Fac.Up Your Life - the dream of playing Factorio while getting your rl shit done
Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2025 4:23 pm
Imagine playing Factorio for 10 hours – easy. Sit down, start the game, 10 hours gone – done.
Now imagine you need to solve a real-life problem that you have. One that you don’t want to deal with. For 10 hours. – That’s just nuts.
If you’re normal, like me, you will push it away for months, as long as possible. And even further.
What’s the difference in these two scenarios? – Of course, one is your favorite addictive game, and the other is something you don’t want to deal with.
That’s where I come in!
Hello, I’m UncleSchupp, and I’m a gamification nerd. Because I like games, and I don’t like chores.
One day, I realized two things:
- A lot of work and chores that I have to do are in front of my PC, and
- Sometimes, Factorio feels like a chore when I’m overwhelmed – but then I still don’t stop. I keep on pushing until the thing I want to do is done.
That’s how I came up with my idea, that I want to share with you today:
Fac.(torio)Up Your Life.
Short: Use the addicting part of Factorio to become motivated and get your real-life tasks done.
(or the other way around: wanting to see your factory grow so bad that you’ll do the thing you have to do, so you can keep building – the factory must grow.)
Let me give you an example: I’m currently writing my master’s thesis in philosophy. So I have to read, learn, think of a topic, and use those to build up arguments.
So, I give my problem to ChatGPT, and it provides me with a step-by-step to-do list. But what I would rather have is to see my master’s thesis project growing like my factory.
This is where the way Factorio works comes in handy, because you take stuff, and you put it into a machine, and then other stuff comes out until you have a science pack – which is actually just an empty thing with an abstract value.
My idea now is that I can just create stuff in the game, like coal, but I can name it something useful for my thesis. Then I put it into a machine, and the output is my goal. So, I can just name the item I put in, and I can write into the machine what it is doing.
(I admit, that sounds stupid, because it’s too easy – Factorio would also be stupid if you put coal in a machine, and your rocket pops out, and the game is over. So we need more complexity.)
That’s the part where I start to use Factorio like a mind map tool. Every machine is a thing that needs to be done (by me in real life), and every belt is an arrow connecting one thing with the next step.
(That’s still so simple, it sounds stupid and useless, but hear me out...
)
So, on one hand, I have to do things I like, like reading and putting thoughts on paper – since I like that, I know how to do it, and I don’t feel overwhelmed. But there are also things that drive me crazy, like, for example, working through my notes, which takes a lot of time and brainpower, and it’s kind of boring because I never know what I’m looking for...
So, I would use my Fac.Up Your Life system for those steps to visualize it.
I will have a button where I can spawn ore that I can name like I want. (Ideally, I can also choose from a variety of icons/pics for the stuff.) The first ore I create will be called “text” or “paper” or “page,” since this is the stuff I have to work with.
My “page ore” is moving on a belt to my first machine I call “reading.” So whatever the machine works in-game, is the thing I have to do in real life. So I read, let’s say, a paragraph or a page, and then I push a button in the machine.
The push of the button creates an output that I decide to call “notes.”
That is my first factory part. I read stuff, and I end with notes. No problem, this is easy for me – so you could say it’s useless to build that in-game. But the next part is hard for me, so I’m happy to build a machine that shows what I’m actually doing in real life.
I imagine it something like this:
I now have a pile of “note ore” icons on my belts, or I’ve even filled some boxes with it. But now comes the hard part... How do I work with the notes?
AND THIS IS THE GENIUS OF THIS WAY OF USING Fac.Up: I don’t know how to deal with my notes, and I don’t want to do it, so my brain is not working for it...
But what I know, and what I like, is how to make my factory work!
So, I build each step as a factory, and I check where the problem is because I can fix any chain of factory problems.
So, in my factory, I have “notes ore,” and I want to have a finished thesis. I need to make smaller steps; the thesis is put together by chapters, these are put together by paragraphs, these are built by sentences. So how do I come to sentences? – I need to know what to say. Where do I find what to say? -> In the notes that I took.
I hope by this point that I could make sense of this. By focusing on planning the factory, I made the thoughts of how to deal with the real-life stuff... So, whenever I get stuck in real life, I add a machine into my factory that solves that problem.
Let’s say I cannot motivate myself to start. -> That’s a tough question, but it’s an easy factory to build... I want a finished thesis, but I lack (let’s say) the energy to do something. What do I need to build and create now? A machine that produces “energy ore.”
Everybody is different, so the solution to this problem will differ from person to person... But you could try a few things... Like movement -> build a machine that takes movement and creates energy or motivation... Listen to a song or eat some chocolate... Whatever works for you! Try it, build the factory parts, and then try that in real life. If you feel overwhelmed, build a machine that dissolves that or transforms that into something else. Think about this way of giving yourself what you need and want, to be able to do what you need to do.
And now! Comes the next step for this idea:
You can (like with blueprints) name your machines and add text to describe what it does. And then you can share your blueprint of your factory of how you did something.
So, when my thesis is done, I share my factory blueprint. And if you need to write one, you have a step-by-step guide on how I did that. So, if you lack motivation, you can check how I dealt with that. Maybe that inspires you to come up with something...
You could even make an online course with that system. Imagine you have a “how to mod Factorio” blueprint, where every machine, every building is a step you need to learn. So you have, in every machine/building, one lecture that you need to know, and with every new building, you learn one more thing. Then you share this tutorial blueprint of your factory with the community. Now they can learn how to mod, by working through your blueprint. They can also add things and tricks that helped them and so on...
Do you know Anki? – It’s a flashcard program where you can make your own flashcards... There are thousands of flashcards for students and so on... Imagine these boring flashcards turned into your own factory blueprints!
I don’t know... But that sounds so amazing to me!
My ideas go on... Let’s take the one chore you hate the most. Let’s say it’s doing your dishes...
So, that’s a machine that creates “dishes ore,” and you “burn” the dishes with every use, and the machine produces new dishes forever... But! After some time, it gets rusty, so it doesn’t work anymore. You have no more dishes... What do you need to do now? You need to repair your rusty machine (that means in real life, you need to clean your dishes). But here’s the thing... In the game, you just push a button, and the machine spits out more dishes... But no, no! Now you need to think about how you can motivate yourself so much that you actually do it. For the sake of the argument, let’s say, getting a piece of chocolate cake or you can take a round of fun after you did it. That’s your process you come up with.
-> So the machine “clean dishes” gets rusty, you need another machine that makes oil, so the rusty machine can work again. Your real life is you have to clean it and then have the cake, or a round of fun, if you’re not into chocolate.
Another example: Let’s say you fight all the time with your partner, or maybe you don’t have a partner but want one... Hard topic, but not if you build a factory out of it!
you have the product "having a fight with partner - ore" and you want the solution "peaceful realation - ore"
well.. what skills do you need to have, to change that? i dont know... you dont know, but what you know, is how to build a factory! so what does your factory need?
your ore is "fighting" why? how did that come? you know your side of the story, so build a factory for that. now... do you know your partners side? yes? than build that factory next to yours. so if your partners factory, doesnt make sence, or you dont know their side at all.. what do you need? more info to make the factory work. so talk with them. find the information. and then you built a factory that fits their stroy.. now you can check, if you agree with that fatory design.. its not wrong, its maybe just very different. -> all of a sudden you are thinking about hard topics, but you also built your factory. isnt that great?
i also have szenarios for the ennoying boss, or what ever... just think of the possibilitys that this community has in terms of making hughe processes to change one thing into an other.. and then we share this things with our blue prints!
i think its only minor changes in the game, but the possible output is endless!
so now comes the downer... of course i dont know how to programm, so i wanna find like minded people, who would help me build this, and share it with the world.
this was just a very small peak to see if this is of some interest. but i have a lot more ideas and systems how to make that work. also some "blue prints" in a mind map tool... so please reach out to me, if you like that idea or if you have some input!
this is the first idea in my life, that only got better and better by thinking more of it, instead of finding a ton of problems...
im looking foreward to hear from you, and if you know some people that could like this idea, please share thank you a lot!
Cheers!
Now imagine you need to solve a real-life problem that you have. One that you don’t want to deal with. For 10 hours. – That’s just nuts.
If you’re normal, like me, you will push it away for months, as long as possible. And even further.
What’s the difference in these two scenarios? – Of course, one is your favorite addictive game, and the other is something you don’t want to deal with.
That’s where I come in!
Hello, I’m UncleSchupp, and I’m a gamification nerd. Because I like games, and I don’t like chores.
One day, I realized two things:
- A lot of work and chores that I have to do are in front of my PC, and
- Sometimes, Factorio feels like a chore when I’m overwhelmed – but then I still don’t stop. I keep on pushing until the thing I want to do is done.
That’s how I came up with my idea, that I want to share with you today:
Fac.(torio)Up Your Life.
Short: Use the addicting part of Factorio to become motivated and get your real-life tasks done.
(or the other way around: wanting to see your factory grow so bad that you’ll do the thing you have to do, so you can keep building – the factory must grow.)
Let me give you an example: I’m currently writing my master’s thesis in philosophy. So I have to read, learn, think of a topic, and use those to build up arguments.
So, I give my problem to ChatGPT, and it provides me with a step-by-step to-do list. But what I would rather have is to see my master’s thesis project growing like my factory.
This is where the way Factorio works comes in handy, because you take stuff, and you put it into a machine, and then other stuff comes out until you have a science pack – which is actually just an empty thing with an abstract value.
My idea now is that I can just create stuff in the game, like coal, but I can name it something useful for my thesis. Then I put it into a machine, and the output is my goal. So, I can just name the item I put in, and I can write into the machine what it is doing.
(I admit, that sounds stupid, because it’s too easy – Factorio would also be stupid if you put coal in a machine, and your rocket pops out, and the game is over. So we need more complexity.)
That’s the part where I start to use Factorio like a mind map tool. Every machine is a thing that needs to be done (by me in real life), and every belt is an arrow connecting one thing with the next step.
(That’s still so simple, it sounds stupid and useless, but hear me out...
)So, on one hand, I have to do things I like, like reading and putting thoughts on paper – since I like that, I know how to do it, and I don’t feel overwhelmed. But there are also things that drive me crazy, like, for example, working through my notes, which takes a lot of time and brainpower, and it’s kind of boring because I never know what I’m looking for...
So, I would use my Fac.Up Your Life system for those steps to visualize it.
I will have a button where I can spawn ore that I can name like I want. (Ideally, I can also choose from a variety of icons/pics for the stuff.) The first ore I create will be called “text” or “paper” or “page,” since this is the stuff I have to work with.
My “page ore” is moving on a belt to my first machine I call “reading.” So whatever the machine works in-game, is the thing I have to do in real life. So I read, let’s say, a paragraph or a page, and then I push a button in the machine.
The push of the button creates an output that I decide to call “notes.”
That is my first factory part. I read stuff, and I end with notes. No problem, this is easy for me – so you could say it’s useless to build that in-game. But the next part is hard for me, so I’m happy to build a machine that shows what I’m actually doing in real life.
I imagine it something like this:
I now have a pile of “note ore” icons on my belts, or I’ve even filled some boxes with it. But now comes the hard part... How do I work with the notes?
AND THIS IS THE GENIUS OF THIS WAY OF USING Fac.Up: I don’t know how to deal with my notes, and I don’t want to do it, so my brain is not working for it...
But what I know, and what I like, is how to make my factory work!
So, I build each step as a factory, and I check where the problem is because I can fix any chain of factory problems.
So, in my factory, I have “notes ore,” and I want to have a finished thesis. I need to make smaller steps; the thesis is put together by chapters, these are put together by paragraphs, these are built by sentences. So how do I come to sentences? – I need to know what to say. Where do I find what to say? -> In the notes that I took.
I hope by this point that I could make sense of this. By focusing on planning the factory, I made the thoughts of how to deal with the real-life stuff... So, whenever I get stuck in real life, I add a machine into my factory that solves that problem.
Let’s say I cannot motivate myself to start. -> That’s a tough question, but it’s an easy factory to build... I want a finished thesis, but I lack (let’s say) the energy to do something. What do I need to build and create now? A machine that produces “energy ore.”
Everybody is different, so the solution to this problem will differ from person to person... But you could try a few things... Like movement -> build a machine that takes movement and creates energy or motivation... Listen to a song or eat some chocolate... Whatever works for you! Try it, build the factory parts, and then try that in real life. If you feel overwhelmed, build a machine that dissolves that or transforms that into something else. Think about this way of giving yourself what you need and want, to be able to do what you need to do.
And now! Comes the next step for this idea:
You can (like with blueprints) name your machines and add text to describe what it does. And then you can share your blueprint of your factory of how you did something.
So, when my thesis is done, I share my factory blueprint. And if you need to write one, you have a step-by-step guide on how I did that. So, if you lack motivation, you can check how I dealt with that. Maybe that inspires you to come up with something...
You could even make an online course with that system. Imagine you have a “how to mod Factorio” blueprint, where every machine, every building is a step you need to learn. So you have, in every machine/building, one lecture that you need to know, and with every new building, you learn one more thing. Then you share this tutorial blueprint of your factory with the community. Now they can learn how to mod, by working through your blueprint. They can also add things and tricks that helped them and so on...
Do you know Anki? – It’s a flashcard program where you can make your own flashcards... There are thousands of flashcards for students and so on... Imagine these boring flashcards turned into your own factory blueprints!
I don’t know... But that sounds so amazing to me!
My ideas go on... Let’s take the one chore you hate the most. Let’s say it’s doing your dishes...
So, that’s a machine that creates “dishes ore,” and you “burn” the dishes with every use, and the machine produces new dishes forever... But! After some time, it gets rusty, so it doesn’t work anymore. You have no more dishes... What do you need to do now? You need to repair your rusty machine (that means in real life, you need to clean your dishes). But here’s the thing... In the game, you just push a button, and the machine spits out more dishes... But no, no! Now you need to think about how you can motivate yourself so much that you actually do it. For the sake of the argument, let’s say, getting a piece of chocolate cake or you can take a round of fun after you did it. That’s your process you come up with.
-> So the machine “clean dishes” gets rusty, you need another machine that makes oil, so the rusty machine can work again. Your real life is you have to clean it and then have the cake, or a round of fun, if you’re not into chocolate.
Another example: Let’s say you fight all the time with your partner, or maybe you don’t have a partner but want one... Hard topic, but not if you build a factory out of it!
you have the product "having a fight with partner - ore" and you want the solution "peaceful realation - ore"
well.. what skills do you need to have, to change that? i dont know... you dont know, but what you know, is how to build a factory! so what does your factory need?
your ore is "fighting" why? how did that come? you know your side of the story, so build a factory for that. now... do you know your partners side? yes? than build that factory next to yours. so if your partners factory, doesnt make sence, or you dont know their side at all.. what do you need? more info to make the factory work. so talk with them. find the information. and then you built a factory that fits their stroy.. now you can check, if you agree with that fatory design.. its not wrong, its maybe just very different. -> all of a sudden you are thinking about hard topics, but you also built your factory. isnt that great?
i also have szenarios for the ennoying boss, or what ever... just think of the possibilitys that this community has in terms of making hughe processes to change one thing into an other.. and then we share this things with our blue prints!
i think its only minor changes in the game, but the possible output is endless!
so now comes the downer... of course i dont know how to programm, so i wanna find like minded people, who would help me build this, and share it with the world.
this was just a very small peak to see if this is of some interest. but i have a lot more ideas and systems how to make that work. also some "blue prints" in a mind map tool... so please reach out to me, if you like that idea or if you have some input!
this is the first idea in my life, that only got better and better by thinking more of it, instead of finding a ton of problems...
im looking foreward to hear from you, and if you know some people that could like this idea, please share
thank you a lot!Cheers!
thats just me 
