Check out the attendance list from their conference.. I'm sure they will have plenty of applications judging by the interest shown there. Don't get me wrong, not being able to recieve funding from NASA may disinterest some parties, but still.. Also, did you examine the RFP requirements? Lots to fill in there considering potential applicants have only had a month since the conference... As for gamestyle ideas, I may hang myself if someone suggests "EVE-style" yet again. Firstly, CCP will have no interest in this; Why would they, without financial incentive, offer resources to a project that could potentially compete with them? Moreover, they're game engine would be fairly ineffectual for what NASA is looking for. EVE has pretty graphics and possibly usable(if expanded) economic functions, but as far as space itself not-so-much. NASA wants to be able to do things like "tinker with chemical reactions in living cells, practice operating and repairing expensive equipment, and experience microgravity". Let's be honest, EVE's engine is bunk for this. A 0 m/s speed in EVE is just that; zero velocity. In reality forces are applied to all objects in any part of space, meaning constant movement based on the vector sum of forces. Without getting too in depth, let's just say that EVE was never designed to simulate these things and would have to be re-written to do so. Too bad I've got an enlistment to fulfill; This looks like a blast and I firmly believe that persistant worlds as research tools are the future of MMO ideals.
