Pull the Plug on the FLIGHT Forum.

[Hubinwa 27]

Yeah, I'm afraid I have to agree with OP, I stand Disapointed, with a capital D.

[flyerkg 62]

I'm not sure what to think of the intent of the Flight video linked on the homepage here.We need someone capable of Jedi mind-trick to help turn things around.MS: How long have you wanted an improved flight simulator?Young AVSIM Pilot: About 5 or 6 years.MS: Let Me show you Flight.Old AVSIM Pilot: We don't need to see Flight.MS: You don't need to see Flight.Old AVSIM Pilot: These are not the Simmers you are looking for.MS: These are not the Simmers we are looking for.Old AVSIM Pilot: They can go about their business. Move along.MS: You can go about your business. Move along.

[Tom Allensworth 1,532]

Mike, great post! However, I disagree.Consider what MS' goal appears to be and consider that if they achieve it, that sites like AVSIM will be irrelevant for all but the hardcore. It's not just about the demise or deminshment of third party suppliers as a result of FLIGHT. It is also about the numerous communities like AVSIM that will suffer from "new blood" going elsewhere.The history is that as far back as the ACES team, questions about the connectivity between social sites and flight simulation were being asked. In fact, I had a meeting in the UK with their "evangelist" where this subject was discussed at great length over an Indian meal in Hampton Wick.It should come as no surprise to anyone who has been in this hobby for any period of time, that MS wants to own the social content and the marketing value that comes with it. What implications does that have for the AVSIM's, Flightsim.com's, etc.? If we don't try to bring FLIGHT customers into our little corner of the hobby via sites like AVSIM, we will have lost in the longer term.Think about it.I would like to hear your thoughts.

[Arwen 289]

I totally agree with the OP.Microsoft has obviously turned their backs on us, why should we (and AVSIM) support them?Besides, after today's 100+ blistering posts, MS might be willing to pay Tom to remove this forum (along with all the damaging posts).

[MikeT707 1,181]

I think it maybe should be moved somewhere below Take On Helicopters, but sure does not belong in a prominent place. In any case, this forum will have pretty low traffic. I don't think all the masses of people that ms is counting on will find their way here to talk about whatever they would even talk about. ms does not fail to disappoint. At least they are consistent.

[Mike T 208]

Heya Tom:So...be honest. Did your bout of projectile vomiting occur exactly when you heard the details about Flight...or were you able to hold it in until you got back to your hotel? But seriously. If you truly feel that the game will expand the community then that is good. But I also think that those who need coins, shiny triangles and trinkets go derive satisfaction from aviation are less hobbyists than they are gamers. So it could be a double edged sword right? A year from now instead of questions like "how do I prevent floating on landing" we may have a forum full of questions like "hey how do I kill the level 14 teradactyl over Waikiki without missing the third bonus coin?" At that point we could see the demographic change for the worse.

Edited January 5, 2012 by Mike T

[Jeff Nielsen 1,386]

Tom, that's a good point, but they failed to realize the AVSIM istelf could have and would been scalable to any media fomr, even if AVSIM became a FB page only, it would still be relevant because AVSIM and the others were always the focal point of the community no matter what. Those other users could have been drawn here easily via MS and vice-versa. It would have been much easier from a marketing standpoint to upgrade AVSIM (so to speak), then to try and start over. Talk about taking a captive audience and running them off the pier!The real benefit (from a business standpoint) to sites like AVSIM is that we have the ability to take new users and turn them into life long users spending money on EVERYONES' add-ons, and turning them into usefull members of the community at the same time.What happens now, who knows...I fear that the community will turn into an old program forum like some other old combat sims. The problem is who could or want to pay for that.

[Wallboy 8]

Agreed, toss this forum. What a joke Microsoft...

[Drumcode 1,893]

Relegate!

[Guest jahman]

It's bad enough most everyone thinks we hard-core simmers waste our time playing a "sim game".Now they will be able to download Flight for free, spear golden donuts in the sky with an ICON A5 and confirm their worst suspicions about us.Cheers,- jahman.

[dm123 19]

It's bad enough most everyone thinks we hard-core simmers waste our time playing a "sim game".

I cant even say how many times I have gotten weird looks when I explain to friends that I like programming a virtual computer on a virtual plane for 30 min, only to then let it do its own thing for 7 hours as it zooms across a virtual ocean.On a different note, I wonder if the employees working on Flight realized that this would create a huge backlash from the established flight simulator community. And more on topic, I just want to say that I support this continuation of the Flight forum. It is important to at least give it a fair shot, no matter how bad this press release looks to us.

[dazz 69]

We should log in Windows Live once Flight is released and troll the rooms in shifts, telling the noobs about FSX, XPlane... try and convert them all, hahaha

[bendead 1,085]

I personally, sent a few mails to the biggest french video game review websites, about what happen here and on MS flight Facebook page.

[Bert Pieke 7,585]

I think some of you are going off half cocked...There is a lot of fun in taking a Piper Cub up for a spin - or in this case a Boeing Stearman.Nothing wrong for Hawaii being the jump off point either, kind of pretty and impressive canyonsand coastlines.Lets see how good they've made it, and take it from there!No one is going to force you to fly missions if you would rather go for a scenic flight!And for the tubeliners, well you've still got FS9 and FSX, no lack of options..I'm with the Glass Half-Full crowd :(

Edited January 5, 2012 by Bert Pieke

[dazz 69]

I think some of you are going off half cocked...There is a lot of fun in taking a Piper Cub up for a spin - or in this case a Boeing Stearman.Nothing wrong for Hawaii being the jump off point either, kind of pretty and impressive canyonsand coastlines.Lets see how good they've made it, and take it from there!No one is going to force you to fly missions if you would rather go for a scenic flight!And for the tubeliners, well you've still got FS9 and FSX, no lack of options..I'm with the Glass Half-Full crowd :(

I also was skeptical about all the doomsayingBut don't fool yourself Bert. The minute it was confirmed that there's no place in Flight for 3rd party developers it was all over