Minecraft videos on YouTube. One day while watching his videos, he followed a link to someone's KSP videos and I was hooked!

Edited July 7, 2015 by JetJaguar

[Pipcard]

Right now, I'm a college student majoring in Aerospace, but my main inspiration was Orbiter, the other spaceflight sim. I knew about KSP ever since HarvesteR first revealed it on the Orbiter-Forum in 2011, but I didn't get it until Summer 2013.

[regex]

I'm a programmer by trade, largely self-taught, and I played tons of Dwarf Fortress, Minecraft, and many open-world RPGs. A guy I work with recommended KSP around 0.17 and things have never been the same.

[TheSaint]

I'm in IT (System Engineer), but I've been a space geek since I was a kid. Started reading science fiction when I was in grade school. I played Orbiter for a while a few years back, but it got old. I love KSP because of the design aspect. I can sit and tweak designs for two hours, then shut the computer down and go to bed and be perfectly happy. To me flying the ships is all about validating the design, getting somewhere with them is icing on the cake.

[SorryDave]

Most aerospace work I do is for defense, but that isn't really fun. It's work.

I play KSP because I am a space fan.

[Razhan]

I am a software developer at one of the big ones

I guess I am on it because besides software, I always like physics, space, explosions and all that stuff

Sadly, no one else in my office or friend group plays (and every time I try to explain, I think I gain a few points on "weird" scale), although I know there are a few players in the company

[Explorator]

I'm an engineering student, and from a technical standpoint its an a amazing thing. To design something without restrictions or to what restrictions you want to challenge yourself mentally. The game has really brightened my interest in aerodynamic engineering more than anything else because watching a 50 ton modified booster rocket with wings fly and rip itself is one of the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.

[justidutch]

I am a purple squid-o-phile, and have been hooked on KSP ever since I saw the .23 trailer.

[Soda Popinski]

Scientist (molecular biology). Dad is a mechanical engineer, and always encouraged my tinkering.

Into tinkering, building / wood working, sci-fi and space/flight simulators. Game is basically made for me.

Got introduced to KSP by another scientist.

Edited July 7, 2015 by Soda Popinski

[selfish_meme]

Network/Systems engineer, sci-fi fan, wanted to go into aeronautics but Australia is just too backwards.

[Fengist]

And just to show you how educationally diverse the KSP population is, for 20+ years, I was a truck driver. I've traveled to all lower 48 US states multiple times and driven well over 1,000,000 miles hauling everything from potatoes to ping pong balls.

Now, I create mods for KSP (and drive a school bus).

[Superfluous J]

I'm a career cube farmer who has had an interest in space since I could... well... ever. I've never taken a course in astronomy or anything like that but have always had a love for the subject. Everything I know about orbital mechanics and rockets were either learned from reading books or from KSP.

[Cairol]

Everything I built from Lego as a kid turned out to be a space ship eventually.

Today I'm a software engineer with electrotechnical background, Sci-Fi fan and very interrested in everything space related and how the universe works.

Airbus Aerospace and Defence is located close to my current working place. And it might happen in the future that I'll go that route with my job.

Naturally I like sandbox games like KSP and Space Engineers a lot. I also like other non-simulation space games. Just because of the setting.

[Alshain]

I'm a software developer. Typically front end. I specialize in software ergonomics (you know, those people that Microsoft chose not to hire when they made Windows 8), but I can do a lot of different things.

[kiwi1960]

KSP is a challenge... Life is a challenge.... I'll let you figure out why people love it.

[mikegarrison]

Aeronautical engineer here. 25 years of experience (all of it in aviation, not space). And yeah, I built space ships out of my legos too.

[Jouni]

I grew up with the usual geek stuff: Legos, science books, computers, and pen-and-paper RPGs. Soviet Union was still around when I was a kid, and spaceflight was one of the things they were still good at, so they obviously loved exhibiting their achievements to the citizens of a friendly neutral country.

That's how I got interested in space and spaceflight. Because I was living in a small country on the fringes of the EU, there were no spaceflight-related career options available. I drifted first towards physics and then to computer science. My PhD was in theoretical computer science, but I work at a genetic research institute, because there's much more research funding available in bioinformatics.