Redd, I agree with you that the older players in the game should show by example.
From my years of teaching I've found that how players end up is a direct result of what they learn in the game in the first 6 months of playing.
It seems 90% of all new players have the idea that dogfighting is where it's at. You get to drink, high rank, awards and you get the girls. Everything else comes second. They ALL start out in fighters. Remember this point. Training them is another story. Everyone learns at different rates and when you have 4-5 students at a time you have to train to the slowest in the bunch. Alternatively, some guys used to find it acceptable to get 2 of the 5 up to speed and let the slower ones slide.
Now, the MA is no place for a newby to fly when he's had no training. It's pure death, over and over. The learning curve is high. Just getting his views and stick set up takes an hour or more. And he hasn't even flown yet! Cutting thru all that rhetoric it's safe to say the newby gets discouraged and starts accepting (in his mind) second best but because it's a cool game he wants to continue to try and fly. Let me interject here that there really are alot of guys that like to bomb, too! Back to our newby. He wants to play but figures he doesn't have a chance in the dogfight arena. His alternatives? Bomber or tank driving. So now you see a bunch of bombers up and tank battles. The game is evolving and as long as people migrate away from dogfighting, mindsets are going to change.
We have on average, 3-4 newbys show up in the TA a day. This is a direct result of advertising by the powers that be. Many of these new folks really have no idea what the game is about. In fact, many ask," Ok, I'm here, what am I supposed to do in this game?" They have a mouse. No stick and are just looking at this point. They get a warm welcome and begin finding out more about the game. Many have come from other games. Not necessarily flight games but FPS type games. You die, you get back up, you die you get back up. Kinda like Tomb Raider. Eventually if you die enough you at least moved a lil ahead and learned to get to the next level. To them what's the big deal about dying or bailing? It's a game!
That's the mindset. Now they show up here expecting to find like minded people they can play with. Instead they get bad mouthed for doing what they think is fine. 'Nuff siad on that.
Is there a fix? Yes. But people have to want to help. And remember, just like the new guy who's gonna be spending his money to learn and play the game there are all of us who pay and want some quality time when we are here. How many times have you been flyng the MA and heard someone say, "how do I take off?" And, what's the normal response? "Read the manual" or "go to the TA". Why? Even though the answers are correct, it says to the new guy "we have a limited to time play and don't really wanna spend all of our quality time answering silly questions. That's why we pay our monthly fee to have fun!" Ok, true statment.
What's the fix? Bad mouthing someone? NO! Helping them along by all the older players? Yes!
Quite a few years ago I became a trainer because I wanted to give back to the game and I also had some selfish motives. I wanted the new guys to learn well so I could have enjoyable dogfights iso just clubbing baby seals. I never held anything back from the new guysl It was a win-win proposition. I get good fights, they get good fights and could go out and handle themselves in the arenas. And, they flew as fighter pilots because that's what the game was all about.
Two night's ago I spent 2 hours getting 4 guys set up to fly. We were alone at a seperate field. When we were done. they could fly without losing sight of their enemy, not black out and were having alot of fun as a fighter pilots.
Last night I spent 1 hour getting one guy set up. The result was the same. In both instances, these guys were pretty much, first timers. No real tactics at this point just basic stuff.
I'm not trying to toot my own horn. I'm trying to say there ae a limited number of trainers and it takes alot of time just to get people set up. We can spend hours every single night just getting them so they can "see". Think of hour many hours a required to get em anywhere close to being able to stay alive in the MA. All the films put up by those are nice eye candy but if you don't understand why the moves are being made they ain't much more than a pretty movie and the inputs are missing. Value? Ok, for experienced players. Not much for newby's. For some guys with egos, they are "here look at what I can do". You have to understand, see it in person, then do it of you want to learn.
So how does the community help newby's? When they get up let em tag along and learn from you. Leave your ego at the door. The time you get yer head too big is the day you get shot down by some guy up on his first day and all he can see behind him is his headrest. Then the whinin starts. Leave you BS opinions about how some dude plays to yourself and help iso try and show everyone what a sick ego you have. If you do that you won't see alot of bailing. BTW, how many people have been shot up and had their tail shot off from 15k up. You gonna spend all day riding it down or bail and pull the rip at 600 ft? Like I said before, the only reasons that Captain's go down with their ships is because the lifeboat is full.
Has anyone ever seen any Damned bad mouth new guys? You won't. Our guys have too much class.
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Ren
The Damned
