Food For Thought.

Mike 'Taildragger' Gilbert has just posted an interesting article on his blog, titled 'Are You Missing Out?' This article was inspired by a thread at AVSIM pointing out that out of millions of copies of Flight Simulator sold, only a very percentage of users actually added add-ons. The originator of the thread suggests that MS could possibly direct people to the hobby rather than just sell off the shelf. I invite you to check the thread and Mike's article for yourselves.

These topic subjects are dear to my heart, as both the freeware and payware markets are very important to me as is also the FS product. I was going to suggest that the relationship between MS and add-on developers, or rather the flight simulation communities, was a symbiotic one. However the situation is more complex than that and requires further thought.

I would like to briefly mention my own experiences in being attracted to the allure of flight simulation. Despite being a simulation genre fan back in the 1980's and early '90's, it was not until the advent of FS2002 that I returned to the 'fold'. I had in fact set out to buy FS98 and FS2000 on earlier occasions, cash ready in hand, only to be directed to possibly more alluring games, by the salesperson in the computer games store. European Air War got the money on one occasion and various Jane's products on other occasions. Admittedly MS was not exactly renowned as an entertainment software producer, at that time, being better known for its O/S and productivity software [which are only really fun if one is a developer or power user of these apps.] Thus I did not associate the word 'fun' with Microsoft back in those times.

However all that changed back in 2002. I had to cancel my annual sojourn to the Australian East Coast Blues and Roots Festival, and fortunately I was able to sell my ticket. At that time I had recently read of FS2002 in Brisbane's Courier Mail, and that the pro version of FS2002 included gmax, which provided the ability to build one's own aircraft. With the proceeds of the ticket I decided that this time around I would definitely buy FS, and buy FS2002 I did. I soon discovered AVSIM and many other sim communities, along with a wealth of freeware aircraft, scenery and other downloads. I was amazed. I was even more amazed that I had been online for 6 years and the allures of MS flight simulator and the existence of related on-line communities had remained hidden from me all that time. All the more amazing considering my earlier passion for the genre. Of course the flight sim bug got to me and the rest is history.

I am not trying to blame anyone for anything but it took a combination of events and accidental discoveries for me to discover the allure of MS Flight Simulator and later Combat Flight Simulator 3. The fact that I have now rekindled my passion for this genre goes without saying.

At the same time I ask myself why was I left to accidentally discover all this? How many other people have yet to discover the allure of simming?

As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, times are changing. The FS survey is still ongoing as far as I know; MSFT are interacting with FS enthusiasts via their blogs and occasionally forums; the next incarnation of FS is in development and MS appear to be taking their time to hopefully get things right, before it is released. As the song says 'We're headin' in the right direction....' well hopefully.

PS. There is no need for all the current angst about the payware market. It will sort itself out and take care of itself. More on that in the future.