Demographic change? Peak vs off - hours

[uptown]

..... I would come back if there were changes that made it interesting for me again.

I'm curious as to what changes you would like to see.

[Trukk]

It is not any lack of game feature that is the product, because for the most part you can still do everything today that you could 5 years ago.

Exactly, what was a competitive gaming experience 5 years ago is ancient history in the technology world, it's no longer competitive.

Whatever changes might take place are most likely influenced by other factors.

Exactly, other games are producing a more exciting/rewarding/compelling (whatever you want to call it) gaming experience.

I'm 47, and I'm hoping that AH can last long enough that by the time it goes away I'm no longer interested in gaming.  Look at what the young kids have today.  It's not computers with joysticks, it's phones, tablets and game consoles.  They expect their gaming experience to be fun all the time, and the successful MMOGs manage that gaming experience much more directly than AH does to ensure that happens more often than not.

Five years ago it was good enough to build the 'toys', design the gameplay to the lowest common denominator and let the player base deal with it.  Not any more.

[sparow]

Why are we less? Because we are getting older... Because the WW2 fans, those that read comic books and watched black and white movies and long documentaries are getting older and having real life issues. Because there is a huge world crisis destroying many jobs and making the ones employed work two or three times harder...

There is a generation replacement going on at Aces High. The older guys, that enjoyed realism, historical enactement, the fine art of air combat, the banter to and from the fights are less every day... Now we see a more "points/kills/win the game" oriented crowd coming in. Even the old farts are getting gamey, nowadays...

Also, never underestimate another factor: combat fatigue. I'm not joking, I mean it. In the long term, you get tired. Tired of killing, tired of dying, tired of turning into the fight of estimate your e... There is no one here that has not made a break for some time, a couple of weeks, a month... And  returned lighter and less edgy... and much less serious...

The more hours you put, the faster you burn. The harder you fight, the faster you get damaged. Maybe I'm wrong. But thatīs what I feel. Like Trukk, I'm almost 48 and I hope Aces High stay around for many years. Heck, I was hoping to reach retirement to finally log really huge number of hours!

<S> all, cheers

[Brooke]

I worry about people who like WWII air combat being a dying breed.  But then again, folks worried about the same thing 20 years ago in Air Warrior, and we had the same discussions back then.  What happened is that Aces High came along and not only advanced this genre of gaming but brought in a lot more players than we had in the Air Warrior days.

Anyway, it can't hurt to spread the word.  Know someone who might like Aces High?  Recruit them into the game! 

[Hajo]

I am one who left the game because the only source of  virtual historic realism is in scenarios.

Seeing B17s being attacked by P51s and Spitfires only holds my attention for a short while.

AH has a great scenario team. However scenarios are few and far between.  I started in Air Warrior

many years ago.  Maybe I just tired of the same old same old.  My squadmates are/were great.

Made a lot of good friends over the years also.  

I've found other things to occupy my time now.  What AH is in the MA is a first person shooter using

WWII aircraft or tanks as weapons.  It's fun for awhile, they did a great job with the game but

no one stays forever.

[Brooke]

they did a great job with the game but

no one stays forever.

I will! 

I use the MA and DA as places to practice what I'll be flying in the next scenario.

[Rolex]

I think reasonably-priced media for AH advertising outside of North America might be in RC and scale modeling hobby magazines. Even a small ad in the classified sections might work. I think most readers devour every page, cover-to-cover, and are more devoted to the details of their hobby than in their work.

[Tilt]

Well I think it can be said that the AH products customer growth curve has "peaked" and shown some evidence of decline if not "stablisation".

IMO AH is taking on the status of "last man standing" within the genre of WWII ACM sims.

Remaining "directly" competing products WoT, WoWp, WoB, WW2OL etc are  "WW2" game play sims and focus on the ground element.

Modern leading gamplay combat war arena FPS products focus upon much more historically recent (if not future) combat scenarios. So the  market for WWII let alone WWII ACM (alone) is very niche and it seems getting smaller.

Free at the point of entry WoWp (with WoT along side it) will be an interesting competitor to AH.

What many products seem to recognise is a need for quick access to combat. So while there are still such graphic challenges (to AH) as the gaming media may wish to present to give their multi star reviews there may also be required game play mechanisms to bring about quicker access to combat (server driven missions?) and better combat or assured adversaries (more interactive server driven AI  defence/attacks? ) when numbers are lower in off peak periods or there are large empty parts of a terrain.

[SmokinLoon]

Why are we less? Because we are getting older... Because the WW2 fans, those that read comic books and watched black and white movies and long documentaries are getting older and having real life issues. Because there is a huge world crisis destroying many jobs and making the ones employed work two or three times harder...

There is a generation replacement going on at Aces High. The older guys, that enjoyed realism, historical enactement, the fine art of air combat, the banter to and from the fights are less every day... Now we see a more "points/kills/win the game" oriented crowd coming in. Even the old farts are getting gamey, nowadays...

Also, never underestimate another factor: combat fatigue. I'm not joking, I mean it. In the long term, you get tired. Tired of killing, tired of dying, tired of turning into the fight of estimate your e... There is no one here that has not made a break for some time, a couple of weeks, a month... And  returned lighter and less edgy... and much less serious...

The more hours you put, the faster you burn. The harder you fight, the faster you get damaged. Maybe I'm wrong. But thatīs what I feel. Like Trukk, I'm almost 48 and I hope Aces High stay around for many years. Heck, I was hoping to reach retirement to finally log really huge number of hours!

<S> all, cheers

On that note, I've introduced by son who is now 9 years old to WWII 4-5 years ago.  I've explained to him the basics of the Allies, the Axis, technology, etc.  From time to time he loves to get in a fly in AH but he gets frustrated with the learning curve (which is understandable), but he still enjoys it.  He he well versed in what his great grandfathers did in WWII (read my sig line for the exploits of 1 of them; the other was a jeep jockey in ETO).  He has an interest in WWII aviation and can pick out most of the aircraft when he sees them.  When his friends are over they play with WWII toys, and they have begun to ask questions about things as well.  Remember that it is we who will pass along the importance of WWII and not the schools for all they learn in school is about how bad Nazis were, concentration camps, a wee bit on Pearl Harbor, and then the dropping of the a-bombs on Japanese civilians (and all will be as PC as can be). 

When you have a chance, share with a child some history.  There is a romance with WWII aviation that can not be matched in any other era.   

[james]

Our wish list says alot of our game as well. From graphics to wanted aircraft in a game where spits kill spits and 190's kill 109's in the arena most populated. Everyone touts the "historic accuracy" of the aircraft yet look at exactly what we have through the eyes of a new kid wanting to dip into some WWII fighting to find corsairs killing p51's. Then, pop in here and ask a question or hit the wish list and get thumped by the fanbois who want to pretend everything is perfect with the game and how dare they ask a question or for something more from it's creator. Take a step back and think about that. Want more numbers? More than a graph and some new begged for planes and polls as to which ones should be added are needed. The new guy that comes in doesn't care for how long it will take to see an he-111 in here or wether or not it should be in here. They see it's not in here and wonder why and think wow this is pretty incomplete and how old is the game? Less hair splitting and a little more compromise as to offering more for that kind of player might be a start.

[sparow]

What many products seem to recognise is a need for quick access to combat. So while there are still such graphic challenges (to AH) as the gaming media may wish to present to give their multi star reviews there may also be required game play mechanisms to bring about quicker access to combat (server driven missions?) and better combat or assured adversaries (more interactive server driven AI  defence/attacks? ) when numbers are lower in off peak periods or there are large empty parts of a terrain.

Aces High 3: Drone Invasion  

[sparow]

When you have a chance, share with a child some history.  There is a romance with WWII aviation that can not be matched in any other era.   

You're absolutely right. Spot on. I'm generaly considered the history geek around here... kids run away from me like I was the bogey man, lol 

Cheers,