Ok, I hope not to be modded troll for this, but probably will be.

I have played a lot of FP shooters. The innovation from one generation to the next in terms of graphics and stability has been wonderful, brilliant, and lacking in magic.

What is missing, and what could make the next big FPS is gameplay. Anyone who wants to do it right needs to sit down, play with 3-5 friends some Renier Knizia board games
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/2/reiner-knizia
as an education is what gameplay could be, compared to what it is. Don't call me a crank if you have not played Modern Art, Tigris and Euphrates, and Through the Desert.

I mean seriously, dragging a person into orbit, life support systems, food, etc. Thats a major waste of time and effort. Want to invest, invest in the people who call BS and put unmanned, fairly smart computer-controlled ships in orbit for profit. The rest is just for tourists.

ooo, ooo, have you seen the dune TV series? Sooo good, I think they are on netflix. Many many hours, but very pleasing.

Clark? Arthur C Clark? The guy who was afraid of cars and traveled on a bicycle? And is most famous for being so stupid he could not define the difference between magic and technology? Not disagreeing with you about Asimov here, he was no Robert Forward.

Que Father Ted "My Lovely... horse!"

To be a rigger?

And even engineering has a very small glamor:effort ratio. Here's the giant problem. The cutting edge of science is wildly exciting. Are kids in school going to be doing anything cutting edge? No. In order to get there, you better have a PHD, preferably more than one. Play baseball, and you can be a child prodigy. You can kick ass doing something people already care about through hard work and lots of practice. Work hard at science and what do you get? Unless you are postgrad, nothing. And that's not nothing in terms of fame, we could fake that and come up with all sorts of ideas, compititions, games. But you get nothing in terms of doing something new and interesting and relevant. Who cares if you can map a genome, it's been done. And unless you are the best of the best, a degree in most sciences is a ticket to grunt work of the most boring sort. So the question really is, how can you make knowledge more popular than superstition and ignorance? Abstract knowledge... that will likely never be used by an individual after their schooling ends.

Ya, where are the level/skill/grind free MMORPGs? Is it impossible to have fun playing a game unless there are lowbies wandering around to gank? Do we need to see our character get a little tougher over and over until they finally are 'done' and we can start playing? RTS, first person shooters, and many other games don't have that, or it's very limited. There's no reason at all someone could not make an rpg game that's fun without levels/skill increases. It's all about content then.

heh, thanks for the flame. Saying you have not read much at all makes it mean very little and supports my point. Too stupid to get it, lol. It's infintile, like the essay of a student (perhaps like yourself?) who has had a basic philosophy class and thinks they know the secrets of the universe.

I'm not a big Robert Forward fan, but try Dragon's Egg and the sequel (Dragon's Egg first) and you might see what I see in him.

actually, everything he has written. As I said, he's an entertaining author much like Ray Bradbury, Frank Herbert, Larry Niven, and other small-minded buffoons. And there were far too few of those when I was growing up for me to pass them by. I used to hunt down old analogue magazines just to read the good old stuff. Speaking of authors of whom I've read every word, Rodger Zelazny needs a hell of a lot more movie time. 9 princes in amber, jack of shadows, changeling trilogy, and damn near all of his scifi stories (man, This Immortal! Lord of Light!) ... wow, if there is a more unexploited scifi moneymaker than him I'd be shocked.

I know, he's an entertaining writer. But his ideas are about as interesting as the ramblings of a stoned college freshman-philosophy major. Is the sort of drunken, glassy-eyed speculation presented to us in his movies, the Matrix, Gattica, etc really the best that can sold in a movie? What about some of John Barne's work, or Ian M Banks, or Robert Forward, or Vernor Vinge, or Neil Stephenson... where thoughtful authors weave fantastic tales?