Simming since 1982...but,...

[Sesquashtoo 2,846]

Over the last few months, I have been firing up any of my 3 flight sims, less and less.   Over the last three weeks, I have been researching what tech, (and its cost to purchase)  to 'upgrade' from my present  i7-980 Extreme CPU,  an EVGA 1070 FTW,  all in my Dell XPS Tower.  After putting all the cost together...CPU/GPU/Mother Board/Memory....and it being in the thousands of dollars.,  I simply stepped back, and decided I want to step off this 'train' at the next depot.

I have been trying to ramp up my 'rah rah' over the upcoming release of XP-12...but now, realize that I will not be buying it after all.  XP-11 will be good enough for a 15 minute fantasy flight here and there, Same for P3D and MSFS. My present versions,  (other than required and free 'point' updates) will be adequate for my fantasy exploits, lol.

I've enjoyed my flight sim 'hobby' for so many decades, but now I simply realize that I have grown, well 'fatigued and bored of it all'.   I'm not flying, truly.  I'm not in control, or taking lessons in a real plane...over the real world...and all of that.   No...I am merely sitting in front of a computer screen, and 'playing and fantasizing' that I am 'in control' of a plane...but truly,  it is after all,  only another type of video game.  It's a game, Ses...like any other.  If I come into some money...I still would very much like to actually take a few lessons,  and not truly necessary that I graduate to a PPL,  but sort of 'renting' time with an instructor, to REALLY see what to taxi, to roll, to take off, and to landing is REALLY LIKE.   Not sitting in front of a flat computer monitor. I've done that for decades, and have the T-shirt.   I'd certainly entertain that!

I am not going to 'upgrade' my computer into the  ($$$'s) thousands just to play one form of a computer game.

I just want to be honest with myself, after all these years...that I have simply grown bored of the genre,  and will fantasy fly, when the urge is strong enough, to fire a sim up.   For myself,  I have been a musician my whole life, and play twelve different instruments.  I am going to shift my 'what was computer babysitting' time, into the re-discovery of those instruments,  that won't take one cent of any further money, since the day they were purchased.

I'm certainly not posting today to 'influence' anybody,  but mere, and truthfully, posting what's been on my mind, concerning my decades flirting with 'what if'...in flying a 'real' airplane.  It's now, (for myself),  simply has lost the 'shine'.

As long as my present system (which it can), can cruise the Net,  pay the bills,  download music, and listen,  still play a few games,  (my existing fight sim's), I'm good to go...:)

Happy flying to all that still find this as a focused passion....for I did most certainly once, also!

I feel that we should all be able to state the 'good, the bad, and the ugly', if that represents one's hobby state of mind, at any time-set.

Ses

[Swe_Richard 1,175]

Yeah, I get where you are coming from. At times the interest diminishes but I always bounce back. However I don't fly as much as I used to either. Granted, balancing family life with two kids, work, archery, BJJ and photography tend to take chunks out of the flying time for sure. 

I also decided to take up the guitar again during this summer. Still there is only 24hrs in one day.. 😉

Man I envy you playing 12 instruments(!) though. 

Edited September 3, 2022 by Swe_Richard
Forgot one.. ;)

[W2DR 1,860]

I'm with you. I seldom "fly" anymore and I'm not spending another dollar on it. Over the last 40 years I've collected 2.1 TB of flightsim "stuff". And now enough is enough. I've gone back to the piano and I'm loving every minute of it. And, it's free!  .............Doug

[greggerm 312]

It happens - I'm in a long stretch of not using flightsims right now. Still check in regularly here and several other communities to see what's happening and follow the goings on, but the yoke and pedals are set aside for the time being.

There's no specific reason for me... I'm just... not as interested at this moment in time.

I've been through this several times since subLogic FS2 on the good old C64. It's not a technology thing, a budget thing, an innovation thing, or even something that was an active decision... it just is what it is, but it's fine because when the pendulum swings the other way, everything is all still right there.

[psolk 3,057]

Enjoy the time away. 

I usually go through this annually about this time of year LOL.  Simming usually diminishes while the pool is open and I prefer to be watching TV outside.  I find simming locks me inside when I should be out getting fresh air sometimes.   Then I find as the weather starts to turn in real life inevitably my time at the sim increases in parallel.  

It's good to get away sometimes then come back in a few months and realize what you've been missing or alternatively find you prefer other things more.  

I'm surprised it took you since 1982 to come to the realization you weren't flying a real plane though LOL  Yes, it's a video game that simulates flying a plane on a desktop computer.  

Either way, enjoy your other endeavors. 

 

[enright 496]

3 hours ago, Sesquashtoo said:

I am not going to 'upgrade' my computer into the  ($$$'s) thousands just to play one form of a computer game.

I just want to be honest with myself, after all these years...that I have simply grown bored of the genre,  and will fantasy fly, when the urge is strong enough, to fire a sim up.   For myself,  I have been a musician my whole life, and play twelve different instruments.  I am going to shift my 'what was computer babysitting' time, into the re-discovery of those instruments,  that won't take one cent of any further money, since the day they were purchased.

It's an extremely expensive hobby - even more expensive than it seems at first. Think about this: the musical instruments you've purchased over the years have probably appreciated quite a bit. Most computer components are nearly worthless after four or five years - and eventually go in the trash.

The way I've rationalized it is this:

- Flight Sims are an escape - they help me maintain my sanity

- Psychiatrists are expensive - even more expensive than buying a new computer every year

- The money you give to psychiatrists doesn't depreciate - it's immediately gone

Ergo, my flight sim hobby is saving me money!

However, I'm now realizing I could have been learning to play an instrument and actually MAKING money this whole time, so I might need that psychiatrist after all. Seriously though - your logic makes sense and enjoy your time away from the keyboard (or ON the keyboard, depending on which instrument you play!)

[Sesquashtoo 2,846]

2 hours ago, Swe_Richard said:

Yeah, I get where you are coming from. At times the interest diminishes but I always bounce back. However I don't fly as much as I used to either. Granted, balancing family life with two kids, work, archery, BJJ and photography tend to take chunks out of the flying time for sure. 

I also decided to take up the guitar again during this summer. Still there is only 24hrs in one day.. 😉

Man I envy you playing 12 instruments(!) though. 

Keep up with that guitar!  It will soothe the Soul.  I also am into archery,  (have a compound bow for target and hunting (for food on the table), as well as an interest and usage of both pistol and long gun, again, for target, and providing wild game to the family table.   Yeah,  I have played quite a few instruments over the years...but my prime instrument is the Piano.  Along with that, came an interest in Jazz, Blues, and Dixie. So ,  I learned such as the trumpet, trombone, tenor saxophone, clarinet, bass guitar, 12 string, banjo, flute, wood flutes, harmonica (my dad made that instrument, cry...lol)   So...good-bye to many hours staring into a computer monitor...and more of actual physical engaging of creating music....  That's the plan moving forward, Swe!

[Sesquashtoo 2,846]

2 hours ago, W2DR said:

I'm with you. I seldom "fly" anymore and I'm not spending another dollar on it. Over the last 40 years I've collected 2.1 TB of flightsim "stuff". And now enough is enough. I've gone back to the piano and I'm loving every minute of it. And, it's free!  .............Doug

Right Doug!   After the piano purchase....it stays with you for life...no constant (only a few more quicker piano/FPS keys...lol).   I own a digital grand,  and in the past have played piano bars (to get me through College),  have done some small 16 and 32 track studio work.  I am classically trained (I am a Mozart lover,)..., but delved over the years to encompass  traditional Jazz, Honky Tonk,  Dixieland,  and recently picked up a Gretsch Accordion, so I can take my mobile 'keyboard' to picnics and CAMPING!!!!!!    I will tell you as a fellow keyboardist... I've had the Accordion for about a month...and it by FAR, is the hardest instrument I have ever takin into hand, to play.   I watch YouTube'er playing, and just shake my head at their displayed talent(s).  Hopefully, within a couple of years...I can start to execute and sound like they do!   Hey...then I will be ready to make some cash at Weddings and Bar Mitzvah's...LOLOL.   Here's hoping!

Mitch

Edited September 3, 2022 by Sesquashtoo

[Sesquashtoo 2,846]

51 minutes ago, psolk said:

Enjoy the time away. 

I usually go through this annually about this time of year LOL.  Simming usually diminishes while the pool is open and I prefer to be watching TV outside.  I find simming locks me inside when I should be out getting fresh air sometimes.   Then I find as the weather starts to turn in real life inevitably my time at the sim increases in parallel.  

It's good to get away sometimes then come back in a few months and realize what you've been missing or alternatively find you prefer other things more.  

I'm surprised it took you since 1982 to come to the realization you weren't flying a real plane though LOL  Yes, it's a video game that simulates flying a plane on a desktop computer.  

Either way, enjoy your other endeavors. 

 

Weill Psolk,   truly,  I always pushed away, and BURIED, the realization that I was er...uh...oh my gosh...NOT  flying the real deal...LOL.   Too many years, months, days, and hours to allow me that mental luxury anymore, lol.   Back to music, for the indoors, and as you say,  tons of things to do during the Spring/Summer/Fall to be sitting for hours in front of a computer screen bathing in Blue Light.   I have done that....yep...yep....

Cheers!

[overspeed3 410]

Simming since 1982:  Well you got me beat by 2 years - but I too are simming much less these days.

Back in the day, I bought almost every MS FS sim there was to offer, and non-MS sims, plus mucho $$$ on payware.   But now I have consider buying a new rather expensive new gaming rig to do justice to MSFS (that I was flying on my PC X- Box for a year).     

[Sesquashtoo 2,846]

25 minutes ago, enright said:

It's an extremely expensive hobby - even more expensive than it seems at first. Think about this: the musical instruments you've purchased over the years have probably appreciated quite a bit. Most computer components are nearly worthless after four or five years - and eventually go in the trash.

The way I've rationalized it is this:

- Flight Sims are an escape - they help me maintain my sanity

- Psychiatrists are expensive - even more expensive than buying a new computer every year

- The money you give to psychiatrists doesn't depreciate - it's immediately gone

Ergo, my flight sim hobby is saving me money!

However, I'm now realizing I could have been learning to play an instrument and actually MAKING money this whole time, so I might need that psychiatrist after all. Seriously though - your logic makes sense and enjoy your time away from the keyboard (or ON the keyboard, depending on which instrument you play!)

While I did of course have to shell out for those instruments...actually, I can/could sell any one of them for much more than I paid for them over the years.  I'll tell ya what...if you wish to learn the piano...you would love it...all around you would love it...and the first thing anybody would ask you at a party, that has an in-house piano...would be to sit down, and entertain the other guests....and don't ask me how I know, LOLOLOL!   They also say, that those that play an instrument, actually can have a longer life span....and I'm hoping on that as well!  🙂

Cheers,

[Sesquashtoo 2,846]

5 minutes ago, overspeed3 said:

Simming since 1982:  Well you got me beat by 2 years - but I too are simming much less these days.

Back in the day, I bought almost every MS FS sim there was to offer, and non-MS sims, plus mucho $$$ on payware.   But now I have consider buying a new rather expensive new gaming rig to do justice to MSFS (that I was flying on my PC X- Box for a year).     

I started with a Basic coded (my gawd, so primitive visuals by today's standards)  'flight sim'  on my first computer system, an Atari 800, and even then...I had to code it in from an Atari Computer Magazine...they didn't have it published on a floppy!  So...have climbed into virtual cockpits with many, over all those decades....and truly, MSFS is a visual marvel, when I think back to my hunching over my keyboard....and tapping in BASIC coding, to get my first flight sim....  Had fun over all those years...but as I stated...other things are now tugging at my cuff's....like a closet of musical instruments feeling very much ignored!, .lol.  My wife will be so pleased with this....she always said I spent too many hours in front of 'that box'.....  Oh well...

[jon b 2,058]

An interesting thread.

I too am going through my seasonal lull in flight simming as the weather improves in the spring my attentions turn to riding my motorcycle collection.
As autumn approaches I’ll put the bikes and cars away until spring, the U.K. uses cheap nasty rock salt on its roads during winter which just eats through precious motorbikes , it’s quite a disgusting state of affairs really. When late  autumn is here I’m sure I’ll return to the simulations.

At the moment my PC hasn’t even been turned on in the last 6 months and I’m not looking forward to it, there’ll be a shed load of updates to download for windows, the sims , and all the aircraft and airports.

On top of that I’ll have forgotten all my procedures for the many complex aircraft I have , there’s no way I can remember how to fire up the engines of the DCS F18 anymore, at this stage I can’t even remember which 3rd party airports I’ve bought.

It’s quite amazing if you go away from the hobby for a number of years, I went away for about 5 years for example and then come back just how much the simulator landscape has changed.

Still, I’ll leave you with this thought, as well as the simming I fly real jets for a living, the real aviation is something I do because I have to, to pay the bills, I’d turn my back on it tomorrow if I could, there’s very little pleasure in todays aviation. The simming remains something that I do because I want to do it as a hobby and a pleasure, although just not all the time it seems.

[Sesquashtoo 2,846]

28 minutes ago, jon b said:

An interesting thread.

I too am going through my seasonal lull in flight simming as the weather improves in the spring my attentions turn to riding my motorcycle collection.
As autumn approaches I’ll put the bikes and cars away until spring, the U.K. uses cheap nasty rock salt on its roads during winter which just eats through precious motorbikes , it’s quite a disgusting state of affairs really. When late  autumn is here I’m sure I’ll return to the simulations.

At the moment my PC hasn’t even been turned on in the last 6 months and I’m not looking forward to it, there’ll be a shed load of updates to download for windows, the sims , and all the aircraft and airports.

On top of that I’ll have forgotten all my procedures for the many complex aircraft I have , there’s no way I can remember how to fire up the engines of the DCS F18 anymore, at this stage I can’t even remember which 3rd party airports I’ve bought.

It’s quite amazing if you go away from the hobby for a number of years, I went away for about 5 years for example and then come back just how much the simulator landscape has changed.

Still, I’ll leave you with this thought, as well as the simming I fly real jets for a living, the real aviation is something I do because I have to, to pay the bills, I’d turn my back on it tomorrow if I could, there’s very little pleasure in todays aviation. The simming remains something that I do because I want to do it as a hobby and a pleasure, although just not all the time it seems.

My wife is packing a picnic lunch, as I type...and I will be putting into the top case of our 2018 Yamaha Star Venture Transcontinental.   I've owned a motorcycle uninterrupted since I was 16 years old.   Both my wife and I are avid motorcycle vacation tourers, so with you on that!   Your 'pay the bills' occupation is pretty much every forum member's  'you know what dream!'....but, as you have stated, the world of aviation,  the world it operates within...yes...I can see how you feel, about what we would all call the 'dream job'.   Stay safe on your rides...and oh....you might want to look in on renting a Harley, so you can tour the most famous motorcycle tour, of riding around Cape Breton Island.  Even European bikers, that their home country kisses the Alps...have stated that it was one of the most memorable and diversified rides they had ever been on.  A Harley might not be your thing...but they are available in Nova Scotia to rent to qualified riders.   Cape Breton Island...Jon,  you and your wife would love it....   We have ridden the the island, twice already... 🙂 The best time to ride the island...is in the second week of September, because all the kids are back in school...no RV's...no full restaurants  September ROCKS!

Edited September 3, 2022 by Sesquashtoo

[jon b 2,058]

I’ll add Cape Breton Island to my list then, thanks I’ll have a look at that.

When life was better, 2 to 4 day layovers and a minimum of 3 days off after to recover, I used to get the chance to do a lot of riding around California and Nevada on hired BMWs. Sadly nowadays it’s 1 night layovers and 2 days off between trips, everybody is running on empty.

It doesn’t seem like 2 minutes ago I was a 16 year old flying the PA28 in the champagne IL circuit on my Commodore 64 so believe me I know how lucky I’ve been to progress on to flying for real it was always my dream job too. Sadly the whole airline  landscape seems to have changed into some horrible toxic woke environment and most people I know over 40 want out. Perhaps corporate flying a nice jet for a good boss or back to freight flying is the way to go.

What’s really great about the sims is it’s just about pure flying , about you and the machine, you avoid the nonsense of real world airline management and their interference, and you don’t get FOs who’ve only been flying a couple of years quoting ops manual regulations in your ear, who get the auto pilot in at 200ft and  turn to stone with fear when faced with a 20kt crosswind.

As my Australian mate says, they can’t fly a plane but can type 120 words a minute.

 I’m just getting old I think

Edited September 3, 2022 by jon b