What is measured makes no sense
So, I already wrote about how the game itself makes no sense - compared to almost ANY game that requires actual skill and knowledge, research and practice, practice, practice and superfast reflexes and very fast thinking so you can barely blink if you don't want to miss what's going on, and you have to know three specs of 10 classes that can use varying talent trees and abilities, each with about 20 spells or more..
..just to be 'medium competitive'.
This game requires you to... swish around randomly while mashing buttons in a very low-res movement kind of a way, on a basically 2D-screen with no three-dimensional awareness required (unlike games like WoW or Overwatch, where all three dimensions are involved every single moment).
But let's forget most of that and imagine the game IS what the script CLAIMS it to be. Fine, it's a super good measurement of elite gameplay.
So what? There are SO many socially awkward nerds that are amazingly good at some games, but that doesn't mean they would be qualified to pilot an ACTUAL SPACESHIP in three-dimensional space, or capable of making decisions about other people's LIVES in actual reality.
It's like someone can be good at a karate game, but they would not dare say a word to a threatening UFC champion that's staring at them closely.
Real life and games are completely different realms. You are SAFE in a game, not only physically, but socially and circumstancially. Not so in an actual cockpit of even a simple airplane, let alone way more complicated spacecraft!
A good pilot needs all kinds of things - do people think actual jetfighter training is simple and easy, you just swish around a crappy joystick whilst mashing a button and you are the champion?
That's not how it works. You have to KNOW things in great detail.
But none of this would matter, if your character isn't strong. If you don't have leader qualities. If you can't handle weird social situations. If you can't handle pressure. If you .. you get the idea, I hope.
It's not enough to measure some 2D reflexes, even if the game did measure EVEN that well - this kind of game would NEVER, ever, ever be enough to qualify anyone for friggin' frying fries, for frying out loud!
Let alone piloting a gosh darned spaceship in actual, three-dimensional space, against actual, living people that you are actually supposed to MURDER BY THE TRUCKLOAD.
So much of what this game SHOULD test and measure, isn't tested OR measured. Responses to certain stimuly? Naah, skip it! Psychological factors, phobias, emotional stability? Bwaah, who cares, skip it!
You hopefully get what I am trying to point out - this game only measures one, VERY tiny sliver of the whole of what someone is like as a pilot or even a human being. Personality would be a big factor in such a 'job', as well as thinking on one's feet.
There are more intelligence forms than just 'quick reflexes', and they are probably ALL more important than what the game supposedly (let alone actually) can, could or does measure or test.
Heck, his astrological sun sign and blood type might be more important than how fast his left hand is at wiggling sticks of joy!
This movie is SUCH garbage, and this game-specific thoughtlessness underlines this fact.
It's like some four-year old wannabe space-murderer wrote this script as a power wish fulfillment fantasy, without thinking how ridiculous the movie is because of it.
Seriously, how do movies like this ever get made, let alone in the 1980s, when people actually tried to make good movies? (Not that almost any movie makes much sense anyway, as I have hopefully proven)
So what is measured by the game? His stamina? Ability to perform under stress? Ability to lead others? Ability to be mentally and psychologically stronG? Ability to control or suppress emotions? His magnificent charisma that inspires others? His ability to give excellent speeches and encourage others? His..
.. well, he has a goofy hairstyle and he lives in a trailer park. Yep, that qualifies him for any spaceship-based position... huh??!