MSFS and tourism

[Yoochem 10]

On 3/17/2021 at 11:58 AM, sal9000 said:

Hi, thanks for answer, well its starts at 1995 that I remember the first flightsim that I used in the late 80s by a FS 3.0 on a old IBM XT.

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I hope you like it and don´t hesitate to ask me any question.

 

 

 

Wow thanks for sharing, that's really cool. I love how you compare your previous setups to each next one. I still wonder:, do you think the home cockpit also adds something to your virtual travel experience (besides the aviation realism)? And if so, how exactly? And now that you've visited these places digitally, do you think you're okay with never seeing all those places for real? Did you decide this before, or after flying around them?

[sal9000 210]

6 hours ago, Yoochem said:

do you think the home cockpit also adds something to your virtual travel experience (besides the aviation realism)?

I think about what you ask , and I think about what is realy a homecockpit?

Some of full airliner-cockpit builders woud think about my cockpit, what a silly thing and other "Desktop-Flyers" whish they got a cockpit like mine.

It´s always a point of view.

I found for myself that a homecockpit begins when keyboard and mouse is not longer need to fly an airplane!

Did the cockpit something to my experience? Yes, but only when I am flying, and with the right spices it get to a higher level 😉
It feels a lot more real, special with my new buttkicker.

Maybe the comparsion is to look landing-Videos by real plane.

After flying it will nearly the same to look places that I visit by video because I do this on screen not in the homecockpit.

Then the real life got me back. 😞

But, I remember when I had only one screen and only a joystick, I fly once, maybe twice a week. From 2014 on, I fly nearly every day if its possible.

Yesterday I flo from Helsinki to Riga and today it goes to Gdansk (19:00 is boarding 😉)

I live for more then one year in the US and one year in Manchester UK and we travel a lot in Europe with motorcycles (more then 250000km)

So I think i had seen enough to compare it on screen, and it always get me a smile when I recognice things in Flightsim that I seen in real live😉

Quote

And now that you've visited these places digitally, do you think you're okay with never seeing all those places for real? Did you decide this before, or after flying around them?

I see it from another view: There are so many places that we heard, magic places, like India, Patagonia, Africa and so on, places that we normaly coud image to live there, but when you see on same places how poor that living is, how dangerous and so on, we can fell privilege to live in a area that has seen no war, no hunger, no fear.

That makes me a lot more awesome 😉

Edited March 19, 2021 by sal9000

[KJANRBeard 41]

Participated as well.

I do think MFS is/could be a great travel helper. And yes, I have foreign family members and it is great to be able to be “near” them virtually. 
I also don’t have a ton of vacation time(2 weeks, Max), which make international travel challenging, but doable.
 

But, I can do it in the sim!
That, no matter all else, I do appreciate us having. 
Thank you for this survey. 
 

Cheers,

RB

[Yoochem 10]

On 3/19/2021 at 2:10 PM, sal9000 said:

I think about what you ask , and I think about what is realy a homecockpit?

Some of full airliner-cockpit builders woud think about my cockpit, what a silly thing and other "Desktop-Flyers" whish they got a cockpit like mine.

It´s always a point of view.

I found for myself that a homecockpit begins when keyboard and mouse is not longer need to fly an airplane!

Did the cockpit something to my experience? Yes, but only when I am flying, and with the right spices it get to a higher level 😉
It feels a lot more real, special with my new buttkicker.

Maybe the comparsion is to look landing-Videos by real plane.

After flying it will nearly the same to look places that I visit by video because I do this on screen not in the homecockpit.

Then the real life got me back. 😞

But, I remember when I had only one screen and only a joystick, I fly once, maybe twice a week. From 2014 on, I fly nearly every day if its possible.

Yesterday I flo from Helsinki to Riga and today it goes to Gdansk (19:00 is boarding 😉)

I live for more then one year in the US and one year in Manchester UK and we travel a lot in Europe with motorcycles (more then 250000km)

So I think i had seen enough to compare it on screen, and it always get me a smile when I recognice things in Flightsim that I seen in real live😉

I see it from another view: There are so many places that we heard, magic places, like India, Patagonia, Africa and so on, places that we normaly coud image to live there, but when you see on same places how poor that living is, how dangerous and so on, we can fell privilege to live in a area that has seen no war, no hunger, no fear.

That makes me a lot more awesome 😉

Hey I love reading your answers Stephan, thanks! Very interesting how your hobby became more and more serious/intense, and to see what the 'cockpit upgrade' added to the experience. And I guess that to me, as someone who sims on one (big) screen perhaps once a week at most, your home cockpit is absolutely a home cockpit 😉 

(On a sidenote: is that a zero too many or did you really ride 250 thousand km by motorbike? 😮 )

On 3/19/2021 at 3:56 PM, KJANRBeard said:

Participated as well.

I do think MFS is/could be a great travel helper. And yes, I have foreign family members and it is great to be able to be “near” them virtually. 
I also don’t have a ton of vacation time(2 weeks, Max), which make international travel challenging, but doable.
 

But, I can do it in the sim!
That, no matter all else, I do appreciate us having. 
Thank you for this survey. 
 

Cheers,

RB

Thanks for participating RB! I find your comment about being virtually 'near' family very interesting by the way - it reminds me of another participant with a similar story. Just a question for you, as this is quite important for my research: I'm guessing that you would not replace your two weeks of vacation time with (some days/sessions of) MSFS2020. In other words, the sim does not change your travel intentions, I suppose. But do you think that the sim does replace/substitute some travel in a tiny way? Like when you feel a little closer to your family members by virtually flying near their homes? And how do the two (real travel during your vacation time - virtual travel during working weeks) compare or relate for you?

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Oh and just a general comment: I will close the survey this coming Monday so that I can go into full-time analysis mode. Anyone who still wants to contribute, please do so this weekend if you can (every single reply helps a ton)! 🙂 

[sal9000 210]

38 minutes ago, Yoochem said:

(On a sidenote: is that a zero too many or did you really ride 250 thousand km by motorbike? 😮 )

Hi,

sorry, there is no mistake. Thats not all I got, there a little more in the Garage as you can see on the picture;)

[KJANRBeard 41]

7 hours ago, Yoochem said:

But do you think that the sim does replace/substitute some travel in a tiny way? Like when you feel a little closer to your family members by virtually flying near their homes? And how do the two (real travel during your vacation time - virtual travel during working weeks) compare or relate for you?

Hi Yoochem!

Let me answer.  
In a tiny way,  as you can see in my online name, my local airport is KJAN(Jackson Mississippi). Although it is a capital city, it is not a big airline hub and unfortunately, my state may not have the best popularity and its past is known.  It’s far better and I encourage you guys to visit! 
 I absolutely have to go to Atlanta, Houston, Dallas or Charlotte to catch any international flight. It adds time and is a serious factor in my travel. My family is in Portugal, Spain and Brasil. 
So yes, it eases my wishes a bit to go virtually .... BUT it is so worth it to go in reality.  To see my family is priceless. Even if it is harder to do right now. 
Also, It’s is my chance to see and meet people from all over and it has been a blessing to me!

Thanks Yoochem. I hope I answered your question and good luck with your research!

Cheers,

RB

[Yoochem 10]

On 3/26/2021 at 11:35 AM, sal9000 said:

Hi,

sorry, there is no mistake. Thats not all I got, there a little more in the Garage as you can see on the picture;)

 

Haha wow that's amazing, I did some motorbike tours myself in Asia/NZ/SA but never such incredibly long ones. You are well travelled I see! 😄 

On 3/26/2021 at 6:41 PM, KJANRBeard said:

Hi Yoochem!

Let me answer.  
In a tiny way,  as you can see in my online name, my local airport is KJAN(Jackson Mississippi). Although it is a capital city, it is not a big airline hub and unfortunately, my state may not have the best popularity and its past is known.  It’s far better and I encourage you guys to visit! 
 I absolutely have to go to Atlanta, Houston, Dallas or Charlotte to catch any international flight. It adds time and is a serious factor in my travel. My family is in Portugal, Spain and Brasil. 
So yes, it eases my wishes a bit to go virtually .... BUT it is so worth it to go in reality.  To see my family is priceless. Even if it is harder to do right now. 
Also, It’s is my chance to see and meet people from all over and it has been a blessing to me!

Thanks Yoochem. I hope I answered your question and good luck with your research!

Cheers,

RB

Hi RB, that does help a lot, thank you! I completely understand that really seeing your family and meet people from other countries can never be replaced. I suppose MSFS is more of a band aid to ease the travel itch? So, if I can paraphrase, it forms an addition to real travel, i.e., allows you to get the feeling of travelling just a little more often until you can really go again. Let me know if I'm wrong here of course 🙂 (Oh and thanks for the tip about Mississippi, after having travelled to the north-eastern and western parts of the US I'd love to visit some less-visited states as well one day!)

 

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By the way, the survey's closed now. Thanks again to everyone who participated!

[Yoochem 10]

Hi everyone!

In late February I posted this topic. Today, I’m happy to present the results of this research.

First of all though, I want to thank those of you who filled out the survey or participated in the forum discussion. Without you, I could not have written this thesis.

Here is the abstract of the thesis:

Quote

 

The concept of virtual tourism, which can be defined as a digital approximation of a tourism experience, has gained renewed attention due to the travel restrictions put in place to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Several studies describe the relation between people’s travel intention and their virtual tourism experiences. However, much is still unknown about how this relationship works. This thesis therefore combines Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behaviour and Guttentag’s Substitution Acceptance Model to provide insight into the current and future potential of virtual tourism to inspire or substitute real tourism.

In pursuance of empirical evidence to support any assertions on this subject, the latest iteration of Microsoft Flight Simulator was used as a surrogate for a virtual tourism experience to investigate the potential of VT from home to complement or substitute real tourism. Its users filled out a survey regarding their experiences with the simulator, attitudes, (social) environment, individual characteristics, and travel intention. In addition, many joined online discussions which yielded qualitative information to complement the survey’s quantitative data. Lastly, three industry experts were interviewed to gain a wider perspective on the issue.

The results show that an individual’s experience with the specific destination, attitude towards VT, subjective norms, and barriers to real travel are all important in relation to travel intention based on the VT experience. Similarly, the quality of the experience is related to personal context and, in turn, related to the extent to which VT can replace or inspire real tourism. However, the findings also indicate that these two possibilities are not mutually exclusive, and that VT can serve both functions, i.e. replacing and inspiring travel. Lastly, consideration of VT as a travel replacement does not have a significant relation with travel intention, which implies that VT from home can currently serve as travel inspiration and a way to virtually travel while not reducing the desire for real tourism.

 

If anyone is interested, the full report can be downloaded here.I will also present the results via live video stream this coming Monday the 28th of June at 15:30 (Amsterdam time) - this is the link to the MS Teams meeting.

 

Questions or comments are more than welcome!

 

 

Edited June 24, 2021 by Yoochem