Skill levels span a wide spectrum... and quite a few 'newbies' are not novices to flight sims.
Baine wonders how we can tell on the first turn if we're engaged with a newbie... Baine, a lot of us can spot a newbie at the merge by his energy management, and the decision making process that brought him into the merge.. plane type he's flying; engagement style, numbers he's fighting and how he's holding his energy speak volumes about his SA, common sense and flying style.
Vets tend to give you a viscious close merge, refuse to HO; are often backed up by wingmen, never engage a higher adversary and tend to turn into a blur when you do get saddled up.. if you ever get saddled up at all.
When a vanquised newbie asks for guidance he gets help.. from all us vets I think. If a vanquished newbie barks out a wail or whine, he gets ignored... or worse. It's just the way it is.. the way it's always been.. the way it will remain.
Tho I must confess to watching a bunch of bish newbies flying together towards a fight, typing back and forth (in caps) that caught my intrest one evening. I tagged along just for yuks, and at the appropriate time typed:
"Hit enter 3x quickly for cockpit view without canopy bars..."
Saw five cutes about 2 seconds later. Laffed my bellybutton off.
And that won't change either.
