Idea: atc roguelike, the highest setting is the U.S. where you randomly don’t get paid sometimes
Not The Onion
Welcome
We're not The Onion! Not affiliated with them in any way! Not operated by them in any way! All the news here is real!
The Rules
Posts must be:
- Links to news stories from...
- ...credible sources, with...
- ...their original headlines, that...
- ...would make people who see the headline think, “That has got to be a story from The Onion, America’s Finest News Source.”
Please also avoid duplicates.
Comments and post content must abide by the server rules for Lemmy.world and generally abstain from trollish, bigoted, ableist, or otherwise disruptive behavior that makes this community less fun for everyone.
And that’s basically it!
You also have to work 2-3 positions at the same time, without the required equipment to accurately monitor the location of planes, with faulty alarms going off multiple times per day, and you get blamed if you lose concentration for a second at the wrong moment.
What do you mean there's no quick load on this game?
Dude, you can’t save scum your way to coordinating the airspace.
Future News Headline
FAA under scrutiny after air traffic controller terrifies numerous passengers because he was bored.
Don't pilots already do that?

Here's an idea: offer to pay for their education and give them a stable career with a comfortable salary, comprehensive benefits package, and room for advancement.
Oh, what's that? You won't, because then billionaires wouldn't be able to treat them like slaves? Well, suck it then. No ATCs for you!
reagan made it untenable for people to be one, plus very limited age you have to be one, and to retire "early" than 60.
Reagan really set us up for a lot of shit that came later.
Someone on Lemmy recently told me that was "great person fallacy." Like what the fuck? No it isn't. The man is directly responsible for a whole bundle of decisions which fucked the US (and the world) over for decades, and we're still dealing with the aftermath. I don't know why anyone would try to defend Reagan, and using an argument against hero worship to do it. Makes no sense...
oh man that sounds so fun. Let me sign up to work abusive hours in an understaffed underpaid position that requires a high level of skill and multitasking using outdated technology. Also I'll get to fight bees and bats on the way to my un air conditioned office at the top of a tower because the elevator has been broken since 2007
As a bonus sometimes you get to work a second job because the paycheck stops randomly
oh and you may or may not get on a waiting list, from what ive heard its quite long and then potentially go in the middle of nowhere to "TRAIN" for like 2 years, and then you have to get certs. and the salary(in cali its around 53,4k starting salary)? its laughable for what you go through. and you dont get to choose locations of employment. Might as well use all that time to become a nurse, which makes way more.
Sounds gamers are over qualified for that
"What's up chat, today we're going to be routing traffic at LAX--whoa, is that Elon's private plane?"
The FAA wants to recruit children as ATC because most people who have been alive for longer have seen how quickly the FAA will fuck them over and try to get them to work for free while striking is illegal. I wouldn't even consider working ATC before like $150k/yr based on all the "work without pay during the shutdown" fuckery I've seen from the FAA during my lifetime
The more desperate someone is - and also red-pilled - the more likely that they will accept working under those, or any, conditions.
i took a quick glance at cali, starting salary, its abysmal low for how long and expensive to become one, at around 53.4k for starters. basically its like being a teacher.
It's amazing to me that there are not daily crashes.
Will they get paid, though?


yes but not a high salary, but a pretty low one if they can BECOME an atc.
Until the next government shutdown...
Wait... but the current one is still going on though!?!? (The 3rd one this fiscal year I mean, since October 2025)
anyone remember 2013 which is when I first learned that government shutdowns were a thing that existed and when they were an extraordinary occurrence? :'D
i'm gonna be honest, the idea that the government can allocate funding but not appropriate the funding is sophistry of the highest order
I know my hours of playing Tetris got me a job at the store bagging groceries. Employee of the month!
Tetris = bagging
Starcraft = air traffic control
Minecraft = architecture
Sims = HR
Pokemon = animal control
Assetto Corsa = Uber
Bad idea! You know they'll all rage quit.
"hello passengers, this is you captain..uhhh.... we're going to have to do another circle around Chicago because ...uhhh...our traffic controller rage quit and called us a bunch of f*gs"
the problem is that, its extremely restrictive to get in even to start school, plus you can be over 31, plus other DQs.
I think I read once that there was maybe two schools in the nation that could certify you. Hell it might have been one. So incredibly hard to get into, and producing an incredibly small number of trained individuals.
They will all have either psychological issues or previous cannabis use. Both are lifetime disqualifying conditions because the laws in force were written in the 1930s.
We're all going to die
This statement will always be true.
Strict drug testing as phyc evaluations. You can't even be on antidepressants. Good luck.
Oh dear god, they're going to hire AirForceProud.
Do you want ATC to tell planes to do a barrel roll?
I escaped from the airport in a plane as Trevor in GTA 5. Put me in, coach.
Fun fact: there've been a bunch of ATC simulator games back in the eighties to mid-nineties, but the most successful ongoing series seems to be ‘Air Traffic Controller’, which is of course Japanese. Aside from Windows, it notably includes versions for PSP, DS, 3DS, and several mobile ports that are probably only released in Japan.
Supposedly the series includes layouts of real airports, mostly Japanese ones.
A fun game is also Mini Airways, which also deals with managing the takeoff and landing of planes. According to this Game, I am NOT qualified for that job.
One would think that this game is from the same developer as ‘Mini Metro’ and ‘Mini Motorways’, but nope. 🤔
Better pay them massive signing bonuses. Otherwise they be like fuck no, thank you kindly.
From what I know about the FAA they would probably recruit a squirrel if they could get away with it.
Who qualifies as a gamer? Are much money can I expect to start off making with my Dark Souls no hit, no bonfire run on ng+?
100k+/year with pension and forced retirement at age 56. But you gotta be under 31 to be hired. It costs so much to train that they want to make sure they get at least 25 years out of you.
Wasn't that a Robin Williams flick?
That's been the norm for years in au/nz