Explanations
The community has grown larger, and not all of its members hail from the "prestigious line" of old aerial sim veterans who joined the great venture into the world of aerial combat simulations at the dawn of personal computers and electronic gaming. This "line", has experienced almost all of the changes in the field from text-based simulations to the latest games up to date. It met it's highest peak during the days of Air Warrior, War Birds, and subsequently first Aces High. This line of vets were the original "geeks", when playing computer games was not considered as something a respectable grown man should do. They formed the first WW2 combat sim community that overlapped each different games upto a certain poinr - when you met some guy in AW, you'd see the same guy playing WB, then you'd see him playing AH or IL-2 nowadays.
However, the advancement of technology in the field of computers have brought up games as a significant medium of entertainment. The market expands. Children nowadays consider games as the most favored form of play - "gaming" is now synonimous with "playing" for this new generation. We had young people playing baseball or basketball or soccer in the late 80's and early 90's. Nowadays they play computer games. This expansion in the gaming industry and market has brought into the world of WW2 simulation a significant "alien factor" which is unfamiliar to the "old line of vets" and their small community.
This new element in the sim community still does have a common factor as the "vets" do - curiosity towards the history of the second World War, passion towards flight, the urge to experience aerial combat which so frequently depicted in variety of sources such as books or movies. However, despite the similarities, the motives and expectations they have for combat sims is totally different from the "vets" all together.
The vets have more or less become accustomed to accepting the technical limitations in simulating aerial combat. Since there was no way to put up a big warring environment on-line at the beginning stages of on-line gaming, generally the thrill of aerial combat itself was all that mattered. The thrill of individual (or limited multiple) engagements was all they had and all that mattered. They loved enjoying the small aspect of it all- a handful few people, all good friends, locked in aerial combat flying historical planes. A very small, limited scale of depicting WW2 combat, but it was good enough for them.
Because there was nothing else, people competed to become a good pilot. An EXCELLENT pilot, as a matter of fact. There was no such thing as a 'war' going on which they could influence. Therefore, the spirit of competition and gaming fun was expressed through the only thing they could achieve while playing the archaic flight sims, packaged sims with limited multiplater capability, and the earliest on-line flight sims.
However, the "aliens" - the younger, newer generation of gamers which now coexist with the "vets" in the sim community, come from a very different background; they are accustomed to computer gaming, the internet age opens when they are teens, computer games become more sophisticated and complex, and new horizons opened for all types of games to be able to depict and recreate things which they could not do so before.
These "aliens" have totally different motives and aspirations when they see games like Aces High. They don't play it just for the fun of aerial combat itself - they play it because it is a total gaming experience, which at least loosely depicts the aspect of "war". Not only are they able to enhoy individual combat, they are also able top play a role in a larger scale which takes combined effort for many people to accomlish its final object.
Simply put, it is indeed a "race to reset". They view it as nothing else. It is the ultimate goal and the ultimate fun factor. Their emphasis in competition is not set upon the individual pilot, but how each one's "country" does in the virtual environment. Frankly, not only is there nothing wrong with it, but also there is no way to stop it. It is an inevitable change as long as AH community grows.
Predictions
The "vets" are entering extinction. The "aliens" are breeding like rats. Sooner or later, the line of the old vets will be lost, and the aliens will replace the flight combat sim world. Unless AH goes retro about 10 years and kicks out everyone who doesn't agree with the "vets", this tendency will go on and on until; 1) AH finally restructures its entire strat system to better accomodate such changes while balancing out/refining the weaker points of its gameplay, or 2) a better game comes out which depicts WW2 strat in a much more fun way.
There have been attempts at 2) - such as IL-2 series or WW2OL. However, problems in both of those games have prevented it from becoming the predominant game which would outclass AH. But it is only a matter of time until someone finally "gets it". While IL-2's limited MP capabilites is the single most limiting factor, its developers have recently announced aspirations to bring it up to the MMOG world. Whether this is only talk, or they are really planning on it is unknown. However, if there is any bit of amount of truth on it, then it'll become the largest threat to the survival of AH, ever.
Suggestions
The "vets" must understand this tide of "aliens" is something that cannot be stopped. It is an irreversible process. Therefore, if they cannot stop it, then they should learn to enjoy it.
Ofcourse, this implies that during the course of next five years or so, the MA format of Aces High must be changed. Many of the problems which persist in the MA that the "vets" view as unfavorable, is not necessarily associated with the "alien invasion".
In other words, the reason the MA is not fun for many "vets", is not because there are too many "aliens" around. It is because the game failed to accomodate the "alien factor", which in turn corrupted the MA into an abnormal display of brute power, rather than becoming a more structured representation of a "generic, WW2-ish, war" which should in theory, still contain many of the fun factors which the "vets" hold on to so dearly.
It is a failure of the outdated strat system which was never intended to accomodate the alienfolk that is accelerating discontent. As I have argued many times the AH strat system was by all intentions and means nothing much more than a simple "stage" which the "old vets" were meant to act on. They were nothing more than facades of a war which is comprised of a very simple component of territorial struggle - you barge in with deadly force, capture the field, advance in territory, repeat ad nauseam, and you win.
Consider the MA as a game of poker. The current MA is like people playing poker with an unlimited amount of money (or toy money, if you will). Because of this, the basics of playing a poker game is totally lost. People just raise and call stuff like hell. Bluffing doesn't work because the amount of money on the table is unlimited. People call wild shots, change cards in an illogical sequence, even counting the cards don't help. They don't think anything through. Who cares if they lose some money? The supply is unlimited.
However, if the MA can be restructured so it can better depict a generic version of war based on the image of WW2, (albeit without limitations by nationality in planes or by era of their introduction) then the problems will stop. Internal logic of the strat mechanics, and strategical aspects will become the "leash" which does not exist in the current MA. Each players of all three countries will be bound and govered by (simulated) realities war that will ultimately prevent them from relying on pure brute force to win the war. Each of the battles competing for air superiority will become more important, player movement and mobilization will become limited, logistics will intervene, and therefore, every plane or pilot lost in the air will gain some sort of meaning.
This means introducing real money in that game of chaotic poker. A new type of strat will ensure that. People can't just waste planes or flock to single places, go here and there at whim. There are now multiple factors to consider. And as soon as real money is put on the table, people start playing straight. All the subtle individual skills such as sharking or bluffing, card counting and stuff now works. The game becomes much more centered in winning with individual hands dealt.
Fuel and ammo supplies. Logistics and road systems. Economic facilities and attrition. Limited number of planes (or pilots) for field. Structured organization. Concept of different 'airforces', each taking charge of one of the two battle fronts a single country has. Introduction of ground forces. Changing the point of capture from individual fields to important economic/logistic points. Disallowing direct capture of ground targets by air forces alone. New radar systems.
No, "vets".
This does not make turn the game more "toolshed bustin' ".
It turns the game into "bustin' toolsheds more carefully and critically, which requires gaining local airsuperiority with limited numbers of planes, pilots, and resources... which in turn, will emphasize on small~medium scaled localized air combat of roughly comparable number of opponents on both sides... which will bring back some of the thrill of individual air combat which the current MA has lost."
