First of all I’ve not been here long so if a similar topic was posted here recently feel free to link it and call me names. I’m into military sim games and flight simulators. For example DCS, ARMA and Rising storm 2: Vietnam. I really like the gameplay, but I sometimes can’t help thinking about the real world atrocities that were committed with the simulated war machine I’m using.
For example, I’m googling the name of an Air-to-Ground missile so that I can find out its effective range or something, and the wikipedia page has paragraphs about how it was “really effective” in bombing bridges in Vietnam, or how it was used extensively in Iraq. Less often it’s something more wholesome, like how improper handling of a Zuni rocket resulted in a huge and very destructive fire on a US aircraft carrier while it was deployed in the South China sea during the Vietnam war.
It doesn’t help of course how any story or campaign on such games is basically unapologetic NATO propaganda. It’s also interesting how games like Call of Duty don’t usually trigger this for me, because their mechanics are so far removed from reality it’s basically an arcade game with a “realistic” coat of paint, no different from DOOM or whatever.
Anyway, those feelings aren’t enough for me to stop playing those games, nor do I think they’re fundamentally unethical or something. I’m just wondering if anyone here had similar experiences.
The flanker is a beast, it’s definitely on my to-learn list. I just wish non-NATO aircraft got a little more love in DCS, the US aircraft seem to have the best toys ATM. I’d like to see a su-30 with thrust vectoring for example. For now the only Russian aircraft I have is the KA-50, which is also pretty fun.
All I want is a mig29 with 3D thrust vectoring TBH. It’s too bad they’re having trouble with the Russian government, I wish the Russians and other militaries took a page off the American DoD’s book and realize how this stuff is basically free propaganda.
I got the harrier, found a Soviet livery for it, and make my own missions. So I don’t really get uncomfortable playing it.
Cool. I haven’t delved much into custom liveries/mods and the mission creator myself, but I like how you can customize stuff like that yourself.
I love the KA-50, though I can barely keep Helicopters in the air and the KA-50 glitches badly on my Vive.
I’m a little war’d out recently, so I’ve switched to playing Reentry which is a quite accurate orbital simulator (far more so than KSP or Orbiter) mostly involving me reading the original manuals and checklists, and then smashing Gemini capsules into the ground because I flipped the wrong fuse 45 min earlier. Hopefully they get around to the Soviet craft one day.
Yeah, it took me a while to get a basic understanding of the flight director and heli physics so that I can even spot the enemy before crashing on some hill. I’ll definitely check out Reentry, I’ve haven’t played a space sim in a while and I need my fix.
KA-50 glitches badly on my Vive
That sucks, although I’m definitely jealous about dat Vive. VR must be incredible for flight sims. I use a head tracker for now (TrackIR) which admittedly is pretty cool too.
