Re: [Flightgear-devel] More ideas on dogfighting

[Curtis O. <cur...@gm...>]

On 5/11/07, Gene Buckle wrote:
>
> If this wasn't involving a _simulator_, I might be inclined to agree with
> you.  However, it's a bloody _game_.  Things that go *boom* in games are
> typically pretty cool.  (unless you're against the unfair exploitation and
> destruction of things that don't exist)
>
> The easiest way to solve this is to just have a multi-player server that
> caters only to combat ops.  The regular server would just not pass traffic
> that involved weaponry.
>
> If you don't care for virtual combat, hey that's fine.  You don't have to
> work on combat related systems or use combat aircraft.  However, if you
> climb upon your high horse to ban this or that, don't be too shocked to
> find yourself flat on your back, staring up at the sky while I warm up my
> barbecue to enjoy some recently made horse steaks.


I'm in the camp that isn't spending a lot of my own effort towards enhancing
the combat and weapons feature set of flightgear.  But having said that, I
would like to make one small observation about human nature.  My kids (2
girls) were in a daycare for a while that strictly banned any sort of
weapons playing.  If a kid so much as picked up a flute, pointed it at
something, and said bang, they were thrown in solitary confinement and
tortured for 36 hours.  And then in that environment, guess what the first
thing a 2 year old boy is going to do the first time he sees some longish
rigid toy to play with ... of course he's going to pick it up and point it
an someone and say bang, bang, bang.

So I think we can debate nature vs. nurture all day long, but at some level,
wanting to make things explode and enjoying it when they do ... is in our,
uhhh ... genes (sorrry about that Gene) :-) no matter how hard we try to
deny that.  Of course, having some level of genetic tendency towards
something doesn't necessarily make it right to act on that tendency ... take
alcoholism as an example ...

Personally, I really enjoy a TV show called Myth Busters, and they make
their living off of "busting" or confirming many weapons and explosion
related myths ... so that show is all about really cool explosions, guns,
swords, breaking security, torturing plants and animals, hmmm maybe I better
rethink my favorite TV shows here ... :-)

Curt.
-- 
Curtis Olson - University of Minnesota - FlightGear Project
http://baron.flightgear.org/~curt/  http://www.humanfirst.umn.edu/
http://www.flightgear.org
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