Sim-Unlimited

[Kevin Firth 114]

Folks, don't know whether any of you have come across this? http://www.sim-unlimited.com/

IMO I'd want to know what was coming, not sure if I'd want to part with $10 a month for something I may never be interested in or use. I might take a punt if I could influence what projects the participating devs were working on, but my flying is limited to VFR in the UK (I might expand that to Q400 ops in Europe shortly) so it might limit what is interesting to me...

What do you think? What's your opinion? Would it need to be new content? Would you want know what was in the pipeline first? Would you want to influence what was part of the package? Any thoughts on the cost at $10? K

[brett 2,314]

There are some qualified folks signed up as a development team but, yeah, I don't know, I am pretty picky on what I buy too.   I have never been a fan of any kind of subscription service either.  

[MartinW 0]

I voted the same as everyone else, "only if it was clear what was going to be delivered".

 

But to be honest, if it was only $10 per year, then why not, it's peanuts.

 

Something tells me the service will be more than that, probably with caveats like you must commit for a certain period. 

 

 

[ddavid 149]

Their strategy implies that developers will produce add-ons which the majority of subscribers want. Sounds very democratic. Not sure if this fits the sim world's demographic. Will be interesting to see how it develops.

Thanks for the link, Kevin.

Cheers - Dai.

[Captain Coffee 2,030]

I voted the same as everyone else, "only if it was clear what was going to be delivered".

 

But to be honest, if it was only $10 per year, then why not, it's peanuts.

 

Something tells me the service will be more than that, probably with caveats like you must commit for a certain period. 

 

10 buck per month + 25.00 refundable sign up fee, or 99.99 per year.

 

And I agree, unless there was a list of available and upcoming soon addons listed...no way. As it stands so far, there are enough addon sales throughout the year that I can get addons for 10 bucks or less at least once a month.

[allardjd 1,853]

Look up the term "...pig in a poke."

John

[hurricanemk1c 195]

Interesting idea, but wouldn't want to do it myself without knowledge of what is being offered. In my eyes, it's a bit like crowd-funded models or add-ons

[needles 1,013]

Shouldn't there be a Caveat here somewhere?

[mutley 4,497]

I agree Brian,
There are many un qualified statements such as "We hear all the time that the flight-sim community is shrinking" Is it? Dovetail releasing FSX Steam edition with improvements. Lockheed Martin looking at 64bit software with V3?

Where is the industry leader, Orbx and others like Aerosoft, nowhere.

It's not a game changer for me, just an opportunity for someone to harvest fight simmers hard earned money and leave them high and dry after 6 months when the concept fails.

[brett 2,314]

What amazed me the most was that they want you to register to show your interest without more information.

[hifly 925]

Scam!?

[allardjd 1,853]

Scam!?

 

 

Possibly, but not necessarily.  Maybe just a business plan that isn't as attractive to potential customers as they'd hoped it would be.  It may even be that they are pure as the driven snow and with good intentions but don't want to over-promise.  There is a whole range of possibilities, but it will be an act of faith to sign on.

 

John

[Kevin Firth 114]

I really don't think it's a scam, given the people involved, but whether it's a viable commercial model is another question entirely.

 

I'd sign up if it was £10 a month and I knew I'd get 10 new UK airfields done to a much higher quality, but for myself I know I wouldn't use anything outside the UK really so it may not be worth it.  K

[needles 1,013]

Remember FSX Genius?

I'm very cautious now to whom I send my money up front.

I hope I'm proved wrong in this case though.

If it is genuine, I send them all my good wishes but For the above reasons....I'm out!

[jaydor 345]

So this means I will be paying to download from this scam, what I already do for free from the makers site.

 

I think a British company has just been outed for doing the same to it suppliers.  charging the supplier to get them to buy their goods.

 

I wonder if I join, I could then ask them for a subscription of $99 per year, for allowing them to let me be a member?

 

Sounds like this one has been dreamed up by the owner of KwiK Fit.. 

[mutley 4,497]

Dear all,

 

I have received an email addressing some of the points raised in this topic.

 

I am more than happy to post verbatim Richards (From Sim Unlimited's) response-

 

 

I would like to address some of the points raised in the comments:

 

•    Knowing all add-ons upfront - Our aim is if the community supports us we can direct our development in the direction the community ask us to, so we don’t want to commit to all products without the community’s involvement.

•    Need big dev’s like Orbx & Aerosoft - Orbx & Aerosoft commission /have commissioned work from developers like iBlueYonder, I.D.S and SIM720. Our approach avoids unnecessary costs such as marketing and sales commissions; we go straight to the developers themselves; actually the group is the Developers themselves.

•   It’s a scam - Of course not. We are not asking for money, we are asking if the community would support the idea of a subscription based scenery development and only if the community supports it would we then go live and ask people to sign up and pay for the service. Most of the developers that are included have already posted about it on their own Facebook pages so it is self- evident that it is real.

 

Sim Unlimited is a new subscription service concept that could be run with enough support from flight simmers. Subscribers would have access to add-ons through a yearly subscription of $99.99 or monthly $8.99 with 3 month returnable joining fee. This gives developers the funding they need to spend the time creating the add-ons you will love. Through growing support we wish to bring on board additional developers and we need your support to get this off the ground. If you can see the potential and like the idea then please sign up to show support for this new way for the community and individual developers to get more value. More information can be found in our FAQ and any questions please leave them in the comments section below

 

Here is a copy of our full press release http://www.sim-unlimited.com/Press_Release.pdf

 

 

Thanks

 

 

[mutley 4,497]

Of course, please make your own choices based on the information we have to hand. 

[Kasper 14]

This sounds like the these days accepted way of doing business: let them pay now and deliver later.

I voted no. I know software as a service is supposed to be the next big thing but I'm old fashioned.

My idea of doing business is just different: If I run a business, I take the risk, I reap the rewards if succesful - I don't let my clients pay up front (unless I am hired on a per hour fee and even then they pay for the hours after I actually put in the hours).

[jaydor 345]

I will not be joining in with the idea.  I do not like the idea of paying a third party to buy..

 

Boss, are you sure it's not KwikFit in disguise? 

[allardjd 1,853]

I've seen the e-mail they've sent to Mutley and I think they are OK. Whether you wish to join in what they propose is up to you but I have a pretty well developed BS detector and it's not going off on these guys. I think they are exactly what they are portraying themselves to be. It's a little different way of doing business but I think you can eliminate "scam" from the list of possibilities. You may or may not like what they ultimately produce, like any software, but I don't see any skulduggery here.

John

[brett 2,314]

I didn't think scam at first because there was not any money involved. I did think of a missions subscription I once signed on for that went bust with no word from the developer but then figured there was a couple of those developers that I knew were above board that eased my mind some, I just wish they had chimed in on the sim unlimited website with at least a blurb. He should have gotten his ducks in a row first, had some scenery teasers already on the shelf I think. It would have portrayed the concept in a better light and the developers that showed their work of possible downloads would not lose anything. If anything it would show what level of scenery one could expect considering the fact that they would need to come up with ten a year. 

 

During these times one needs to be careful signing up for things, even if only to show your interest in the notion. Giving his own name and past fs experience would have also have given a certain level of credibility to the project too.

[iBlueYonder 1]

I've been curious to see the responses to this. For the most part, they match exactly what I would have expected. Bear in mind, this is not my idea - I was just asked to submit products if and when it became reality, and the terms were agreeable to me. The only thing I can tell you for certain is that it's not a scam. The people behind it genuinely intend to deliver what they're promising. Only you guys can decide if that's something interesting or not. It won't impact my development either way, but I figured it was worth floating the idea and seeing what the reaction was. 

 

BTW, how have I missed visiting this forum? It looks like a great place to hang out! 

[mutley 4,497]

Hi Bill,

 

Welcome to Mutley's at last!

 

Assurance from Richard was gratefully received as is yours, this puts a whole new slant on it.

 

[J G 927]

I voted "No".  I dont want to have my Sim to be delivered as a package.  Part of the fun in FSX or P3D is tweaking the flight environment and scenery to get it as you personal like it.

 

In my opinion this type of product is better focused on gaming, where the environment is very much a secondary consideration and where the focus is very much on the game play.  DCS is a simulator where the emphasis is on the battle mission and a role play that uses flying as a weapons delivery system, the scenery and all else is secondary..  With MS FS the emphasis is on the recreation of the experience of flight, and part if this is the scenery, - not just to look at, but how it impacts your flight (try flying over the Himalayas in an SE5A) - the weather and  all the other factors that can have an impact on your flight.  In order to get the most out of your flying experience it is important to be able to tweak these aspects, to make this more or less challenging as you gain experience, and to be able to match scenery and environment to your own needs for each flight.

 

I probably spend a lot more than the subscription to something like this on my hobby each month, but that money goes towards developing an experience that suites me personally and is not directed in keeping going something that is bland enough to suit all and therefore only just good enough for me.

 

 

J.

 

 

[allardjd 1,853]

Welcome aboard, Bill. Happy to see you here and hope you enjoy Mutley's Hangar at least half as much as we do. It's a great place with good people.

John Allard