Trukz - Day 58

I've been playing the online game Trukz now for nearly two months and I still don't know what to think. On the one hand it doesn't take much time to play (I play for maybe fifteen minutes a day, total) and it's somewhat engaging. On the other hand, I still can't see the point of it, unless you can find a deeper meaning in clicking a "Next leg" button sixteen or so times a day. It may not matter if there's a point, and I'm starting to think that's how you have to think to enjoy it.

As I explained when I first started playing, Trukz is an online trucking simulation where you basically have a truck and drive loads from city to city. You make money by delivering loads on time and carrying the most lucrative loads you can. You can join a company, which gives you better money-making opportunities yet has a more rigid driving schedule, or go it alone and do what you please. In the end there's not much of a difference since you're just clicking a button to advance to the next leg of the journey anyways, wherever you may be going.

Of course there are improvements you can buy: better trucks, extra trailers, super chargers, CB radio, fuel injectors, etc. Basically stuff to increase your efficiency at making deliveries. The exception is the CB radio which is used for in-game chat. But since no one is ever on long enough to carry a conversation, and with no profile information to help you figure out if someone would be worth talking to, it's essentially useless.

There are offsite forums available, and maybe those are a little more hoppin', but they're personally not useful to me outside of maybe some game-related info I wasn't aware of.

No, the main thing of the game to me, and this is because I get a little OCD with this sort of thing, is the rankings. Each time you complete a delivery your Driver Rating goes up a little bit depending on how far you went (but getting speeding tickets will knock your rating down, so obey the limits!). Right now my rating is 21.57 and I'm ranked 173 of 8793 drivers. That sounds good, but I've noticed recently that the total number of drivers is steadily decreasing.

On the home page of the site they say something like "14,570 Truckers Simulated to Date", which is true in a way, except almost 6000 of those 14,570 are not "active" drivers; I think that's shorthand for "quit the game". I have to wonder sometimes whether I'm a dedicated driver or just rising up through attrition.

I don't know at what point I'll be over playing it; probably when my ranking is maxed out and I'm just keeping up with everyone above me. Or maybe when I get the best truck and the best improvements, driving the best routes. I have a feeling, though, that my ranking will max out before I make enough money to afford all the top items.

Now, I could start a company in the game and that would raise the level of excitement somewhat. But it also raises the level of commitment (managing routes/drivers/buying terminals) and I'm not looking to be a manager. Plus, if everyone in the game started a company, who would they hire?

I know it sounds like I'm putting the game down, and I suppose I sort of am, but I am happy with the fact that it's never fallen below my expectations. I think a lot of people join and think it's going to be a wild ride: driving all night, poppin' speed pills, running people off the road, all that fun stuff real truckers get to do. But it's not that. The game is essentially quite lonely and requires a constant low level of commitment for you to get anything out of it.

So if you're the type of person who likes feeling alone and can't be bothered to do anything about it, I can wholeheartedly recommend this game.