Quote:
Originally Posted by SIDWULF
I was 18 when i started playing IL2 and was in love with the Spitfire. After realizing alot of other people were in love with it too i wasent so much in love with it anymore and now i only fly German...haha
But anyways it seems only young people who already have a facination with WW2 aircraft would pick up on this sim as i have. The other older generation possibly had thier fathers or someone thier father knew actually fly or fight in that era. The story would then be passed along somewhere and spark an intrest.
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In the fifteen years I have been playing on-line air combat sims its always been the same. There have never been many 'kids' playing. We had three join us a couple of years ago and only one stayed. There was one young lad many years ago who became interested mainly because his parents played.
On the other hand, guys reaching towards their 30s and above are the ones that tend to take it up.
I think the reasons are fairly starightforward. There's a steep learning curve which doesn't alway suit the impatience of youth, there aren't the numbers of other young kids to encourage and peer-pressure them into staying with it, the more 'mature' (I use the term loosely on this forum!) people have had time to become interested in the era and aviation in general and may be looking for more realistic simulations rather than FPSs.
Many of the guys playing now were too young to take to it ten years ago when we could have been having the same discussion about niche markets.
I don't think the future for air combat sims is gloomy at all, its never been a big market. I haven't looked lately but I wonder what sort of numbers Aces High is still getting. That's an MMO and might be a good yardstick.