Preaching to the Choir
Every Elitist worthy of the name feels compelled to tell others the “right” way of things. Some have built huge, expensive libraries of technical manuals and historical references. Manufacturer blueprints of the P-47? Of course! How else to prove the rivet count on the default template is wrong! Sure, a copy of the first volume ofBlack Cross / Red Star costs two hundred and fifty dollars. But being able to prove that the order of battle for the online tournament is wrong because the date states it’s August 12 and the plane type they’re using didn’t arrive until September 1st is priceless!
In this the Elitist often gets a bad rap — and I’m the first to admit that I’ve taken other Elitists to task for coming off as overly critical. Sure, the tone taken is sometimes petulant and haughty, but everybody else relies on the springbutt in the classroom to jump from his seat with the right answer so that they won’t be called on. Upgrades and patches that fix errors in the FM and DM are due to the hard whining, er, um, work of Elitists.
They — or I guess I should say we — just want the simulation to be as close to the real thing as computers will allow them to be.
It’s the Elitist that writes the campaign proggies, makes historically correct skins, aircraft comparison tools, log parsers, mission generators, etc., because they simply can’t stand to see things done wrong. Everyone reaps the benefits of their work.
For example, if you want to know the correct way of doing some of the things in the IL-2 series of simulations, such as ground attack or how to land on a carrier, I have naturally produced some instructional videos availableon my web site.
So I am an Elitist. By default.
I never planned on getting here, but the more I fly the sim the more I find myself fitting more characteristics that define the group. Sure, I’ve got the computer and the gear and I’m mostly a “full switch” guy; however it’s because I can’t use the advantages of relaxed difficulty settings. But the why of things doesn’t matter so much as the how I fly.
And if you shoot me down in the server, don’t get too excited. I may be on the bottom rung of the Elitist ladder, but like the guy with the lowest GPA in his graduating class of medical school, I’m still a doctor. But of flight sims. Except I don’t actually fix anything. Or get paid for it.
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