Heya. I'm not going to jump onto your board like an apologist for Ishmael's ideas, but as someone who used to play AW once uponna time, and who plays lots of Red Baron 3D (RB) -- including a stint in a war using Ish's format -- I figured I might be able to dredge up a point or two.
I'm going to stand up and say that using this kind of format requires some amount of control. I don't know how AH is going to implement their server system, but in order to make Ish's idea work we had access to some of that control:
- The server was protected by a password that changed before each session; to enter you had to be on the e-mail list so you could get the password. This tended to eliminate the "anonymous dweeb" problem, as everyone knew who you were. We actually banned someone for their behavior in the game, and the ban stuck.
- RB servers give you the power to eject players. This power can be (and has been) delegated to people without direct access to the server box.
- We had a full-time "referee" for each session, using "observer mode" (you're invisible and can move around the arena quite easily) as well as flying a distinctive plane if needed. He was at the hot spots as a rule, and could adjudicate possible disputes in real time. He was impartial and his rulings were final.
- The missions were fairly small, rarely as many as 10 pilots on a side. The RB community tends to be small, mid-30s or older, mature, and everyone knows everyone else. Back to the anonymous thing: it's pretty hard to be a total obnoxious dweeb and get away with it.
Now, on Air War, dweebdom abounded. When 100+ planes were in the air in an unstructered arena and CPIDs were changing almost by the minute, people did (and probably still do) stupid things. On the other hand, I flew in a couple of the really big historical recreations, and I recall people tended to be rather well-behaved -- DoK would probably have hunted them down in person and killed them were they not. *grin* The set-up was moderated, flights allowed to roll and/or engage only at specific times, and when you were toasted you were out for the scenario. Pretty much similar to how Ish's "War" went, if you ask me.
I guess my point is I don't believe what he's describing would work on "general use" arenas open 24/7, but I believe his ideas have merit as an add-on format with which to manage more organized scenarios. Personally, after endless RB hours of harvesting the Eternal Furballs for the dweebs who respawn like maggots and come humping back to No-Man's Land for more spanking, I found something as purposeful as trying to keep an alter ego alive (hey, I was one of the only two surviving aces after the war was over, so I guess I learned something) while killing Hated Enemas was a really refreshing alternative.
There, you've got my piddly two cents' worth.
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Spinny
