FS in first person POV?...

There is an interesting thread on AVSIM which poses this question and which I read with interest (although I could do without the personal attacks). I realize there have been similar posts before FSX was finished and there will continue to be more I'm sure.

We are starting to look at FS as a platform, which means we could consider all kinds of things to do in FS. Whatever we do in the future, we will always offer free flight so that you can "instantly" fly any aircraft, anywhere on the planet, any time of the day or night. If that is what you love about flight simulation, then why worry about what else may be possible? With the introduction of missions in FSX, a lot of users swore they would not like them and would not fly them. Based on the Beta team's feedback, most of those users had some change of heart and are enjoying the missions (not all users though...). If we do a good job designing the user experience in "FS-Next," I think new features will be a lot like the missions have been for FSX and generate controversy at first and either succeed for fail in the end. I'm much more interested in success, so I think I'll shoot for that.

For those that are concerned we will sacrifice realism in the pursuit of a rich user experience (i.e. "game play") I will say that I will do everything I can to consistently increase the fidelity, accuracy, and authenticity of the sim. Considering I'm not a dev I can't make a difference writing code, but I do think it's an integral and important element of what makes a simulation great. But we aren't going to get rid of all the "eyecandy" people on the team and hire simulation engineers in their place as we ultimately need a balanced product overall.

I'll continue to read and listen with interest... :)