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Am I Crazy...?

stuartcox

stuartcox

Charter Member
Well, now I know...

I have been 'stamped' mad and crazy, and being a sad person because of my interest in flight simulation.
On a Saturday night out, my friends asked what I was doing (apart from work), and I declared my interest in creating stuff for MSFS.

A big mistake was mentioning the Beta testing for MS Flight!
I was declared to be 'obsessed', worse than a train spotter, and been advised to get a real life!
The most frequently asked questions are: "Are you getting paid for this?", and "Do you still fly in your dreams?".
I tried explaining that the actual simulator is only a platform to being creative, transforming real life experiences into the digital world, and finding satisfaction from the end product.

All these 'Outsiders' see is an image or sound on a computer screen, not knowing how much work is involved.
I tried explaining with my (hopefully finished) Chinook sound, that what they are hearing is made up of 15 single recordings, mixed and edited + a composed cfg file,.. The result: "Yeah,that sounds like a helicopter".
Are we flight simmers really social outcasts with a 'geek' image attached to them?

What are your experiences...?
 
Stuart, I am long past caring what others think about my hobbies. Flightsimming doesn't hurt anybody, it allows to me to express my creative side, it provides me with some harmless amusement, doesn't involve standing around in the cold watching people kick a bit of leather around and does no damage to my liver or lungs.

And I'd lay good money that at least some of those friends (probably most) play video games; is flightsimming any more geeky than racing cars around an urban cityscape, or blasting your way through some battlezone armed to the teeth?

No, you are not crazy.
 
What is most unsettling for them is that YOU HAVE an interest

Stuart: Andy has put it most graphically.

The best thing is to keep our interests for those worthy of sharing personal privacy with.
Because that's exactly what it comes down to.

What you seem to be forgetting, is that you already have hundreds or thousands of similarly minded friends from every corner of the globe. That's what we're here for buddy, and we're just as real as any of your so called 'friends'.

We're all here, my friend!

We're here because we wish to share. I wonder if your 'other friends' can make the same claim.
Perhaps its time to take stock on what frienship really means - many today confuse it with 'what can I get from you'.

Watch out for the I,I,I or me, me, me bit - it's at the very root of many of today's social problems.
Friends to some, often means a convenient audience. Selfishness at its worst.

Living in relative isolation, has taught me to look at many things in life under a different light, not least; friendship.

Guard and cherrish it for those worthy of being called friends! :wavey:
 
Andy, I'm a retired psychologist and cleric. So here is my take on your "friends." Tell them all to kindly notice the mistletoe attached to the back belt loop on your pants. And NO you are not crazy. (My professional bill is in the mail.)

Nigel hit the nail on the head so to speak. We need to be cautious about sharing with others because unless they share the experiences we are relating, we will most likely get the same responses you did.

Romeo-Delta
 
I'm on my first cup of coffee this morning, and just had to respond so sorry if this sounds like babble.. :salute:

Stuart, you're not crazy. It's the "outsiders" who have a shallow perspective. It's unfortunate that some individuals are so opinionated. If you are not engaged in something they approve, then they treat you like an outcast. Live by your rules, not the rules of others.

In my life I have several hobbies, flightsimming being only one. On a couple of occassions I was asked the same question. Althught I'm not engaged as much as you, I have spent my share of time in the flightsim world. When I tried to explain the hobby to others, I got those strange looks from friends. When my wife brings up the subject when we're socializing with friends (over an adult beverage or two), I quietly ask her not to get into too much details because I feel as if I have to explain the hobby to others who have limited computer skills (or lack my interest in aviation) in the first place.

All does not have a bleak outlook, fortunately. I can come to SOH to talk about our hobby. And there are a few IT professionals at work that share our passion. In some rare instances I've opened they eyes of visitiors to our house by first showing THE BIG PICTURE. First, they get a tour of my aviation library and photography. THEN, I fire up FS9 and put them in the cockpit. After watching them crash and burn trying to fly the Piper Cub, I then take over and demonstrate how its done. Afterwards they can see how complex and fun the hobbycan be.
:ernae:
--WH
 
Oops! Nearly forgot...

Why waste those helicopter sounds on deaf ears mate...a good friend told you three weeks ago, he'd love to give them a whirl.

(He hates choppers, never, ever flies them, but would do anything for a buddy! Especially if he's in E. Sussex!)

So get the sounds over to me, and remember: next time you have a pint over at the Star in Pevensey, its on me! :guinness:
 
Ahh, words well chosen and sentiments so very well expressed. Here in the States we have a great deal less physical isolation in most parts, anyway. If there is any isolation it is self-imposed. Given what's happening in society, both here and in Britain, you're not doing yourself a disservice by NOT taking part in some of it, if that's what's bothering these folks. I love Britain. It is my family's ancestral home (partially), and I think Queen Elizabeth II is a very great woman. I even like cucumber sandwiches. I'm not a huge (American) football fan either - I couldn't care less about the Super Bowl coming up here soon, and I get ridiculed for that. You don't know what you're seeing out there - is it athletic prowess, or the cocaine someone snorted or the steroids they injected before taking the field? What you do here requires some smarts, and some folks find that intimidating - so they chide you a little in jest. Most other video fans take full advantage of what others produce as they sneak from chamber to chamber chasing demons across the screen, or careen around city streets in their cars, with scarcely a thought for how it was produced, or how it works. You have chosen to delve into the technical aspect of something that brings genuine pleasure to people, doesn't depict any destruction of life or property, and allows you yourself to venture into this special world of the sky any time you choose. Saburo Sakai, in his foreword to "Samurai!," put it best - he spoke of the "freedom and cleanliness every pilot knows." You're able to visit that, digitally, whenever you want and who knows, maybe they're a little jealous. I know what you've done with the Chinook sounds is well beyond any capability I might display, and I'm appreciative. You are a part of a like-minded community connected through the ether and, yes, you are not alone.

What I did for 23 years required some basic understanding of human nature, and why people do and say what they do; so trust me when I say what I have.
 
I have to agree, it sounds like your friends who ridicule you for your interest in flight sims is really stemming from jealousy. Odds are they have shallow lives. In my experience, true friends do not ridicule each other.
 
Just put it into perspective. They mock because you learn the in's and out's of flying and aircraft specs and mess around with simulated versions because you can't get your hands on the real thing. But what about them? I'll take a stab in the dark and say they've learnt the in's and out's of football (Not soccer, I'm sorry, but no.) all the stats, trivia, players inside leg measurements. I also bet they mess around on the xbox or whatever with football "sims", football manager games and fantasy football because they can't walk onto the pitch with the players. It's just the same and if they're really ripping the p*ss out of you they can't be that much of a friend to you. You're not crazy, just a little nut's, like the rest of us ;)
 
What they have just done is validate your status as a member of the Outhouse. :icon29:

but please don't let it stop there...

You know you are not crazy. Now ask them what your time would be better spent doing. Make a list if you will and share it. :icon_lol:

I would be very curious to see what they think is an exceptable hobby... If they have any.

People often times don't understand a person who has direction and purpose in their life because they have none or the same direction and purpose as everyone else.
 
stansdds said:
I have to agree, it sounds like your friends who ridicule you for your interest in flight sims is really stemming from jealousy. Odds are they have shallow lives. In my experience, true friends do not ridicule each other.
Click to expand...



Amen brother! :salute:

Romeo-Delta
 
No I never mention that I 'sim' anymore. Unless they actually do it they won't understand the attraction. Even my teenage son thinks what I do after he goes to bed is 'sad' ! And that from a lad who plays at being a pretend soldier (Call of Duty, Battlefield etc). FSX is no more or less sad than any other hobby but trying to explain that is futile!
Frog
 
Dangerousdave26 said:
What they have just done is validate your status as a member of the Outhouse. :icon29:

but please don't let it stop there...

You know you are not crazy. Now ask them what your time would be better spent doing. Make a list if you will and share it. :icon_lol:

I would be very curious to see what they think is an exceptable hobby... If they have any.

People often times don't understand a person who has direction and purpose in their life because they have none or the same direction and purpose as everyone else.
Click to expand...

How true, how true - I remember once seeing the Platte River out west when I was traveling on a lead - it looked mighty impressive, maybe a half-mile across - but where I was it was only about a foot deep. Lots of peoples' minds are like that too - impressive on the surface but mighty shallow once you check them out. Sounds like these people, these "friends," are displaying what's called "concrete reasoning." Guys like the Marx Brothers used to use this tendency as fodder for jokes. Situation - one person offers another coffee: "Coffee, Mike?" Mike just says, "Yep, that's coffee," rather than thinking to himself, "My, that person probably made that coffee and is offering nicely to share some of it with me. You don't drink hot coffee quickly, so maybe this person wants to talk about something. He's a friend; maybe he needs help or counsel, and I might learn something. I'll accept." This goes through your mind in a millisecond. The first response is concrete reasoning; the second involves some abstract thought, and some capacity for manners, which increasingly fewer people seem to be displaying these days - they mistake it for weakness, and are rudely brought up to speed by me if they do. :kilroy:
 
yeah yer crazy..and so is everyone who "flys" virtual airplanes..........................now wheres my mirror?
 
I have known many folks in my life time, few have been friends..
Most were in and out of my life..
Only a hand full were the ones who held a place in my life..
I am blessed with several long time friends 30+ years..
And these men and women all know very well my interests and loves..

A friend is one whom one may pour all the contents of ones heart, good and bad together..
Knowing that the gentlest of hands will take and sift it..
Keeping what is worth keeping and with the breath of kindness blow the rest away
Without judgement but with acceptance and kindness and Love..
Amen..
Hobbit
 
I've had a few family members act like they didn't think much of my flightsimming. Usually when they see FS 1954, they shut up or start asking me how I did that. :icon_lol:
 
Stuart, we're all bozos on this bus! The correct way to handle it, is not mention it, or not go out! I know many of my friends are just plain working-class rednecks, they have no interest in Flight Sim. I talk racing and football. When in Rome, act as a Roman,as they say. I get the same crapola from many of my modeling friends. Basically, it's envy, because they lack the knowledge or ability to even fly a sim airplane, much less the artistry to create or paint one. Sp, don;t fret or worry. When and if simming becomes an all-day obsession, then maybe I have taken the geek needle too far in the red. Otherwise, it's just another recreation and pleasure I get in spare times.

Caz
 
Cazzie said:
Stuart, we're all bozos on this bus! The correct way to handle it, is not mention it, or not go out! I know many of my friends are just plain working-class rednecks, they have no interest in Flight Sim. I talk racing and football. When in Rome, act as a Roman,as they say. I get the same crapola from many of my modeling friends. Basically, it's envy, because they lack the knowledge or ability to even fly a sim airplane, much less the artistry to create or paint one. Sp, don;t fret or worry. When and if simming becomes an all-day obsession, then maybe I have taken the geek needle too far in the red. Otherwise, it's just another recreation and pleasure I get in spare times. Caz
Click to expand...

Cassie, you must be hanging out on the FSX page. I still haven't been able to move away from FS9. BTW, I'm still enjoying those repaints you did for LilSki's Aeroncas and Carenado's T=34.

Romeo-Delta
 
If you have some friends that think you need to get a life because you have a hobby you thoroughly enjoy, maybe you need to get rid of those particular friends...and keep the hobby.
 
It could be worse, if like me you enjoy a round or two of golf. Well at least I get out occasionally. lol
 
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