Gamer or Simmer
I watched a show on PBS the other night about the evolution of the video game, it was a good show, but it might have just answered a few lingering questions I’ve had about Aces High it’s community and the ever present ‘two camps’ syndrome which seems to prevail every topic raised. I do not and will not pretend for a second to speak about the community as a whole or even two majorities, it’s an individually based dynamic entity constantly evolving, and answers to it’s ailments will be just as fluid.
After seeing that show, I’ve come to the conclusion that the community is loosely split between gamers and simmers, as mentioned before on this BBS. I understand more about the ‘gamer’ after watching that show. Some observations, the gamer is always in charge, if not in control, of the situation. Most gamers play roles where they are not themselves, whether through ‘god’ type games, or ‘rpg’ games. The purpose of many ‘games’, is escape from reality, or fantasy, by immersing yourself in a world full of situations where you can act any way you wish, because you are not playing as yourself. In fact it would be impossible to act as yourself in many ‘rpg’s, since staying ‘in character’ is what it’s all about.
The simmer, ‘flight simmer’ in this case would rather be in control of the situation than in charge of the game. Simmers play as themselves, by this I don’t mean they put their Soc. Sec.# as their CPID, I mean they are playing as they, themselves, would handle the situation in RL. Control of the aircraft is before gaming the game. Simmers are less inclined to be the crowd rushing off to buy the biggest machines, because graphics were just an added bonus to the early Flight Simms, and they ran on miniscule machines.
What’s this got to do with anyone here, well a few things..
(a)when an old MS Flight Simmer like myself sees all the people shooting down folks who say they can’t afford upgrading, I get confused? We’re not ‘gamers’, for many of us, the only game we play is a flight sim, (that’s my case anyway) so constant upgrading is new to us. Again just a misunderstanding between two worlds, the gamer and simmer.
(b)When a person comes from the ‘rpg’ gaming world , where they’ve never played as themselves and therefore their only community involvement has been anonymous, they might feel as if they can get away with acting in a different manner, then they would in RL, as themselves. This would make it very difficult to form a sense of community.
(c)Finally I want to mention the aviation community. Firstly and foremost, that is the category most of us fit in. We all love airplanes. We wish we could swan about poking the clouds and buzzing the fields. Even for those of us who do fly in RL, we can’t do what we can in a simm. Ultimately the respect I hope returns to this community, can , and will only return when gamers and simmers alike aspire to show the aviation community the respect it deserves
So what to do?
Next time think before you speak.
I find it a bit odd that the same guy that has a touching saying in his signature showing respect for a WW2 pilot, turns around and spews vile trashtalk at another guy with a similar sig, in a game that is supposed to be a kind of testimonial to our lasting respect of all WW2 pilots.
Before you start ranting and flaming someone, think first, maybe that person just finished spending 50 hours on the making of that last scenario you enjoyed so much.
Be a good sport. Maybe that guy you just flamed for shooting you down was enjoying a quiet fun moment in an otherwise very difficult day. Don’t wait to find out the same guy has a sick kid in a hospital somewhere to say your sorry, don’t say it in the first place.
I'm not perfect, lol, by no means, I don't flame anyone , but I can ramble on range, or type to much, I'll fix that.
Well that’s about enough of your time, thanks for listening and I look forward to watching as the good folk in this community take it back.
CYA up there.
