If X-Plane for you is just a game then you do not know how to use it properly. Some of us do not have all that money to use something 'real' for everything.

X-Plane literally saved me hundreds of dollars, if not thousands just by allowing me to shoot practice approaches, radial trackings, holds, by using it with Pilot Edge it helped my radio communication tremendously, among other things.

If used properly it is an amazing tool to be used. If you use it as a game then well, it's nothing more than a game.