eSports in the Corps?

There’s movement, but slow.

There’s some localised events running to test the waters.

Still think there’s policy to make first.

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With the fact that FS2020 has come to Xbox series s and x it provides a much more affordable means for squadrons to be able to get cheap simulators (£250 for the S £500 for the X) that could easily double up as esports machines that are also easily moveable to be able to run sector or wing level events.

FS on the Xbox is never going to be perfect but it’s a much more affordable option than buying a £1000 system to run it well. And we have new HOTAS and yokes becoming available from the likes of turtle beach that look awesome.

It’s definitely easier than ever to get the ball rolling on this….

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This is something that has certainly already been noted and discussed!

If you can persuade your CivCom to part with money for an Xbox - something which is primarily a games machine first, simulator second.

I fear it’ll be a tough sell!

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Why can’t it be a simulator first?

You can’t find many machines for between £250 and £500 that will run the latest simulator, it’s quite a sensible option really, the HOTAS is as cheap as £80 and the turtle beach system I’ll be £250-300 which is about as much for most yokes nowadays.

The possibility of esports is an added bonus

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Perception - we’re fighting against marketing and branding. It’s not an impossible sell. Just a tough one!

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I’m sure some clever people on here could 3D print a housing for an Xbox so it looks more businesslike/industrial/aviation-y

It is an interesting question how the performance per £ compares. I would prefer 3x X box based SIMs than 2x PC ones provided the performance is, say, 2/3 of that of the PC.

In practice the Xbox looks to be about 1/2 to 1/4 of the cost of a gaming PC, so if it stacks up it could be a bargain.

Downside: can only use the one SIM app and can’t use it for as many other tasks as a PC.

This is one of the bigger advantages of going down the PC-route. IT gives you more PCs for exams and stuff!

Again that comes back to the price / value trade off

Using a £1000+ pc for exams is a bit overkill… you could buy 10 chrome books that will do the same job for the same price. But you can’t use them for flight sim.

In the same way I don’t know about your flight sims but it would take 10 minutes to pull all of the kit from infront of it to use it as a pc… then you have to put it back again, by doing so you do increase the chances of breaking yokes or other parts, from experience they can be quite brittle.

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We use iPads for exams. Also really good for STEM activities. The NCOs also use them to present lessons from, every room has a projector and Apple TV :slight_smile:

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Ive noticed theres some eSports events on sms!

Maybe…

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Just bringing this topic back.

The UK armed forces had quite a presence at the Insomnia festival, and had their own gaming teams taking part.

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Have you seen the announcement in the volunteer portal?

regarding a CFAV eSports Discord?

Indeed

Would you like to play a game?

I already do.

I use Arma and DCS World as my main ESports games, with a touch of Warthunder for good measure.