[BoatBuilderBob]

I dont think total customization is going to happen, not because of the code aspect, I am confident the crew at Disney can cope with such an idea, but the data bandwidth needed.

If a ship can be customized from a library of componenets the library can be held on the local machine (just like alll the data for all teh models currently in the game), only a small descriptor of the objects, placement, motion for each ship in a screen needs to be moved across the network to each player who is in eyeball range. Not a lot of data per ship really.

But...

If total custoization occures then a WHOLE LOT MORE data needs to be moved around the network, artwork, skins, actual 3d models, planes, cillision parameters and who only knows what else need to be moved from server to workstation time and again (or even if cached, the cache size on you machione will grow and possibly slow down local access times due to the index of objects growing).

Only one place this is going to go, LAG, and this is with a small collection of vessels all relying on none standard library definitions.

So, while I would like to see some form of customization I would rather settle for a more conservative solution and keep the game moving than have it shudder to a halt every time a new vessel entered my field of view.