The more things change.........

 

They shall be known as Gamerz. Ever since simming began, there were the casual gamerz. Simmerz are those that tell their girlfriends that they are simming.

Same difference!

Gamers, casual or not don’t play flight simulators. Or they leave with boredom after a short amount of time realizing that since it’s a flight simulator and not a game, there’s no point. 
 

You only have to look at the reaction from the original trailer of those in the audience. 
 

“Oh what, it’s just a flight simulator”. 
 

 

14 minutes ago, Doug47 said:

Gamers, casual or not don’t play flight simulators. Or they leave with boredom after a short amount of time realizing that since it’s a flight simulator and not a game, there’s no poin

I mean, I'm still playing 5 years on. You can easily dumb down the settings.

2 hours ago, Doug47 said:

Gamers, casual or not don’t play flight simulators. Or they leave with boredom after a short amount of time realizing that since it’s a flight simulator and not a game, there’s no point. 
 

Or they play them for a week or two before relegating them to the bit bucket. I think that MSFS has one thing going for it (unfortunately) and that is the pandemic. More people are playing video games just because they are stuck inside and bored.  But countering that is the general long-term decline in interest in piloting a real life aircraft. People still make the jump from the military to commercial aviation, but the random person that buys a flight simulator and then goes on to get even a PPL is becoming rarer than a study level aircraft made by Carenado.

Edited August 6, 20205 yr by jabloomf1230

I think the whole "Gamers don't play flight simulators" is a very convenient trope used to justify concentrating all resources on the exact type of technical simulation preferred on forums like this one, while delegitimizing the very concept of reaching out to other types of users.

It also kind of conveniently ignores all of those people who are hapilly using FSX even now on Steam.

Or the fact that large numbers of us here now started out on flight games like jet fighter and others.

22 minutes ago, HiFlyer said:

I think the whole "Gamers don't play flight simulators" is a very convenient trope used to justify concentrating all resources on the exact type of technical simulation preferred on forums like this one, while delegitimizing the very concept of reaching out to other types of users.

It also kind of conveniently ignores all of those people who are hapilly using FSX even now on Steam.

Or the fact that large numbers of us here now started out on flight games like jet fighter and others.

Gamers do play flight simulators, it is a game after all. 

The point is, it's not really going to attract any new gamers, not in a meaningful amount anyway. To put it bluntly, flying a plane, in a game is boring to the vast majority of gamers. 

8 minutes ago, shawty1984 said:

Gamers do play flight simulators, it is a game after all. 

The point is, it's not really going to attract any new gamers, not in a meaningful amount anyway. To put it bluntly, flying a plane, in a game is boring to the vast majority of gamers. 

I think flying a plane, the way many here fly planes, is boring to the vast majority of gamers.

Half of the threads here with people gleefully arguing for page after page over technical minutia is, yes, pretty much like watching your granda' talking about Betty Grable eating broccoli, and most gamers will take one look and wander away, dazed.

Fortunately, Microsoft/Asobo don't seem insane enough to offer something catering only to the serious demographic, but appear to be very consciously hitting all of the buttons necessary to attract and maintain a much wider audience.

Which I frankly think scares some people,

Edited August 6, 20205 yr by HiFlyer

1 minute ago, HiFlyer said:

I think flying a plane, they way many here fly planes, is boring to the vast majority of gamers.

Half of the threads here with people gleefully arguing for page after page over technical minutia is, yes, pretty much like watching your granda' talking about Betty Grable eating broccoli, and most gamers will take one look and wander away, dazed.

Fortunately, Microsoft/Asobo don't seem insane enough to offer something catering only to the serious demographic, but seem to be very consciously hitting all of the buttons necessary to attract and maintain a much wider audience.

Which I frankly think scares some people,

And what are they going to offer to bring gamers in who typically play GTA, Fifa, Minecraft, COD and Fortnite to name just a few? A few missions and simplified controls? The end result still stays the same, flying a plane is boring for the vast majority of gamers. Flying over your house and realising the building isn't correct. Landing in your street and realising the graphics/textures are not very good very close up. That’s not going to attract many people. 

2 minutes ago, shawty1984 said:

And what are they going to offer to bring gamers in who typically play GTA, Fifa, Minecraft, COD and Fortnite to name just a few? A few missions and simplified controls? The end result still stays the same, flying a plane is boring for the vast majority of gamers. Flying over your house and realising the building isn't correct. Landing in your street and realising the graphics/textures are not very good very close up. That’s not going to attract many people. 

We'll see.

For myself, I tend to think what you are saying is how many people earnestly hope it will turn out, and very much not where Microsoft nor Asobo intend it to turn out.

52 minutes ago, HiFlyer said:

We'll see.

For myself, I tend to think what you are saying is how many people earnestly hope it will turn out, and very much not where Microsoft nor Asobo intend it to turn out.

You're looking past a major point. The game is a flight simulator. No more, no less. Flying planes is boring to people. What are Microsoft/Asobo going to do if thats not how they intend it to turn out? 

26 minutes ago, shawty1984 said:

You're looking past a major point. The game is a flight simulator. No more, no less. Flying planes is boring to people. What are Microsoft/Asobo going to do if thats not how they intend it to turn out? 

Look to their shareholders and cancel it if it doesn't do what they need it to do. They did it with FSX, they did it with flight, and I can't see them being all that much more sentimental with this if it's not pulling in the numbers they need to make the investment worth it.

And no, I don't really believe that flight simulators are boring to people. There are flight simulators of all sorts out there that are doing quite well thank you.

It's the level of complexity that can turn away people who don't find that sort of thing interesting, and yes, if there is no provision made for various levels of users, then you will lose people.

I see no evidence that Microsoft in this instance has been so stupid as to not provide multiple levels of accessibility to draw in and hopefully retain the widest possible Market.

They have said as much, and I believe they have never changed from their core understanding of the widespread appeal of aviation.

Over and above all of that, I guess we will soon find out, won't we?

Edited August 6, 20205 yr by HiFlyer

Not to be pedantic but technically speaking, doesn't Bruce Artwick's original Sublogic Flight Simulator already count as the first sim to open up the simming world to causal gamers?  Although being a "gamer" wasn't a thing then (unless playing Pong on an Atari counts?), that's where we were all at before it came along.   And to do that,. it also had it's own gaming elements, as anyone who had to deal with that dastardly Red Baron in the WWI mode knows.  

Speaking of which I have always missed the Crop Dusting challenge in FS4.   It was simple, sure, but fun and challenging.  If this version of Flight Simulator can keep to it's lighthearted and entertaining roots while giving the tubeliner crowd the realism they want, it'll be a win for sure.

 

Edited August 6, 20205 yr by Stoopy

I think it’s importent to remember there’s a big difference between a sim that casuals are capable of playing (ie FSX, ctrl-e etc), and sims that can actually attract a large volume of newcomers/casuals to play.  I think the latter point is where MSFS will shine like no sim has before.

1 hour ago, HiFlyer said:

Half of the threads here with people gleefully arguing for page after page over technical minutia is, yes, pretty much like watching your granda' talking about Betty Grable eating broccoli, and most gamers will take one look and wander away, dazed.

It's not just gamers who are wandering away dazed.  

There is a misconception about what the gamer actually is.  There is a subset of them that are annoying to the rest of the gaming community, but the majority of them are likely to be interested in MSFS.  If they don't stick with it the rest of their lives, there will still be some who go for their pilot's license and may go on to be airline pilots.  This is how we all got started.

Hook