2023-10-29 09:05:43
Of all the things you can do on a weekday evening, tech journalist Rutger Otto didn’t expect to ever be in a Ryanair simulation made by teenagers. Yet he walked in dozens Robloxplayers board a virtual plane towards the capital of Montenegro.
Voor wie het niet weet: Roblox is een gratis gameplatform waarop je zelf spellen kan maken en uitbrengen. Het is enorm populair, met name onder jongeren. Elke dag loggen 65,5 miljoen mensen in.
Elke speler maakt een eigen poppetje waarmee hij online verschillende werelden kan bezoeken. Roblox wordt daarom als een metaverse gezien. Je kunt er chatten met bekenden en onbekenden, spelletjes spelen of gewoon rondhangen. En dus ook vliegen met Ryanair.
De Brit Sebastian Codling besloot in 2015 op elfjarige leeftijd een Roblox-versie te maken van de budgetluchtvaartmaatschappij. Wat begon als grap liep door de jaren heen flink uit de hand. Inmiddels telt het Roblox-project 80.000 leden en werken er 77 mensen uit verschillende landen mee om de vluchten in goede banen te leiden. In de simulatie zijn inmiddels meer dan een miljoen mensen meegevlogen.
Still a bit rushed
I want to see that, so I’m flying on a virtual flight from Krakow to Podgorica. I meet dozens of fellow passengers at the replica airport. Most players know where they should be, while I’m fiddling with my passport at the ticket machine.
I take my suitcase to the check-in desk, where an employee asks if I have anything to declare. That employee is a digital puppet controlled by a real person, like all the puppets at this airport. I see my luggage being taken away on the treadmill and a helpful employee takes me to the correct gate.
Although it is a simplified version of a visit to an airport, I still feel rushed. Because game or not, the gate is closed at some point.
Thijs (15) has worked his way up to director
Before the flight, I receive an online virtual tour of a digital airport from fifteen-year-old Thijs Gerritsen. The Dutch high school student shows me how much work is involved in the project. Airports of five cities have now been recreated.
Roblox is a game with simple graphics, but detailed consideration has been given to the design of queues, scanning at customs and which flight information is displayed on the screens. There is a private room for staff where the flight is discussed and where figures can put on the correct clothing for their position.
To work at the Ryanair simulation, you have to go through serious training. “People really get a kind of lesson,” says Thijs. “We then also test the knowledge.” It took the teenager several days to pass. He is now the club’s technical director.
Very recognizable: little legroom
Once on the flight it is very busy. People look for a place in the cramped box. “We make it as real as possible,” says Codling (now nineteen years old). The Times. “We are recreating the Ryanair experience. That means we cram people into a plane with little legroom and they have to pay extra for some extras.”
You have to pay for those extras with Robux, and you buy them with real money. What do you get in return? Think of faster boarding or access to lounges at the airports. It is not known how much money the makers make from this.
Don’t joke regarding bombs
I have a spot by the window. I don’t feel any of the cramped leg space, a major advantage of this virtual flight. Outside I see crew members loading the luggage. Someone in a cart tows the plane away from the gate. On board, a few people write in the chat that they have a bomb. Those jokes are not appreciated. If they don’t stop, the crew will kick them off the plane.
The pilot speaks to us with information regarding the flight. The crew is also introduced. Luggage racks and straps are then supposedly checked and the safety rules are reviewed once more. It’s a pretty serious role-playing game. Then we take off and we can order food. The crew ensures that everyone receives their order properly. For me: chicken and peas and a can of Fanta.
It is noisy on board the plane. Fortunately, all communication takes place via a chat window. As a result, you mainly hear the aircraft’s engine. Many players ask the crew members if they can go to the toilet. That’s the only way to walk through the plane.
From Roblox to a possible job in aviation
In total the flight takes half an hour. You don’t actually do much, except read the chat and look at the plane. Then the landing is initiated. There is consultation among the pilots regarding the adjustment of the camber flaps. The passengers are looking forward to landing. One person calls for a smooth landing, the other wants a bounce. It will be a buttery smooth landing.
“We have very good pilots,” says Thijs. But things sometimes go wrong and the plane bounces around the runway. Sometimes flights are cancelled. “The plane is made up of a lot of complex parts,” he says. “So sometimes things can go wrong.”
There are a few flights with Ryanair almost every day. And the planes are often packed. The makers themselves are passionate regarding what they do. Thijs was not at all familiar with flight simulations before he joined this project. Now he spends a few hours on it every day. “Ultimately I want to work in aviation and that’s really because of this.”
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