Infinite Flight, no competitor and it is it's Greatest Weakness

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Let’s just do this like a high school paper.

There’s more pressing matters in this world but let’s look at the state of affairs as I see them.

Yes, some apps and games on mobile devices do a lot better than Infinite Flight (IF) but those apps don’t have the world when it comes to players, global maps, 3D airports across the globe but as the only one; it is a blessing and it’s downfall and complacency digs in and soon “it’s good enough” becomes queen of the realm.

IF is stagnant because it has no real competition. They say their not stagnant but they are under no pressure because they have no competition. They do good work but not at the speed of advancement because they are like Airbus with no Boeing.

I’m really not hating on IF.

Let’s say a new app came along called, I dunno, maybe called um … MaxFlight and they only did one major update twice a year but they had 6 developers for aircraft alone ; 12 airport and navigation heads and 25-50 paid airport designers.

Their inputs maybe higher but their outputs would be at least twice as much on paper and if motivated enough gould be 3 times as much.

“MaxFlight” may not be year now, but could be in 18 months.

We are within a nats breath of what MP3/4/mov was to ACVD or Wav files; couple that with cloud computing and future shared computing resources of all home devices on your network at home.

I know the IF developers and staff are smarter than me but if I won the lottery I would first ask the IF heads what do you need to make this better but if another company said we can do it it better, I would go with them.

Disclaimer: If I won the lottery, I would go on a world cruise and be on private jets and pay to become a pilot or at least hire one for my PC-24 and train me lol

On second thought … new Gulfstream G800

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This is pretty much the key point for me, IF team focuses on the aircraft, liveries, systems and all that. That works and it is good because they are detailed and do well! and with HUNDREDS of volunteer airport designers, there is no worry about 3D airports, even myself as I see the amount of airports being worked on at the same time in the Scenery Editor section I am amazed. I am actually unsure that increasing numbers would actually change anything. I think the key thing here is patience. I say this because the IF team strive for as close to perfection as they can get. I think if you monetised the whole thing hiring multiple staff for things like that it would all just be stale and dry, like any employee they would slowly start to become less focussed on detail and just on pumping out poorly made aircraft. So I think your points are interesting, but I do think it is at an optimal timeframe and number of people now!

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then all those “Hundreds” of volunteer airport designers go to work for the “other company” for pay. Hey, I’m an actor, you do it for free for “exposure” then you do stunts on The Suicide Squad and still get residuals

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There’s literally hundreds of scenery editing volunteers and while not everyone is as active as others as there is no activity requirements, hundreds of airports are released every update which is way more than what would be achievable with a reasonable amount of paid workers. And mostly they won’t “go to another company for pay” because they have a passion for IF and can contribute to one of their most favorite games this way.

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I would not and I can name you many that would probably not too. I personally do it because I want to help improve the sim I love to fly in. Also, keep in mind the likelihood is, that once it becomes monetised editors are likely be given airports instead of choosing them. I also say hundreds cause to be exact there is currently 473 editors on the discord.

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I think if you pressure the staff into updates your get more updates but of less quality, like in the cold war people would be pushing out hundreds of tech, but only 1/5 would work and that’s what they would use. Low and slow vs high and fast. depends who you ask

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@MxP @BP-Aviation

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Actually i didnt see a mobile device flight simulator which is better than IF.🏖

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Pretty sure if any do it for “exposure” it is not many if at all. If you are referring to sharing WIP shots and things like that then that is not for exposure, that is because people are proud of what they do and want to share it. Equally like people share screenshots, they are not looking for exposure but want to share images from flights they love and are proud of the shot and want to share it with people who feel the same.

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Let’s say you are an intern and the best, YOU paid for the privilege to be there and you are recognized as outstanding in the that company but they don’t hire you after you graduate; someone will and it will be a competitor

@BP-Aviation at some point people who do stuff for free will use that experience and knowledge to go somewhere else to get paid for it.

People may not do it as exposure at first, but then the figure out they maybe goood at something that’s a viable skill, then off they go.

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In business that is how it works yes. But this is different. People go into internships for jobs, for experience, for stuff like that. This is completely different. This is people who want to get involved, know nothing will come of it. They just want to improve the sim they love. The two scenarios are not comparable.

In business yes, but lets be real here, this is not that scenario

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But IF RELIES on free labour as a business model that could possibly go to a future competitor that pays

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That is definitely not how I would put it. That implies that they are approached by IF. However you can see the long line of people wanting to apply, to us this is a feature of a flight sim that we are now accustomed to and would not find elsewhere. And in the even a competitor approaches I can imagine the actual sim itself would be subpar at best given IF have years of experience. It just is not an argument really. I understand the business possibilities and am well aware of it. But it is not feasible or likely. Most people I think would decline as they would prefer something more stable.

But on the topic of volunteers it is not only IFAET, it is IFATC too.

All in all it is a show of the community wanting to help out, I for one would certainly not want it to become monetised.

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The users also rely on free Labour for the game to become better. That’s why we contribute, just like people do it with Wiki.
On top of the work of the payerbase, IF is also adding custom 3D objects to airports if they stand out.

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I’m curious that if instead of votes for new aircraft and airports players pledged money from $1-100 to see them if it wouldn’t happen faster

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Because I appreciate the effort that goes into the output, I can’t see the pace as stagnant at all. I’ve been very pleased with the pace.

And if you consider IF’s style, no they perhaps don’t have competition in terms of their exact style focus. But I’d argue IF’s style is their answer to the somewhat broader competitive space. No competitor being able to be in their particular style space is actually their greatest strength.

But on the contrary, lack of complacency is the driver of that competitive strength.

So as for my own opinion. I disagree.

As for the volunteer 3D artwork, that is a clever strategic advantage (I mean this constructively) - community pride of belonging and contribution. How can that bond be seen as anything other than an asset?

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Now that to me is something I would say is a more realistic of a question and it is a very good question actually, almost like IF’s version of a gofundme. But I feel like then only features made by people who have money to burn will get done and people who do not would not see the stuff they want done.

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Trust me when I say we are not stagnant - we just haven’t announced some things yet ;)

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Well when there’s film on the bayou the current is really slow

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If there’s no competition then that means we’re doing something right, right? 😅

That aside, we appreciate your thoughts and we’re happy to have you here in the community. I’m looking specifically at what Kai said above :)

Happy flying!

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