Gameplay or Realism? Which do you prefer?

[Beery]

Originally Posted by K-61

When realism becomes tedious then it takes away from the enjoyment of the game. In the game's original crew fatigue model I as commander of the boat have to micromanage my crew and put them to bed like the mother of a three year old.

But that's not realism that you're complaining about. No real U-boat commander had to play mother hen with his crew.

There's nothing 'boring' about realism. I'm not sure why some players think there is. Sure, there's a lot of boring things in 'reality', but reality and realism are completely different things. When a simulation game is made, the boring bits are cut out from the very beginning, so when you add realism you're only adding realism to the bits that are already fun, thus making the experience even more fun because it seems more real.

I just don't understand where this idea that 'realism = boring' comes from. In my view, arcade style play is boring because it's not challenging on anything but the most basic reflex level. Realism usually adds to the challenge and inserts some strategy and thought into the process, not to mention the 'cool' factor of knowing that what you're experiencing in a realistic simulation is something closer to what real U-boat commanders experienced.