[Dogfish40]

Originally Posted by misha1967

To get back to what kimurajin was talking about, what makes the Silent Hunter series and this forum so great to me is that we're all here because we love the subject matter. And because we love the subject matter, we don't waste time bragging about our career tonnage. Yes, we share stories along the lines of "you won't believe this, but guess what just happened?", but they're more to share great moments than to pat ourselves on the back and, more often than not, to share not so great moments about truly stupid things we've done or even just a screenshot of something that looked truly awesome, like a perfect sunset with our boat in the foreground.

I also love having the sim as yet another way of trying to understand "what it was like." Yes, I know that you can never understand it unless you were there, but every little detail, every book I read, every movie I watch, every additional historically accurate detail that gets added brings me closer. With the extensive help of my vivid imagination, of course. Never there and, considering the casualty rate of the U-Bootwaffe just to mention one thing, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want to be there, but just a fraction closer. Just to try to understand. Which is why every little bit that adds to the atmosphere is something I'll go for in a minute.

But, most of all, what makes us "unique" here is that we're not "gamers", we're "simmers."

To add on to this, I've seen a well known Skipper or two lose their boat, (yes, from time to time this happens ) and the other skippers join in to give him or her the best, not because "tee hee I'm glad it's not me" but because we all know what it's like to work that career, even though it's a virtual career and then, after all that,to lose the boat. So when we hear about someones boat getting clobbered we have a special empathy that is uncommon on other sites. I know I do anyway.
D40