I originally wrote this as a response to a post after seeing the irony of people complaining about Asobo planes in one topic and complaining that third-party planes don’t compare visually to Asobo’s in another. It got a good reception elsewhere, so I thought I’d share it here as well, as it’s good food (donuts?) for thought as we think about how we post about our hobby.
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God, I’d hate to be a company involved in creating products for flight sims.
Third party brings out airplane: “Flawed! You can tell it is made from polygons! Why can’t the textures and modeling be as perfect as the Asobo planes?”
MS brings out an airplane: “Flawed! These are terrible. Why can’t it have all the niche-appeal features of my favorite third-party plane?”
Those lucky enough to have actually flown real planes know that none of these planes is anything approaching the experience of flying a real plane, no matter how detailed. Many are more temperamental than the real things because sim fliers demand “realism (sic)” without accommodation for the lack of physical and environmental feedback.
The best approach is to realize this is a simulation of flying and find the joy in that. Sure, send (kind!) feedback to devs about obvious issues, but also appreciate what we have. Yes, Asobo hasn’t replicated everything that’s in P3D and X-Plane, and there are some missing things. There are bugs that frustratingly are taking a long time to address. Nobody’s saying that shouldn’t be acknowledged.
But there’s also so much that is so much better than before. There’s so much realism. There’s an entire planet to explore, and way more than 50% of it looks awesome! Find the joy, y’all. As a wise child once said, “Seek the donuts of the day.” (IE: Look for the treats and things that make you happy.)
I’m not dismissing anyone’s feedback on any product. But if I was a newbie thinking of getting into flight simulation and I came across this forum, I’d come away with the impression that our hobby is flawed and most of the products are junk. Which is so not the case.
Nobody’s saying that we shouldn’t point out bugs, request missing features, or express frustration. But we should do so in a considerate manner that keeps in mind the people who make these things are real people too, enthusiasts who likely could be making bigger bucks doing shooters or IT development but have passion just like us. When I see forum rage, hyperbole that planes are completely broken, complaints that a $60-120 program doesn’t replicate an actual aircraft perfectly, I just shake my head and go back to enjoying the absolutely amazing experience MSFS allows. I look forward to future enhancements and fixes, but in the meantime, instead of finding my fun enumerating flaws, I find it enjoying the heck out of what I can experience now.
Those of us who started in the C64/Amiga/MS-DOS days realize how spoiled we are compared to not that long ago.
TL;DR: Feedback framed in a civil tone is wonderful, but flying sims is more fun than rivet counting.