Great question! I think it would have an adverse affect. I myself stay with the hobby because I find it a constant challenge. Not only a challenge in piloting skills but from an engineering standpoint as well. Once I learned to fly I was quickly drawn into pylon racing. After a while I gravitated towards helicopters and eventually became a demo pilot for Gorham Model Products and then Century helicopters. When 3D type flying came about I lost interest and got serious into sailplanes. Two years later I was competing for a spot on the US soaring team. Soon after that I was flying IMAC, now flying Pattern. The challenge with pattern is to not only be competitive as a pilot ( Masters class this year ) but to do it with an airplane that I designed and manufactured. It's that level of challenge and desire to push the skills in both piloting and model aerodynamics that keeps me interested. The same may apply to those who continue to come into this forum, these are challenging conversations we have in here.

Lets take these 180,000 registered drones as an example. I am willing to bet that after a year only 25% that are registered as recreational use are still being used on a regular basis. They are just too easy to operate to hold any real challenge. One of the reasons I feel guys are getting into trouble with them. They get bored quickly and then start looking for more challenging locations to operate them.

I sincerely hope this thread will continue with others sharing their point of Veiw on this, as I fully expect that others stick with the hobby for other reasons than I do. I am just about to start a 10 hour drive so any further responses from me may be a bit slow coming.