Joystick configuration

[Mike Dockery]

Greetings,
I have five grandkids and gave them a computer two years ago that is 
powered by Netrunner.  The oldest grand child is 11 and he is 
addicted to flightgear.  The all like some of the other joystick 
controlled games.  They all are home schooled and there are many 
great programs that can be of help to them.

I am planning a second computer and wanted to use FreeBSD to 
widen their exposure to what is available.  As a way to test this idea, I 
installed FreeBSD 10.1 on an extra hard drive and have been playing 
around with it for the past few days.  Everything looks great on the 
KDE system... mythtv had to use my hdhomerun unit because the 
pcHDTV cards wouldn't load (easily anyway).  Flightgear would not 
build but I was able to git the latest version and install it.  The 
problem is the joystick.

My question is:  Why are joysticks so difficult or impossible to set up?   
If there is a way, why is the information hidden.  Every search on this 
subject has lead to outdated or useless information.  This is a major 
roadblock for my plans and I am sure this one area is sending many 
potential users back to linux.  FreeBSD seems so solid and complete 
that I just can't imagine why this one area is so empty.  Am I missing 
something?

Thanks for letting me ask this question.

Mike