Why have locked content?

royp

royp

Member
Realflight Trainer Edition does something I've never seen any other product do. You buy the product, but you don't get all the functionality. You have to fly the simulator (actually have a plane in the air) for n number of hours before you can get all the available planes and airfields. In my case I purchased RFTE to be able to fly the Conscendo. But I can't fly it until I've kept one of the other planes (which I already know how to fly, and have no interest in flying) in the air for 2 hours before I can have the Conscendo I do want to fly. I'm really having trouble understanding the logic in this. Why? It makes no sense to me. Why are they doing this? What advantage does it give the developer?

This would be akin to buying a word processor, but spell checking is locked until you use the word processor for 2 hours! Huh?

Can somebody please explain the reasoning behind locking up this products features until you have used it many hours? Why should I not feel cheated?
 
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I don't see it that way. You bought a product that initially comes with 6 aircraft.
  • Blade 230 S V2 Helicopter with SAFE® Technology
  • E-flite Apprentice® STS 1.5m with SAFE Technology
  • E-flite Habu STS 70mm EDF Jet with SAFE Technology
  • HobbyZone Carbon Cub S with SAFE Technology
  • HobbyZone AeroScout™ S with SAFE Technology
  • HobbyZone Sport Cub S with SAFE Technology
A recent and free update to the software gave you several more aircraft provided that you keep any of the other aircraft in the air for a set amount of time as a reward. You didn't have to pay anything extra to receive that reward, they aren't DLC aircraft like Realflight Evo has which is an additional purchase, but you got it and you didn't have to purchase a full copy of Realflight which also has reward aircraft for completing challenges. The same thing applies over there where you have to do certain things within a certain time limit to win free additional aircraft.

To use your analogy of a word processor, You initially bought Wordpad, you didn't buy Microsoft Word. You don't have the full featured version of a Word processor but you do have enough to get work done and it works well for what it is. Using Wordpad long enough gives you some extra Features the full blown Microsoft Word gives you for no additional fee.
 
Never owned that version, so can't speak directly - but it is called "TRAINER EDITION". So, just maybe, the intent was for a total newbie to RC flight be able to get familiar with the basics, and not muddle that with too many initial choices - yet give them a better cross section of aircraft after they have gotten the basics under their belt.
And...it is kind of a tease. Sort of like free samples at the grocery store. Give them a bit more, to keep them engaged...and perhaps they will then be motivated to spend to upgrade to the full version. After all, the cost to provide the extra is virtually zero, and if it can help bring in a few more sales....
 
To me they intend the Trainer edition to be sold to new RC pilots, not an accomplished pilot. So the intent would be to allow the new pilot to fly trainer type aircraft for a while before providing more serious planes, like in real life training. I'm curious, why did you buy the trainer edition?
 
Could be worse... a lot of games use this system to keep you involved with the game so that you have to see more ads and offers to by add-ons all the time.

With RealFlight, the intent is really to use Trainer Edition as a training system before buying your first aircraft, so forced screen time equates to more practice.
 
But it is not a Mario game. It is a flight simulator. They are giving you the planes anyway, so why hide them? This marketing philosophy denies logic. I have been building and flying RC for over 50 years. I've had Realflight since it first came out (many versions). I have the RF controller. I just wanted to get the latest in software performance and compatibility for the newby flyers I train (using the Conscendo glider). I am disappointed and will ask Steam for a refund, and go back to using RF 8.
 
royp said:
But it is not a Mario game. It is a flight simulator. They are giving you the planes anyway, so why hide them? This marketing philosophy denies logic. I have been building and flying RC for over 50 years. I've had Realflight since it first came out (many versions). I have the RF controller. I just wanted to get the latest in software performance and compatibility for the newby flyers I train (using the Conscendo glider). I am disappointed and will ask Steam for a refund, and go back to using RF 8.
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That's silly. You wanted the software, you bought it, just fly it for 2 hours and enjoy it.
 
It’s about shepherding people through the experience of learning to fly in a way that maximizes their chances of success, which in turn maximizes the chance of them becoming a long-term member of the hobby.

Anybody can buy RealFlight Trainer Edition. It makes a great lower-cost alternative to RealFlight Evolution for someone who only needs the basics. Its primary objective, though, is training complete beginners how to fly RC. Evolution is great for that, too, but obviously it also does a whole lot more. Evolution is able to be many things to many people, while RFTE is focused on just what is needed to get started and build confidence and skill toward success at the field.

RFTE originally only included 6 models. Later we added a 7th. As csgill75 pointed out, if you had purchased RFTE more than 2 months ago, you only would have gotten those models, period. The 1.5 update added a bunch more models at no extra cost.

The new models are among what Horizon classifies “Next Step” models. Could a person learn how to fly on one of them? Certainly. They just aren’t the ideal choice. The recommended progression is:
  1. Start with a trainer model such as one of the base vehicles available from the start (it's up to 8 now because version 1.5 added another heli).
  2. Put in time to learn the basics and build some competence.
  3. When ready, move on to one of the “next step” models, which are well-suited to a low-time pilot who is looking for something a little more advanced but still friendly and relatively easy to control.
So, that’s what RealFlight Trainer Edition does. Yes, many models are locked away until the user puts in some time. Funneling people very deliberately through those steps in the sim beats the experience typical of far too many people in the real world, who try to fly a model for which they are not ready, have a bad experience (usually damaging it severely), and never try RC again.

We’re not hiding anything. Everywhere that lists the models contained in RFTE also states they are unlockable based on specific amounts of flight time. To access them, all you have to do is what everybody purchases a flight simulator to do: fly.

If a person doesn’t like the way RealFlight Trainer Edition works, they can purchase RealFlight Evolution instead. And the discounted upgrade price from Trainer Edition to Evolution means the extra cost for taking the scenic route to Evo is only $10.
 
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Ryan Douglas said:
the extra cost for taking the scenic route to Evo is only $10
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^^Emphasis added

Sorry if that was confusing. I can see now how it could be.

Here are two paths to RealFlight Evolution. Figures are in USD, rounded for simplicity:

Path 1:
Buy RealFlight Evolution: $100

Path 2:
Buy RealFlight Trainer Edition: $40
Upgrade from RFTE to Evo: $70
Total cost to get to Evo: $110

That additional $10 for path 2 vs. path 1 is what I was talking about in my previous post. You're not out the full price of Evo if you later decide to upgrade. You only end up paying $10 more than if you had purchased it in the first place.

I hope that is more clear.
 
That's how I figured it also. Thanks for clarification.

In the trainer edition I set a helicopter to hover on autopilot for 2+ hours and got access to the Conscendo I was after. Too bad KE made us jump thru that hoop. After paying hundreds of dollars for RF upgrades over the years, I'm glad I could get the latest with Conscendo (best trainer for newbies) for use in training for "only" $40.

Also was able to use a console code (showlegacymenu) to get back the more usable top menu bar.

I'm assuming the TE won't allow importing planes from the swap pages. Right? Import is grayed out in the menu. To be expected in a downgraded version.
 
It sounds like you may have missed that Horizon Hobby acquired RealFlight from Knife Edge Software about three years ago. The development team remains mostly unchanged.

royp said:
I'm assuming the TE won't allow importing planes from the swap pages. Right? Import is grayed out in the menu. To be expected in a downgraded version.
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That's correct. RealFlight Trainer Edition is not expandable. DLC and custom content such as vehicle and airport edits, colorschemes, and swap pages models are RealFlight Evolution features.
 
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