There are things you can "amount to" in this game?
Hehe, get outside more
It must just be how I consider the term "amount to" , I just don't see how doing something in a game could ever amount to anything.
If you check out the home page for HiTech Creations/Aces High, you'll note this thing called "Latest Tour Winners". Considering all games are competitive by their very definition as well as nature, winning a category in that list, or the KOTH, various events, FSO, whatever, would be considered "amounting" to success by a great many players.
As others have said, so far as amounting to anything in the world of gaming, there are other competitive games such as Starcraft, Counterstrike, LoL, DOTA, and others where teams of players now are paid in the 5 to even 6 figure range is just a starting salary. There are League of Legends and DOTA players earning 20 thousand dollars per MONTH from streaming/sponsorship income alone, not including prize money that they win or general salaries they are paid by their team/sponsors - a recent tournament was 400 thousand split between a handful of players. By anyone's standards making 6 figures+ playing games should be considered "making it", and amounting to something. Obviously AH isn't monetized like these other games, but the $ isn't necessary for competition to exist.
I think in terms of the community here, there is a great history of great players, an institutional memory of those who showed great skill and ability in the game over the years. IMO this would be what I consider amounting to something in a game that has had the very rare ability to last over a few years, since AH has been played through 3 decades now, the 90s, 2000s, and 2010s, and will assuredly hit the 4th.
All that said, there certainly are players who probably don't care about competing, and just use the game to relax or participate in WW2/history stuff they enjoy, but there is certainly room for those who want to play competitively and their opinions as well, without pejoratives thrown their way as in this thread.
edit - Junky, it was clear from Randy's first post he was upset about you killing him in game at some point, everyone who has flown with or against you knows that his criticism of your playing style and ability in the game is nonsense. NO can use logic to convince!