Stupid story time. Way back in the heydey of Lucasarts, Larry Holland went from making WWII action flight simulators to Star Wars space fighter simulators. Finally, in Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance you could finally fly the Millennium Falcon.

I was a lone gamer then and longed for buddies with which I could be their R2 unit (or their Wookie Co-pilot) since all the controls past flight and throttle were on the keyboard, so we could just pair up with one of us taking the joystick and the other taking keyboard.

It was designed more like a flight sim, and less like an action game, so I was able to manage targeting, power to engines, weapons, and deflector shields, give commands / cries for help to fellow pilots, and so on.

I never got someone to play the campaign with me past the first few missions until eventually Alliance was an old classic game and we were playing first person shooters now.

Will be your wookie co-pilot for flying space missions (srsly) was not a good selling point for buddies or romantic partners at the time.