I think it's just a plain issue of loyalty, for me certainly. I was educated in a school where fair play and respect were emphasised alongside ordinary learning, and stealing was considered a crime.
That was a long time ago, I'll grant you, but I still haven't grown inured to a code that says "it's your fault I stole your car, you left the keys in it."
(In this case it's more like "you left your car locked - but I just happen to carry a crow-bar")
I respect the official creator(s) of this sim for bringing the genre out of the totally-profit-oriented days of Warbirds & CFS. I respect the amount of unselfish, unprofitable work that's gone into patching and free add-ons over the years, and the unprecedented contact with the main man (at least until the sim-enthusiasts were replaced by a baying mob at the zoo). I respect the closed code that has guaranteed a relatively cheat-free game in the last 6 years of on-line competition. And a lot more.
But I can't respect all the "justification" that's coming from the modding camp. "It's only the sounds" or "the sim's dead anyway" or "this is about the hard-done-by offliners" and all the rest of the excuses . I'm still waiting for the modders' thread that asks all mod-users to pay a copyright fee. If the justifications are to be believed then I'm sure you would all be happy to dig deep and pay IC for providing the body of work that the mods depend on? I thought not.
The other night we were joined on TS by a long-time acquaintance who told us the real low-down - that the mods are sanctioned by Oleg, as part of his revenge on a certain aviation company. Wow, well that explained everything! Oleg is pissed, and this is his KGB-style plot to secretly cripple the US aviation industry and also sell more DVDs. Sadly, I think this guy is ready to believe it
Weapons of Mass Destruction anybody?
Wait will I dig out my tin-hat and shovel. I don't give a tinker's cuss for the excuses and the get-reals or the let's get-on-with-it-now-that-it's-here (and therefore use it without a qualm) stuff. I just think it's polite to wait until the body is cold before going through the pockets - call me old-fashioned.
B