Ethical question about AH

[JimmyD3]

I seldom shy from expressing my opinion.  When people try to shame me in to being quite, I just dig my spurs in deeper.

Certainly no one should ask my opinion if they don't want it served neat.

The "Plead the fifth?" option would just be to deflect and say, "Oh I dunno, just give the free two-week trial a try for yourself."

The second answer is what I would tell a friend if they reached out to me and asked my honest opinion of the current state of the game. 

Though, I might have added at the end, "But man, you should have seen it in it's prime."   

We are going to have to get together for a cup of coffee some day, all disagreements aside. I am here in Garland so it shouldn't be to hard. 

[-gg-]

this is what I picture

[nrshida]

Does rather undermine a good troll doesn't it, not fully grasping the OP.

[CptTrips]

We are going to have to get together for a cup of coffee some day, all disagreements aside.

I'm not aware I have a disagreement with you.  I just have boundaries I defend.

I say what I want, when I want, how I want (mostly within the bounds of the forum rules ).

[LCADolby]

Does rather undermine a good troll doesn't it, not fully grasping the OP.

No one said they were bright.
The obviousness of their trolling has become a pretty pathetic scream for attention and best ignored, outside of the nod and fake smile reserved for crazy hobos with that direct and shout at traffic.

[-gg-]

"they" 

it's a conspiracy!

nshidder, I hope you've resolved your inner conflict with recommending AH. That must be stressful. I don't envy you in this situation.

[steely07]

Tricky one this. Someone asked on one of my YouTube videos which game it was. I was sort of assuming only former or present players would ever watch those. I told him and linked the download page. Now for it:

I don't know if I could - in good faith - recommend AH to a new player the state of gameplay and numbers being what they are. To my mind it feels like no one is doubting the game is in terminal decline and neither does HiTech given his New Year's announcement.

Thoughts?

I'm seeing these too, have had a couple, I can't help but think they're bots trying to build up their profile on YT by making comments, for what purpose, I don't know, the 2 I've seen have around 10 subscribers, but no uploaded videos if you click their name and go to their page...

[steely07]

If you love the game and gotten years of enjoyment playing AH, I don't know why you couldn't give it a solid endorsement.  The "terminal decline" glide slope may be so shallow it could last for years-- so don't even go there.  Plus, it's free to try for two weeks; no credit card is required.   Anybody expressing an interest after watching your wonderful videos should be encouraged to check it out!  I would even say Aces High is the classic MMOL combat flight sim. 

I have seen an increase in nightly prime time numbers recently - it used to be barely over one hundred players on weekday evenings, and now its often above 125.   138 when I popped in last night.   I think we are currently enjoying a little Renaissance as former players come back. 

Regarding the state of gameplay - do you recall the old AH cartoon "Loose Rivets"?  I wish I could find the complete set of these, but excepting low numbers, the topics covered then are the same as now - dweebs flocking to super planes (then the N1K, now the Yak-3), pilots who run rather than fight, hordes, etc.   

*a cookie for anyone who can remember the brilliant creator of Loose Rivets.  My memory fails me.  I want to say it starts with "N" but just not sure.

 

EDIT: "Loose Rivets" was created by Duma.   Can't find a single saved strip anywhere - even checked the Interent wayback machine.  Dang, its disappointing - they were treasures.

I've archived all the loose rivets, can email them, or send another way if you'd like

[Dadtallica]

This is the announcement I was referring to:-

https://www.hitechcreations.com/flight-simulators/2278-what-s-changing-with-our-combat-simulator-aces-high-in-2023

I had not seen that before. I wouldn’t point a new person to that statement. Was kind of a big FU to all in my view.

[The Fugitive]

I've archived all the loose rivets, can email them, or send another way if you'd like

If you want to send them to me I can add them to my server with my cartoons.

[sparky127]

I have prayed and meditated on this grave subject all day and I've reached a preliminary conclusion...

[Meatwad]

All I could find online was this explanation of the cartoons

https://web.archive.org/web/20050310233111/http://www.jtsystems.demon.co.uk:80/duma/images/cartoons/looserivets/explanations.txt

Found in this thread

https://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,335107.msg4404251.html#msg4404251

[-gg-]

I have prayed and meditated on this grave subject all day and I've reached a preliminary conclusion...

I know you're poking fun, but do you realize how tricky this one is?

Picture  having an extremely popular YouTube channel featuring aces high videos. Someone suddenly asked you which game this is.

Naturally this will set off a moral dilemma. An ethics question rocking you to the core. What do you do? Sure, you might go ahead and point to the game so that The very simple question will be answered. But it goes further than that.

What if you are suddenly asked if you could recommend the game? This throws a whole new set of variables into this daunting equation.

How do you even begin to decide whether or not to recommend a game like this? There are so many implications either way.

[-gg-]

Maybe we could all get on discord voice chat and roleplay the scenario?