No, it is not a simulator or simulation. And I'm a DCS player, preferring the old aircrafts.
I have been reading thru the threads and noticed a lot of people complaining about game content, and saying they are bored etc. etc.
They are because the game lacks depth and implements just the very basics of the planed features as the devs even confirmed in the case of mining. Also it's freaking randomness makes it terrible boring. Got a RANDOM mission, fly to RANDOM USS do that 15 to 120 (!) minutes until the game spawns the totally RANDOM USS with the right mission item for you.
Simulation is the imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time.[1] The act of simulating something first requires that a model be developed; this model represents the key characteristics or behaviors/functions of the selected physical or abstract system or process. The model represents the system itself, whereas the simulation represents the operation of the system over time.
Is it a real world process? No. Is it a system? No because it is totally random dice rolling.
This is not a bust on anyone's point of view it is just an observation, I think the people who seem to be enjoying the game the way it is more then likely are simulator fans, and bought ED because it is a simulator. The rest maybe expected something different and got a simulator.
I think people enjoy the game as it is because they never moved on from their 84 perspective and just want to move virtual stuff from A to B. Which is highly boring and repetitive for the most people. Not to mention that there still seems to be something wrong with the background "simulation". Every other Game mechanic in the game is so simple and repetitive as well and everything looks and smells the same, the game is simply totally shallow. If I would like to imagine things myself I prefer reading a book.
Why is a real simulation now more interesting than ED? Because it has depth. Even trying to fly in a perfect straight line (a humane wont never fly perfect) requires you to watch your instruments. Landing requires you to be very very careful and manage your instruments and it requires some training and skill. Also you need to know your planes specifications of what it can do and for how long. You need to know about energy management, no kids, I'm not talking about the three energy bars in ED... This is especially important in dogfighting. So a real flight sim requires me to pay attention basically all the time. ED does not. Most of the time you spend time in super boring cruise flying in a perfect straight line to your target and the only danger is an interdiction. You just don't need to forget to nanny your speed. But this makes it more annoying than interesting, it just prevents me from doing something interesting while flying pretty bored my 150k LS to my target.
I've stopped playing ED for multiple reasons an deleted it ~1 month ago. It is far more entertaining for me flying hours in DCS without landing or doing anything fancy than playing ED for just 1 hour.