[Malorn]

Intentional design vs player comfort

I see this discussion just going back and forth about what a possible advantage is. Some folks saying its nbd, others extrapolating that because X is an advantage Y is also an advantage and then drawing conclusions.

Fundamentally this game has A LOT of things that can be advantageous. The controls you use - joystick, gamepad, mouse, mouse with lots of buttons, cozy chair vs a bed of nails, side-grade weapons that are "better" for certain situations, etc. Lots of things which one could construe as "power" or "advantage"

In this instance I believe it comes down to intentional design. Cockpits obstruct view, just like a tree obstructs view, or grass in the game, or weather effects. All of those have an impact on how easily a player can see targets and identify things. It also has an impact on how effective camoflage upgrades are. Things which are intentionally obstructive are game design. They're there for a reason, they serve a purpose. They aren't player preference- they're rules of the game. You can't ignore them at will. Doing so is effectively a cheat or wallhack for the game because you are seeing something that you were not intended to see.

Cockpits, grass, weather effects, cover, and that awesome night/day cycle. They all serve a purpose to impose limitations on what we as players can see in the game and how easy it is to see things. None of them should be disabled by players. They aren't optional preferences; they're core parts of the game. I don't think any of these types of things are optional, and I'll put up a huge stick if I see that any of them are. Don't like the rain? Don't like how night or the sun obstructs your vision? Too bad, you have to deal with it. Same goes for cockpits. They make things harder for pilots by restricting what you can see, specifically below the aircraft where ground forces typically are. That's an advantage to infantry and ground forces and an intentional disadvantage to aircraft. It will change how you play, and it will change the dynamics of aircraft & ground forces.

Inputs are an entirely different matter. The number of monitors you have, the resolution you run at, the type of controller. whether you use a joystick or track IR or multiple monitors, large monitor or small monitor. Those all provide some advantage or another given the circumstances, but that certainly doesn't mean they shouldn't be player options.

Trying to compare the two is missing the fundamental difference. It's entirely logical. It's not about what affects the game in an unfair way, it's about what is intentional gameplay-affecting design and what is player comfort.