We need a more professional way of saying what we do...

[briansommers 74]

wow great stories indeed... funny you should mention about learning good work principles/sitations from flight simming. back when the economy was great and the building industry was rockin... I was a roof/floor truss designer and yep I had my "checklist" of how to layout a house and "engineer" the trusses from start to finish.. funny thing was it was never as exciting as the checklists for flightsim..

[BillCusick 75]

<< Growing up I had always been interested in flight and aircraft and as a young boy had never even considered that one day I would be enjoying aircraft to the extreme that I do in my very own home. I used to build models and read books and I was proud of the fact that I could identify an aircraft quicker than the adults as they flew overhead. >>I still have my 'Observer's Book of Aircraft', circa 1956, on my bookshelf. Two of my favourite entries in that book were the F86 and B36 !>> My reply "the reason I stay calm is because I fly a 747 on my days off!" Well you should have seen everyone's expression, their jaws dropped and one fellow said "yeah right." Not missing a beat I began to go through my flight sim story and ran through the start up procedure complete with switch turns, flicks, pulls, pushes etc... I had them laughing and at the end I said, "Seriously? I fly a sim" and I have never looked back.Honestly, I do not feel like a nerd and I am rather proud of what I do in my spare time, I really wouldn't want it any other way. <<Robert - excellent reasoning. I agree.I use the 'Simulation' angle whenever I'm asked. I'm lucky in that I've also got into programming in FS - so that tends to alter my friends perspective in my hobby...so when I describe how I create my local airfield, and the housing around it, programming aircraft flying around in a pattern, and the end result resembles the real world when viewed from above, then I notice that reactions become rather more respectful....especially when they see it all in action.Ihave never considered FS a game. I cannot ever agree that a program that requires real world charts, radio procedures, setting up flight parameters and programming the FMC for fuel/weight/cargo can ever fall into that category.A game would never require flap settings/radio navigation/correct landing procedures for example.In any event - a professional £15m simulator cannot be described as a game - so why should a similar (yes - they are similar - the only difference is cost) system be different ?I often wonder what reactions many of our fellow 'fliers' who have their own home built cockpits get from friends when they reveal their setup...game ? No way.RegardsBill

[mgh 89]

In any event - a professional £15m simulator cannot be described as a game - so why should a similar (yes - they are similar - the only difference is cost) system be different ?

As the great Duke of Wellington famously said "If you believe that Sir, you'll believe anything".

[Gavin 99]

I just say that I'm going to play a computer game. Microsoft flight simulator. Sometimes people ask me if I've got any other games and I answer that I don't, I just like playing MFS. Sometimes I tell them that I'm going out on my bike or going for a swim or going to the cinema or going to the pub with friends or any of the previous with The Mrs and her friends/family, etc, etc, etc. A few of my friends have expressed an interest in my computer game and have had a go and are generally quite impressed at how nice my game looks. And that's about it. However, some people think I'm a bit weird because I support Southampton FC and don't like beetroots. I live in Poland and Poles love beetroots.Now I'm going off-line because I fancy a read of a book I've just come across.

[Captain_Barfbag 31]

I've been a model railroad enthusiast for 60 years. We are mostly happy to admit that what we do is "play with toy trains." The hours of research and detailing that go into putting an accurate prototype model on the tracks seem like they would deserve a more lofty title, but we are, after all, just boys with our toys.At work, I'm in the Modeling and Simulation group. We do simulators for nuclear missile attacks by various and sundry foreign powers. "Simming" is a pretty well-respected term in our business.

[rhagen 0]

For many years I never used MS Flight Simulator as a game. I used it as a teaching aid and then for instrument and navigation refresher training. So I simply told folks I was going to “log simulator time”. I never differentiated to non-aviation enthusiasts whether it was at my local FBO or on my home computer. The fact that only FBO time could actually be logged was a trivial detail.It wasn’t until FSX and its missions feature that I used it as a game. Now that real world flying is behind me, my simulation time is strictly for entertainment purpose…yet I still tell folks I’m “logging simulator time”.

[Rocky_53 1,591]

I always say, and to be honest quite like, "flight simming" or here's a couple I've just thought of... "real world flight simulation" or "real time flight simulation" or, what about... "real time autonomical aviation enthusiast" unsure whether there is such a word as autonomical but I like it :(

[SpiritFlyer 987]

Great thread!It doesn't matter what I call it. My son recently asked me what toy airplane I was pretending to fly these days. How do you even answer such a question and retain a shred of dignity? :( Kind regards,

[n4gix 4,949]

http://www.excalibur...eetcleaning.htm

Oh dear God! People actually pay for that? I thought it was a joke at first...What's next, "Septic Tank Cleaning Simulator!" "Get really down and dirty as you learn how to clean septic tanks! More fun than a pen full of pigs wallowing in their own sh...."

[Raindance 25]

Oh dear God! People actually pay for that? I thought it was a joke at first... What's next, "Septic Tank Cleaning Simulator!" "Get really down and dirty as you learn how to clean septic tanks! More fun than a pen full of pigs wallowing in their own sh...."

Hah yeah it does sound like a joke. There's a bus-driving sim as well -- you get to pick passengers up and drop them off and all that exciting stuff.Here's a thought; is computer chess, with a virtual board & pieces, a sim or a game? briansommers wrote:-"let me put the givens out there for reference again:1. game = a real world task in which one receives a score at the completion of said task2. simulation = a model of a real world task and/or event."

[Spook 96]

You achieve something for doing a task in chess, so i consider it to be a game.With simming you can take off, fly for 14 hours and make a perfect landing, with a score of a big fat 0...the only reward is self satisfaction.

[JoTayhen 6]

I'll tell ya, fellas - at my age, I've learned a few things that a body just doesn't have the opportunity to learn until he has lived a little bit. One of them - and my favorite - is: "It never hurts to have the reputation of being a little unbalanced."

[Wizard-Bob 9]

Terrific thread!Whether you feel like you are playing a game or flying a sim, be proud of it. After all, it is YOUR hobby and provides YOU with enjoyment. 'nuff said :-)And for the simmers among us, we are also learning geography, geometry, pilotting procedures, etc, etc. No shame in that.

[Chock 17,769]

I normally say I'm into flight simulators, I'll often add that I do actually have a pilot's license, which probably makes people think it is less nerdy, although if they did think it was nerdy, I wouldn't really care, that's their problem, not mine.We all know that anyone who can fly something like the PMDG 737 from one place to another could probably get a real one up around and down in one piece, and if the proverbial 'oh no, is there a pilot on board?' scenario beloved of flight simmer's fantasies ever occurred, the last thing people would be calling you, was a nerd. So you shouldn't really worry about it, because I think that premise indicates that 'nerd' is in the eye of the beholder.I defy anyone to not be fascinated if you showed them how realistic FSX can be made to act with some of the better add-ons glued to it.Al

[Kosta 122]

Quite simple actually... I tell to those who ask it's a flight simulation, a replica of a real world situation of flying aircraft. Actually, people were often interested into how complicated it is - I rarely came over people who didn't at least ask what that is. Most of them have no slightest idea what it really does.I usually try to explain to people that it's really simulating the real world situation in the aircraft, and people often ask who am I talking to (they mostly know about ATC, though they have no idea what's called, they just know aircrafts are talking to someone), because they can't imagine me talking from my computer to someone. Gotta explain them it's like Skype, just another program :( But for those, who live through first 2-3 questions, usually gets to be an interesting conversation, as people actually have no idea what's possible. I show them then some shots of NGX cockpit and they are usually completely bedazzled, like, this looks like a real thing. Then they get it.I think it's not as much as how you call it, but more how you sell it (yeah, I'm a salesman lol).In the end, many respect me, for having such an interesting hobby. Most people I know have no hobby - it's either family, work or TV (or computer/internet). And if they start bashing it, I just ask them, so what's your hobby, what do you do for yourself? Easy pie