@Hunden
Sorry, is Tag different from what I called Planehunt? =p English is not my native language so I might mix something up. I thought instead of touching (ramming) a bullet hit would count as tagging as well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tag_%28game%29
Would you think that two planes actually touching each other would be a realistic thing to aim for? I'm sure it'd be very hard to pull that off. :]
@everyone
Actually these game modes aren't supposed to be arcade at all. They are a purpose, not a different grade of difficulty. You can fly them all with the settings you choose (max. realism for example). So it'd still be the serious sim we know.
Shooting down other planes is not more meaningful then shooting down cars or a specific marker (flag) or whatever I believe. Target practice etc. is a military procedure as well by the way. You don't always practice the "real thing". Imagine that for a sniper - just impossible. Same goes for fighter pilots these days, shooting down other planes just for practice is just way too expensive. ;]
So yeah, don't see these game modes as arcade please. The planes will still behave the same way and I personally don't think it'll be easy to fly. In fact it might be very hard to master the tactics behind these modes, combined with strategies, the airplane limits and behaviors.
Given the right tools I'm sure the community could also contribute a lot if the game supports it. If I knew how I'd be willing to work on something like that. I just think it'd bring a whole new dimension to a game genre that currently isn't too attractive to non-hardcore simmers mostly.
We've seen other games and simulations being successful by breaking some boundaries and using the same core elements to provide players with content that essentially prevented them from getting bored with the game. To be honest with you I even believe that in the future we will be able to land at an airport and sit down virtually and have a chat, social components, and it'll be successful. But we're not there yet in flight sims so I just thought it'd eventually make sense to give players something else to do and still hone their skills or shoot at targets etc. :]
By the way, the red bull air races are really neat. I was seeing one live and it was really crazy. Racing in 3d space is just so much more exciting. =P
[EDIT]
Like Skoshi Tiger just mentioned - the problem is usually enforcing these rules in a rather objective and neutral way. Talking to people and telling them how you want them to act / fly just won't work. So real modes with serverside enforced rules could be making a BIG difference.
However, eventually things could be made so flexible that we can add our own modes and apply templates for them (counters, triggers etc.) to maps.
For example for planehunt / tag you'd need some way to make sure that everyone is actually allied and only the hunted plane is vulnerable to shots and also that the killer get's to be the next runner etcetera. Trying to just talk to people and make them play that way is always troublesome I believe.