It took Braben and Bell just over two years to write Elite. I imagine it would take me a lot longer than two years to document their code, putting it in a websi

It took Braben and Bell just over two years to write Elite. I imagine it would take me a lot longer than two years to document their code, putting it in a website as pleasing as this one. When Elite was new it was good enough to spend two years playing it! Plenty did. Out of those players not many got as far as becoming Elite and not many did missions or anything else that got you anywhere near completing the game. Then there were those that actually bothered to look at the code and hack the game or learn from the programming techniques. You would need to get a long way playing the game before taking it apart. This 'let's take it apart' idea didn't come to the minds of most of the experienced players. So it was a tiny minority into hacking the game. The thing I like about computer games is this ratio between those that write the game and those that waste their lives playing it! It is like real world sports where you have the eleven players on the team on the pitch, then the grandstands filled with thousands watching. Games wouldn't work if everyone was so inclined to hack it and write their own. You have got to have audience, those people happy to spend all their free time playing the game rather than wanting to be the next developer.