I was poking around a DCS forum the other day and came across some guy posting about his kill count in the Tomcat in multi-player servers. He had his kills broken down by weapon system; AIM-54, AIM-7, AIM-9, Guns. And then he added, "I've never landed the plane, because what's the point?"
The point is, the guy is a gamer, not a pilot. Sadly, I believe a large portion of folks who fly in multi-player servers are gamers. They simply want to auto-start their planes (or, better yet, start in a hot jet), get in the air, locate targets and launch missiles at them. They fly until they get shot down, pick another plane, and do it again.
That's what I mean when I refer to, "Lather, rinse, repeat."
And that is exactly the opposite of what we're about. We're about simulating the fighter pilot experience. That means learning the systems in your aircraft. That means knowing how to start your aircraft from cold iron. That means flying missions with realistic objectives and completing the mission by bringing the plane back, and (gasp!) actually landing!
On one hand, I guess the gamers serve a purpose... they purchase aircraft modules so that Eagle Dynamics can keep the DCS World platform going and under continuous development so that sim pilots can continue to use it. So, viva la gamers! But they have no business in a squadron of sim pilots. Just let them keep sending their $ to ED.
