I was wondering if this was going to be about simulators. And sure enough...
And um, yes. I have played them a lot. They're only boring if you don't invest any time in understanding them. (well, sometimes the scenarios in train simulator especially can be a bit dull)
Still, taking train simulator as an example, take a German train, turn on all the warning and protection systems, and do a frequent stopping run, and you'll see just how much concentration it takes not to mess it up constantly. XD
But then again, I love simulators.
Euro Truck Simulator is just weird, it's strange. This is one that I would legit describe as 'boring but interesting'. Very hard to describe why, but it somehow manages to keep your attention even though it actually IS boring at the same time.
Train Simulator - Can vary from dull to very involved, depends on what train, route and scenario you choose, and how much you are willing to invest in realism. - Use a more complex train, and turn on all the systems, and actually try and pay attention to what you would be expected to do in reality, and it can get quite hectic. Use a simplified train, ignore realworld rules, turn off the complicated systems, and run a very basic scenario, and sure, it can get quite dull...
It's very much a game for people that have enough interest in the topic to care about the details, not just random casual play. (Which is why it's so dissapointing to see Train Simulator in particular constantly seeming to forgo accuracy and simulation detail for shinier graphics. It's like they are willfully ignorant of what keeps their audience interested.)
Xplane - A flight sim. Given it'll let you fly from one side of the planet to the other, you can do a lot.
It's fun to mess about with, especially in more exotic or larger aircraft most people have little hope of ever flying.
It's also got a very capable plane creator that can predict, to reasonable accuracy what a given design will do in the air. It does this well enough that some aircraft manufacturers use it for very early tests of new aircraft designs.
Small aircraft are also fun to fly sometimes, though again, it's more fun if you know something about flying in the real world. Because it can simulate most of the conditions pretty well.
It also has been quite helpful towards my lessons.
While it won't teach you proper technique, and you realise as you have more lessons you've been doing a lot of things wrong, it actually has proven to help a lot with piloting a real aircraft.
And as you learn new techniques and skills for real flying, you can demonstrate and practice most of them in the simulator. (It falls flat in at least two areas though; Radio communications, and 'side-slip' - The first because the simulated radio traffic is just far too different from what you really hear and say in the air, and there is generally far too little traffic actually doing what you would expect them to. 'side-slip' is a specific issue which is very easy to judge in a real aircraft, but challenging to even notice in a simulator. This is because in the air you can 'feel' it immediately if the aircraft is slipping sideways in a turn, but in a simulator you only have visual reference to go by, and it becomes much harder to judge)
Anyway, whether such things are 'boring' or not depends on what you do with them I'd say. And how much interest you actually have in whatever it is they simulate...
It really doesn't surprise me that many people find them dull. But it also doesn't surprise me that others do not. Because it's down to what your interests are, and what you actually end up doing with them.
