Ok, I can't resist this thread any longer. I think we have established the fact that flying for statistics is only a meaningful measure of someone's skill if compared with others who are also flying for statistics. That is to say, any pilot regardless of skill, if he really tries, could fly a poor performance plane, low, slow, and stupid and demonstrate poor statitics. Does this mean that player is poor? No. It just means he isn't trying. So, comparing those with skill who don't try to fly smart, with those who do does not work.
The whole ranking system itself is a competitive system. Your rank is relative to everyone else in the arena, it is not an absolute value. Your 15 to 1 k/d ratio and 15% hit % is ranked according to how it compares to everyone elses. Because rank is competitve the validity of it as a measuring tool is directly proportional to the number of players and percentage of the player base that choose to pursue it. To put it simply, the more people playing for rank, the more competitive the system and therefore the more meaningful rank itself becomes.
This same competitive system holds true in things such as duelling ladders. The number of players in a ladder and the higher the overall skill of the participants the greater the achievement of finishing higher.
Because of the relative and competitve nature of rankings and their constituent statistics in general posts such as these actually serve those flying for rank as it makes their relative success much more meaningful. The more educated participants in the ranking system the better.
As for me personally, I have always flown with realism in mind. Score or rank was always just a natural bi-product of flying as close to what I've read real pilots in WW2 flew like. Call this score whoring, call it what you like, but flying in this manner and using what statistical measurements the game offers as a tool for bettering myself has proved successful over a decade of personal experience. Whether you fly for rank or not, the statistics themselves provide a very concrete way of measuring certain facets of your gameplay. Naturally there are ways to distort some or all of the statistics somewhat, I think they are not as easily manipulated as has been stated. This is especially true of Fighter rank.
A common misperception with regard to Fighter rank and what players like Steve achieve is that it is easy. Just fly a fast plane and engage only with the advantage right? Well, everyone knows this but what most don't understand is doing this in and of itself may sound easy enough, but very few people have the focus and discipline to perpetuate this style of play over a 30-day camp. The very human propensity to give in to greed, overzealousness, and impatience is overwhelming to most. One day of giving in to greed, impatience, or stupidty will ruin your fighter rank for the entire camp. So, even attaining fighter rank in this way is an achievement requiring superior SA, Gunnery, and substantial flying skill with incredible amounts of patience and discipline. Finding the ideal situation to employ these tactics are relatively few and far between, especially on certain maps, most of the time you are employing these tactics in circumstances far less than the ideal (ie: vastly outnumbered). Easy to critisize this style of play, not so easy to execute it yourself long-term. Try to fly in this manner and achieve success comparable to Steve's over a 30 day camp, you will be enlightened.
Zazen
