Did you watch the entire video?
The conclusion wasn’t that DCS wasn’t worth it, it’s just that is isn’t a pew-pew game and maybe not for everyone, but he obviously still enjoys it.
I don’t really disagree with anything he said.
* It does have a high level of difficulty.
* It is expensive (or appears that way at first glance).
* Depending on module complexity, it does require more time investment.
* It isn’t a jump in and pew-pew game. It isn’t a MMOG.
* Depending on the mission design, realistic mission can have a long ingress time compared to combat time. That is Mission designer choice.
* Fact is, it isn’t necessarily for everyone.
His main point wasn’t that DSC sucks, but that you need to understand what you are getting into, and your expectations need to be aligned with that.
To expand on some of those points…
It is more difficult than some other sims. That is both it’s barrier and it’s allure for some. But even within DCS that varies widely across modules. I myself find the more analog modules the best trade-off for me. I tend to prefer the Huey, Hind, Hip, Kiowa over the Shark and Apache; the warbirds over the F-18\F-15. I want my complexity in the FM and less enjoy the systems, computer screen twiddling. Other love that stuff. I get their enjoyment, I joke with Iron, but their choice isn’t wrong, just different than mine.
It certainly appears expensive. Way less expensive than taking up golf. For the cost of AH per year, you could buy to full fidelity modules at full price or more if you are smart and wait for the sales. Given the time it takes to master a full fidelity module, that rate works out about perfect. After that, I own them. I’m not just paying rent.
For instance, for now, I am satisfied with my hangar. I have plenty to keep me busy for a while. I didn’t buy the Phantom yet. Nor will I buy the Chinook yet. I’m having fun exploring and mastering what I’ve already bought. My next purchase probably won’t be until the Corsair and F6F come out. The others I might pick up later if they go on sale.
It can be time consuming, but it is supposed to be fun not a job, so it should be consuming time doing something fun. I don’t see that as a problem. Some guys spend 8 hours a day on AH. That is also time consuming.
It isn’t a MMOG. It wasn’t trying to be. Don’t go into it thinking you are buying a MMOG and you won’t feel cheated. It is what it is. IT has MP, but it is not a AH or WT. It’s not designed for that.
Bottom line, I have never claimed it is for everyone, in fact, it probably isn’t a perfect fit for most.
For reference again…
It’s never been MY argument that AH needs to more further toward high fidelity. The current level of fidelity was a design\market positioning choice that I don’t think was necessarily bad. It’s just a different part of the spectrum that has a different clientelle. I don’t think moving left or right on the fidelity spectrum would make much difference for AH.
From a business standpoint, there is PLENTY of gold to be mined at the trade-off point HT chose. More potential customers would find it the perfect fit than DSC, IMHO.
The issue is, IMHO, that AH captures near 0% of the larger potential market it is designed for. DCS captures near 100% of its potential market, plus a lot of spill over from the fidelity curious. (And then the majority of its income is probably the pro-level military trainers they sell. Why accuracy and fidelity are such a fetish for them. Fidelity is their brand. Useful for selling to the military.)
My argument has always been AH should capture more of the potential market at the point in the fidelity spectrum it has chosen, not that it needs to chose a different point on the fidelity spectrum. IMHO, the barriers to that are the graphics, the monetization model, and the lack of viable SP portion doesn’t help.
Without adding any engine management or anything else like that, AH could mint money if it just captured it's current potential market segment on the fidelity spectrum.
Side note, there does appear to be an industry trend to move more towards DCS in fidelity overall. I suspect IL2 Korea and Combat pilot to fall somewhere in between IL2 GB and DCS.
But that also doesn’t mean the those who are enjoying DCS are wrong. I appreciate that they are producing museum-grade digital replicas of the actual aircraft, or as close as the current technology makes possible and certainly closer than anything else a civilian can buy. Jumping in my DCS Pony or spit IX is the closest thing to the experience of actually owning one and keeping it at the local airport that I am likely to achieve. So yes, to me the fetish level of detail is what I am paying for and frankly I see where the money goes. It’s not perfect, but is still very impressive.
YMMV.
