Greatest interview with ED 7/31

Anyone who plays and loves DCS NEEDS to watch this in its entirety. A LOT of questions answered in this and explanations given about questions we have. No Tornado coming from ED boys, sorry. But I about sierrea’d myself when getting out of your aircraft and walking around it was confirmed. There is so much more in this video avid DCS players need to hear. The future of DCS is beyond exciting.

I can’t thank Simon (ED) and Cap (Grim Reapers) enough for doing this for the community. Cap and his team are always bringing us the best training resources possible for DCS and I learn more from his interviews than any other source. He really cares about the community and what we get out of DCS. Thanks boys, you have a lifetime subscriber here. And Cap, Simon is right, get VR! You will never return to the Track IR. It will blow your mind. By far the most immersive experience ever. You won’t take it off.

While it’s nice to listen to these interviews, I can say with confidence they (grim reapers) do not speak for the majority of DCS multiplayer community.

I’ve flown with multiple squadrons over the years and statements like “nobody wants to be a RIO” is 100% false. I hope ED is not taking all of their statements as facts.

I've stopped listening to the interview when the Grim Reapers guy said right at the beginning that until 5-6 years ago DCS was only a video game.....

Fair enough, its now also a minor revenue stream for cap, not just a flight sim video game

Nice to hear more and more military branches of countries are getting interested.

I know I personally really like RIO, its just a little challenging to get random people online to let me do it. I'm sure its just because I am a stranger to these people and presumably they do not trust me. I have always found it fun on the rare occasions I get to RIO.

I've stopped listening to the interview when the Grim Reapers guy said right at the beginning that until 5-6 years ago DCS was only a video game.....

Yep, still is

So DCS is the same as Ace Combat? Seriously?

So DCS is the same as Ace Combat? Seriously?

Nobody said that.

But DCS is still a game. Don't believe me? Read this from the product description:

Digital Combat Simulator World (DCS World) 2.5 is a free-to-play digital battlefield game.

You happen to know the difference between a game and a video game?

Btw, if you consider DCS a game, you are missing a lot while 'playing' it.

Removed

I'm not sure on the unfiltered questions either. Host of a podcast should be well informed about the overall topic and sorroundings, at least everything with the question, if not, research prior interview, no need to know answers, infact it's actually detrimental to know an answer ahead, makes the potential of the interview seeming artificial. Some of those questions seemed invalid because the person asking didn't know the basics or wasn't really part of the community for a long time, or didn't use the right terms, but on the other hand if it works for the GR community then I can't take it away from them.

Don't get me wrong, free speech all the way, free for all chat all the way if that's the goal, but if a rare interview as a service to the community is the goal then I prefer a calmer way of a methodical and oh yeah surgical is the right word, surgical approach into tackling these interesting questions, not soo slow and not too elastic if there's not much to talk about, feels more satisfying to listen than a speedy rundown like engless machine-gun fire. Or is that just me? One single subjective point is that I often put DCS talks and podcasts (little or no video) on my phone as an audio file and listen it while I'm out, cooking or doing some chores and the idea is that it's easier to do other things simultaneously if the pace is calmer, but it also calms me down which is why what I want when away from the computer.

I've stopped listening to the interview when the Grim Reapers guy said right at the beginning that until 5-6 years ago DCS was only a video game.....

That was kinda weird yeah but whatever, I can't keep myself sometimes from referring to DCS as a gam... err sim.

I'm not really sure if the devs care what we entertainment customers here use but perhaps it could make some philosophical or spiritual difference and that may manifest in the treatment of DCS as I've talked before, sometimes when I want to get a point across fast I tend to disregard the rule half the time.

Since I do have a large gaming background, even tho interest for DCS did not actually come as a consequence of that, but probably from my documentary/nature/mechanical/electro-technical interests, in terms of game files and modding I'm pretty much glued to call any 3D .exe program a "game", doesn't help that Westwood Studios called some their Command & Conuqer .exe filenames as "game.dat" or "gamemd.exe" haha.

I did saw some posts around here recently, or actually heard on a podcast about some hardcore simmers that don't like sims to be mentioned as a game, would have been extremely ironic if they were talking about ME because I made such posts too talking about we should differentiate DCS primairly as a SIM not a GAME, but I want to make something clear, I never said or I never meant that I'd be offended about someone happening to use the "game" term, or some kind of a sacrilege or whatever, oh please no, just avoid it when possible is the recommendation. My connotation with the term "game" is more as a 3D exe program, I inoptimally say "game" in many cases where I actually mean to say "DCS.exe", but without the "Video Game For Kids" connoation ... but because newcomers have that connotation I decide I should avoid using the "game" term that would possibly in some philosophical or spiritual and subconscious way associate DCS with that little "Video Game For Kids" connotation, which could diminish DCS's big mean image into something inferior, right!?!? A newcomer would come and wouldn't FEEL any difference, it would just seem like another ... "GAME", and from that IMO comes all the whining and begging for release dates.

While it’s nice to listen to these interviews, I can say with confidence they (grim reapers) do not speak for the majority of DCS multiplayer community.

 

I’ve flown with multiple squadrons over the years and statements like “nobody wants to be a RIO” is 100% false. I hope ED is not taking all of their statements as facts.

I try to be respectable right here in this thread in this regard where it's several branches of the community interacting, but you really did englighten me on this one, thanks for reminding me.

Indeed I do tend to see some major disconnects with what's going on this forum and what Grim Reapers say/chat/comment/feel, I kept watching as I watch quite a bit of the DCS stuff, while I do not have the best familiarity on multiplayer I still do try to stay in touch overall. It was all me watching for entertainment more than for analysis, I didn't want to act like a shark preying on who say what all the time, I didn't take any of that as a direct example of some of my other opinions on here, so when I talked about, the newcomers and the MAC stuff I really never meant Grim Reapers, always spoke in-general to the potential things that could happen in the future. This is the first time I'm mentioning GR directly in this post, that I can now recally my memory and see quite a differentiation in a lot of opinions and ways of doing things, not necessairly in a bad way, that's just what is expected will happen, the other interview with the modder who became ED Partner to produce WW2 Instant Action missions moving forward is someone who's very interested in ground-pounding role of A-10C and such stuff for example (happens to be my area too currently) and it's just expected to hear someone say they have a specific focus in DCS, so it doesn't even trigger any kind of "outsider-detector" within me nor it should in anyone else, nor I used the "outsider-detector" on any other DCS community channels, nor Grim Reapers, but even without that GR does seem to stand out from what I can see in my memory, now wait, that's all I'm saying, I'm not saying that's bad or wrong, I'm just going to leave it like that, raw and objective.

Since others started talking about it here I felt like if I add my raw knowlede to this it would be better so that the statements at least swing in some direction stronger rather than being left handing on the fence as a half-rumor, would be worse IMO, so not to stir anything up.

So what's the big thing I had in mind. The whole MAC - Modern Air Combat being flyable inside DCS ... wait what? Did something change and I missed an annoucement about it? I aplogize in that case, otherwise, as far as I know it was this community here on the forums including me who wanted MAC to be spinned away from DCS, and majority of that was others not me because I was just AFK for a few days around the time and I came in late, with the decision being said at the time that the there would be some kind of a split. I'd be okay with MAC in DCS if there's other thing that separates things a bit in terms of community, but in the end it's not my call, this doesn't affect me that much so I'll probably continue as usual, so this is just more of a chat-opinion how I would have it, but I've haven't thought about it for a long time and I would need to bring up more argumentation to base my recommendation on, so I don't have some strong opinion in this post.

But now Grim Reapers says they do want MAC in DCS and that the other things was just rumors ??? Rumors? It was confirmed by the community managers AFAIK.

Gents,

Please stay on topic and do not turn this forum into a bash fest against Cap or the Grim Reapers. I am pretty sure there are a lot of YouTubers out there in the DCS community that we have strong opinions about, however that is not what this thread is for.

The bottom line is, CAP and the Grim Reapers gave everyone the opportunity to submit open questions, including those of you who are trashing him. You to can get on YouTube and create a channel that is successful and potentially has the opportunity to interview ED. If you are Monday morning quarterbacking the interview, do one better yourself or please create a separate thread to trash people.

I believe we can all agree on one thing from this interview and that is ED is geared towards us, the customer and making our virtual combat sim dreams a realization. I am glad Cap stood up to the plate and had this interview for their viewers. I encourage all of us to follow in their footsteps and create our own content. Maybe on day we too can have the opportunity to interview Wags or Simon and give a different approach to the interview.

Going forward on this thread I would like to see what people have to say about the positive news that came from the interview. If it continues down the path it is on, I will pull the thread. No need for the animosity and shit talk.

IMO, that was a very biased interview.

But DCS is still a game. Don't believe me? Read this from the product description:

I think I've heard on 2 different podcasts or somewhere, perhaps not directly from ED but somewhere upper than a random forum post, that it still is treated as a sim with game components, the offical homepage uses terminology to differentiate it from the military-professional side, perhaps it's outdated and doesn't reflect this or perhaps other factors (law?), because on that level looking down at DCS it does feel like it fits into the "entertainment" category, which is kinda true but we know (AFAIK) that that is only true to a degree or the way you take it and behave with it.

We here on this level, well I'll speak for me, I do want to differentiate it from the pure-entertainment traditional gaming side, because I feel the technicalities dictate such a particular description that is quite a bit different from the rest and naturally would fall into some other category, whether we treat it like this or not, whether we realize this or not, and many other points besides technicalities would further be valid arguments for a distinct category.

I think ED shouldn't be afraid of creating the category if it doesn't exist, it well deserves it, once the engine and dynamic war simulation comes it may get that further reason that tips over in favor of this proposition, and the other bulletpoints it needs to declare it's own category.

This may be actually quite a big deal, many mainstream youtube channels and media never differentiate DCS and never mention it and they just say "flight sims ... this that and this" and no DCS in there. With a separate category, it would be recognized by researchers, by wikipedia, by market analysts, that's enough of a start, it doesn't need to have media fanfare, it doesn't need to start out with 100x of media coming in and having to approve it.

The declaration of the separate category, with a proper name I don't even know right now, could be at the end of the year 2021 in really good press release form summarizing all year+ timeframe full of huge upgrades, backward looking statements, explaining company position, some forward looking statements, some legal talk and so on, all in A4 format with all the document files such as PDF and others that is super handy for some tech sites, core PC gaming sites, and importantly business and market research sites and hopefully with some luck it starts, ofcourse that is only a planted seed, or a small plant, it'll take some time to grow. ... And then these communities will make a wikipedia page about it and other material, perhaps the market research analysits could themselfs make a segment (in theory) and then when some youtube channel or media director wants to do a video on flight sims, they'll hopefully discover DCS from this segment association and then at least just freaking mention it for one freaking second, and that's enough! Ofcourse, there's a bunch of others who could fit in this same category, so I don't mean this as an DCS exclusive term, that would be much harder if not impossible to justify, and it wouldn't catch on.

And not a "simulator" ofcourse, which one, military-only or what, we need to come up with proposals for a proper really good descriptive term that when you read it you kinda get a good idea where it is even in respect to the traditional games and professional military, so I guess it's somewhere in between, however here's the big big point it's still more of a public version of a military simulator rather than a beefed up version of an entertainment game.

Nintendo did a similar thing, Metroid Prime was the release title for GCN (Game Cube) in 2003 and despite half or so of the media just calling it a First-Person Shooter, the term mostly associated with Quake, Doom, FarCry, Unreal Tournament and CounterStrike etc., Nintendo repeatedly corrected them and stood behind the category they thought the game should fit in, First-Person Adventure. And I agreed at the time, (well I'm biased I'm a big fan of Metroid) even if there's shooting involved with the same kind of controls/views, that's not the primary focus, it's a calmer but serious-feeling methodical exploration with shooting elements. The media is the media, they're not experts on programming, designing, making games or simulations, we shouldn't be letting them free-reign to define our stuff. This was just an example tho, I know this is about a genre, not a field category or segment, but you get the point hopefully.

You happen to know the difference between a game and a video game?

 

Btw, if you consider DCS a game, you are missing a lot while 'playing' it.

If you actually think that by flying a DCS plane, that you can jump in the real thing and fly away, your “missing something “. We will leave it that way!

If you actually think that by flying a DCS plane, that you can jump in the real thing and fly away, your “missing something “. We will leave it that way!

lets put it that way cuz u misunderstand what sim is ( u can jump in a military sim with some effort and u can operate it well ) :thumbup:

why people keep mixing between a reality simulation experience and the real thing ???? u can drive a car in a simulation and u become pretty good but real life is different but that is not mean u compare DCS to Ace Combat and all arcade flying games

and BTW u are insulting ED and all 3rd party dev by comparing DCS to arcade games

P.S ... Dont forget that Civilian pilots and military pilots are training on Simulation first before jump in to their aircraft

Lord have mercy on our souls

I understand its not an arcade game. I really don’t think anyone is pushing very hard in that direction. The issue in my mind is that every suggestion is met by the “I’m a real pilot “ crowd but in reality they are already flying a pretend airplane in a simulated environment with plastic toy controls. Yes even me and my virpil crap. So why not one more compromise if that helps a particular crowed?

There is room for everyone’s style. (True gamers really pay this no mind anyway so not a threat).

The conflict is ego driven, not logic driven.

Game - an activity that one engages in for amusement or fun.

Seems pretty straightforward to me

I think it’s important to note that words are socially constructed concepts that are not physically real, that they are fluid and not static representations

Thanks for coming to my TED talk

In the F14 I ONLY FLY AS RIO

I find it incredibly sad that interviews like the one with Gero and this were done with and interviewer who is unprepared and wastes time on filling own gaps of knowledge that could have been researched with google beforehand or followed up on after the interview was over in the editing phase.

Cap is an interviewer of a less than average quality. And I am sure that there are other youtubers, potentially even within GR that could do a much better job and honor the time given by those being interviewed better.

I've stopped listening to the interview when the Grim Reapers guy said right at the beginning that until 5-6 years ago DCS was only a video game.....

Ackchyually... it was a Powerpoint. At least on AMD. I remember frametimes of 3-5 minutes (yes, really) after dropping a single Mk.20 or CBU-x7, or daring to shoot the Huey's Miniguns when it just was released... on a normal day without these weapons, it ran sub-20fps and single digit in MP with all graphics to the lowest end except for textures at high since you wanted to be able to read some dials. Was a 6950 2G on a 965. Swapping the latter for a 3570 didn't help at all, only the step up to the 970 then almost did wonders. And then again, 2.x which was like a miracle. DCS took such a massive step up from there. And, to be fair, even with the latest VR performance issues, I started out with the 1080 at ~45 - 55 which I now have with literally the same settings in the Rift... that has to be credited, even though there are still lots of optimizations to be done.

I know I personally really like RIO, its just a little challenging to get random people online to let me do it.

The real challenge on top of that is to get someone who is patient enough to have you as the GIB doing your training and sucking hard in the beginning.

Since Iceman is completely broken since release and isn't even able to hold heading and altitude ("You had one job!"), that's the only possible way to learn being RIO... probably the better one anyway though.

my virpil crap

Finally someone speaks wise words of truth. Since those don't have FFB... same as VKB. Practically useless to anyone being serious about simming. Brings us to a question I would have liked to ask if I even had known about this before. As I'm not a Discord dweller, I didn't. My question would be if it would be possible for devs like ED to push hardware manufacturers to making FFB hardware again, backing their arguments with DCS "still" supporting it. I mean, it's like VR... once tried, you can't do without.

A lot of good nuggets.