Food for thought ...

[Pandora]

The game wont come around by itself, the communtiy or the makers has got to force that to happen.  If allowed to just do it's own thing it will continue to degrade.  I think the people that care, like you have got to start talking about it like you are and getting Hitech and Skuzzy involved.  The forums should be free of the outright rude behaviors and all the crud happening in game like on 200 should be stopped/monitored better.  Finding the right answers will certainly be hard but broken things do not fix themselves.  I'm sure the game wont end because of any of this but it will certainly become an environment that a loat of people wont want to be a part of.

I agree, Nimrod.  Either it changes or dies.  I was very sad to see FA die and I don't want to see it happen here.  We already have a lot of players quitting and many still playing are clearly not happy.

I like your ideas for more moderation in game.  Although it is disappointing that this moderation is required, the evidence of the need is great.

[Pandora]

I think Knights shold vote for me as Supreme commander

Oh boy, lol 

[nrshida]

I don't feel that my expectations are set very high.  Like so many others have stated, all we want is a fun place to fly and get decent fights.  This is not currently the case.

It's not a question of height. Your expectations are mismatched with the reality of the arenas.

[LLv34_Dictonius]

My opinion is that a major part of the problem is attitudes.  Poor ACM is just that and is cured eventually by time, but poor attitudes are malignant and grow with time and isnt a noob problem.  Old sticks flaming Noobs and palying the mine is bigger than your game hear in the forums.  A lot of people here in the forums and in the game really need to take a look from the outside at how they are acting.  If your behavior would get your butt kicked in real life then you should shape it up here because you are still dealing with real people.  My opinion is everyone should try to leave their ego's at the door and treat others as you like to be treated.  Don't flame people for their post in the wish list section or anywhere else.  If someone salutes you salute back, even if you are having a temper tantrum, keep the tantrum in the privacy of your own home.  200 is a disgusting example of the AH community behavior, talk of drugs, sex, peoples mothers, unbelievable.  When I played 5 years ago the community then would not tolerate that behavior and monitored it themselves.  then I would let my boy play, now I would not.  If this community wants more players and wants better then my opinion is they have to be better!  Just watch how this post here goes down the drain and that will tell you what is wrong with the game.  It has nothing to do with the graphics, the flight modeling or peoples skill, it is all about attitude.  I am of the opinion that we should hold eachother accountable for attitude and not continue to support the downward evolution of our game because people cant behave themselves over the internet.

I agree. Back in the beginning of this century what hooked me at first was not the European Air War game itself - it was the community. I was used to this Counter Strike name calling (underrating someone calling him a noob etc. behavior and language I have sadly witnessed become a reality of AH community today) and when I first tried EAW online and failed miserably in my very first 1 vs 1  (not much have changed on that part since those times) instead of being called a noob and flamed out of the MSN lobby i got a pad on the back - a salute, an advice and a suggestion to try again. MSN Lobby was very much smaller than AH community and social control was easier but I don't see why we wouldn't be able to greet new players with the courtesy that motivate them to stay.

Being good pilot is easy - being a good person, now that is a task one shoud try and master.

[Nimrod45]

Amen!  Let's see what we can do to get the ball rolling.  Be it a poll of some sort or a petition to Hitech to try and help us make a change, the only way things will change is if the customer speaks out in a loud enough voice.

[LLv34_Dictonius]

Where do I sign

[Nimrod45]

I sent Skuzzy a message to figurew out how to run a poll, I am all for seeijng where we can take this.  I will keep you fellas in the loop.   

[Randy1]

From all these negative threads, I conclude a major source of grumpy players is the 200 channel.  Why HTC keeps such a sandbox going is beyond me.

[dirtdart]

I left the game for a few reasons:

1. Job and life are #1 right now, I sneaked on for a couple of weeks and it was a hoot. Bottom line though, I missed the players more then the game. For the most part the dedicated AHrs are a good crew and always bring some good fights. Life is much happier at 5k, 275 indicated, in a Ki-43.

2. I agree with Pandoras points. Unfortunately the game in itself is without flaws, it is entirely the fault of the player base. When I would get on 200 to give a guy crap for HOing me, every merge, every fight, for years, you get the wall flowers commenting on 200 that .... it's their 15 bucks. Same with guys flying over the 18k mountains in a 38 to bomb guys on the crater MA just minding their own business fighting tank on tank. Same with guys upping a 262 and picking guys off the end of the runway and basically killing in minutes the only fun furball on the map. In my mind these personalities are simpletons and cyber bullies set in a cartoon game. Since there is nothing that truly can be done to quell them, it falls on the community (IMHO they fall into the "being a dick" category).

3. I don't know how much longer games like this will be around, so I will reserve my final statements to this. There are not many younger people who can afford, or convince their parents to afford, the cost of a gaming PC with a headset and a stick. Xbox is 450, PS 500, still wicked cheap when you take into consideration the cost of a gaming computer et al. The PC is dying, so are the games tied to them. I think mostly because younger kids just do not want to take the time and effort to play simulations, they are more interested in FPS.

<S> HTC for giving us what you can. Just wish you put a few more bucks into advertising. I think most of us word of mouth (your welcome), but in the end that is nothing compared to media.

Dirtdart

[Hoplite]

I think Knights shold vote for me as Supreme commander

I would second this were I a knight.  At least the resulting madness would be fun! 

[Arlo]

Enough of us agree that the current game is broken, now let's come up with ideas to fix it.

Seriously?

[Dragon]

My opinion is that a major part of the problem is attitudes.  Poor ACM is just that and is cured eventually by time, but poor attitudes are malignant and grow with time and isn't a noob problem.  Old sticks flaming Noobs and playing the mine is bigger than your game hear in the forums.  A lot of people here in the forums and in the game really need to take a look from the outside at how they are acting.  If your behavior would get your butt kicked in real life then you should shape it up here because you are still dealing with real people.  My opinion is everyone should try to leave their ego's at the door and treat others as you like to be treated.  Don't flame people for their post in the wish list section or anywhere else.  If someone salutes you salute back, even if you are having a temper tantrum, keep the tantrum in the privacy of your own home.  200 is a disgusting example of the AH community behavior, talk of drugs, sex, peoples mothers, unbelievable.  When I played 5 years ago the community then would not tolerate that behavior and monitored it themselves.  then I would let my boy play, now I would not.  If this community wants more players and wants better then my opinion is they have to be better!  Just watch how this post here goes down the drain and that will tell you what is wrong with the game.  It has nothing to do with the graphics, the flight modeling or peoples skill, it is all about attitude.  I am of the opinion that we should hold each other accountable for attitude and not continue to support the downward evolution of our game because people cant behave themselves over the internet.

Well said.

Although I am tuned to 200, I barely read it and surely don't take anything written there seriously.  200 isn't itself evil or nasty, it's a tool, and like a hammer it can be used to create something marvelous, or destroy whatever it touches.  The choice lies with the user.

We do have the tools to police ourselves, maybe it's time to use them.  If regular offenders are muted repeatedly, they will eventually change or leave.

[Hoplite]

I agree. Back in the beginning of this century what hooked me at first was not the European Air War game itself - it was the community. I was used to this Counter Strike name calling (underrating someone calling him a noob etc. behavior and language I have sadly witnessed become a reality of AH community today) and when I first tried EAW online and failed miserably in my very first 1 vs 1  (not much have changed on that part since those times) instead of being called a noob and flamed out of the MSN lobby i got a pad on the back - a salute, an advice and a suggestion to try again. MSN Lobby was very much smaller than AH community and social control was easier but I don't see why we wouldn't be able to greet new players with the courtesy that motivate them to stay.

Being good pilot is easy - being a good person, now that is a task one shoud try and master.

Agreed.  

I'm no angel nor do I claim to be.  I've had my nights where I look back and shake my head thinking I could have handled a specific situation better.   But I always try to followup with an apology where appropriate, and I do try to help and foster new players as much as I can.  

I think the game's cultural changes over the years has to do with the thinning of the player base.  In the past the two extreme ends of the player style "spectrum" (i.e. the Hardcore Furballers and the Focused War Winners) were balanced by a much larger core of players who fell somewhere in the middle between the two.  As the player base has thinned that core started to decrease in size and, as is natural, these players started to align themselves with the polar extremes to one degree or another.   Since extreme ends of the spectrum tend to have nothing in common the result is what we have today.

FYI - I know it's not a perfect theory.  It has plenty of holes and is somewhat simplistic.  One could, for example, argue there are more than two extremes of player style.  I pose it here to discuss and get others thoughts not to invite more insults and arguments.

[Max]

.

[Max]

My next question is, if we do have ideas and want them implemented, what support will we get from Hitech?

Pick up the phone and give him a call. Any business owner is (or should be) willing to speak with his customers as per feedback to his/her product.