Like many of the posters in this thread, I too am a long time online flightsim vet going back to late '94 or early '95 in AW. I found AW then and have never looked back. I have attended two Cons ( Dallas '99 and Seattle '01 ). I am no stranger to posting in the community ( though I do it quite rarely now, here or in BigWeek ) or to the flame wars many of those postings have seen over the years. I have no intention of becoming embroiled in this one.
I do wish to say that I have known NGHTHAWK as a player since 1995. He was one of the classiest players in what was then a classy game filled with classy players and known as EAGLE. He was then and still is always courteous, team oriented, and willing to help a vet or a newbie. Any criticism of him in this regard is totally unwarrented.
This community, dating back to early AW BBS, has always had it's share of mega-dweebs and seriously hot chits, strong intelligentsia and complete dickheads, jokers and idiots, great guys and total losers, elitists and the great unwashed masses, but mostly guys who are a varied combination of all the above. In this, it is nothing more than a microcosm of society. We may not like it, but we learn to live in it. We all play for our own reasons and no one reason is any better or worse than any other. Some reasons may be a bit more high minded, but that dosen't make them any better.
I share many of the concerns NGHTHAWK expressed and I also agree with many of the points made by others in various replies. But they are all just that, concerns and points. Nothing more.
I do think one needs to read his post with an eye towards an individual sense of taste. I suspect his comment that AH is going the way of AW is more subtle than it appears on face value. I think he means that what was once a pureists air combat sim catering to those who truly loved airplanes and WWII history and could come together with others who felt the same and through the wonder of computer technology, engage in sort of a 'homage' to that. Once AW ( now defunct ) and then AH grew to a point where they included many 'game players' who were not as deeply touched by such things but liked to "just blow stuff up", those games took on a vastly different feel and flavor than they had originally and which many early players had enjoyed. I can't imagine many AW vets from those days or even AH vets from '00-'01 not at least sensing the significant change in the 'game' itself as they grew rapidly in subscribers.
Is this good or bad? Well, it's good for HTC as it puts money in their business and their own wallets. It's good for online WWII flight sim fans as it assures such a game for the forseeable future. Is it good for those who prefered the games they way they were? No. They have no choice but to deal with an endless stream of new players many of whom are totally clueless, and more importantly, don't care to be educated as many of this recent influx seems to be. Does this mass influx effect the overall quality of game play in a negative way? In my opinion and obviously that of others, yes.
Have we seen this all before? Yes. Was it good for AW? No. For many reasons AW is no longer with us. Massive growth without technical progress one of the big ones. In the end, as has been pointed out already in this thread, it was simple greed.
Do we all feel the need to vent from time to time about things that we find upsetting? Yes. Will it all be better tomorrow? Possibly.
Should NGHTHAWK have posted in frustration? No. Should this make him a target? No. Well, yes..... "Ask and you shall receive." Was he right or wrong in his thinking and statements? Neither. Its a matter of perception and presentation.
Elitists and 'quakers'. Vets and newbies. Individuals and the masses. Those of us who have been around here for years have been down this road a thousand times before. Thank God we can just log in and out as we please...... Yet know that its there when we want it, whether its 1 hour a month or a 100.
Now can we move on to something really important like RINO's thong or SILAT's sex change operation or who VOSS is this month or killer bunny rabbits or why FBLENBO called me a fool on the country channel a few days ago or is the pizza map edible under certain circumstaces (Say, LSD or a handfull of amphetamines ) or the disco problem ( Personally HT, I think a new silver ball with more sparkles would help the Main Arena immeasurably ) or how in hell I finished ranked 95th last tour ( Obviously the amphetamines did help! ) or is Oleg trying to rewrite history in IL-2:FB or does the average AH subscriber drink more alchohol than the average patron at Joes Bar and Grill ( EAT AT JOES! EAT AT JOES! ) or is Kurt Tank alive and living in Saskatoon, Saskatawon and working as Elvis's valet or does the Trinity map have deep religeous overtones ( If it does, does that make it the Holy Trinity map? ) or why anyone would care if someone else had two accounts ( Other than HTC who gets double the pleasure, double the fun ) or why some members of The Damned have Dmd in front of their handles and others don't or can AH be played on WebTV and if it could be, could you use TiVo to save a moment on the hard drive and then go back and replay that moment in AH until you get it right or would you ever ask your wife or girlfriend to pad her bra to impress your boss or can you take John Wayne seriously as those absurd little ship models get blown up in "In Harms Way" or what was the best AW scenario and why or who is your favorite Python or does fast food cause cancer in laboratory rats or why is this game called "ACES HIGH" when so many players are now drivng GVs most of the time and why don't these players go to WWIIOL which is GV oriented and how long can this sentence drag on and on and on and on and on and on and on and LUGS is still a fairy...... :]
S> All
Buff1
