Did anyone get into flight sims because a relative or friend was into them; have you gotten your kids into flight sims?

[Enceladus828]

I asked my dad what flight sims he played: he never played Red Baron, he played Aces of the Pacific, Aces over Europe, CFS1, IL-2 Sturmovik (2001), CFS2, IL-2 Sturmovik Forgotten Battles (I remember that and the same for the rest), CFS3, Pacific Fighters and then we got FSX and IL-2 1946. When I was 3 or 4 years old I saw my dad playing either IL-2 FB or PF and I asked him what he was playing, I watched him play, then he showed me how to fly and then a year later when I started Kindergarten I was booting up Pacific Fighters and taking Corsairs off of Casablanca class carriers all by myself. This made me want to become a pilot. An interesting note is that before the Christmas break when I was in Kindergarten there was a social for the students and parents where we watched "The Polar Express". My dad happened to point out that the kid had a P-38, and I was probably the only one in my Kindergarten class who knew what a P-38 was.

 

Now I'm a Commercial Pilot.

[BOO]

My brother tried in an early iteration of msfs or some such. Bored me rigid. Found my own way a little later with  European Air War.  
 

The lad has zero interest. Too difficult to master for too little instant gratification. The effort required to move a whole joystick a whole 2 inches is simply too much 
 

Graphically he physically recoils at anything other than AAA titles from no later than 7 minutes ago and the absence of the undead/super villain is a major drawback. 

[Gambit21]

I've never known a person on real life who flew combat sims.

Never any luck in getting anyone I know into it.

 

 

[354thFG_Drewm3i-VR]

My path to combat flight sims was from playing CFS1 and 2 with my granddad as a little kid. He really enjoyed those games and played with a FFBII stick and built a gaming PC to run them. We would play them after school at his house. He didn't like when I fired the guns indiscriminately at the cows below the endless fields of Europe, but it is what it is--I was 5 or 6. At home, I also played regular flight simulators on low settings on laptops with graphics cards. 

 

After that, I played many arcade flying games on the PC, PS2, and PS3...Battlefield 1942, Secret Weapons Over Normandy, and then towards the end of high school I eventually found modded IL-2 1946 and was in heaven. Along with 1946, I also played Wings of Prey and Birds of Steel, before taking a real liking to Warthunder in its early plane/WWII only days. After that I dabbled with CLoD in the 2010s, but slways went back to 1946 and Warthunder. Eventually I got into Great Battles, but it only having the Eastern Front was a turnoff for me so I never stuck with it until after Kuban and Bodenplatte released. Flight sims never became an obsession and serious hobby for me until VR (I never had TrackIR).

Edited December 11, 2022 by drewm3i-VR

[Bonnot]

have you gotten your kids into flight sims?  

Your question is too restrictive : I didn't got my son in flight sims , but my grandson followed me at about 5 when is hands was still to small for the mouse.......

He remembers Red Baron  as his first, but I'd (almost)  all the PC sims flyable ca 1995    ??

[dbuile]

I suppose I got into sims from seeing a friend playing Aces of the Pacific.  When I got a computer, I got Aces over Europe on the 50th anniversary of the D-Day landings, a hazy, humid day I recall...  A few months later, November '94, I got Pacific Air War, which was fantastic.  The mouse-driven virtual cockpit was done so well! I played so much, I still use the mouse left-handed to this day.  

 

While AI was fine, it left me wanting more, since real-world situations didn't materialize against a computer with perfect SA, or the limited damage model...  In late '98 I found Warbirds, which fulfilled a lot of wishes... playing against people, better flight, damage, ballistics models.  The S3s were the best there, and our squad was pretty fine-tuned for that environment.  I burnt out sometime around 2003/2004.

 

Picked up IL-2 last year, but alas, don't have the same time or energy; various commitments keep me from pumping the amount of time into it I wish I could, but heck, it's still amazing flying around in realistic cockpits compared to 20 years ago!  

[Avimimus]

SWOTL box at yard sale & Reading lots of history books and biographies at the local library

[Avimimus]

I was about to say, in response to the last post "Dude! I have the exact same story!!"

 

...which means I desperately need coffee.

[Irishratticus72]

I got into it for the girls.

[MisterSmith]

4 hours ago, Irishratticus72 said:

I got into it for the girls.

Bwahahahahahahahahaha!!!

 

[ROCKET_KNUT]

I´m only here for the exceptional... ummm, uhhh, ohhh, ehmmmm, forgot, what I was about to type... 

Who am I kidding, it´s for the only thing with even the slightest amount of character here. It´s Smith´s avatar... ? 

Edited May 30, 2023 by ROCKET_KNUT
"for various reasons"

[ST_Catchov]

It all started with Lawn Mowing Simulator but the forums were brutal particularly the "how to start a 2-stroke mower in 3 easy steps" thread. So I moved on ....