UPDATE 5/13/14: This is the topic formerly known as "The Ultimate MP Event" Here's the new info in a nutshell so pilots new to the discussion don't have to filter through all our banter.
Date: November 1st and 2nd, 2014
Time: All weekend Sat 00:00-Sun 23:59
Location: Iberian Peninsula
Event Nexus: Madrid
Required aircraft: Anything at all!
Communication methods: Mumble default for voice comm. Multiplayer chat box for text comm and as backup in case of Mumble issues.
Comments: There is now a wiki page for this event: http://wiki.flightgear.org/The_Festival_of_FlightGear,_November_2014 Those who wish to participate in the ATC aspect of the event, ATC schedules and coordination is happening on Lenny's website: http://flightgear-atc.alwaysdata.net/V4/index.php5 Also, there is a separate topic in the MP forum for scheduling "mini games" to hold during the festival.
So I was thinking earlier, wouldn't it be awesome if we organized an event in which as many people as possible showed up to fly? I don’t just mean a few dozen participants, but a large majority of the Flightgear multiplayer community, maybe hundreds. Sort of a Festival of Flightgear, as it were. Since it’s always so difficult to plan events across 24 time zones, I was thinking this fly-in would be held sometime in the future (like, months in the future) so everyone has plenty of time to find out about it, tell their friends, recruit new Flightgear enthusiasts, convert FSX players, ask for time off of work, get speech communication software set-up, download planes, scenery, and otherwise plan for the event.
Wherever the fly-in takes place, it will have to be over a very large area to accommodate the volume of players. Maybe somewhere like the Caribbean islands, Alaska, Western Europe, East Coast USA, Japan, Russia, Australia, etc. Pilots could fly from airport to airport alone or in groups, meeting people on the ground and in midair to go on adventures with. Roving squads of fighter jets could fly patrols and dogfight with other players (or attack helpless Cessnas, ). People could start a wildfire then try to put it out… you get the idea; a huge Flightgear party with no main objective besides having fun.
Here’s where we are thus far… not very informative…
Date: TBA
Time: TBA
Location: TBA
Duration of event: TBA
Required aircraft: Anything at all, it doesn’t even have to be an aircraft. …Should change that to required vehicles…
Now, I’m just throwing this out there as an idea. For all I know, the servers or people’s computers might not be able to handle such a huge number of players flying all at once. I have a few ideas about locations, times, etc, but I want to hear your thoughts first. Any suggestions, or helpful comments would be appreciated. I want everyone to have a hand in building and executing this event.