The Difference Between Then and Now

[zuii]

I think the biggest difference is that AW crowd was composed of aviation enthusiast's . They are here as well but there is a large component of gamers as well .

I think Hlbly is right. I hate games and computers, hated computers for years. The only thing that keeps
me in this "game" is a fascination with WWII aircraft. Without going into all the books I have read on the subject (and i dont claim to know much at all cause i dont) , it all started in 3rd or 4th grade with  "30 seconds over Tokyo"  then bout 8 months ago i find this place while trying to find articles on WWII aircraft.  For me this a game yet mabey a bit more of a fascination and respect for that era of fighter/bomber aircraft, and yes still a game.
But im no gamer.

(good grief, this prolly makes no sense, ill shut up for now)

zuii

[hlbly]

Makes perfect sense . I got my first computer after playing a game called Chuck Yeagers  Aircombat I think .

[Anaxogoras]

Good point.  I think flight sims used to be restricted to aviation enthusiasts, and now it's anyone who has a joystick and a modem.

[Oldman731]

Good point.  I think flight sims used to be restricted to aviation enthusiasts, and now it's anyone who has a joystick and a modem.

Yup.  Goes a long way towards explaining the greater number of war-winner....er, excuse me, goal-oriented players.

- oldman

[dtango]

This is very controversial topic.  I'll point back at AW and WB.  The bottom line is us aviation enthusiast aren't/weren't enough to keep them  afloat whether as a business or a community.

AW - ok EA bought them up then after awhile closed shop.  Why would EA spend good money to buy AW to only close up shop?  Are they evil and hate aviation games?  The most likely explanation is that they weren't making any money on AW.

WB - not dead but the community is near non-existent.  Hardly enough to make it interesting.

I'm willing to bet that the demise of AW and WB are related to lack of increasing player population and that ultimately is related to the gameplay of both these games.  Do a search on quotes from hitech on the topic regarding AH gameplay philosophy.  It makes for an interesting perspective compared to AW and WB especially with HT and Pyro having been involved in both of those in some form or fashion.

Tango, XO
412th FS Braunco Mustangs

[rstel01]

Let me preface this by the fact, I never played AW. I was more of a Jane's (USNF,ATF,FA,WW2 Fighters and MS F/S). I have always lived in the country and our connection speeds were until recently spotty at best. Any type of Air War online game at 28.8 (on the best day) frankly sucked.

Anyway from what I have found and seen about AW, it seems people are overly Waxing Nostalgic about it.

Classic example, I had Intellivision as a kid. I thought B-17 Bomber was the greatest game ever and was so blown away by it. So a few years my mom found my Intellivison in her basement, I took it home and of course the Intellivoice did not work. So I found an entire working system from someone, paid a bunch of money for a complete operational system w/intellivoice.

I am ready to play the greatest game ever and............... it sucked. Time marches on, maybe the memories were better than the reality?

FYI, the Intellivison B-17 Bomber commercial from 83:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=741_jmeRtv8

[Hap]

Bald, gameplay here in AH has changed when the # of barracks were increased, 3 bases became uncapturable, increased number of town ack, increased # of field ack, fuel no longer porkable to 25%, and maybe some I'm forgetting.

It's gone from a somewhat stragecially based game to a blast away something.

[DMBEAR]

FYI, the Intellivison B-17 Bomber commercial from 83:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=741_jmeRtv8

The best part of that game...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcaEdnFLb1U&feature=related

[E25280]

Bald, gameplay here in AH has changed when the # of barracks were increased, 3 bases became uncapturable, increased number of town ack, increased # of field ack, fuel no longer porkable to 25%, and maybe some I'm forgetting.

It's gone from a somewhat stragecially based game to a blast away something.

That's funny -- I thought all those things made the game more strategic, or at least more team oriented, instead of rewarding the lone porker who used to be able to shut down an entire front with a single 190 sortie.

[hitech]

AW Also had base capture. But all bases were not capturable.

[thrila]

I dread going back to the days of having all frontline fields up to 3 deep porked to 25% fuel.  Increasing min fuel available at a field from 25%-75% was the best change HTC ever made to AH.

[Grayeagle]

From AW lead artist perspective:

EA bought Kesmai because of the licenses the company owned.
I don't know if they actually evaluated any game that Kesmai was 'doing' ..
..I do know that the CEO of EA, Mr. John Riccitello, called an all hands meeting and blew smoke up everyone's butt about how they were goin to expand Kesmai and build our major products up ..and we all know just how well they did that.

From gamers perspective .. AWDos max server load was 30 players.
Some weekend nights you could not get in.
For hours.

Screw the graphics, it was all about blastin someone outta the sky.
Or vulchin the crap out of dweebs (like .. ohh .. Fencer's gang on Sunday nite, always takin off from B-1 ..evil grin)

Those who talk of 'chivalry' played a different game than I knew.
Ghost Rider, Stilletto, Mullah, Krazy Kat, Hoppy, Gonzo ..
..if you got in front of them in any way shape or form you were dead.
Period.

When I fly I will gun you in your chute if I have time and ammo to do it.
You may think it's chivalrous if I leave someone in their chute,
..but frankly the only reason I would is seein a bandit comin, or not havin ammo left.

And I will vulch you on the field till the cows come home if you let me.
-evil grin-

But . . that's just me and how I learned to 'play' in AW.
By those chivalrous players I named above.
And many others.

Nice shot of AW3 stuff there .. and some AWDos for the Munda scenario.
Love the one C-lander and alla targets he has to choose from
My kinda playin.

-GE (I still have boxed versions of all of 'em that were actually .. boxed)

[Delirium]

Alot has changed but the reasons imho are;

1. When AW first came out, the only ones that could afford it was adults (compared to our $15 a month).

2. Online games are common place now and quake and counter strike players (who are score monkeys) have eroded the Ah community.

3. Too many want to easiest path to victory, why learn ACM when you can fly with 32+ other guys in a huge squadron and roll base after base?

4. A vast majority of those that had some sense of chivalry are either so fed up they have left or have become so bitter that no one wants to emulate them.

[Shane]

The more things change the more they remain the same.  There's nothing new under the sun about gameplay or how players behave. 

The only thing that changes is one's perspective and YMMV.

[Murdr]

AW - ok EA bought them up then after awhile closed shop.  Why would EA spend good money to buy AW to only close up shop?  Are they evil and hate aviation games?  The most likely explanation is that they weren't making any money on AW.

I listened to John Riccitello's own words from the shareholders teleconference from the 3rd quarter of 2001.  I also read several former Kesmai peoples observations after the fact.  Mr Riccitello specifically said that their premium subscribership (which involved almost exclusively Kesmai produced games) were doing as well as had been anticipated (iirc it was somewhere between 25-35k).  He then went on to give pie in the sky projections ("Ultima Online numbers" was the example given) of what subscribership numbers the dot com division would deliver when they launched their in house online gaming products.  The fact is, from my research, which by the way is from primary souces, is that EA untimely decided to jump on the dot com bandwagon way too late to hit the "boom" numbers.  They had no product themselves developed at the time to offer, and shanghi'd established products as an interim solution.  The problem was that they had put too much money out, and did eventually have to answer about their books to both the parent corp. and shareholders.  The easiest way to make the books more palitible is to cut expenses.  The easiest way to cut expenses was to consolidate to the "in house" projects and axe everything else.  In my view none of that has anything to do with the merits of any individual game, its subscribership, or even reflect on the studio's producing them.  Again, the Kesmai products were "performing as expected."

So, all that said, what are you basing your assertions on?