Skurj: I understand the consequences of 'penalization'. There could be a lot of complaints, and following orders around would sometimes piss people off. But generally, in real life, missions given out to pilots were MEANT to be followed, and lower rank pilots were MEANT for subordination.
I'm not exactly envisioning a full-time militaristic dogmatism here, but just that the basic concept behind this arena seems to have a goal in recreating WWII combat conditions a bit more intensely, and we all know "how the battle was carried out" was in the end, dictated by orders given out. Seriousness and intensity of air combat, in my opinion, cannot be portrayed without depicting the disciplinary conditions a lower ranking pilot must obey to.
Thus the 'role-playing' aspect appeals to people fascinated by immersive and intense condtions simulating WWII. There was no 'role-playing' in MA. "MA isn't WWII" and frankly you can't expect people to follow the role of the soldier. However, in the new arena, my opinion is it SHOULD be expected, and observed as well. After all, is that not the intent behind this whole thing?
If not so, why do we need a separate arena for? For people who are bored in milk-runner missions in the MA to rack up scores in a mission with some more interesting conditions, and feel good about it?
I'm pretty sure if there is some penalty against distrupting the mission by indecent behavior, there would also be some sort of method to penalize a higher ranking pilot who is not fit to lead a squadron - giving dumb orders, sacrificing wingmen in vain, impolite or tard-supreme etc etc.
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eskimo: I understand what you mean, but frankly, if people want to fly the same as in the MA, why would they need a separate arena to do so? For historic plane sets? That's already possible in the CT. For well planned missions? There are good missions in the MA already. Just flying with better disciplined people or seeking interesting combat conditions? There are squad nights and Snapshots, TODs and etc.
Flying 45 minutes to do nothing would be boring as currently, the pilot does not have anything to do. A samurai who live for the thrill of combat gets bored quick if he does not find an opponent. We all fly like samurais in the MA. But my guess is the new arena pilots are to act like soldiers in a war, not an individual samurai looking for the fun of combat. After all "acting-out" is what "role-playin" is all about. If someone's pissed about all this role-playing and think its stupid, why would he want to be in the 'mission arena' in the first place?
By 'pulling rank' I didn't mean "you don't follow my orders? you are out of here" type of absolute authority should be given to a player. I just meant there needs to be a consensus among players to generally agree and follow hastely what the leader orders/requests/asks you to do, so there is no need to use the 'red card' at all. Any sort of event which is envolved with kicking players out is always unpleasant. But that could be avoided if people were to agree on "okay, you be the leader. I'll try and do what you ask me to do" mentality without acting out as a careless individual. But without this consensus, and everyone thinking "why should I follow orders?", the new arena will never work.
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HiTech:
Thx, your post answered a lot of questions.
As to people just ignoring the mission, the fix for this problem will be a method of ejecting people from a mission, either by the greatest ranking player in the mission, or by vote.
This, would apply to all members in the mission, wouldn't it? I expect it would apply the same to a high ranking person who demonstrates poor leadership and pisses everyone off.
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