3 ms·
> flight simulation software was the target of a moral panic in 2001 after the September 11 attacks were conducted by crashing real jets into buildings. Some pe
by jwr 6y ago
> flight simulation software was the target of a moral panic in 2001 after the September 11 attacks were conducted by crashing real jets into buildings. Some people began to think of flight sims as "terrorist training tools" and call for them to be banned.
I've been wondering if this is why there was so little flight simulation software out there in the last ~15 years or so. I remember visiting a retail store with software in the 2010's and wondering why there is a simulator for everything except an airplane.
- ogre_codes 6y agoThere have been 2 outstanding flight simulators on the market for the past ~20 years which more-or-less dominate the industry. X-Plane and MSFS are both excellent and both reasonably affordable. I suspect the lack of flight sims in retail has more to do with the fact that flight simulators are hard to create. When there is established competition with a great rep and decent pricing, it's nearly impossible to break into a market profitably.
- bitwize 6y agoIndeed. The dearth in flight sims predated 9/11, and was likely because MFS and X-Plane filled everyone's needs adequately, with FlightGear available as an open source option.
- ansible 6y agoIf you want air combat, DCS is the top choice. Because they model very complex state-of-the-art jet fighters, it is also very complex.
- ogre_codes 6y agoAll flight sims are very complex, it's sort of the nature of the beast. I think that's the fundamental difference between a simulator and a game. A simulator needs to model reality, a game can take big shortcuts to ease gameplay.