Doctor, I've Lost the Will to Sim!
Or, Have You Recently Lost Your HOTAS?
by Tom "20mm" Hayden

20mm takes a humorous look at the inevitable problem all simmers face at some point and time. No, not THAT problem.

http://www.simhq.com/_commentary/all_042a.html

Holy crap, Tom! I sure hope that you get better soon. Heed that Doctor's advice.

By the way, that SD thing isn't contagious, is it?

Has anyone seen the hand-sanitizer?



Nice article, bud. I think we can all relate to periods where real life commitments prevented us from enjoying our virtual hobby. Hope you can carve out some "personal" time in the near future for a little simulation entertainment.

Get well soon Tom.


Wheels

Good read. I sure can relate to that, I've actually been having the same conversation with myself for the last couple of days. I just don't sim enough anymore. These days I'm mostly flying liners in FSX, so I'm looking at a least one/two hours per flight, which is not always easy to squeeze in your daily schedule. My cure ? I started landing Cessnas in the brush again, like I used to when I picked up FSX. Great fun, short but intense, and there's always time for it.

Luckily I don't use a HOTAS, so there's no risk of loosing that...

Cheers

Nico

I can relate to a lot of this. Sometimes what is supposed to be fun feels like effort. This is the main reason I'm looking into building a pit - something I can just hop in and go. I also seem to start on new titles very late and it just seems like I'm way behind everyone else. I'm hoping that A-10 will be the first time that I get in when the door opens and learn as everyone else does. It's hard jumping in even a year later and having to go through mounds of information to get up to speed.

Ouch, that was a confronting commentary.
I feel that the more effort i put into my simming experience (tft MIP, customised joystick, GoFlight gear, simpit, etc.) the less i actually sim. I honestly think i had more fun back in the day with more immersion to boot. Of course, having a family with the associated life and responsabilities cuts in too.
I guess you just can't have it all. Last weeks i'm even considering to scrap the pit and get back to basic (well, maybe not quite "basic") a good sim experience has become too much of a hassle in my mind. I also experience that when i just do it and get in there there still is a gratifying thing to do but i don't feel "connected" to the sim anymore. it all feels mechanic, yet leaves me wanting more..

..and here i am posting on forums in the little hour of free time i have today, again! Please excuse me, i have a sim to boot, doctor's orders!

Did you consider plastic sugery ?!

Sorry, but you well provoked that one


But sometimes, I feel with you...

Hehe, fun write up.

And quite true in some aspects for me. There was a time when I flew 500 to 1000 miles a week in the cockpit of a Boeing 727 in FS2004, practiced and raced weekly in rFactor, and spent hours building missions and whiling away the weekend in ArmA.

But it seems like the interest isn't there anymore for the past few months. My mind (and time) has strayed to things like scratch building scale models. And now lately... boats. Real ones. And now I'm thinking about scratch building a model boat.

How do I get into these ideas?

Anyway, I've recently installed Harpoon, and look forward to learning more about it (boats again). I may do a race at SimHQ this month, as therapy, too.

Ironic. I'm working on a review of the Obutto cockpit for myself and that is the point-of-view I'm taking. Its become a PITA to have to set everything up, calibrate it, chase everybody away (2- and 4-legged) and acquire enough peaceful concentration time to enjoy sims. Especially after working a long day and doing a trek in rush-hour traffic. Maybe not a cave, but certainly someplace to get away and hide for a while may become the biggest performance upgrade yet.

I'll be looking forward to that review - although the unit looks like it won't accommodate the 46" screen I'm thinking of getting.

Like Derk, it seems that lately most of my sim experience has involved buying stuff. It's sad to consider that now that I can afford some major-class items for simming, I don't seem to have the inclination to just get in and fly. I seem to spend more time thinking about the perfect sim experience and planning that experience rather than living the experience.