At any rate, picking up on mg35pt's final point, the advent of MW certainly makes possible a range of difficulty levels.
Let me start by clarifying one thing: I don't know that to be the case. Indeed, I believe MW might consist of a single code base with different data sets. If that is so, than implementing different difficulty levels might not be so simple. I offered the suggestion for consideration
in the future.
People would still dump even if the game gets harder. Depending on the theories (of deviant behaviors / crimes) you want to use to analyse this situation, there are many different reasons, but the game being easy might not be the explanation.
True, but...
First of all, enough with the constant whining about 1€ routes, predatory pricing and high frequencies. Those
do happen in the real world so why should an airline simulation forbid them?
What's different here is that a real airline cannot sell
all seats at 1€ and still make some profit. In AM, and in some circumstances, that is possible. However, the solution should not be some artificial limits on these practises but instead to make them cost as much as they would a real business. They could - and would - be used for strategic reasons. At a high cost. Abbuse them and go bankrupt.
As far as implementing variable difficulty levels goes, a quick fix would be my much-proposed, much-maligned across-the-board tax on net profit. It could easily boost the difficulty on a single, experimental MW test-run. <Hint, hint>.
Already suggested. Already rejected.
A few reasons:
1) A simple tax would make the game less, rather than more, realistic.
2) It would slow growth but would not thwart the power big airlines already have. In a way this might hurt young-if-well-managed airlines more than old-big-shoot-em-up style players.
do the majority of players prefer an easy game (Instant-Billionaire arcade mode) in which it's almost impossible to fail and billion-dollar companies are created overnight OR would most everyone prefer a competitive, more realistic, more difficult game (The Real World) in which your very survival would be at stake, at least initially?
Easy! Gimme mo' money!
(You asked what the majority of players prefer. Go through the Suggestions forum and you'll see
that is the answer.)
I, for one, would prefer a much more challenging game. I also know that we are a minority and that, should AM be tailored to our taste alone, most of the other players would abandon. Now, a game with almost no competitors wouldn't be much of a challenge, would it?
For me, the answer should not be some half-baked (if immediate) "solution" but rather a gradual approach to more real and stimulating conditions. Stephen already said some steps will be taken for MW launch. Let's see how it goes and what else can be thought of.
