My friends and fellow flight simmers,

Sometime in the last week or so someone posted about the potential for many new flight simmers to join our ranks here and on other flight sim websites.  They also posted about their concern about our community's almost inherent need to eat it's young and bash anyone who sticks their head up, and how that might affect those seeking out our community due to their interest in flight sim/aviation.

Well, I was in my surgeon's exam room when I was reading this post and all the replies, and he walked in and got to business and I just never had a change to respond to the post.  I was shocked at how many people blasted the OP of the post, because everything he said made perfect sense to me.  In fact those of you who have known me over the years may recall that I've long preached that the most important person to flight simulation is the newest member - and it's more true than you may realize.

The larger our community is, the more development dollars flow in.  Look, it wasn't all that long ago when the entire development and user community in our world were convinced that there would never be a major new sim release after FSX (there is a whole story there that I may tell sometime, but now isn't the time and I don't want to digress).  New people coming in and staying is the single best thing that can happen to any of us!

Running several private groups and beta teams and doing product technical support for a number of developers provided me with the best opportunity in our hobby, and after 40+ years that is what very likely kept me in the hobby because it enabled me to become a mentor and teacher.  My friends, there is nothing, NOTHING that compares with sharing  your knowledge with someone eager to learn, it is incredibly rewarding!  I might have left the flight sim community many years ago if it wasn't for this.

So now it's your turn, my experienced and seasoned peers, to join the ranks of the Flight Sim Mentors, and to nurture an protect those who will shortly look to join our community.  Nurture their desire to learn, and protect them from those in our community who would bully them for any number of reasons.  We don't need a group of mentors do to this, we just need good people, and there is no shortage of good people in our community.  In fact recently I've been crossing paths with some awesome people in threads here on AVSIM and I will make some time to get back to them personally because they're just great people who'd I very much like to know better.

I'd also like to say is to remind everyone what MSFS is going to need time to mature into what many of us currently use.  Support the sim, be positive, state  your complaints and desires in a positive manner, and it will happen just like it has since the very beginning.

Finally, there is a lot of very serious stuff going on in the world right now, not just a serious pandemic which could easily ignite into our worst nightmare.  People are hurting emotionally, mentally and financially.  Flight simulation provides a wonderful escape for us all, so let's try our very, very best to keep our community as a positive place for us all to enjoy.

Best wishes to you and your families.

 

Dave

 

 

 

 

 

Well said Dave, I had a similar thought today.  The hobby of flight simulation has brought me great joy over the past few decades.  I’ve learned a thing or two over those years and i would love to help others enjoy it as much as I do.  

I always try to provide as much assistance on the avsim forums as I request from them, and I see this as a great opportunity to encourage/assist a swath of new flight simmers.  I’ll be splitting my time over the next few weeks between flying this amazing new sim and trying to help newbies figure things out on these forums.

To be fair, I think most people who'd be willing to do this don't actually need to be asked, they do so already anyway. I've already told a few recent new Avsim joiners that I'd be happy to help them out, all they have to do is ask. 

What I would encourage people to do however, is look up at the very top of the forum listings each time you log on, and if you see a new member saying hi, take the time to welcome them and throw a smile emote on your reply. It takes mere seconds to do this, but it goes a long way toward encouraging people to feel welcome and join in. Not to mention that you presumably want to be part of a community which has a reputation for being helpful and friendly.

Remember that this helps you too if you like Avsim, because the more people who join Avsim, the more secure its future is. Thus the message is clear, when you help others, you help yourself, so there's every reason to do it.

Oh, and if you see a new member post in the 'wrong' forum, don't immediately jump on them and tell them that they 'should have posted it here or there', it's very intimidating for a new member to see that. They'll figure it out for themselves soon enough.

Edited August 16, 20205 yr by Chock

Dave, you know I wanted a protected area for newcomers.  

The problem isn't that there won't be enough people to help, it's that there will be too many people ready to attack.

Right now the MSFS forum is in pretty good shape, even with new people showing up.  I hope it stays that way.

I've already done my part and started to help a few.

Hook

This is a great topic, and one that is often so true, whether it is on VATSIM, XPLANE or one of the other medians that has to do with simulation I find that for many new members to the community it can be intimidating to feel welcomed into the community. Not to mention how difficult it is to learn how to properly have your sim running smoothly and then learning complex systems on all of the add on, which makes it even more intimidating for new members. It is imperative that as a new book is opened on the SAGA that is flight simulation that we all identify that new members will need help. they will need a welcoming community and they will need all of us to show how close we can all be. 

Long ago it was a controller on VATSIM that took the time to chat with me via MSN chat to help me get set up on VATSIM, taught me the different ways to log on. Showed me how to speak to controllers and from there it was a crucial first step that opened a world of possibilities to which I continued exploring into. 

Another instance of such a time was when I met another pilot from Aruba flying on around Santo Domingo and we started chatting. Until that point I used the Squawk box weather updates. It was that pilot who introduced me to Level D and Active Sky 6.5. Even further opening my understanding of complex aircraft systems, weather synopsis,and planning. My point is that as much as advertising, and websites,and Youtube videos helped is was someone from the community, taking their time, supporting a complete "newbie" that opened up a true passion that never has left me during these 15 years of simming and then because of it made me chase my career in aviation.

 

There are many here that I can thank for these great 15 years that defined me to become who I am. Sadly I can say that the opposite has been demonstrated by several members in the community that seem to be annoyed or nuisance by new people into the community.

 

 

You have to be able to walk before you can run, and crawl before you can walk.  Unless someone specifically asks about flying airliners, maybe it's better to stick to the basics?  The *easy* basics.

Get them started with the sim. Get their controls set up.  Walk them through how to get in the air.  

No need to discuss VORs and SIDS and STARS until someone's ready for that.

First and foremost, flying should be fun.  Let's get them into the fun parts early.

Hook

I just started posting here yesterday in anticipation for release tomorrow.  The reddit boards I have been frequenting weren't quite moving quick enough for my liking so I came over here.  I would say the community seems great overall, however some of the pessimism towards the game seems a bit silly to me but I also haven't played a flight sim since I was sitting in my fathers lap in the mid 90s.  In any case I purchased a VKB Gladiator MK.2 off Craigslist and I'm exciting to learn over the coming months.  It's actually quite refreshing to post to an actual forum, something I haven't really done since I found reddit years ago.  Looking forward to being part of the community here.

Cheers,

Mamba

33 minutes ago, vMambaaa said:

 Looking forward to being part of the community here.

Mamba

You are already part of the community,

Welcome to the AVSIM forums.

38 minutes ago, vMambaaa said:

I just started posting here yesterday in anticipation for release tomorrow.  The reddit boards I have been frequenting weren't quite moving quick enough for my liking so I came over here.  I would say the community seems great overall, however some of the pessimism towards the game seems a bit silly to me but I also haven't played a flight sim since I was sitting in my fathers lap in the mid 90s.  In any case I purchased a VKB Gladiator MK.2 off Craigslist and I'm exciting to learn over the coming months.  It's actually quite refreshing to post to an actual forum, something I haven't really done since I found reddit years ago.  Looking forward to being part of the community here.

Cheers,

Mamba

Welcome Mamba 

Yes be good to one another, especially the next generation, if you alienate them inevitably they will alienate you 

Yep, I'm in 😋

18 hours ago, Chock said:

Oh, and if you see a new member post in the 'wrong' forum, don't immediately jump on them and tell them that they 'should have posted it here or there', it's very intimidating for a new member to see that. They'll figure it out for themselves soon enough.

Well said. I would add though that in such a case please just hit the "Report" button and kindly ask one of the moderators to move the post to the appropriate forum. When doing so, we can leave a "Redirect" to the original forum pointing to the forum to which it was moved.

In addition  to our moderating staff we also have a whole lot of armchair mods who will have to remember that the newbies to the sim and Avsim will not know the rules. Some time with simple explanations will go a long way to improving the experience.

 

Vic