Yep, I have three sims on my computer that I play with rotation - I rarely jump from one directly into another.

My cure is your cure.

I'm planning to hang a 37" Viewsonic on it. We'll see what kind of hell I get myself into.

Better make a Styrofoam frame for your monitor I think

Thanks guys for the comments, much appreciated. Yeah, back in the day, I really did sim surf. Meaning I would get into one sim, right to another, and so on. I had to discipline myself to stick with one, learn one. Tough though. I'd see a screenshot of a Spitfire and think I must fire up IL-2! Or see something from Steel Beasts and think I needed to do that too. Hard to really learn when you do that, but at the same time I'd feel I was missing out on other goodies!

Yep, same here too. I even have a pile of simpit-design scetches next to my bed, much to my wife's discomfort.
Either way, having to fiddle with controls, screen setups and controller software each time i want to take a flight really is killing the fun lately. Tomorrow is my day off, this just might be her last night here.. no, not the wife, the pit! Sometimes you've got to take a step back and i'm in need of a more user friendly sim(ple) rig.

I think just about everyone in my squad IL-2 squad III/JG11 are going through this or something similar, I sure am.

Life commitments, being exhausted after work, study, social commitments (especially the girl) all contribute to why I don't fly virtually any more.

I avidly read updates and commentary on Storm of War progress as I did with Black Shark... but I don't load up Black Shark or ever spent the time needed to get into it...

What is needed is for me to set time and make it happen like your doctor prescribed.

WRT to the difficulty to work yourself into a sim that you would like to play but never quite managed to do, go online and seek a tutor in multiplayer sessions. If you have gone through the tutorials and feel at easy handling one vehicle with some competence, most online gamers (at least in the Steel Beasts community) are happy to accept you to show you the ropes. I think SB Pro could work well for you since the individual vehicle isn't terribly complex (in comparison to helicopters or a jet), and you don't have to hone specific skills like memorizing a number of race tracks to become somewhat competent.

There are of course other challenges - reading the terrain and guessing the opponent's intent, masking your movement ... in short, stalking prey while being the hunted at the same time. But this is something where the AARs can help you a lot to identify what went wrong, and how. In a way a tank simulation can be a bit more forgiving, and you don't necessarily have to set up elaborate equipment to feel immersed, which might make it ideal for reconvalescence.

What a great article!

I know exactly how you feel! Sometimes I find myself surfing sites like SimHQ chewing up all my free time instead of doing the simming I was born to do!

And you are right, for all the complaining us hardcore simmers to, we do truly have a wealth of choices for good simming right now.

WRT tutors - without owning Blackshark I saw that the SimHQ community was very good at doing that with people just from the discussions that cropped up on the forum. I'm hoping the same thing happens with something new like A-10. I've thought often about a tutor for this title and that title - but first wanted to get myself checked out so I'm competent first. My new year's resolution was to start flying online and now in the 3rd quarter that hasn't actually happened yet - but that is mainly due to external problems.

Hoping I'll get up to speed on FC2 and then I can jump online and start learning something.

Son, you need a Man Cave. That's all there is to it.

(And no, you can't have mine!)

g.