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VPC OP-ED:

"Embracing Reality in the Simulation World"

The tragic events of 09-11-01 have touched us all. Not enough can be said about the loss and sadness from these terrible, terrible acts. What's particularly unsettling to those of us that had no direct connection to any of this, is no one knows where it is all going. Our world has changed forever.

While it's hard to imagine that not even the terrorists themselves could have anticipated how widespread the effects of their barbaric deeds would reach, their acts have extended into our world of flight simulation. As you may have recently read or heard in the news, although it hasn't been proven yet, the FBI has allegedly discovered that the terrorists may have trained with Microsoft Flight Simulator.

As a former journalist for the computer gaming industry, I'm very familiar with how the mainstream media is quick to point fingers at the most peripheral aspects of a story if the shock value is high enough. I have seen what the media did to the game Doom when all of those school killings were happening, and could see that Flight Simulator would be steamrolled the same way unless the truth could be told.

I attempted to set the story right when it comes to flight simulation on personal computers. On Thursday 09-13-01 I was interviewed by my local NBC affiliate station, KSBY. They agreed to the interview, since I've written the last few "Official" manuals for Microsoft Flight Simulator products.

The point I was trying to make is Flight Simulator is a great training tool that can help produce better, safer pilots. But it could not provide all of the training needed by the terrorists to fly one of those jets and do what they did. Their cowardly acts required instruction from CFI(s) and access to a level C or level D jet simulator (which the terrorists did). Flight Simulator alone could not have provided the required training.

But here's proof of the bigger problem. During the interview I refused to fly an airplane into the WTC Towers for the camera. I thought it would be tasteless and insensitive to do that. However, I did give them some footage to run behind the story (shots of flying over Manhattan and London).

To my great surprise, KSBY got someone else to provide the footage they wanted and ran that during my interview! (Was the color of the shirt worn by this stand-in a coincidence?) I certainly learned my lesson that day: the media makes up their mind what they want to say, and then they find sound bites and footage to match it. The truth be damned. It's even gone so far that people who have seen me on TV tell me, "I didn't know there was a game out there about flying into buildings." It's all very upsetting...

I blame this kind of irresponsible and reckless reporting for the negative reactions we've been seeing these last few days. (Virgin Megastores and Woolworth¹s in the UK have removed FS from their shelves, and HMV is considering doing so, The Guardian reported last week.)

Will a call to ban Flight Simulator come about? Unfortunately, it wouldn't surprise me if it does. Those who understand the product know that if the terrorists did use FS, it helped no more than a map. So if we are to ban FS, should we not also ban maps? While we're following that logic, we should probably ban box cutters too! I trust these sarcastic remarks expose how silly such reasoning is.

Although we're talking about a simulated world, the media apparently is determined o feed the public with as much 'reality' programming as possible. For the time being, some of that reality is the claim that FS was used by the terrorists.

We need to set the record straight for PC-based flight instruction. FS is a very valuable tool. It is one that saves pilots money. It saves aircraft and fuel resources. It improves pilot skills, making flying safer. We
cannot allow the inhumane acts of cowards to take away our liberties and this includes the use of PC-based flight simulation software.

It appears that this new 21st Century war has many battlegrounds and fighting for the right to flight simulation software may very well be one of those battlegrounds. I call upon all of us to do our part. Write Microsoft to protest their cancellation of the next version of FS. Write your congressmen and legislators to let them know the real, true story about flight simulation software.

As incredible as it sounds, now is the time to fight for something we took for granted just a short time ago.

-Ben Chiu

PS. Let us not forget that while we gear up to fight for flight simulation software, there are currently much bigger issues to deal with. There are several relief funds for those directly impacted by the Trade Center catastrophe. Contribute online to the NY Firefighters Fund, Red Cross and United Way at www.yahoo.com. Let us make this our first priority as we begin to rebuild our lives and our country.