[Nuke]

i think trading games work well in an mmo environment. freelancer multiplayer is fun. youre not bogged down by a story line and can focus on the core aspects of the game, like trading and making money. also no big tech leaps induced by the story line. the freelancer story kinda kept you in fighters rather than freighters, so by the time you were done with the pliot and free to make money, your tech was already too near the top of the tech ladder. another fact that trading games fail at is the lack of tech levels. the game can be said to be over once you own the best ship and the best weapons and so much money you can pretty much do anything. games like elite where it was so difficult to make money at first kinda sucked and makes you not want to play them out full. when i started playing elite i didnt have a clue how to make money. i had to travel around and see what the market prices were in a system or two.  freelancer was good because you could get trading tips by listening to the radio chatter. but there is a fine line between a military space combat game, and a space trading game. freespace is a military combat game and should be kept that way.

[Turnsky]

i think trading games work well in an mmo environment. freelancer multiplayer is fun. youre not bogged down by a story line and can focus on the core aspects of the game, like trading and making money. also no big tech leaps induced by the story line. the freelancer story kinda kept you in fighters rather than freighters, so by the time you were done with the pliot and free to make money, your tech was already too near the top of the tech ladder. another fact that trading games fail at is the lack of tech levels. the game can be said to be over once you own the best ship and the best weapons and so much money you can pretty much do anything. games like elite where it was so difficult to make money at first kinda sucked and makes you not want to play them out full. when i started playing elite i didnt have a clue how to make money. i had to travel around and see what the market prices were in a system or two.  freelancer was good because you could get trading tips by listening to the radio chatter. but there is a fine line between a military space combat game, and a space trading game. freespace is a military combat game and should be kept that way.

and many trading games don't fully realise many aspects of such, like the X series of games, it focused purely on trading, as in shipping, wheras there's heaps of money to be made, such as bounty hunting, security, and of course, piracy.

[Nuke]

i dont mind having missions in trading games, but it seems that all the missions in modern trading games suck. freelancer in paticular. they were all go blow **** up missions. the best mission variety ive seen was probibly in frontier. where missions can range from assasinations, spying, courior missions. also it had shady deals which might not get you paid if done wrong. id like to see more of that. id like to see more interspiecies relations. evolving markets. the capability to buy your own base or warship. have ships with multiple crew members (gunners captain ect). or build your own military or buisness if you want to. freelancer had the most comprehensive political engine ive seen. id like to see that extended. custom factions. anyone may start a faction and buy assets (bases, ships, planets, solar systems, ect) for that faction and decide who their friends are as well as enemies are. also you could decide stuff like member pay and such. also to combat the tech ladder problem, allow players to have research facilities, they can upgrade their technology by paying for r&d. to upgrade your guns for example. then once thats done you can buy manufacturing facilities to make the weapon, and sell those to other players. thatway the game dynamically generates content based on the actions of the players. in theory if you do it right you could have a game that never gets old.

[Turnsky]

i dont mind having missions in trading games, but it seems that all the missions in modern trading games suck. freelancer in paticular. they were all go blow **** up missions. the best mission variety ive seen was probibly in frontier. where missions can range from assasinations, spying, courior missions. also it had shady deals which might not get you paid if done wrong. id like to see more of that. id like to see more interspiecies relations. evolving markets. the capability to buy your own base or warship. have ships with multiple crew members (gunners captain ect). or build your own military or buisness if you want to. freelancer had the most comprehensive political engine ive seen. id like to see that extended. custom factions. anyone may start a faction and buy assets (bases, ships, planets, solar systems, ect) for that faction and decide who their friends are as well as enemies are. also you could decide stuff like member pay and such. also to combat the tech ladder problem, allow players to have research facilities, they can upgrade their technology by paying for r&d. to upgrade your guns for example. then once thats done you can buy manufacturing facilities to make the weapon, and sell those to other players. thatway the game dynamically generates content based on the actions of the players. in theory if you do it right you could have a game that never gets old.

variety is the spice of life in games, and lack of it are coffin nails.

[Roanoke]

not a big fan of sandbox games but I am enjoying Frelancer, having had it for > 1 year and never bothered to try it.

[Flipside]

I wan't to see something that combines group AI with the Sandbox mentality, so instead of skirmishes, you can have two different groups, using fleet tactics against each other, like being one unit in a massive RTS situation, but with freedom of choice, you can participate in the interaction, on either side, you can trade and try to avoid the combat, or you could even sell weapons etc. Massive battles could take place, but they would not be scripted, it would simply be the computer AI battling against itself. If the two are not at war, depending on relations, you could still trade or possibly work as a freelancer for an ally.

The best example I can think of is that the combat side is not dissimilar to watching 2 computer AI's battling it out in a Homeworld skirmish map, but on a larger scale, with strategic points to fight for etc. RTS games have shown this sort of AI is possible, but it's never been applied to a free-roam type game.

[Roanoke]

not a bad idea for a campaign that >.>