An idea about creating a pilot's career within the current sims.

[zeefox]

I've read with great interest in  Ishmael's  post his idea of an Online Alter Ego to be incorporated in online flight simulators.  It's an ambitious idea that unfortunately, in my experience, is not really compatible with current online sims or what I've read about sims in development such as Aces High and Playnet's thingamajig.  I don't say this as a pure conjecture.  I have been flying WarBirds for almost 4 years, and have always been an advocate for "career" flying, or trying to stay alive as long as possible.   However, as HiTech pointed out in several posts, we cannot attempt to accurately simulate real-life pilot's lives in an online sim.  Here are several reasons why:

1.) For most of us, our sole occupation is not flying, so we cannot dedicate ourselves to the game full time.  Plus, time  differences between players throughout the world prohibit a standard "flying day" where all the  pilots hook up at the same time.  This puts limitations on squadron flights, which leads to my second point.


2.) Pilots during WWII very, very rarely flew alone into combat.  Therefore, they could rely on a trained, cohesive squadron/wing unit whenever they engaged.  This undoubtedly raised life expectancy of pilots manyfold.  In a Main Arena - type setting, one can only hope from help from other people, but not count on it.  In any case, it is close to impossible to expect people to either fly with their squad or not fly  at all in order to maximize their effectiveness/survival.  And even the best online squads cannot hope to have the same training/effectiveness/size as an actual WWII squad from any belligerent country.

3.) Frustration from dying and losing all rank/benefits from a long career will outweight any satisfaction of knowing that a certain "virtual pilot" did well in his life.  People who begin to accumulate kills and points would become more and more leery about engaging in combat unless they entered with overwhelming odds.  This would make combat rare.  I am guilty of this in some ways currently in Warbirds when I start to get a long streak going.  Now, if I knew that all I had gained could go away if that ack I'm about to strafe hits me in the forehead, I'm gonna be a little reluctant to go in on it in the first place.  

Ok, aside from these points, here's an idea that might work, and that could be implemented fairly easily into an online sim.
Most of us  harcore simmers very much enjoy flying in Historical  scenarios, be it Scenario Lites or full-blown campaigns.  The value of staying alive in these scenarios is greatly  heightened by the importance of individual performance on the overall mission success.  Therefore, players tend to fight more carefully and are more supportive of their teammates.  Also, fights are usually initiated in squad/wing scales.  What I suggest is this: keeping arena play like it is now in WarBirds, where novices and hard-core pilots can duke it out in one place, without fear of ending careers when dying. However, the option could be made to  save the scores of pilots whenever they fly in specially designated Scenarios or campaigns and make them cumulative until a pilot dies/is captured.  This would be an optional case, and one could fly in a single scenario choosing to fly without his pilot's score being affected. Pilots can choose a country/army and earn ranks/medals/commendations forperformance in combat.  When that pilot dies, one can start again.  This would give pilots who enjoy maintaining a "career" a place to do it, while leaving the main arena for what it is, an arena to fight and die for the hell of it.

Hope I didn't bore you all.

Zeefox out  

[ISHMAEL]

I think that, as a first round test, a "split run" would be a good idea. Limit the OAE to a secondary server for the purposes of evaluation. See how it goes.

However, such a test WOULD be a major undertaking. The server software would have to be designed to alow for players to register their alter egos and a database would have to compile cumulative stats. All deaths and kills would need to be tracked for all participants.

Only a company that believed in the potential of the OAE would make this investment - though if the concept was used only in its most primitive form at first (point bonuses), the cost would not be astronmical.

Ultimately, I do see a place for none-oae combat. There should always be an arena for shoot-em-up, quick combats.

Now....I'd like to address your points concerning why the OAE would not work for the mass consumer audience (a point with which I disagree):

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1.) For most of us, our sole occupation is not flying, so we cannot dedicate ourselves to the game full time.
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The OAE advances at the speed of the player. Some players might play every day and live 50 lives in the space of a month!!! Some players might play once a week but survive with a single OAE for a year.

In any case, the OAE advances in accordance with the time the player survived in game. When he plays and how often has no effect - only how long in total the OAE has lived inside the combat arena.

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2.) Pilots during WWII very, very rarely flew alone into combat. Therefore, they could rely on a trained, cohesive squadron/wing unit whenever they engaged. This undoubtedly raised life expectancy of pilots manyfold.
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Regular and irregular participants will be evenly distributed between all competing "nations." Though lone wolves will be at a disadvantage to an organized effort by an opposing squadron, the end result should be the development of more user organizations and ad hock formations - all driven by player's initiative.

Those that don't care for survival may continue to fly as normal. Thus, only those who actually LIKE the OAE concept and appreciate its rewards will be affected by it.

That having been said, I DO acknowledge that players will start to congregate toward formation flying and those that do not will face a shorter life expectancy. However...formations ARE a "real world tactic," and if we truly want a system that rewards use of real world tactics, this will do the trick (as you point out) without ever REQUIRING players to conform to an arbitrary rule set.

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3.) Frustration from dying and losing all rank/benefits from a long career will outweight any satisfaction of knowing
that a certain "virtual pilot" did well in his life.
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This is an untested hypothesis. You may be right but we don't know.

My limited test suggests otherwise. Not only did every "dead" player in the beta-test immediately create a new alter ego to join up again, but the players enjoyed it so much, they created their own game - on their own initiative - based on the original beta-test!

The comment I heard more than any other was: "Once you've played like this, you can't ever play the old way again!"

Yes. Most of my test sample were "experienced flight simmers," but one or two were relative "newbies." Even pilots who died every second session still enjoyed the game immensely (and I still get emails from particpants and people who missed the chance to particpate, asking when I'm going to run the NEXT war!).

Once again however, I support your proposal of an initial "split run." If it WERE up to me (and clearly it isn't) I would set up two servers. One for "Instant Action," the other for "Campaign Play." Instant Action would feature total, meaningless combat. Campaign Play would be based on the OAE and players would have pilot careers with a fixed end point for "retirement."

I think in the end, participation on each would be about equal, with many players usuing "Instant Action" to hone their skills for "Campaign Play."

ISHMAEL

ISHMAEL