Another point for consideration is - This (#2) is a NON-EVENT. People generally DO NOT think about what DIDN'T happen ... In the midst of a furball, they're not thinking ... WOW thank god I avoided a collision ... They're trying to achieve a gun solution, or running for their life in most cases. The FOCUS of attention takes place when there -IS- a collision ... not when nothing happens.
Ok, this is good! You're almost there, EVZ...
This is the person that has no clue about how the collision model works now, right? They're trying to achieve their gun solution... or running for their life... They're somewhat close to the enemy plane... And without their plane touching anything, they see a message in their buffer that says, 'Soandso collided with you.' and they fall from the sky in flames.
What do you think their reaction will be?
My guess and the assumption that the current model is built around is it's going to be something along the lines of, 'That was BS. I didn't hit anything and my plane blew up!' etc, etc.
However, with the current model, yes it sometimes sucks seeing a guy fly away after a collision, but when another plane hits yours, you had all the information available to you to avoid the situation. Regardless of what you were doing at that moment, at some point you could have reacted to him and made an attempt to avoid his plane. Because you didn't, or had put your plane in a position where you were unable to, he hit you.
Ability to trust what you're seeing, even with the downside it carries, creates much less frustration than going down to unavoidable collisions with invisible aircraft.
Wiley.