Microsoft Flight Simulator sees 212-storey tower mistakenly appear Melbourne

A 212-storey tower has mistakenly cropped up in a virtual Melbourne, and people are flying from all over the world to see it.

People are flying from all over the world to check out the world’s tallest building, which recently popped up in Melbourne’s northern suburbs.

Of course they’re not really doing that: the world’s tallest building is actually the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, international tourism is a mere memory, and Melbourne is in the midst of the strictest lockdown restrictions in the country as it battles a coronavirus outbreak.

The 212-storey tower dubbed the Melbourne Monolisk also isn’t real, it’s inside Microsoft’s recently released new version of possibly the longest-running computer game franchise in history: Microsoft Flight Simulator.

In Microsoft Flight Simulator a bizarrely eldritch, impossibly narrow skyscraper pierces the skies of Melbourne's North like a suburban Australian version of Half-Life 2's Citadel, and I am -all for it- pic.twitter.com/6AH4xgIAWg

— Alexander Muscat (@alexandermuscat) August 19, 2020

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The game is a popular one for people who are fans of hyper-realistic simulations of real world jobs, a genre that was once a joke on The Simpsons but now includes noteworthy titles like Euro Truck Simulator 2, Car Mechanic Simulator 2018, and even PC Building Simulator.

There are also cheekier takes on the genre such as Untitled Goose Game and Drug Dealer Simulator (much like the real-world drug game this one is more stressful than it is fun, though it is still pretty fun).

I needed to see it with my own eyes. It's so beautiful pic.twitter.com/8BQtJN4veo

— Boldly Distancing (@BoldlyBuilding2) August 22, 2020

Microsoft Flight Simulator is one of the original titles in this genre, in fact it’s even older than the software that made Microsoft a household name, predating Windows by about three years.

It’s been used by gamers and real-world pilots alike, who sometimes use the game to stay fresh, familiarise themselves with routes, or just for fun.

Chillingly, investigators in the puzzling mystery of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 reportedly found data on the pilot’s computer that suggested he used the game to simulate a similarly fuelled flight to head over the southern Indian Ocean until it ran out of fuel, less than a month before the flight left Kuala Lumpur for the last time.

The new tower sticks out like a sore-thumb in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020. Picture: Twitter / Alexander Muscat

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Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 is the latest instalment and the most detailed.

Unfortunately that hyper-detail has led to a few errors and here’s why.

The game used data from Microsoft’s Bing Maps (already we are off to a bad start) to simulate the entire Earth’s texture and terrain.

It also used Microsoft’s machine-learning Azure cloud technology to render buildings, clouds and other details, which in some areas relied on crowdsourced data.

Data mistakenly rendered Buckingham Palace as an office block.

Tech site Gizmodo actually managed to track down the Melbourne architecture student who accidentally entered the wrong information on OpenStreetMap, a “pretty boring” task that apparently formed part of his degree but which the class was never assessed on.

“It was very monotonous and I made a few mistakes but I was like ‘f**k it, I don’t care,’” the student told Gizmodo.

That mistake led to the ridiculous 212-storey tower (which makes a mockery of the maximum building height restrictions for the area and is likely too slender to stand up to the wind).

Relying on potentially sketchy crowdsourced data as well as artificial intelligence allowed the gamemakers to create a more lifelike world, but has also led to some amusing mistakes.

Can't stop laughing at this flight simulator in DC. pic.twitter.com/VeabjsQCaH

— Danielle Alberti (@DanielleAlberti) August 19, 2020

Aside from the Melbourne Monolisk, players have also reported the US’ Washington Monument being rendered as a skyscraper, and the UK’s Buckingham Palace being turned into office buildings.