Hmmmm .... if it's
ok and one's conscience is clear then it doesn't require a wall of text or a list of reasons to defend. If it's
not ok then neither can.
However, I've got the perfect litmus test on what is and isn't
legal or
fair in our game of war:
Anything not part of the design, part of the program or discovered then reported to HTC and deemed worthy of modification or removal by the designer is unacceptable. Everything else is "acceptable."
That having been said, the failure or success of the AvA, overall, has always hinged on the amount of fun universally had by the players in it. BUT .... not one of us can take charge of someone else's fun or lack of in this game. Telling another player how they should or shouldn't play this game (within it's allowable limitations) is a seed that'll never take root, imo.
Showing a player how much better the game can be for everyone involved while having fun doing it ... well ... that's something special (and it may not be in all of us .... certainly not always, even then).
Hell, I like banding with others (and to be honest,
need to in a game that hosts hundreds of players who already have) ... but ... when it comes down to it, we're all individually responsible for the amount of fun we have in the game. Personally, the appeal of beating the opposition when they've done their dead level best to defeat me and my fellow players cannot be denied. Perhaps it would get boring, after awhile, without an
honest defeat (meaning they bested me and my fellow pilots when we gave it our all) to make a later victory retain it's sweetness ... but I can't see asking anyone to use a handicap (in this game) to level the playing field so I can occasionally pretend I earned victory. Nor should I ask anyone to play using the toys they don't prefer (whether it be a model of plane, a gv, a gun, a ship or even a pilot with a pistol). I know I've done so in the past. I intend the resist that urge from now on.
And I wouldn't be saying this if I didn't consider it something I, myself, needed hearing from time to time. Especially with the shame I feel lately letting frustrations that aren't of my opponent's doing (system, hardware and software issues) come out in the game as blame on them for being the hardest opponent they can be (whether publically said on 200 or "privately" said on country channel). I want opponents that aren't the player equivalent of offline drones and auto gunners at fields.
I'm too old to let my own immaturity get in the way of my or anyone else's fun. If I want a stroke or heart attack I'll get it from eating fatty foods and getting drunk ... not playing Aces High of all things.
So let slip the dogs of war and have at it, I say. A strong Axis opponent is the best tool in eventually creating a strong Allied commitment and a no holds barred type of game I can eventually sink my teeth into. Cawd help the woman I'm involved with when I come off an AH high that night! Once I find one that'll put up with AH addiction, that is.
Seems this post started one direction and ended in an entirely different destination. I suppose that represents a sort of catharsis. I may survive this crisis and manage to keep enjoying this game I missed for so long afterall.