Thought it was time to do a little checking.

I have a hard time deciding between GA and airliners. So I didn't vote.

I find myself wanting to disassociate myself from the term "hardcore" in relation to flight simulation, as that term is acquiring increasingly negative connotations for me.

[ I voted on the first line. . .Low & slow in GA.]Hi, FS fans. I am here just to say what "I" used, for the meaning of "HC" for THIS poll:To me, HC in FS is wanting to be AS REALISTIC AS POSSIBLE.I DO want that, because I fly a REAL rented Cessna 172N, from CSB3 in Canada.So, inside FS, I DO NOT have any info letters over the other planes.It is totaly ridiculous ! Do you see that in real life ???And since the time I fly for real (2002), my virtual flights are practices ofthe real flights I will do later.That's why I DO want REALISM, strongly, hardcorely ! ! B-)Blue skies.

I voted hard core, but I would only consider myself a hard core simmer in the sense that I really do like flight sims and spend a preposterously large amount of money on them. Flight sims do not necessarily have to be totally realistic for me to enjoy them, although it is probably fair to say that I do generally prefer a leaning toward realism in them.Compare for example, my real flying to doing it in a sim; on the whole I fly gliders in real life, which means driving a fairly long way to a club, towing the thing to the flight line, cleaning the bird crap off the wings, polishing the canopy and checking the various nuts and bolts etc, inspecting and donning a parachute, waiting for a launch behind other aircraft, scratching around for lift on ridges in the hope of picking up a thermal (which sometimes never shows up), towing the aircraft off the field after landing, cleaning the crap off it again, dollying it to some dingy corner of a hangar, driving a long way home. If I had to simulate all of that, it would of course be more realistic, but it would not focus on the fun part.Thus, much of the appeal of sims is the fact that you can do stuff which is not realistic in them, and not just where it comes to skipping the laborious bits, i.e, fly an airliner on your own, fly a Spitfire inverted under Tower Bridge, belly land a B-17 on a beach with an engine fire, bring a Huey into a hot LZ in Vietnam etc, etc. None of these is a realistic proposition, since I'm unlikely to ever do any of them for real, but I like to have a reasonably realistic simulation of an aircraft in which to try such things. Whether that means I am a hard core simmer or not is debatable as far as I can see.Al

I hovered over the 'hardcore or no' button for ages. I plumped for No. Althought I do the flying bit as realisticly as possible I'm quite (very) lazy about ATC procedures and my navigation is restricted to punching in numbers on my GPS. I figure hardcore simmers do EVERYTHING by the book.

I don't really have the time to be Hard Core anything as it relates to games/sims. (Used to be a huge MMO player in raid guilds and all of that)I defined HC as:1) Spent > $500 on Flight sim products in the past 4 years2) Prep time over 15 minutes for a flight (Route planning, weather info, etc...)3) Trying to simulate RW polices and procedures as close as possible4) VA memberI enjoy airline flying (with flight planning, ATC, weather, sounds, etc...). The only execption I will make to this type of flying, is time. I don't have the time to spend 12 hours of real life time for a long haul. So by this fact, maybe some would NOT consider me HC... :(

I find myself wanting to disassociate myself from the term "hardcore" in relation to flight simulation, as that term is acquiring increasingly negative connotations for me.

I agree 100%. In fact I wouldn't like to be 'hardcore' anything.

I defined HC as:1) Spent > $500 on Flight sim products in the past 4 years2) Prep time over 15 minutes for a flight (Route planning, weather info, etc...)3) Trying to simulate RW polices and procedures as close as possible4) VA member

Nice definition. If I use that definition, I´m more than a hardcore simmer. My Prep for an normal NGX flight does use arround half an hour or more and >I try to fly with all SID´s and STAR´s based on the flightplanes filed on flightaware. But I don´t fly for any VA yet.

OK I finally voted for airliners. But I voted for non-hardcore, because I do NOT do any of the following points:

• flight planning
• VATSIM or VA's
• have AES/GSX
• spend more than an hour from cold'n'dark to shutdown
• print out checklists or have FS2crew
• own even a single payware airport
• buy AIRAC cycles
• purchase additional variants of a payware aircraft

I define a casual user who is happy to jump into a plane without reading the manual, start on the runway and fly around checking out the sights. When it comes time to land, gear down and aim for the runway, land without care about vertical speed, flaps, safety, weight and a host of other things. Has no clue about what to do in bad weather or in an emergency.If one does more than this, then it is beyond casual, but when does it become hardcore? I read the manual and fly with real weather, follow the takeoff and landing procedures, but I do this with all planes, not just jets. In fact I like flying all types of planes and this poll does not allow me to express that.In fact, trying to group people as hardcore or not is not relevant. What is relevant is what level of simulation someone wants, to have flying enjoyable. So, a better poll would be....Do you use --- a joystick, rudder pedals, real weather, ATC, AI traffic, read the manual, failures, etc...The more of these people select, the more hardcore they are likely to be.So, yes, I would be closer to the hard core end of the scale, but I did not vote, because I fly all kinds of planes, including helicopters and GA aircraft.One last thing, how much money one spends on add-ons has nothing to do with being hardcore, especially on scenery. You can buy one well made plane and fly only that between the same few airports and be very hardcore if you do things as real as possible.

I am hardcore in spending hard earned money on anything related to flying. I am not hard core in knowledge but more of a hardcore stick and rudder guy. The knowledge will come as years pass and I empty my bank account on stuff for flying.

I was not able to say Low and slow and Fast and high. :)I like flying the Twin non Turbo and the PMDG 747 and LVL-D:)

Only fly low and slow now because I miss stuff at 30,000 ft and VFR charts and rules are easier to follow. I fly in flyover land like Fargo to Grand Forks or Winnipeg to Regina, or Yesterday to Rush City MN and today to Duluth. Cessna or Pipers or puddle jumpers to land on lakes. only items I fly. Fly about 6 to 10 hours a week in FSX, XP-10, FS2004.

I would think HC simmers don't use time compression either.