Dumbed down gaming community

[NorthLion]

Why are they not developing more installments of this series?

Have the majority of players really been so dumbed down that they don't want to play spaceflight games unless they're arcade style?

I want another installment damnit!

[edlib]

One word: Sales.

 

I'm sure it's more complex than that,.. but if the last couple of realistic space flight sims had sold like hotcakes, then that's pretty much all you would see on the market.

Just ask any of the adventure gamers around here what they think...

 

There are probably a lot of reasons they haven't sold, though...

 

Right now it seems like "all first-person shooters, all the time!" They appeal to casual gamers, they're easy to develop (take an existing game engine, change the models and level designs, come up with some minor league puzzles to solve, conjure up some paper thin storyline to give reason to be walking around these endless mazes shooting everything in sight, and make sure you have multiplayer support,.. and you've got yourself a hit!) and they sell huge numbers of copies.

 

Coming up with crafty space flight missions that you haven't seen a billion times before is a lot harder. The profit margin is slimmer. Plus, in order to play, you have to own additional equipment for your PC (joysticks and such...) That has always been a turn off for casual gamers.

 

I'm not sure if it's a case of the players being dumbed down, or not wanting to invest the amount of time it takes to master a flight sim (much longer than most other game genres,) or lowered developer expectations. Maybe all. Maybe none.

 

But yeah,.. I'd kill to see another one someday soon...

[NorthLion]

At the risk of sounding provocative, not willing to take the time to learn is what I mean by "dumbed down".

I mean people, now more so than ever are willing to spend most, if not all their time on one single game unless, it seems, it requires any intellectual effort from the player. As you say, just ask the Adventure gamers about that.

 

Strategy games might be a bit of an exception.. but that doesn't help us does it?

 

They could always reinvent many things about an X-Wing games, like maybe a more interactive plot, let you play some plot in between missions, maybe even develope your won character? Have some planetary battles? Maybe a bit of (just a bit mind you) of runnimg between crafts?