Fighting off dragons, controlling armies through a war zone and flying planes and spaceships at crazy speeds. There is no shortage of digital joy that people can absorb themselves into. Playing computer games can take them to the furthest depths of their imagination - and let them do all kinds of things.
So, when they are able to venture out into the real world, dine cheaply and mingle in the excitement of real life, isn't it strange that many people choose bog-standard repetition, and seemingly bland games for their digital fixes?
Whether this is running a hospital, building a housing estate or delivering parcels, an increasing number of people are jumping on the simulator game band wagon and playing simulator games that mimic their real life.
There is one such simulator game that hit the digital space at full speed late 2014. It's called Tube Tycoon. A game initially developed as a side project by a polish student, yet gained huge popularity shortly after its beta release. Tube Tycoon is a Youtube simulator game where players simulate running and growing a Youtube channel, with the sole aim of becoming a Youtube superstar.
Tube Tycoon gathered momentum after it was widely publicized on the global video sharing website - Youtube. Many real-life Youtube stars such as PewDiePie and Jacks Septic Eye reviewed the simulator game which skyrocketed it into orbit, commanding over 1 million game downloads within mere months.
As of March 2017 Tube Tycoon has had over 2,500,000 downloads making it one of the most downloaded independent games ever to be released.
A Mac version of the game was developed due to wide spread demand by avid Apple fans which increased the games downloads, popularity and fan base.
The developer has further plans to improve the game and a second version is likely to be on the horizon.
Tube Tycoon blogger and owner of a popular Tube Tycoon fan site - Andy Black, says that even though similar Youtube simulator games are hitting the marketplace, Tube Tycoon is still gaining in popularity.
Tube Tycoon is set to smash through another million downloads this year, and possibly more if a major release is announced.
To learn more about Tube Tycoon, or to download the game, visit the fan site at https://tubetycoon.net
