TS5 (Pondering Expectations)

Uzone27

While a fifth installment of the SIms is not a guarrantee, chances are, if it's meant to be... it's already underway.
With that in mind let's chat a bit about expectations. Obviously when it comes to expecations we all set the bar at different heights and prioritize differently.

I thought it might be interesting to approach the possibility of a fifth installment from the point of view of these expectations and speculate as to whether it's even possible to deliver a game that can achieve the same level of universal acceptance as TS2.

That said, let's have a look at the most fundamental (and perfectly reasonable) expectaions for a Sims game.

Price: Let's face it the Sims is an expensive game. love 'em or hate 'em EA has set a standard of expectation by trying to keep the pricing of the game in line with what it's always been in the past in spite of inflation.

Content Expectations vary here, but people at the very least expect the content we reccieve in the base game and assorted DLC to be commensurate with what we've recieved in the past.

Time Simmers have grown to expect DLC for the game in a timely fashion. I have seen many use the release schedules of TS1-3 as a benchmark.

History: Simmers expect a Sim game to include certain iconic items NPC's and DLC. Simmers will also expect all or most of the best features of the previous iterations to be included.

Innovation:: Simmers expect a new iteration to have a wow factor. Something to knock their socks off. Something they have never seen before,

Complexity: People expect each new iteration to be far more complex than the last... meaning more sophisticated AI, CAS and Build modes

Quality Simmers expect a bug free experience, for fixes to be implemented immediately and for everything to be in perfect working order before any new content is added.

Aesthetics Simmers expect tthe game to look at least as good as other AAA titles currently on the market.

Accessibility. Simmers expect the game to run on an average computer for the year the game is launched. For example if the game is launched in 2020 we expect the game to run on an average off the shelf 2020 laptop.

As you can see each of these taken on their own is perfectly reasonable, and depending on your point of view some of these are more important than others. However when taken collectively many of these expectaions are obviously incompatible.

Is it even possible to meet all (or even most) of these expecations?
Or are these (collective) expectations dooming the Sims to an endless cycle of incemental changes and marginal improvements?

aricarai

I don't think it's possible to meet all of these as it seems that EA is taking the route of trade-offs.

Should most of what you've listed above be possible, accessibility as you describe goes out the window.

And as you may know, I don't agree with accessibility. I think this game is an investment and it takes more than an average computer to play it!

aricarai

This is an interesting list though and I would love to see a universal reception like TS2 where most everyone is satisfied with the game.

TheGoodOldGamer

Accessibility isn't a factor for the Simmers. It's a factor for the company. The Sims series, while some would argue is it's own monoply of sorts in its respective genre, is also still niche. And as a franchise goes on and on in its sequels, it has to cast a wide net to keep an audience. Times and technology changes, popular game tropes and whatnot changes, and what worked in the first in a series won't necessary work in the 5th. Meaning some of your audience naturally fades away, even with other factors such as age and stuff.

Saying you should need a high end computer to play the Sims is basically saying you want that Sims game to be the series finale. Because it won't continue to support itself if you have to invest $1000 in a computer just to start it up. Most people won't do that. The handful that will won't be enough to keep it going.

That's like saying you want to run a coffee shop, but you will only sell to 24 year olds, who are 5'6, weigh 122 pounds, are female, have the ponytail hairstyle, redhead, and carry a Webster's dictionary in their arms. You could do that. It's a private business afterall. But good luck staying open, lol.

Uzone27

aricarai wrote: »

I don't think it's possible to meet all of these as it seems that EA is taking the route of trade-offs.

Should most of what you've listed above be possible, accessibility as you describe goes out the window.

And as you may know, I don't agree with accessibility. I think this game is an investment and it takes more than an average computer to play it!

It would be interesting to see how much market they would lose by taking that approach and how they would go about recouperating that revenue.

aricarai

@TheGoodOldGamer - you go anywhere near the tech section and they are going to recommend a gaming computer. A laptop on average will set you back $1k and a desktop about $700.

Like I said, it's an investment.

To think that a heavy processing game like the Sims can run long term on a low end computer without compromise is just naivé.

Uzone27

TheGoodOldGamer wrote: »

Accessibility isn't a factor for the Simmers. It's a factor for the company. The Sims series, while some would argue is it's own monoply of sorts in its respective genre, is also still niche. And as a franchise goes on and on in its sequels, it has to cast a wide net to keep an audience. Times and technology changes, popular game tropes and whatnot changes, and what worked in the first in a series won't necessary work in the 5th. Meaning some of your audience naturally fades away, even with other factors such as age and stuff.

Saying you should need a high end computer to play the Sims is basically saying you want that Sims game to be the series finale. Because it won't continue to support itself if you have to invest $1000 in a computer just to start it up. Most people won't do that. The handful that will won't be enough to keep it going.

That's like saying you want to run a coffee shop, but you will only sell to 24 year olds, who are 5'6, weigh 122 pounds, are female, have the ponytail hairstyle, redhead, and carry a Webster's dictionary in their arms. You could do that. It's a private business afterall. But good luck staying open, lol.

I agree with most of what you've said but can't get behind the bolded part.
The boards are flooded with spec requirement posts as soon as a new title is announced.
In fact they even surface from time to time for TS3.
I think it's a huge consideration for many Simmers.

Triplis

TheGoodOldGamer wrote: »

Accessibility isn't a factor for the Simmers. It's a factor for the company. The Sims series, while some would argue is it's own monoply of sorts in its respective genre, is also still niche. And as a franchise goes on and on in its sequels, it has to cast a wide net to keep an audience. Times and technology changes, popular game tropes and whatnot changes, and what worked in the first in a series won't necessary work in the 5th. Meaning some of your audience naturally fades away, even with other factors such as age and stuff.

Saying you should need a high end computer to play the Sims is basically saying you want that Sims game to be the series finale. Because it won't continue to support itself if you have to invest $1000 in a computer just to start it up. Most people won't do that. The handful that will won't be enough to keep it going.

That's like saying you want to run a coffee shop, but you will only sell to 24 year olds, who are 5'6, weigh 122 pounds, are female, have the ponytail hairstyle, redhead, and carry a Webster's dictionary in their arms. You could do that. It's a private business afterall. But good luck staying open, lol.

Which is a dismal thought for someone like me who likes high-detail, realistic 3D models. Technology has progressed a lot, but the average computer owner has not.

But it may touch on a reason why Maxis (possibly) isn't rushing to make the next game. There may be hesitations about hitting a brick wall in the game's appearance due to their main customer base and being told by the general gaming public that they are stuck in the past. Whereas the longer they can stretch this one out, not only does it give them more time to perfect the details of a TS5, but it also gives tech prices more time to fall and the average simmer more time to catch up in the kind of tech they're using.

Of course I am wildly speculating on that one.

TheGoodOldGamer

What I meant was that it's a larger concern for the company. It's in their best interests to make it work on as many reasonable medium-of-the-road computers as possible, at least for the base game. And if they work toward that goal, then most people coming in will have met that marker to at least some degree. Now, if 5 SPs and a few EPs later, the specs go up, well by that time so will a few years have passed and basic upgrades will be cheaper (and many computers will have been replaced just over time anyway).

The Crysis 'games' (read: tech demos) don't make that company money. Liscensing their engine to other developers does. So they can have their games as high-level benchmarks because that's basically all they are, to sell that engine. Whatever engine the Sims runs on doesn't get sold out like that though, so it's the game (and future dlc) that has to sell instead.