1. On your first point, you are correct it is a game. And with any GAME there is sportsmanship (or gamesmanship if you prefer the vernacular). How you play a game is directly relevant to the game itself and those that play it.
2. As your or teaching comments.... there is more to teaching that just NOT saying something is wrong. Why would you not teach your children that it is wrong to 'throw dynamite'? By your illustration, what you have taught is to not take any personal responsibility and just go some where else. You have let SOMEONE ELSE run you off from where you wanted to be. I encounter this everyday. People want safe communities, they want a drug and gang free neighborhood, but when authorities need information or assistance we get, "I don't want to get involved." Well, you can't have it both ways. Nothing in this life is free. You must pay some cost either fiscal or personal, but the cost must be paid by someone. Now am I really suggesting your confront every armed dynamite throwing lunatic? No, my point is rather than 'just go somewhere else' be a part of fixing the problem. Take some responsibility for the community in which you participate and correct things that are amiss.
3. To your sportsmanship remark.... I refer back to point 1. You were correct first when you said it is a game. This is NOT war simulation. If we played the game exactly as we do now, but changed the graphics to Mario's riding clouds and throwing mushrooms, would this still be a "War Simulation?" IRL, war means death and destruction. AH people do not really die. IRL, wars are fought with limited resources to include, money, guns, people, ships, planes, tanks, and food. When was the last time you sat in on an AH Budget planning session? When was the last time that you went to the hanger in AH and found it EMPTY? You were 100% correct when you said, "ITS A GAME". Lets call a duck a duck... AH is a game. There is nothing WAR about it. And, because it is a game, there is gamesmanship. We have all paid for the right to be here. That makes it a community. As a community, we set our own morals and standards. If you teach those standards, then the community thrives. Failure to teach standards turns us into mob and eventually the MOB will DIE OUT. (ie... no more AH)
4. You said you teach "HAVING FUN TRUMPS ALL". Really? Is that what we have become? A group of "I only care about my own personal instant gratification?" It is a game and it should be fun. Just like football is a game and should be fun. It would be fun for me to score a touchdown on every play. To that end, I have decided that everytime I am about to be tackled, I am going to pull out a gun and shoot the opposing player -- now I can score every play! Won't that be fun! Yes, that is an extreme example; but, the point is made. It is about fun, but it is not just about YOUR OWN satisfaction.
Clearly, you are set in your ways, and I don't expect anything I say here to make any major life altering decisions for you. But I would encourage you to think about what has been posted here. The attitudes you express go far beyond just being in AH. I would submit that they are not only unhealthy for AH, but can be an unhealthy life philosophy. Forget AH for a second. Take a stand. Don't let 'dynamite guy' force you to go somewhere else. If it is your pond to fish, then fish it. If 'dynamite guy' blows up all the fish in that pond, where are you going to fish next week? We all have a right to fish in the pond. The key is to NOT let one person take all the fish. We have to protect that pond so that we can all ALL continue to enjoy it. That takes responsibility and it takes action of some sort.
and, that brings us back to Fugi's original post.... why not teach new players and squads to break up the monster horde? Why not teach new players NOT to HO. How much more fun would they have if they learned long term skills rather than short term self-gratification? It is a matter of mindset NOT code changes.
With Respect, 
Jeff
i would like to respectfully disagree with some of the things you pointed out.
refering to the "dynamite guy", it looks to me as if you are implying that we simply take away his dynamite and don't let him fish in the pond anymore (correct me if i'm wrong). what we should rather do is point out that eventually the dynamite could blow up prematurely, meaning death. also tell him that the fish might get damaged by the blast, and he might not do it anymore, instead learn to fish in a way that won't disturb anyone, and in return catch a fish that will satisfy him and make him feel accomplished.
on the topic of sportsmanship, i do believe it is needed in a game. i believe in a "fair fight". granted this is not always the case, as i always come across a 3 v 1 or a 5 v 1. however when i'm in a 1 v 1 dogfight with someone, i generally try to make it fair. for instance, if i shoot out someone's radiator, or control surfaces, i typically leave them alone, as they will soon be no threat to me or my comrades. or, if i get one of my control surfaces shot out, i don't run, as my foe shot me fair and square, so i keep fighting, because there is no actual threat to my life, and i will live to see another sortie. i avoid the HO, unless my foe opens up on me, in which case i fire back. if i get in a picking situation, i don't pick the guy who i can down in seconds, i pick the guy who will present a challenge to me (i.e Spit XVIs, P-51Ds).
THAT BEING SAID, if for instance i'm being chased by 4 or 5 cons, i'm going to ask my buddies to come help me out, and then i will fight a much more managable 1 or 2 v 1. i don't consider that being a bad sport, even though some will argue against that. in-game i risk my virtual life to save my wingmen, and i expect the same from them.
on the topic of having fun, i think you mistook what he intended to say. he and I teach our relatively young squad that the game is not about score or getting kills, but in fact it is about being able to virtually fly these birds, and fly with a sense of camraderie. what we are doing in this game is re-creating, in the best way possible, air combat durring WW2, which is very much a peice of our history. if we fly as friends, and as respectable players, we will have fun. it is not simply for personal satisfaction.
i agree completely with your statement that this game is in no way a simulation of war. i also agree that the way you play makes the game. i still believe the AH community is the best online gamming community there is, and if the community were anything like the people i have encountered on Xbox Live, i would have stopped subscribing a long time ago.
with regards,
Wildcat
