I am with you on this point. FS2004 was where I really developed the appreciation that I have for flight simulation today. Avsim was great with the massive amounts of freeware but I also began picking up payware as well. That was where I had my introduction to PMDG with their 737NG and 747, Dreamfleet GA aircraft were fantastic, I loved their Cessna 310. It grew kind of stale for me after a few years though with FSX and then P3D. MSFS 2020 with the great default scenery and aircraft reignited my passion for flight simulation.
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We are in the golden ages until more golden FS2024 arrives. This will continue with every new addition as long as it goes.
I started with FS98. At one point switched to Xplane because of FSX 32bit limitations. I am now 41 years old, and finally i am enjoying something. Still remember when i first ran FSX and in game scene was St.Marteen and 5 fps lol.
i believe you feel that way because everything was hard before and when you discover/learn something it was important. I knew most of the developers name that produces freeware or payware addons, now i have no idea they are just companies. And anyone can say, why i dont earn money too? Youtube video to explain something? Talk 10 minutes for 1 minute stuff…
Lets look at some examples.
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Youtube videos for example. only bunch of people were creating videos, i was one of them. Now it is so easy. You can even use your mobile phone, no fancy stuff required. Anyone can upload to youtube easily. So you have to find good quality ones. Half of them is waste of time wanna be Youtubers.
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You can use your console to play MSFS or fly in VR. I have 3x 48 Oleds powered by 4090 and i can use three monitors to fly my pmdg 739 while managing passengers with SLC, request boarding with GSX and at the same time checking charts, weather from my 24" 4th top screen. Adjusting cameras and other stuff from my Stream Deck XL and MCP by using Stream Deck +. And except 4090 you dont need to spend thousand for this setup. No need 6 desktop PCs anymore.
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User collaboration is light years ahead. Why do i have to read 1000 pages of manual if i want to fly my Boeing? i am flying to enjoy it, no failures. If someone likes to read they are free to do. Easier for me to watch youtube video from real Pilots or some good uploaders (reference to my youtube part) and i can create my own operations and checklist so i can get ready and take off in 20 mins. Years ago, we were reading manuals, trying and checking stuff, asking people on forums. Deal with their ego problem if they have one etc etc.
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years ago we were few hundred thousand of aviation enthusiast (i made up the number). Now there are millions. Some like study level, some VFR, others can like airliners but in half realism (like me) so everyone can enjoy it.
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We have players probably as young as 12 years old up to 80 years old. how many genre has this wide audience in gaming
. We have real pilots, PPLs, students, mechanics, engineers, programmers etc. etc. Every kind of people.
But i have to admit, we have more toxicity now. Reason is broader audience and people and cultural changes, so expected.
So you are going to ask me what all these have anything to do with FSX or FS04 being Golden Ages etc? Answer is change. People change, culture change, life change, habits change. MSFS changes. Happy flying.
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At least there’s almost nothing easier to ignore than some pixels on your screen representing words someone else on the internet wants to throw at you. 
Excuse me, I’ll be 95 in a little over a month. You should up that bracket to 100.
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Outstanding!
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i will print out this to hang on my wall. Just in case i live that long and my grand kids criticize my sim hobby.
You are a legend
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It’s been fun. My descendants shake their heads at my 6 monitor setup. They don’t see that these challenging hobbies keep us going. Don’t concern yourself with the years, just keep on flying.
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While I only skimmed this thread after the initial post, one thing I want to highlight if not already mentioned is the impact of social media on MSFS content development and how I think things changed since 2000.
The Old Days:
While it was indeed a lot easier in the days of CFS2/FS2000 through FS2004 (and arguably FSX) to make semi-decent renditions (at a minimum) of aircraft and sceneries, the educated simmer (to specify, not talking about those brand new to the Flight Simulator series) has…very broadly speaking…come to expect ever increasingly robust and accurate depictions of aircraft and scenery that now take a year or more to develop, especially if they want to make it good enough to sell. This comes with the obvious increases in fidelity of the basic simulator that Microsoft has brought us.
Social Media Reviews:
Youtube became a thing, as did a multitude of FS-focused review websites, plus the continued existence of long-standing communities like Avsim. All it takes is one or two poor reviews on any of these mediums for many others to latch on to how horrible a product is, regardless of the freeware or payware aspect, and regardless of audience intended for the product. Sometimes it’s valid, in many times it’s “rivet counting”, and in some cases I think it’s just something popular to do (they’re hating, so I should too).
Impact on Freeware:
I know of six independent formerly freeware developers (and prolific ones at that) that threw in the towel within the past 3-5 years because of constant criticism, even after communicating to users that they can’t and aren’t producing products that are equivalent in fidelity of Fenix, PMDG, etc.
There seems to be a common failure to understand the target market of certain developers. This, combined with the social media reviews above will lead immediately to “this sucks because subsystem C that’s encountered once every 500 flight hours” isn’t simulated.
Bottom line on content creation:
We are indeed past the Golden Age of freeware aircraft content creation, and the lower bar of entry that major, quality contributions to the Flight Simulator series entailed. Creations other than the use of included assets for scenery (see the forthcoming Scenery Gateway) now require a year or more and a plethora of more technical skills to meet the basic desires of users. 95% of this is in avionics/systems simulation, but add WWise sound complexities, and new texturing methods with new types of layers, gradients, (PBR), etc, and it becomes a major production.
With that said…
I think we are in a golden age of community with the numerous review outlets and venues mentioned above, and a more more engaged (and younger/newer) user base. We’re seeing more repaints, more sceneries (even with generic assets) and more engagement from new payware developers, with the best visuals, weather, and flight dynamics (mostly) on the market…even with their known bugs. Flightsim has technically advanced greatly, but it has impacted the lower bar of entry for things other than generic scenery and repaints.
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That’s a great summation of the flight sim situation. The flight sim community has grown so much and extended massively into Xbox which I would have not predicted. The minimum standard of quality has ratcheted way up since the game launched. I believe Microsoft expected FSX/P3D developers to port their libraries over but that didn’t play out. The quality bar was already too high.
I think freeware and lower cost payware mods will continue to accelerate and capture the long tail. There are so many mods to choose from, I can’t help but think that most simmers settle into a handful of their favorites. There is also lots of room for odd and unusual aircraft. With a large base, any project no matter how niche is bound to find plenty of customers.
For me, I prefer planes that fly well and fill a different role than any of my other favorites. As long as it doesn’t look dreadful, I don’t care if I can zoom in on the landing gear bay and see hours of high quality modelling and texturing. Nor do I need the state of the art avionics to be just like the real thing. The joy of flight sims is the bit of immersion they can bring.
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What a nice answer you posted… I almost feel that nostalgic words through the time we have spent playing, painting aircraft, designing our own sceneries, changing sounds, opening and closing doors, adding engine covers, pulling out suitcases, and much more than just taking a plane from point A to point B as apes.
A flight simulator is a whole hobby, a 360º time spender through which I, in particular, have invested memorable days, loading the sim hopping my scenery works ok, or the interior cabin that was shifted works. I remember once being on a business work in Europe and after my daily agenda, run to see what the news were at flightsim.com.
The graphics we have today are breathless, but I have to admit and that is why I posted this topic, that I missed the 757, or the 727, for instance, not to say a Falcon 2000, or the global 2000. With this incredible world, Asobo just created, I would love to have the Cessna Longitude with a proper passenger cabin, where you can land a KTEB, open the door, jump out, put the pitot, and engine covers, have dinner to New York using any of the awesome helicopters, and fly back.
In exchange, I have to fly a mosquito jet or land with the PMDG 737 which has been my main plane and now I am tired to fly it. Otherwise, I can land with any of the multiple A320, A330, and so on… none of them with a business passenger cabin.
I remember Ariane´s BBJ 737 it was so nice… you can even go to bed, lie down, and see the city lights while taking off on a transatlantic flight…uuuuuffff
I agree with you, social media has made many good developers drop the towel just because some simmers don´t find a study level. Captain Sim 757 for example is a wonderful plane, and more so now that BlueBird Simmulations has announced that they are not sure if they will deliver the 757 on this year.
I hope Asobo, the developers and the community consider flexibilizing the sim so we can have many levels of planes with good quality, just as we used to have on the golden FSX days. We have the world now, many of us misses the rest.
We have quite a lot of alternatives here and there for these low fidelity models, like those FSX ports uploaded into Flightsim.to and beginner type of payware coming from VirtualCol, LatinVFR, and CaptainSim. If you enjoy it, you enjoy it, nobody can take it away from you.
Cutlass172
I think we are in a golden age of community with the numerous review outlets and venues mentioned above, and a more more engaged (and younger/newer) user base. We’re seeing more repaints, more sceneries (even with generic assets) and more engagement from new payware developers, with the best visuals, weather, and flight dynamics (mostly) on the market…even with their known bugs. Flightsim has technically advanced greatly, but it has impacted the lower bar of entry for things other than generic scenery and repaints.
Couldn’t agree more.
Initially I was very skeptical and gate-keepy about the quality of repaints that initially came out for MSFS back in 2020s. However, soon things changed as younger painters who are more familiar with PBR texturing and other latest tech wizardries, listened to these cranky old simmers demanding rivets to be counted, and airline registration fonts to be accurate. Boy oh boy, cannot imagine what can talented young lads do with their free time: an entire freaking fleet of the airline with all of their quirkiness represented.
Scenery-wise, the massive letdown is the overly difficult process to edit the airport AFD files - defining its parking, taxiway, ramp area layout and such. Even a lot of payware developers left them broken as it is, which should never be acceptable. I have to admit that not all things are improving in MSFS2020.
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It’s kind of a double edged sword for me.
In essence I would agreed that the increased accuracy of both the default MS/Asobo aircraft AND the 3rd party aircraft have led to increased expectations among the users. Which is quite natural I think. Also those increased expectations in turn have led to better and better products - AND to an increased number of new and talented 3rd party developers like WT, GotFriends, FlyingIron or BigRadials.
Just take the default Longitude from August 2020, compared to the current improved Longitude. Or compare the default C172 to the WBSim C172 or the JustFlight Warrior and you can see what has already been achieved since 2020. It’s a natural evolution which of course leads to an increased amount of development time due to increased complexity and a steeper learning curve.
But let’s be honest: the average freeware FSX plane was downloaded for its looks or popularity and not for its accuracy. It’s nice to have a Spitfire or F/A-18 in your hangar even though it’s not accurate, the switches don’t work and the flight model is generic. There are still quite a lot of planes like this - like I stated before in this thread). Not as many as with FSX of course, but that’s not only due to the fact that MSFS aircraft are far more complex, but also due to the fact, that FSX is pushing 20, while MSFS 2020 isn’t even scratching on the 4-year-mark.
On the other hand even payware developers manage to create huge amounts of money with products that are bad-mouthed everywhere. Just take the CS Boeing 777-300ER which ranks in the Top 12 of 2023 Marketplace sales right next to the Antonov 225 which was sold 200,000 times (!!). Now 200,000 x 19.99 is almost 4 MILLION in revenue (minus taxes and commission of course) in 2023 alone with ONE product. For that kind of money I would easily take the abuse. AND it shows that social media opinions doesn’t necessarily translate to actual popularity or profit - even if a product is bad. On the contrary: it shows that ESPECIALLY with MSFS there a far broader user base that actually LIKES simple and easy planes.
So while I understand the freeware devs who are fed up with the BS they face in social media for doing stuff for free, I also think in today’s world unfortunately it’s par for the course, and you either do it and be less sensitive and ignore the haters or you leave it. Sadly many leave it 
That said, I think what really has shifted with MSFS - and why I consider these times the REAL Golden Age - is the focus in freeware development. In FSX there was a much larger focus on aircraft. With MSFS’s increased visual appeal (which also brought on its unprecedented popularity I believe) we have a shift to high quality freeware sceneries, airports, landmarks, water- and tree corrections, computer generated VFR addons for marinas, power lines, cable cars, smoke stacks and thousands of other things worldwide we wouldn’t even have dreamed of having in FSX. The MSFS Community’s effort to enhance the world we’re flying in and create the “digital twin”, as Jörg Neumann always puts it, is absolutely astonishing.
So YES. The Golden Age of freeware aircraft may be gone, but since I only fly a handful or aircraft in my 100+ hangar, I can easily live with that. The amount of money I have saved in payware grade free scenery addons easily makes up for the money I spent more on aircraft. So again. For me this Age is far more Golden than any previous FS version ever was.
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It’s so nice to be able to read replies without aggression. Thank you for taking the time to make a nice reflection as the rest.
My initial intention was focused on provoking a simplification of Asobo´s /MS, about providing the tools inside or outside the game to make, modify, and do more with the game itself than just flying from point A to point B, in a “study level” aircraft which took 4 years to be developed and when its finally out, it might be obsolete because another version of the simulator just came out too, and naturally interests change.
It should be easier, that´s what I am proposing. Easier to build good quality planes, easier to modify parking lots, ground services, and sceneries; and easier to combine sounds, passenger cabins, effects, and navigation tools. At the beginning the default Dev mode for scenery provided ground services (stairs, catering, and pushback truck) it was amazing because you could make your own airports and arrive with any plane, and ground services were included in the “parking code”, but after 6 months or so, Asobo decided to pull out ground services and that was it.
I know how to manage .cfg files, and at this point, it´s still so complicated to improve or correct an aircraft´s performance, not to say impossible to manage sound wave files, or redesign panels. For example, in the market is a Phenom 300 and the developer “simfederation” or something like that is a phantom. The plane is awesome but it has a lot of things that can be improved by the user, that at FSX we were able to improve, and in MSFS2020 is impossible.
Another thing I just don´t understand is why do the alternative to changing the interior cabin exists, and you can´t make any changes unless you carry on with the cockpit that involves gauges a whole bunch of modules. It would be so powerful for a new business to be able to combine interior passenger cabins, more if a single aircraft can be sold 200,000 times… then for sure, we would see a lot o different high quality passenger cabins, from private to commercial planes.
I can keep posting for hours the opportunity areas, but still, the essence of this post is the simplification from Asobo to the community, so we can increase its participation. It doesn´t have anything to do with poor quality, on the contrary, the more we can enrich the game, the more fun it is, far from just flying.
The Cessna Longitude or the King Air, is an awesome plane and still doesn´t have a F%$· open/close passenger door… it is as if every time Asobo decides to remain at the 99.9999% of the whole success, I don´t get it (btw, air traffic, and ATC remain a mess).
Yea I’ve pointed that out a few times. I think Captain Sim is laughing at the critics all the way to the bank while ridiculing Social Media to friends. I applaud his business sense. Having flown one of his planes, the 717-200 I can attest it’s not THAT bad compared to other available options. High fidelity it is not, but it works reasonably well and looks decent.
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One thing missing these days, that we used to have way back when, is force feedback (at an affordable price).
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At first i was very angry at Microsoft for thier switch to MFS2024 instead of improving 2020 for years, but now im happy that it turned that way. Im ready for the new sim from Microsoft and will be glad to play it for next few years to come.
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