It's not actually a bait I'm throwing out Kermit, just another way of looking at what seems to a very common complaint. Your quest for decent dogfights is great, and shared by many, including myself. However, it's not shared by everyone, I doubt even shared by anywhere near the majority. To a person not on such a quest, a kill by the HO-method is simply that- a kill. If it's a kill on a known "ace", so much the better.
Let's look at a common scenario, and what actully is learned-
#'s guy merges with "ace". Ace is a bit too close, and allows #'s to think he has a shot, which he takes. Three obvious possible outcomes here- one, #'s misses, in which case he doesn't get a positive reinforcement for hitting, but recieves a negative reinforcement for missing, due to his loss seconds later when the ace kills him. Or, if #'s hits, he recieves a positive reinforcement for hitting (see's sprites) followed by a positive reinforcement when he recieves the kill. Or, three, he hits, but only pizzes off the ace, in which case the ace kills him, and #'s gets a negative reinforcement for not landing enough hits.
In case 1- negative reinforcement for missing the HO, leads to future attempts to perfect his aim.
In case 2- positive reinforcement for hitting, both in visual appeal (sprites) and in kill message, leads to future attempts to duplicate.
In case 3- positive reinforcement for hitting, but negative for not hitting enough, or well enough, again leads to future attempts to perfect his aim.
In any case, if the "ace" then complains about being hit HO, that could be a reinforcement either way. Negative only if the #'s guy cares about the aces feelings, or positive in any number of areas. He may actually enjoy making the ace unhappy, or causing him to whine, or value his kill more because he beat an "ace", or whatever. IMO, more positive reinforcement than negative, will lead to continued attempts to HO.
Posting on the BBS? Maybe negative (embarassment). Or percieved fame (just seeing his name tied to shooting down the "ace"), which is a positive. Or maybe nothing, if #'s has no knowledge of the boards, doesn't care to check, or doesn't see the post.
So, how do you stop the behavior? Ignoring it MAY work, but unless everyone does it, it won't. Even then, it may not stop, or may take a long time to stop. Negative reinforcement would be the quickest wa to stop it. How do we do that, other than with hits in the MA? If I shot every time you turned left, you'd stop turning left. If I shot you every time you HO'd, would you continue HOing?
Complaints on channel 200 have not shown much promise of eliminating the HO. Neither have repeated posts on the BBS. 1 on 1 training may work- one player at a time. But are they trained as fast as new players join and try the HO?
Is there another, better way? Or is it even necessary to eliminate the behavior?
Food for thought more than anything...
And here's the kicker- If the ace allows the HO to be successful, he's actually encouraging the behavior. About the best he could do under that situation is minimize the damage by ignoring the death. Any acknowledgement could turn into a positive reinforcement, and lead to the opposite behavior the ace wants to see.
