And I am..... okay with that. I make that confession at the risk of stepping on some toes of some in the game that I have come to admire and respect.
I suppose a little background info would help explain this admission. In my pre AH virtual life in the skies of Fighter Ace my squad participated in KOTS (kings of the sky.. a squad vs squad event) every weekend for several years running and did very well for ourselves during that time. If the Aces of the Rising Sun guys heard me say this phrase once they heard it a thousand times... "you're either dragging or you're clearing".
After years of getting my jollys turnfighting my butt off in FFA, (Free For All... the DA lake on steroids, complete with air spawns, unlimited ammo and fuel and relaxed physics.) I expanded my horizons and took on the challenge of leading a squad into battle. Needless to say, the path to success in squad on squad competition is paved by clearing 6's as quickly as possible.
With literally close to a decade of that mindset in my background I still get lots of satisfaction out of clearing a green guy's 6... before the red guy gets him preferably. I still get lots of satisfaction from the appreciation shown by the green guy who might have been a complete stranger to me at the time. I, for the most part try to respect obvious 1 on 1's in the MA, and almost always ask if the green guy wants help.... if I fail to do so its normally a case of needing to make a split second judgment call where big picture thinking (ratio of green to red) influences my decision or I just know the greenie won't have time to answer before he dies. I will say this, thus far the appreciative greenies far outweigh the irate ones..... for my "assistance"...... sorry Dolby, I still feel bad about that one.
Apparently my "MO" is going to inevitably clash with the "MO" of others in this game whom I respect, as has happened a couple of times in recent nights. I enjoy the white-knuckle, hand shaking 1 on 1 as much as anyone but I have come to realize that in the melee that is the MA.... those uninterrupted 1 on 1's are to be savored not only for their enjoyment .... but for their rarity as well. Most 1 on 1's I enter into in the MA, I expect to be interrupted. Sad but reality.
For the record I would like to separate myself from some of the more notorious "timid" pickers in these ways... what I normally fly couldn't outrun 75% of the bad guys around me, and, unlike them, I WILL DA ya in a skinny minute. May not win, but love the fight and the learning experience a DA session provides.
Do I fit YOUR definition of a "picker"?
Nishizwa
