To be honest I've always felt like it was a bit silly since none of us are really dying. Feels like I'm taking it too serious when the salutes fly.
But that's just me.
It's a toon salute because it is a toon game.
The salutes we give in this game do not hold the weight of the salutes that have been given in the past to those who have bested them in a real life match where the most precious stakes are on the line --- life. Their life was more than thier own. Their life affected their mothers, fathers, spouses and children. Not only that, but they affected the considerable resources that a country sacrifices when a costly machine is lost in battle that would have otherwise advanced their cause.
Having said that, we play a game that makes sport of those stakes. We should all recognize that fact. Some don't and some do.
When we choose to play this game we understand that and factor the fact out that many people lost their precious lives and countries lost their precious resources in a war that we facsimile. To us it is purely a game and when someone beats us at it they deserve recognition for their triumph over us. There is nothing wrong with sending a salute when that happens.
Tonight a guy shot me down in a pony while I was in a 262. It was a great shot. I saluted him and sent him complementary PM's. I didn't ponder the 262 pilots that died to P-51's in WW2. He simply got me in the game I was playing. He deserved the salute.
