Okay time for me to go off on a rant here.
When I joined this game I knew about P51's and B17's. I saw the commercial and gave it a run. Bought a cheapo saitek joystick and did two weeks offline. I was HOOKED.
I found the boards and started, tentatively, posting to find the vibe and see what kind of people I would be playing the game with.
I guess I was one of the lucky 1% because I ran into people like Daddog, Murdr, Widewing, Outlaw, Rowdy, Yanksfan, Batfink, and many others that aren't leaping into my brain but were serious influences into the way I approached the game.
I flew the MA's but I was never really fond of them. Granted the 'old guard' were helpful to me and somewhat protective of the noob but the constant inconsistency of the arena just never felt 'right'. No offense intended. They were information overload to me and there never was a 'vibe' that I could get my mind around. I stumbled into the AVA one night and I found something that made sense (no this post is NOT and AVA ad so skip it if you feel like being a mouthpiece). I had a lot of fun in there even though I know I annoyed some of the regs. They kept their comments to themselves or at least between themselves and I learned quite a bit from them. Storch, in fact, was a guy that when it was slow would take the time to show me a thing or two I didn't know and still can't do on a regular basis.
I lived for squad nights when we flew as a team. We laughed and joked on the way to the target and fought the good fight and lived or died but it was always fun.
Life happened and I was forced to take a vacation from the game and I really didn't want to post my personal tragedies on the board so I was gone for two years.
I came back and there were some changes but none earth shattering. The one thing I have noticed is, overall, there's not as much acceptance of the new players. This disturbs me because the new target... players keep the game fresh gets frustrated and quits. Sure it's fun getting that 'kill' but isn't it more fun to teach someone up to your level so it's actually a challenge?
That is the one major thing I think this game is losing. Three years ago I could go into the TA and find 20 players and a trainer or two in there sharing information and learning. I was so regular in there I got asked on many occasions if I was a trainer. Now it's a ghost town most of the time.
So guys sit back, have a long think, and ask yourself a question or two. Sure you may be the most uber S%it hot pilet in the game but if you 'own' everybody around you in a 10 V 1 isn't that kind of boring?
How about giving something back to the game and taking the time to teach a new guy a thing or two? For that matter if you know something it's not illegal to teach a veteran player something they don't know.
Less 'chest thumping', less egos, and more making the game better and more challenging is more satisfying than my rank or score in my book.
As most of you already know I'm a clown. I look for the humor in every situation. I don't care about score, skill, or how I 'owned' you or how you 'owned' me. I do care about how I present myself to the new guy that wants to learn something and almost leaves because he was surround by smack talking, hoing, vultching, and dweeby aholes, that think accomplishing something in this game actually means something in the real world.
As I'm a horrible cartoon pilet but can make avatars fairly well at least I contribute something.
*puts rubber nose and floppy shoes back on
