I just thought of the next great step for this type of game to really increase the atmosphere of the universe. "Atmosphere" meaning the living world not a protective layer encompassing a planetoid, and "living world" meaning people living out their lives in a realistic environment not a planet that sustains life, and "environment" meaning a collection of market forces that represent the human populace working together not a combination of natural processes living off one another in a balanced cycle ..... just so we're clear .

What was I writing?

Oh, yeah. The next evolutionary step for this type of game ("evolutionary" meaning blah blah blah ) is going to be a combination of Freelancer and a ground based game like Grand Theft Auto III & Vice City.

Land on a planet, go around with a freedom of movement go sell your cargo buy some properties (as fronts) and take off go somewhere else. Oh yeah and be a bounty hunter on the ground and kill bad guys or do it in space.

I really think as games get so huge, companies will need to combine their games with other companies' games in order to expand their universe without having to reinvent the wheel, "wheel" meaning an expression of not redoing something that has been done before and with great reliability.

Maybe I should post a reply to this post without any of the unnecessary explanations in between thoughts.

Maybe not.

Spectre