Why do you think flight simulator is a "game"?

[polosim 840]

Game based on true story.-

[Kopteeni 819]

To me the only difference between playing Doom: Eternal and a flight simulator is that in flight simulators there's an extra enjoyment factor in how I feel like I'm learning something applicable to real world. So they are games but with a bit of an educational twist.

Edited April 3, 2020 by Kopteeni

[Pineapple_Wizard 42]

Who cares. It doesn't matter. Just enjoy your hobby. It's not that hard.

Edited April 3, 2020 by charliearon
removed the obvious

[Jazz 1,046]

16 minutes ago, GlideBy said:

We already know there is a landing challenge where people try to out score each other.

Which is why I didn't give absolutes but I think on a fundamental level that is the difference. FSX had missions but that isn't what it was really about was it? What it really was was a simulated world to fly aircraft in. Of course you can do that anyway you want for any reason you want. That is what is beautiful about it. But simulators are ultimately a tool and games are ultimately entertainment. It's just that to me flight sim is both.

I hope your brother makes a full recovery by the way.

[GlideBy 324]

3 minutes ago, Jazz said:

It's just that to me flight sim is both.

I agree, there is no reason it can't be both.  Thanks for the comment about my brother.

[LHookins 3,102]

When I was young I used to say, "It's not a game, it's a simulator!"  As I got older, I discovered that it didn't matter.  Besides, there's nothing wrong with playing games.  Lots of people make a good living creating games.  It's better than watching TV, and it keeps your mind working.

A less controversial example might be the business simulator Capitalism Lab and its predecessors.  It's a serious simulation of business, but it's obviously a game.  It's serious enough that Harvard and Yale used to have annual competitions with it.  It's also fun, although not as fun as real business. 😄  A lot less stressful, too.

I play a few obvious games, but I tend toward those where I'm learning something at the same time.  I can't fly real aircraft, so I fly the sim.

Another example from long long ago is a game for the Apple II, Three Mile Island, a simulation of a nuclear power plant.  I was watching a demo in a store (yes games used to be sold in actual brick and mortar stores) when a guy came up obviously enthusiastic about what we were seeing. It turns out he was a nuclear power technician on an aircraft carrier, and was interested in how close the game was to the real thing.  "This one part isn't how we do it but it's probably how it's done on a land based installation."

A more recent example is the Steel Beasts tank simulator.  It's good enough that it's used by several countries for real world training, but it's also a really good game.  Good enough that the soldiers play it on their own time, and as close to reality as I ever care to get again.  I was a tank crewman in the US Army and had some input to the sim.

Just be glad that our flight sims are getting better and better.  And as the decades pass, they'll get better yet.

Hook

Edited April 3, 2020 by LHookins

[overspeed3 410]

Usually when we think of a game, it has its winners, and it has its losers.  I guess with flight sim, when you land safely with no significant damage to the aircraft, you are a Winner.   When you crash, are you a Loser? 

With that in mind, excluding air races or stunts, I seriously doubt real world pilots think flying is a game...  

[mongo44 29]

Because you don't die when you screw up! Mike Gutierrez, North Hollywood, California

[blueshark747 1,843]

What an awkward thread starter...its not that serious folks

[fppilot 4,352]

28 minutes ago, blueshark747 said:

What an awkward thread starter...its not that serious folks

The OP has "sarcasm" as part of the avtar. 

[DavidP 1,408]

You can't log the flight time - that's why.

[GlideBy 324]

1 hour ago, overspeed3 said:

I seriously doubt real world pilots think flying is a game... 

When I flew, I thought it was the coolest game ever.  Of course you are watching for traffic, holding heading and altitude, listening to the radio, thinking of your next waypoint.  But still having an awesome time.  I guess some people like to drive cars, some don't.  Driving a car was sometimes a game to me, and very enjoyable as well.

[Mgard78 141]

2 hours ago, overspeed3 said:

Usually when we think of a game, it has its winners, and it has its losers.  I guess with flight sim, when you land safely with no significant damage to the aircraft, you are a Winner.   When you crash, are you a Loser? 

With that in mind, excluding air races or stunts, I seriously doubt real world pilots think flying is a game...  

Farmers wouldn’t think their job is a game either, yet there you have Farming Simulator...

[blueshark747 1,843]

1 hour ago, GlideBy said:

When I flew, I thought it was the coolest game ever.  Of course you are watching for traffic, holding heading and altitude, listening to the radio, thinking of your next waypoint.  But still having an awesome time.  I guess some people like to drive cars, some don't.  Driving a car was sometimes a game to me, and very enjoyable as well.

Awesomely well put!

[Quasimodo 505]

Ludwig Wittgenstein: "It's a game!"