its not the only way to learn...but it is the best.
read or hear about it all you want, until you get out there and do it....nothing will sink in....muscle memory and all that jazz.
if this was the real world I would understand about being cautious......
flying to survive does one thing...... it makes you timid.
of course there are exceptions to every rule...Grizz flew to survive in the MA.......he and I butted heads over it....but he would go to DA and whoop some ass.
I won't touch on it being the "best" method...as I think that is a matter of indivdual preference...but i can see some of the advantages to your approach:
A. It is likely the
quickest method to develop the muscle memory, relexive reactions and instinctive reactions as you tend to compress the time needed to gain the needed experience.
B. The "careless" attitude towards virtual death gives you an edge on someone in the MA who is flying to survive.
Over the years I have mentally cataloged various cartoon pilot types and given them labels. Two of those lables come to mind here:
1. The
"Berserker"2. The
"Samauri"II wasn't careful I would catalogue you as a
"berserker" i.e.someone who throws themselves into combat careless of his virtual life...virtual death is his/her only aim and how it is dished out is of no concern. In your case , that wouldn't be the correct label. Your more of a
"samauri" i.e. You share the disregard for your and others cartoon life with the
"berserker", but you fight with skill, discipline and with what some would consider an honorable fashion (I.e. no or little HOing, etc). Both types I am wary of when confronting because their careless attitude towards survival makes them far more aggressive...willing to push a bad situation further than other, more cautious pilot types.*
I don't, however, think the word "timid" is fair either. I wholeheartedly agree there are "timid" MA pilots but many just fly with a more cautious approach because their ultimate aim is to land kills. There are several pilot labels I use for these, depending on their relative skill and experience:
1. The
"Legionary" - lowest skill level / experience.
2. The
"Centurion" - similar to above but more experience and skilled.
3. The
"Caesar" - extermely experienced and skilled.
These types all fly with discipline, want to survive, land kills, etc. In my mind the vast majority of MA pilots fit in these three catagories. The truly timid pilots have a classification of their own....I label them as
"Sheep" 
There are some other classifications I use I won't get into as I have already gotten way off topic. Sorry.
* I consider several current and former Muppets to be Samurai types. You, Changeup, Dodger, Redbull and (now) Pepprr come to mind. Based on what you describe, Grizz would be a Caesar.
