This thread has begun to show two general types of persons and how their brain architecture seeks reward.
Type-1.) Give me a level playing feild and I will take my lumps until I can beat everyone at every aspect of this game. I own you all because I paid the price.
Type-2.) I want to show everyone how intellegent, resourcefull, accomplished and clever I am. I want to be valued and respected by my community for this.
Type-1 dominate the MA and the DA. They do not need rank because they are known by anyone who flys past the free 2 week. Their personal dominance of the arenas creates the benchmarks of accomplishment and the unspoken ranks of attainment. If I say 999000, we all know to fear attacking B17's from the rear. If I say shane, steve or stang.......we know how to test our real rank in the game. Call one out to the DA. When you achieve this ability, players remember you for years because you made that real of an impact on the game. 999000 is remembered from AW as the same lethal B17 pilot. shane was a poni monster in AW.
Type-2 are the reason we have the Special Operations Arenas and an incredible Training Core. In the game these are the players who would like more of a ridged hierarcical reward system by which they can attaine through alternate paths the same name recognition as shane. Tour of Duty would have given them the ability via a frame work of fixed steps, ridged assignments and the anonymous nature of AI to gain the rank and recognition by their peers in ToD. This is much harder to attain in the unstructered MA of shane. But who would remember anyone past the first player to acheive the rank of Grand ToD Phooba number 1?
I flew the friday night squad ops and some of the snap shots for a year when I was in the 56th with Nomde. One would have thought with the amount of bureaucracy, planning, strategy and ridgid goals, the Type-2 in AH would be satisfied. Anyone of them can start out as Grand Phooba and control a whole scenario. And if you win, scenario goers will remember you..............Grand Phooba of ToD is no substitute for the rank 999000 or shane have earned in our memories.