Agreed - and him going to space.. well why not - its his money!
TR - I have no idea what went wrong with that. It promised a lot and actually felt like a stripped down version of any other level-quest-goldfarming game out there at the moment. It offered the basics and nothing more.. you just quest, credit farm and level up some more.
He should stick to singleplayer games. UO was a new and bold idea when it first came out, and it worked. With WoW way up there at the top, no other game can touch it, I reckon.
If he wants to do a space related RPG game, he should go work with BioWare. Mass Effect was cool - good music, story and actually fun to play (for me). That, or just stick to swords and shields.