Level-D Simulations and Flight1 have devised one way to stop the pirates once they have cracked the product: don't offer them any free support. If they're so smart to know how to rip something off, then they should be smart enough to run the software without any help whatsoever! :(

IMHO this is the correct approach.

The FS9 / FSX split has something to do with it, I agree. Now developers have to program for two different systems or half the people will hate them forever. Eventually, this will sort itself out, I guess, as more and better products only for FSX lure people to make the switch.The economy is bad. People are going to think twice before pulling out that credit card. I agree with that, too. Even people who are not directly affected are still impacted by the gloomy feeling.I, too, tend to believe that every torrented copy does not represent a sale lost, for the reasons stated by others. If I were a developer I would be on piracy like a duck on a junebug, but I don't think that is the biggest problem.By the same token, any statement that tends to justify piracy (well, companies produce sucky add-ons, so it is really not immoral to steal back from them) is despicable. Aside from the decline of Western Civilization in general, the internet strips people of common decency in many, many ways, and piracy is one. I honestly believe pirates don't see it as wrong, just as a lot of people who are looking at kiddie porn don't see it as wrong. As I've said before, I make excuses for peoples' bad behavior for a living, and I can smell it from a mile away. Seriously, although this is probably incendiary, there is something about the internet that causes many to check their morals at the portal. your "internet life" is completely compartmentalized from your "real life."This is what I think is a big reason. Running a small business is hard. People who are really good a something (programming software, cooking, whatever) are not necessarily good business persons. Depending on where you live, your friendly government may make this harder. Most of all, I think there is just a natural churn rate in any set of small businesses. Look at how many restaurants where you live open and close. Even good business persons can move on for a lot of reasons. Add-on companies have a small pool of talent, and are vulnerable to the vagaries of life that can take one or two key people out of the picture due to everything from ennui to illness.Big point: Flight Sim, like pretty much every hobby, is graying. I'm beginning to wonder if hobbies, as we have known them, are a thing of the past. That's all I'll say about that because I don't want to offend or frighten any group :-) But the implications in both bio-chronological directions are clear enough if you think about it.The community can be hypercritical and prejudiced. Fly what you like and don't constantly criticize what other people like. In the great scheme of things, it isn't that important. If people spent more time flying and less time ######ing we would be healthier.Computers are hard. Fewer people are willing to learn what it takes to get FS running well on all the different systems out there. Gaming = consoles, sorry.Even so, there is a lot to be happy about. Hardware is better, and we can actually start to run the things we buy. FSX is good. (Mabye too good... I wonder if people are more satisified and feel less of a need to mess with it to get the experience they want.) Some of the best payware we've seen is out there, and some products have matured.

Try nowhere as detailed when dealing with the high end like LDS or PMDG...Xplane add-ons do not even come close. I have Xplane 9, nice for quick jants around but that's about it.

I've always been a GA type of person, so I never really cared for the high-end jets. Paying $30 or $40 for a C172 model for FSX just doesn't seem like a good deal, compared to paying $29 for a pack of 5 GA planes for X-Plane.

Big point: Flight Sim, like pretty much every hobby, is graying. I'm beginning to wonder if hobbies, as we have known them, are a thing of the past. That's all I'll say about that because I don't want to offend or frighten any group :-) But the implications in both bio-chronological directions are clear enough if you think about it.

I know what you're saying, but at the same time people will always need their hobbies, if anything for cathartic reasons.Some people have said that Flight Simming is a silly hobby and a very unproductive use of time.In a way that's true a bit, but at the same time you could make that same argument about 90 percent of the things people do that aren't directly related to food, shelter and clothing.So you take away people's hobbies, what are they left with? You going to stare at the ceiling all day when you're retired or when you've got some free time?

I agree that people need hobbies, but the concept of "hobby" seems to be fading as older people know it. To me, a hobby is something that requires skill and creativity. Building plastic models of ships and tanks. Slot car racing. Model railroading. Miniatures wargaming. Gardening. Astronomy. Fish or bee-keeping. Building birdhouses. And yes, flight simming.Go into a model train store and it is run by some old guy with mostly old guys buying stuff. How many people paint lead Napoleanic minis to historical accuracy in exquisite detail? Mostly some old half-blind guy now :-) It is a dwindling niche-within-a-niche, with the gaming industry increasingly turning to plastic figures painted in Asia by people probably making a quarter an hour because we can no longer be bothered with painting. Of course there are exceptions. But, in general, people seem to want to spend their idle hours passively (TV) or in pure recreation, e.g. a console game that doesn't require much more than learning simple controls, tricks and fast-twitch reflexes and, half the time, cheats.Where do you think the mean age is for people here? I would be surprised if it is as low as 25. Ultimately, demographics is destiny.But that's more of a long-term concern. I am very happy to support payware makers and glad I don't have to make my living at it.

------------------------Where do you think the mean age is for people here? I would be surprised if it is as low as 25. Ultimately, demographics is destiny.

-------------------------------Tim- You may be onto something here. The recent AVSIM survey shows that 65.3% of us are over 40. That's almost 2/3 of us! And 43.2% are over 50. Perhaps the younger simmers don't respond to surveys- they don't seem interested in voting at election time.But then, have you noticed the gray hair on the guy up front with 4 bars on his shoulders?Alex Reid

-------------------------------But then, have you noticed the gray hair on the guy up front with 4 bars on his shoulders?Alex Reid

Who are you speaking about??? :(

Who are you speaking about??? :(

--------------------OK- so the gray is out of a bottle of Grecian Formula so the passengers won't think he's too young to be flying!Alex Reid

--------------------OK- so the gray is out of a bottle of Grecian Formula so the passengers won't think he's too young to be flying!Alex Reid

:(

-------------------------------Tim- You may be onto something here. The recent AVSIM survey shows that 65.3% of us are over 40. That's almost 2/3 of us! And 43.2% are over 50. Perhaps the younger simmers don't respond to surveys- they don't seem interested in voting at election time.But then, have you noticed the gray hair on the guy up front with 4 bars on his shoulders?Alex Reid

True, but have you noticed all the Navy brown shoes who just started shaving who are in line for the old guy's job some day? You don't need an actuarial table to know what 43.2% over 50 means for the future of the hobby.On the other hand, there's not a TV show in the country that wouldn't envy those demos. I'd make a fortune selling commercials to Viagra and Lexus. (Note to Tom: call Pfizer.)

I guess that makes me a really old git then, since I like both flight sims and military modeling :( Al

On the other hand, there's not a TV show in the country that wouldn't envy those demos. I'd make a fortune selling commercials to Viagra and Lexus.

The new Viagra SUV from Lexus - a stiff, yet comfortable ride.

I think after several years of extraordinary growth in the FS addon market a number of factors have coincided to burst the bubble...First of all the increasing complexity and fidelity demanded by customers - we demand a high level of fidelity in aircraft and scenery addons, and any product that doesn't meet the yardsticks used by the community will be lampooned on FS forums. It takes a lot of time, dedication and money to produce the kind of products that we expect these days, and the reality is most developers simply don't have the resources available to remain competitive. Those that do are faced with having to make a return on a product that will have taken years to make and required a lot of money and work to develop, which leads me nicely onto my next point...Pricing - it's been rising inexorably for the last few years now. This is partly due to the reason stated above, but also developers/publishers pushing the boundary of what people are prepared to pay. We are told less sales means higher prices, but higher prices means less sales! It's a self fulfilling prophecy. Lots of people have said here and on other forums that if only developer X would release their next addon for half the normal price there would be a huge increase in sales that would more than make up the difference. That may or may not be true, but the reality is no developer has the balls to try it because if it failed they would face a big loss. I would be very interested to know how much Captain Sim's sales increase when they have one of their sales periods. One thing's for sure though, an awful lot of us think long and hard now before forking out the higher prices these days.The arrival of FSX - we all know the story about how well (or not) FSX was received by the community. It created a split in the community and that was almost certainly reflected in the market too. We also have developers stating that Microsoft kept moving the goalposts with RTM/SP1/SP2 - breaking compatibility between each version. Then of course the habit of many developers to port FS9 aircraft into FSX resulted in a lot of disappointed customers.The closure of Aces and uncertainty of the future of MSFS - surely this has had an effect on developers who must seriously consider their long term prospects in this business.Rushing out releases - we've all seen it before, not only in our hobby but in the wider software world. A developer of publisher rushes out a release to meet a deadline or generate some revenue, knowing full well the product isn't 100% finished. The customers are left disappointed and angry, and often with just a vague promise of a patch or service pack to come, and sometimes even that doesn't materialise! This problem is exacerbated by the increased complexity of addons today. Some developers/publishers have gained a reputation for this sort of business practice, and it surely doesn't do their business any good.The attitudes of developers - I've seen some incredibly stupid and rude messages posted in developer's forums by customers and I know that to be a developer in this day and age you need to have a thick skin, but that doesn't justify the rudeness and arrogance displayed by some developers towards their customers.Reviews and feedback - it's increasingly hard to find reliable reviews and feedback on products. Just see the controversy over the review of the CS757 published here last year. It makes it difficult for us as potential customers to make an informed decision when many reviews online are amateurish at best, or blatant advertising at worst. Likewise many threads on any given product (especially from certain developers) always seem to get locked before long.Piracy - I don't believe that piracy is directly hurting sales, I think if someone is cheap enough to download a torrent then they wouldn't have paid for the thing if they had no other choice. As has been said before, not every pirate copy is a lost sale. I do believe that piracy has a big psychological effect on developers, and spurs them to put even more elaborate anti-piracy measures into their software which as well as increasing the cost of the product will also turn potential legitimate customers away.Having said all of that, I think we have some fantastic products on the market today and I am getting lots of enjoyment from BOTH versions, FS9 and FSX :)

The FS9 / FSX split has something to do with it, I agree. Now developers have to program for two different systems or half the people will hate them forever. Eventually, this will sort itself out, I guess, as more and better products only for FSX lure people to make the switch.The economy is bad. People are going to think twice before pulling out that credit card. I agree with that, too. Even people who are not directly affected are still impacted by the gloomy feeling.I, too, tend to believe that every torrented copy does not represent a sale lost, for the reasons stated by others. If I were a developer I would be on piracy like a duck on a junebug, but I don't think that is the biggest problem.By the same token, any statement that tends to justify piracy (well, companies produce sucky add-ons, so it is really not immoral to steal back from them) is despicable. Aside from the decline of Western Civilization in general, the internet strips people of common decency in many, many ways, and piracy is one. I honestly believe pirates don't see it as wrong, just as a lot of people who are looking at kiddie porn don't see it as wrong. As I've said before, I make excuses for peoples' bad behavior for a living, and I can smell it from a mile away. Seriously, although this is probably incendiary, there is something about the internet that causes many to check their morals at the portal. your "internet life" is completely compartmentalized from your "real life."This is what I think is a big reason. Running a small business is hard. People who are really good a something (programming software, cooking, whatever) are not necessarily good business persons. Depending on where you live, your friendly government may make this harder. Most of all, I think there is just a natural churn rate in any set of small businesses. Look at how many restaurants where you live open and close. Even good business persons can move on for a lot of reasons. Add-on companies have a small pool of talent, and are vulnerable to the vagaries of life that can take one or two key people out of the picture due to everything from ennui to illness.Big point: Flight Sim, like pretty much every hobby, is graying. I'm beginning to wonder if hobbies, as we have known them, are a thing of the past. That's all I'll say about that because I don't want to offend or frighten any group :-) But the implications in both bio-chronological directions are clear enough if you think about it.The community can be hypercritical and prejudiced. Fly what you like and don't constantly criticize what other people like. In the great scheme of things, it isn't that important. If people spent more time flying and less time ######ing we would be healthier.Computers are hard. Fewer people are willing to learn what it takes to get FS running well on all the different systems out there. Gaming = consoles, sorry.Even so, there is a lot to be happy about. Hardware is better, and we can actually start to run the things we buy. FSX is good. (Mabye too good... I wonder if people are more satisified and feel less of a need to mess with it to get the experience they want.) Some of the best payware we've seen is out there, and some products have matured.

Tim may be on to something regarding credit card use. I collect comics and a lot of the comic shops/dealers that sell comics online are noticing a drop in online sales which is leading them to speculate that folks just aren't keen on adding any further debt on their cards until they see where the economy is headed.

Some people have said that Flight Simming is a silly hobby and a very unproductive use of time.

People who say things like that are idiots, so I wouldn't waste my time listening to them.