Gyrene... So only 10 folks want no-icons?
Just 10 folks? As compared to all the dozens that have come in here and been shouted down and driven off as they comment about the no icons? It's a recurring theme, no doubt you've noticed. Some say the atmosphere has become Stalinist in the AvA. Those that dissent are shot! All you need do is mention the icons and the insults fly. The questioning of manhood begins. The inuendo and insinuation that you can't "cut it" or "hack it" or that you lack skill because you can't fly that way. It's been stipulated in the past that it's an arbitrary difficulty, not based in reality. It's challenging, but not realistic, that sort of thing. And yet even with that stipulation all the defenders of no-icons seem to revert back to the same language when the discussion comes up. Some keep it civil, some do not, but the general arguments are the same.
Given that stipulation, would you be making such comments about lack of skill and poor piloting and weakness of fortitude if, for example, the "challenge" was arbitrarly set to be "must fight the entire time with oil on your windshield"? Or what if the CMs had a toggle to set "tunnel vision" (like riding a blackout) and the entire fight took place that way? What if CMs could disable the ZOOM key?
While it IS a specific set of skills, they are ultimately useless outside of the narrowly defined setup you are using them in. The only way you become better in a situation like this is you learn to game the system. You play with the rules rather than the other players.
No icons is more of a crutch IMO. Most folks using no-icons defend it as a realism/immersion thing, but in the end it's an excuse to pick targets, to look for an easier kill. Hoping THEY don't see YOU rather than the other way around. The goal is always to catch somebody sleeping, while they're not spotting you.
Same thing as those requesting night-time arenas and night fighters.
Realism/immersion would be gathering 4 friends, sitting in the tower, taking off with no icons (not even friendly) and with FF enabled. You fly out as a wing, you engage as a wing, and you regroup and return to base as a wing.
Nobody could deny that description is far better for immersion, for fun, for overall entertainment. The reason it's not done is because this is a game and people want to get into the action quickly. To get to that action quickly we have many things like vox, like radio comms, like radar, like icons.
Unless you want to disable all of these things, including the clipboard map, including many other things built into the game, saying you turn icons off "for immersion" is not true.
It's to help you get kills without the guy you're killing being able to avoid it.
There, I've said it. Controversial, maybe, but there you have it. This isn't anything new (these ideas have been brought up before and yelled down and driven out of this forum before)
