It's the stats is what's killing "the game". The metrics drive people to play timidly giving them the idea they're good players if only because their stats say they are. I don't play the game that way. Lot of players that go back as far as I do don't either. To us it's about the fight. I fly, I fight, I live, I die, I get another beer and another plane. No big deal. I don't fly nearly as much as I used to but when I do I still have fun. Last night after FSO I was on til the wee hours and found plenty of action with some guys that weren't afraid to mix it up. <S> Yucca, Horble, Violator. Of course there were other guys just breezing along that never really engaged anybody. I guess they're the stats guys. <Shrug>
Stats are a great thing and, of course, stats don't lie! But they can be a two edged sword. I'm a baseball fan and I look at how stats/sabremetrics are literally changing the game in recent years. Defensive shifts, launch angles, pitching specialists have changed how the game is played. But that's how these guys get paid! The bunt and the stolen base have all but been removed from the game to the point of a generation of players that don't even know how to do it anymore! Launch angles make for all or nothing swings so you either make really hard contact our no contact at all! I heard an interview with Gary Sheffield. He was like, man if ever struck out a hundred times in a year I couldn't look people in the eye! Now 200 Ks are almost normal! But it's all good. You got 40 home runs. So you get paid!
Don't know if that analogy makes sense. I was trying to point out that stats can drive players in certain directions for whatever motivations they might have. Seems that is at least a factor in what's happening to our game. I look at my stats now and then. Usually just to see how pathetic my gunnery still is after all these years!
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