I agree. Before, Gurus just seemed so one-dimensional, so it's good to see their other sides.
Agreed - that's one of the reasons I became a Guru. I don't actually do much with the game content, so I can't answer a lot of game questions - but I do like hanging around posting pictures and coercing some of the other Gurus into the spotlight sometimes. If you follow some of my twitter posts I don't actually talk about the game, but I do like to show off our events and the random daily stuff around the floor.
And with this blog and thread I feel like I know you and @SimGuruSteve a little better now! Perhaps even besties?
Yeah sure!
Fun fact: @SimGuruRusskii fist bumped me like that and I had no idea what was going on because I hadn't actually watched Big Hero 6 until months after it was out.
"Buhduhduhduhdulump" I love Baymax.
@SimGuruSteve You mentioned you were more involved in the end product? What exactly do you do?
"Exactly"? Probably goes into way more detail than you'd ever want, but the gist of it is this.
Imagine that Art makes models and rigs and animations
Imagine that engineers (programmers) write code
And in a small aspect, the producers also edit tuning values, tag items, etc (everyone does more than that, but for these purposes let's leave it there)
Well I'm part of a 4 person team called "Configuration Management" (CM) or "Build engineering." We basically do everything after the code and raw assets.
We provide a space for storing the raw code/assets ("version control")
We provide the dev team with the tools/programs/environment to create/modify/write the assets/source code, etc
We use a large pool of machines that build the assets, compile the code, and put everything together. ("build engineering")
We built the systems that flag and alert people of failures when building said code/assets
We deal with how both our internal dev team and external QA access that build
I've mentioned before we kinda put the gift wrap around the game, as in a way we work on how to transport that game to you guys with a pretty bow.
Hopefully that's a non-technical way of describing at least some of what I do. Make sense?
Just catching up with this thread... soooo...yeah...what did you say you did again? *scratches head*
Yeah! So what is that you do as a SimGuru /Tech guy again?
Lol ikr, right up until this moment I had considered myself fairly intelligent!
Oh don't worry about it. I was actually helping CLP out of jam that he unknowingly walked right into. CLP just used a word that's a racial slur use to describe people of African American descent where I live. And I had informed of that. So he's currently correcting that.
some of us didn't know 🐸🐸🐸🐸 was a racial slur. im just repeating it as the example. we use that for raccoon
I know that some you guys are not aware of what that C word actually stood for. And is why I'm not mad about being used on here. I'm just doing my part by letting you guys know what it actually stands for. I'm surprised that the Moderators didn't even know that one. Otherwise the word would have been switched to a non-offensive word. But don't be surprised if the C word that some of you guys used to describe raccoon to another instead after today. Well now you all know why because that word is in fact an offensive racial slur word.
SimGuruDrake: The C word that some Simmers are using for an abbreviation for raccoon's is actually an offensive racial slur word use to describe people of African American descent. So could you please add that word to the list of words that get switched to a non-offensive word when used on here please before a huge fight breaks over it on here.
I agree. Before, Gurus just seemed so one-dimensional, so it's good to see their other sides.
Agreed - that's one of the reasons I became a Guru. I don't actually do much with the game content, so I can't answer a lot of game questions - but I do like hanging around posting pictures and coercing some of the other Gurus into the spotlight sometimes. If you follow some of my twitter posts I don't actually talk about the game, but I do like to show off our events and the random daily stuff around the floor.
And with this blog and thread I feel like I know you and @SimGuruSteve a little better now! Perhaps even besties?
Yeah sure!
Fun fact: @SimGuruRusskii fist bumped me like that and I had no idea what was going on because I hadn't actually watched Big Hero 6 until months after it was out.
"Buhduhduhduhdulump" I love Baymax.
@SimGuruSteve You mentioned you were more involved in the end product? What exactly do you do?
"Exactly"? Probably goes into way more detail than you'd ever want, but the gist of it is this.
Imagine that Art makes models and rigs and animations
Imagine that engineers (programmers) write code
And in a small aspect, the producers also edit tuning values, tag items, etc (everyone does more than that, but for these purposes let's leave it there)
Well I'm part of a 4 person team called "Configuration Management" (CM) or "Build engineering." We basically do everything after the code and raw assets.
We provide a space for storing the raw code/assets ("version control")
We provide the dev team with the tools/programs/environment to create/modify/write the assets/source code, etc
We use a large pool of machines that build the assets, compile the code, and put everything together. ("build engineering")
We built the systems that flag and alert people of failures when building said code/assets
We deal with how both our internal dev team and external QA access that build
I've mentioned before we kinda put the gift wrap around the game, as in a way we work on how to transport that game to you guys with a pretty bow.
Hopefully that's a non-technical way of describing at least some of what I do. Make sense?
Just catching up with this thread... soooo...yeah...what did you say you did again? *scratches head*
Yeah! So what is that you do as a SimGuru /Tech guy again?
Lol ikr, right up until this moment I had considered myself fairly intelligent!
Oh don't worry about it. I was actually helping CLP out of jam that he unknowingly walked right into. CLP just used a word that's a racial slur use to describe people of African American descent where I live. And I had informed of that. So he's currently correcting that.
some of us didn't know 🐸🐸🐸🐸 was a racial slur. im just repeating it as the example. we use that for raccoon
I know that some you guys are not aware of what that C word actually stood for. And is why I'm not mad about being used on here. I'm just doing my part by letting you guys know what it actually stands for. I'm surprised that the Moderators didn't even know that one. Otherwise the word would have been switched to a non-offensive word. But don't be surprised if the C word that some of you guys used to describe raccoon to another instead after today. Well now you all know why because that word is in fact an offensive racial slur word.
SimGuruDrake: The C word that some Simmers are using for an abbreviation for raccoon's is actually an offensive racial slur word use to describe people of African American descent. So could you please add that word to the list of words that get switched to a non-offensive word when used on here please before a huge fight breaks over it on here.
ahhhh i see well really it comes up as pulm when i first typed it but i did a cap on the c so people would knoe
Been simming since the end of sims 2~Sims Gallery ID:BSAAWaifu
huh? I'm sorry I seemed to have mistaken your post. I was talking about what simguruSteve does for a job. *confused* @sunman502
Oh I was on here. It was on another thread that I was helping CLP out of a jam on. I had brought that over here to let you know that I really wasn't concerned your comment that's all. But I was a bit concerned about a mistake that CLP, and some other Simmers were unknowingly making on here. And I was actually stopping a possible racial fight from breaking out on here before it even got started on here. I'm not certain about just how many of us are even aware of this on here. But it is the soul responsibility of each every one of us Simmers on here to help the Moderators out in keeping the peace on here by not starting fights on here. Even if we don't know that we are about to start a fight on here. So I was just doing my part by kindly informing some of the other Simmers on here that they were using a word that's a racial slur on here. Hopefully SimGuruDrake has read this, and is currently correcting the over site now. Or will be in the morning, when she gets in.
How difficult is it to say: ''Yes we are listening!''.
Come on, everyone can say that. I don't believe it, want to see my toddlers and family play first, since that's what the community screams since the game got released and we still got to see them................... so, listening? prove it.
Also agree with this. I have proof of them not listening.
Evidence A: Toddlers
We've been asking for toddlers for a year and a half now and we still have no toddlers. They haven't even mentioned them except for RF saying it was best not to put them to date.
Evidence B: Culling
We've been complaining about culling and they go ahead and introduce a new form of culling.
I have evidence all the way up to Z , but those are like the biggest ones.
This only proves that some fans are clearly not listening when they DO actually say something about these things.
When did we last hear about toddlers? I mean that interview would be worth reading if the questions were "are toddlers being worked on?" "Is it possible to have a semi open neighbourhood?" "Why are EPs taking so long?" "Whats the point of having GPs if they have less content than EPs yet take the same time in being released?"rather than "what's your favorite ice cream?"
This blog series is meant to give some insight into who the SimGuru's are and what their jobs are.
The questions you are asking aren't one's we would cover in this particular blog series.
Yet these are the questions we want answered The fact is, people who have been fans of The Sims for over 15 years are not playing this game at the moment. Case in point: myself. I want to play it... oh boy, do I want to be able to enjoy it, but I can't because my gameplay is not supported.
That is the sad truth.
To get the fans back, these are the questions you guys need to answer. These are the things that need to be addressed.
I don't mind waiting a while in between GPs and EPs, but it would sure be cool to know what was coming.
Again, for this particular blog series I wanted to focus on who the SimGurus are as individuals, and this is something that some fans do want to learn about. It may not be a blog series meant for everyone, nothing can ever really be for everyone, but it would be terrible of me as the Community Manager to only focus on one portion of the community and not look at the entire community (which is filled with individuals from many facets of life, with different interests, tastes, and play styles who are not only in the forums, but they run their own fansites, have youtube channels, are on social media, etc.)
The things you are wanting to learn wouldn't be in an interview blog series like this one. Does it mean those future related questions will never get answered? No. It just means that we don't have anything to say at the moment. As for the questions regarding the difference in packs, I can try to find the best person to help explain the pack difference to you in a much better way than I can.
In regards to your comment about your game play: are you referring to family play? What is missing for you (outside of Toddlers)? I'm aware that there are different threads on the different ways in which each person defines family play but I'd love to know what it is for you.
I totally understand what the focus of the blog series is about. It's great for simmers to be able to get to know the team making the game, and for you guys to be more active posting on here about stuff - it is fun, and exciting! The thing is, these questions have been glaring at us since the release of the game, so it is almost like "whoopdedoo" when I hear about new blog posts that have nothing to do with the issues I have in the game.
But thank you for answering, and yes I was referring to family play. (Sorry: long-ish post incoming)
Toddlers make up the bulk of what is missing for me both literally and figuratively. Toddlers represent progression and learning, and development of the sims. And those three things are what is missing in the game for me.
I enjoy developing sims from birth to death, generation to generation. Toddlers are a key development phase, where you teach them sims basic skills and get to know their personalities. It is very jarring to have a baby (and honestly, I don't really mind the babies in TS4, though it would be nice if my mothers could SIT to breast feed, or walk them to a change table to change a diaper) suddenly jump up into a fully functioning little sim. But this has all been said before (I know you've seen the family play thread!) so I will move on.
TS4 children are great. I like their interactions, and they are super adorable. But after putting hours and hours into developing my kids, having them learn skills, getting them to ask their parents funny questions... it all went poof. I felt like my gameplay meant nothing to them once they were a teenager. Their skills - gone. Their development - no effect on their personality. I understand if you get the skills up high enough they do make a difference, but only just.
Then teenagers. Let me say that for me, the teenagers were almost as disappointing as no toddlers. They have no IDENTITY. They have next to no unique interactions, they have no unique clothes or hairstyles, they are tall, they walk the same and talk the same. The whole issue everyone had with not being able to tell them apart from the young adults.... that just sums it up. There is nothing that sets teens apart in this game, makes them interesting to play and develop and grow.
By the time my sims got to full adults, I was like, "oh my goodness... here we go again???" because I felt like it was the third time I had played that particular life stage. Again, there was basically NO difference between my sim as a teenager, and my sim as a middle aged adult! Then eldership - again, no unique clothes. I preferred the elder life stage to the full adult stage because they at least looked and acted a LITTLE different, but it just felt like another repeat.
But honestly? I could probably overlook all my issues with teens/YAs/adults if I at least got to play with my sims as toddlers. That might sound sad, but it is the truth.
My absolute, number one, all time FAVOURITE sim family (of all time) is the Broke family from TS2. I loved the STRUGGLE of trying to raise those kids right and put a roof over their heads. Dustin had a real personality. The babies were such a challenge. I want to be able to recreate that and see where I can go in this new game... but I can't.
Again, thanks for responding to me. I hope that makes sense, and provides you Gurus with some useful feedback.
@bethyGrace This is REALLY REALLY REALLY helpful to me! Thank you! You mention that Toddlers represents progression / learning / development and I'm interested in learning a bit more from that. I am not a family player (never have been in all the years that I've played The Sims) and so I never played that stage in the game so I'm really interested -on a personal player to player level- in knowing what in particular about that stage helps immerse you in your play style.
Also thank you so much for providing so much great feedback! It's really helpful for me to get to understand what you like / dislike about the game and by pinpointing areas in which you feel it can improve allows me to take that and provide it back to those who should see it
Thank you for taking the time to provide your thoughts.
How difficult is it to say: ''Yes we are listening!''.
Come on, everyone can say that. I don't believe it, want to see my toddlers and family play first, since that's what the community screams since the game got released and we still got to see them................... so, listening? prove it.
Also agree with this. I have proof of them not listening.
Evidence A: Toddlers
We've been asking for toddlers for a year and a half now and we still have no toddlers. They haven't even mentioned them except for RF saying it was best not to put them to date.
Evidence B: Culling
We've been complaining about culling and they go ahead and introduce a new form of culling.
I have evidence all the way up to Z , but those are like the biggest ones.
This only proves that some fans are clearly not listening when they DO actually say something about these things.
When did we last hear about toddlers? I mean that interview would be worth reading if the questions were "are toddlers being worked on?" "Is it possible to have a semi open neighbourhood?" "Why are EPs taking so long?" "Whats the point of having GPs if they have less content than EPs yet take the same time in being released?"rather than "what's your favorite ice cream?"
This blog series is meant to give some insight into who the SimGuru's are and what their jobs are.
The questions you are asking aren't one's we would cover in this particular blog series.
Yet these are the questions we want answered The fact is, people who have been fans of The Sims for over 15 years are not playing this game at the moment. Case in point: myself. I want to play it... oh boy, do I want to be able to enjoy it, but I can't because my gameplay is not supported.
That is the sad truth.
To get the fans back, these are the questions you guys need to answer. These are the things that need to be addressed.
I don't mind waiting a while in between GPs and EPs, but it would sure be cool to know what was coming.
Again, for this particular blog series I wanted to focus on who the SimGurus are as individuals, and this is something that some fans do want to learn about. It may not be a blog series meant for everyone, nothing can ever really be for everyone, but it would be terrible of me as the Community Manager to only focus on one portion of the community and not look at the entire community (which is filled with individuals from many facets of life, with different interests, tastes, and play styles who are not only in the forums, but they run their own fansites, have youtube channels, are on social media, etc.)
The things you are wanting to learn wouldn't be in an interview blog series like this one. Does it mean those future related questions will never get answered? No. It just means that we don't have anything to say at the moment. As for the questions regarding the difference in packs, I can try to find the best person to help explain the pack difference to you in a much better way than I can.
In regards to your comment about your game play: are you referring to family play? What is missing for you (outside of Toddlers)? I'm aware that there are different threads on the different ways in which each person defines family play but I'd love to know what it is for you.
I totally understand what the focus of the blog series is about. It's great for simmers to be able to get to know the team making the game, and for you guys to be more active posting on here about stuff - it is fun, and exciting! The thing is, these questions have been glaring at us since the release of the game, so it is almost like "whoopdedoo" when I hear about new blog posts that have nothing to do with the issues I have in the game.
But thank you for answering, and yes I was referring to family play. (Sorry: long-ish post incoming)
Toddlers make up the bulk of what is missing for me both literally and figuratively. Toddlers represent progression and learning, and development of the sims. And those three things are what is missing in the game for me.
I enjoy developing sims from birth to death, generation to generation. Toddlers are a key development phase, where you teach them sims basic skills and get to know their personalities. It is very jarring to have a baby (and honestly, I don't really mind the babies in TS4, though it would be nice if my mothers could SIT to breast feed, or walk them to a change table to change a diaper) suddenly jump up into a fully functioning little sim. But this has all been said before (I know you've seen the family play thread!) so I will move on.
TS4 children are great. I like their interactions, and they are super adorable. But after putting hours and hours into developing my kids, having them learn skills, getting them to ask their parents funny questions... it all went poof. I felt like my gameplay meant nothing to them once they were a teenager. Their skills - gone. Their development - no effect on their personality. I understand if you get the skills up high enough they do make a difference, but only just.
Then teenagers. Let me say that for me, the teenagers were almost as disappointing as no toddlers. They have no IDENTITY. They have next to no unique interactions, they have no unique clothes or hairstyles, they are tall, they walk the same and talk the same. The whole issue everyone had with not being able to tell them apart from the young adults.... that just sums it up. There is nothing that sets teens apart in this game, makes them interesting to play and develop and grow.
By the time my sims got to full adults, I was like, "oh my goodness... here we go again???" because I felt like it was the third time I had played that particular life stage. Again, there was basically NO difference between my sim as a teenager, and my sim as a middle aged adult! Then eldership - again, no unique clothes. I preferred the elder life stage to the full adult stage because they at least looked and acted a LITTLE different, but it just felt like another repeat.
But honestly? I could probably overlook all my issues with teens/YAs/adults if I at least got to play with my sims as toddlers. That might sound sad, but it is the truth.
My absolute, number one, all time FAVOURITE sim family (of all time) is the Broke family from TS2. I loved the STRUGGLE of trying to raise those kids right and put a roof over their heads. Dustin had a real personality. The babies were such a challenge. I want to be able to recreate that and see where I can go in this new game... but I can't.
Again, thanks for responding to me. I hope that makes sense, and provides you Gurus with some useful feedback.
@bethyGrace This is REALLY REALLY REALLY helpful to me! Thank you! You mention that Toddlers represents progression / learning / development and I'm interested in learning a bit more from that. I am not a family player (never have been in all the years that I've played The Sims) and so I never played that stage in the game so I'm really interested -on a personal player to player level- in knowing what in particular about that stage helps immerse you in your play style.
Also thank you so much for providing so much great feedback! It's really helpful for me to get to understand what you like / dislike about the game and by pinpointing areas in which you feel it can improve allows me to take that and provide it back to those who should see it
Thank you for taking the time to provide your thoughts.
@SimGuruDrake if you take this and run with it and start putting these amazing ideas in I.. no words.. just..
How difficult is it to say: ''Yes we are listening!''.
Come on, everyone can say that. I don't believe it, want to see my toddlers and family play first, since that's what the community screams since the game got released and we still got to see them................... so, listening? prove it.
Also agree with this. I have proof of them not listening.
Evidence A: Toddlers
We've been asking for toddlers for a year and a half now and we still have no toddlers. They haven't even mentioned them except for RF saying it was best not to put them to date.
Evidence B: Culling
We've been complaining about culling and they go ahead and introduce a new form of culling.
I have evidence all the way up to Z , but those are like the biggest ones.
This only proves that some fans are clearly not listening when they DO actually say something about these things.
When did we last hear about toddlers? I mean that interview would be worth reading if the questions were "are toddlers being worked on?" "Is it possible to have a semi open neighbourhood?" "Why are EPs taking so long?" "Whats the point of having GPs if they have less content than EPs yet take the same time in being released?"rather than "what's your favorite ice cream?"
This blog series is meant to give some insight into who the SimGuru's are and what their jobs are.
The questions you are asking aren't one's we would cover in this particular blog series.
Yet these are the questions we want answered The fact is, people who have been fans of The Sims for over 15 years are not playing this game at the moment. Case in point: myself. I want to play it... oh boy, do I want to be able to enjoy it, but I can't because my gameplay is not supported.
That is the sad truth.
To get the fans back, these are the questions you guys need to answer. These are the things that need to be addressed.
I don't mind waiting a while in between GPs and EPs, but it would sure be cool to know what was coming.
Again, for this particular blog series I wanted to focus on who the SimGurus are as individuals, and this is something that some fans do want to learn about. It may not be a blog series meant for everyone, nothing can ever really be for everyone, but it would be terrible of me as the Community Manager to only focus on one portion of the community and not look at the entire community (which is filled with individuals from many facets of life, with different interests, tastes, and play styles who are not only in the forums, but they run their own fansites, have youtube channels, are on social media, etc.)
The things you are wanting to learn wouldn't be in an interview blog series like this one. Does it mean those future related questions will never get answered? No. It just means that we don't have anything to say at the moment. As for the questions regarding the difference in packs, I can try to find the best person to help explain the pack difference to you in a much better way than I can.
In regards to your comment about your game play: are you referring to family play? What is missing for you (outside of Toddlers)? I'm aware that there are different threads on the different ways in which each person defines family play but I'd love to know what it is for you.
I totally understand what the focus of the blog series is about. It's great for simmers to be able to get to know the team making the game, and for you guys to be more active posting on here about stuff - it is fun, and exciting! The thing is, these questions have been glaring at us since the release of the game, so it is almost like "whoopdedoo" when I hear about new blog posts that have nothing to do with the issues I have in the game.
But thank you for answering, and yes I was referring to family play. (Sorry: long-ish post incoming)
Toddlers make up the bulk of what is missing for me both literally and figuratively. Toddlers represent progression and learning, and development of the sims. And those three things are what is missing in the game for me.
I enjoy developing sims from birth to death, generation to generation. Toddlers are a key development phase, where you teach them sims basic skills and get to know their personalities. It is very jarring to have a baby (and honestly, I don't really mind the babies in TS4, though it would be nice if my mothers could SIT to breast feed, or walk them to a change table to change a diaper) suddenly jump up into a fully functioning little sim. But this has all been said before (I know you've seen the family play thread!) so I will move on.
TS4 children are great. I like their interactions, and they are super adorable. But after putting hours and hours into developing my kids, having them learn skills, getting them to ask their parents funny questions... it all went poof. I felt like my gameplay meant nothing to them once they were a teenager. Their skills - gone. Their development - no effect on their personality. I understand if you get the skills up high enough they do make a difference, but only just.
Then teenagers. Let me say that for me, the teenagers were almost as disappointing as no toddlers. They have no IDENTITY. They have next to no unique interactions, they have no unique clothes or hairstyles, they are tall, they walk the same and talk the same. The whole issue everyone had with not being able to tell them apart from the young adults.... that just sums it up. There is nothing that sets teens apart in this game, makes them interesting to play and develop and grow.
By the time my sims got to full adults, I was like, "oh my goodness... here we go again???" because I felt like it was the third time I had played that particular life stage. Again, there was basically NO difference between my sim as a teenager, and my sim as a middle aged adult! Then eldership - again, no unique clothes. I preferred the elder life stage to the full adult stage because they at least looked and acted a LITTLE different, but it just felt like another repeat.
But honestly? I could probably overlook all my issues with teens/YAs/adults if I at least got to play with my sims as toddlers. That might sound sad, but it is the truth.
My absolute, number one, all time FAVOURITE sim family (of all time) is the Broke family from TS2. I loved the STRUGGLE of trying to raise those kids right and put a roof over their heads. Dustin had a real personality. The babies were such a challenge. I want to be able to recreate that and see where I can go in this new game... but I can't.
Again, thanks for responding to me. I hope that makes sense, and provides you Gurus with some useful feedback.
@bethyGrace This is REALLY REALLY REALLY helpful to me! Thank you! You mention that Toddlers represents progression / learning / development and I'm interested in learning a bit more from that. I am not a family player (never have been in all the years that I've played The Sims) and so I never played that stage in the game so I'm really interested -on a personal player to player level- in knowing what in particular about that stage helps immerse you in your play style.
Also thank you so much for providing so much great feedback! It's really helpful for me to get to understand what you like / dislike about the game and by pinpointing areas in which you feel it can improve allows me to take that and provide it back to those who should see it
Thank you for taking the time to provide your thoughts.
No problem @SimGuruDrake - I have plenty more where that came from
On the development / learning / progression thing - I would like to see some real "parenting" in the game. As in, teaching their kids to behave certain ways, encouraging and discouraging certain traits, skills, behaviours - teaching a toddler "no" and then having them go ahead and do it anyway.
It's interesting that we have had this kind of system with Pets since TS2, where you teach the pet certain things (like eating the right food, peeing in the right place, sitting, shaking, etc), but the closest the game has ever come to a similar thing with kids was in TS2 where we had the "encourage" interaction - a parent could encourage "activity", the kid would do some stretches or a mini workout, and then it would boost their active personality point score.
I think it would be cool to see a similar thing with raising kids in TS4. Like, there could be a few items or toys that parents could encourage their kids to use, which could then provide a bonus personality trait. Or a parent could discuss a certain behaviour with their child, and the more scolding / encouraging they give, I would like to see it actually result in something. Like, if a parent scolds a child for being rude, the child could develop a bonus 'polite' or 'friendly' trait. If the parent encourages playing outside and running around, the child could develop the active trait. If a parent lets bad behaviour go unpunished, the sim could develop a rebellious trait. Obviously you would need to be careful that it wasn't too automatic - like maybe there could be a warning prompt if a kid is getting close to something like that, giving the player the opportunity to correct it. But that would be a really interactive, hands on, family play thing that I think would be really engaging.
Anyways, hola to all the Gurus in this thread, hope to hear some news from you guys soon.
Reading the SimGuru's answers about playing with families, both in this thread and others, I've come to the understanding why Sims 4 is so dry and superficial. Got to get that party in for the adults.
Oh well, that is it for me and the way I like to play the Sims. *sigh*
Nothing to see. I don't even care about the forums.
Whoa! I lived to see FIVE simgurus posting on the same thread in one day (correct me if any more wild gurus appeared in latter pages. I only got through page 10). I'm honoured. I feel like I've just witnessed a historical event.
@SimGuruRomeo is so cute and he seems to be so fun! @SimGuruNinja, welcome to the forums! @SimGuruDrake, you are legendary and I want to know what color is your hair now! @SimGuruSteve and @SimGuruMegs, I barely know you (I barely know many of the gurus actually) and I hope to see you both more frequently. This applies to all the gurus! You all bring some fresh air to this forums.
Now goes my question... what should I do to become a SimGuru? this seems to be one of the best jobs in the world!
Aww thank you!
As for my hair color it is what I like to call "blue steel" and what some in the fashion world call "denim". Here is an idea of what the color looks like (this is not a photo of me!):
@SimGuruDrake your hair colour is very beautiful I've never seen that sort of blue before, but it looks awesome!
Matthew.
Nice! Now I won't be surprised when I see that hair color bobbing around behind a cubicle wall.
So basically nobody knows what @SimGuruSteve really does at EA all day?
It's all about confidence and convincing other people you're important! Seriously though, I'd bet half our own team isn't sure exactly what I do - but as long as they know what to contact us for, that's what matters!
Man, I tried to think of some analogy all morning. The best I could come up with is if you're working at a tshirt company. Yeah... I think that might make sense. Maybe. I'll come back and explain sometime.
But first, I gotta do some work this morning! I have to get this license server to run consistently on our second build coordinator so we can migrate the data and hopefully recover space during the MySQL database import. We're thinking it'll make the coordinator faster, but it'll also give us a backup to work on. This way we can wipe and spin back up the FIRST coordinator, migrate data BACK to it, then try some risky optimizations on it without completely bringing down our team's entire development pipeline.
No joke, that's exactly what I'm doing and not just throwing together a bunch of buzzwords.
(And the real irony is that it IS a unix linux system I'm working on and until a month ago I really DIDN'T know this.)
I was gonna say this sounds like something a sys admin would do (in my very limited understanding). I'm training this summer for Linux sys admin, starting with network basics right now. It's been very interesting but serious information overload.
Yes! In a way we do sys admin, but EA is large enough that most of the non-dev team specifics are handled by an IT group. So things like network storage, email, permissions, user accounts, and machine connectivity are dealt with by IT. Setting up machines to interact with our build system is one of our roles and why I'm diving into it myself.
That said, we absolutely are the conduit into It for our team. For example, we had network slowdown issues last week. We'd see those complaints from the team and work with IT to fix it. From the dev team's perspective, we're a black box that can solve that problem even though we don't maintain things like giant network servers. It's a small aspect of the job, but we do cover that.
Why can't you just use virtualization and clone images to play around with optimisation?
Actually, we would normally do that! Since you seem interested, I don't mind chatting about it a little. If anyone else wants to follow along, please do!
We do use an internal virtualization service and this machine could have been cloned, but starting from scratch gives us a few benefits.
1. Original was RHEL, and IT would prefer we move to the free CentOS
2. If the cloned machine was brought up in the same network, all sorts of havoc could happen before we even logged in to stop it. This was extremely unlikely to happen, but the risk was too high.
3. My teammate set up the original something like 4 years ago. He doesn't remember what he did and didn't document (for shame!). Now was a good time to document setup from scratch and eliminate unnecessary setup that happened the first time when he was just trying to get things running.
4. We could step up some versions from fresh, and with # 3 above, we could adjust to a large upgrade if we thought it'd be beneficial.
5. We were switching virtualization tech and although they were probably compatible, I didn't want to find out they weren't months later.
But yes, virtualization is great! I think we arguably are pushing the envelope on EA's internal tech as earlier adopters. Heck, I spun up 4 virtual machines just for this project and will decommission all but the new one after it goes live.
Whoa! I lived to see FIVE simgurus posting on the same thread in one day (correct me if any more wild gurus appeared in latter pages. I only got through page 10). I'm honoured. I feel like I've just witnessed a historical event.
@SimGuruRomeo is so cute and he seems to be so fun! @SimGuruNinja, welcome to the forums! @SimGuruDrake, you are legendary and I want to know what color is your hair now! @SimGuruSteve and @SimGuruMegs, I barely know you (I barely know many of the gurus actually) and I hope to see you both more frequently. This applies to all the gurus! You all bring some fresh air to this forums.
Now goes my question... what should I do to become a SimGuru? this seems to be one of the best jobs in the world!
Aww thank you!
As for my hair color it is what I like to call "blue steel" and what some in the fashion world call "denim". Here is an idea of what the color looks like (this is not a photo of me!):
@SimGuruDrake your hair colour is very beautiful I've never seen that sort of blue before, but it looks awesome!
Matthew.
Nice! Now I won't be surprised when I see that hair color bobbing around behind a cubicle wall.
So basically nobody knows what @SimGuruSteve really does at EA all day?
It's all about confidence and convincing other people you're important! Seriously though, I'd bet half our own team isn't sure exactly what I do - but as long as they know what to contact us for, that's what matters!
Man, I tried to think of some analogy all morning. The best I could come up with is if you're working at a tshirt company. Yeah... I think that might make sense. Maybe. I'll come back and explain sometime.
But first, I gotta do some work this morning! I have to get this license server to run consistently on our second build coordinator so we can migrate the data and hopefully recover space during the MySQL database import. We're thinking it'll make the coordinator faster, but it'll also give us a backup to work on. This way we can wipe and spin back up the FIRST coordinator, migrate data BACK to it, then try some risky optimizations on it without completely bringing down our team's entire development pipeline.
No joke, that's exactly what I'm doing and not just throwing together a bunch of buzzwords.
(And the real irony is that it IS a unix linux system I'm working on and until a month ago I really DIDN'T know this.)
I was gonna say this sounds like something a sys admin would do (in my very limited understanding). I'm training this summer for Linux sys admin, starting with network basics right now. It's been very interesting but serious information overload.
Yes! In a way we do sys admin, but EA is large enough that most of the non-dev team specifics are handled by an IT group. So things like network storage, email, permissions, user accounts, and machine connectivity are dealt with by IT. Setting up machines to interact with our build system is one of our roles and why I'm diving into it myself.
That said, we absolutely are the conduit into It for our team. For example, we had network slowdown issues last week. We'd see those complaints from the team and work with IT to fix it. From the dev team's perspective, we're a black box that can solve that problem even though we don't maintain things like giant network servers. It's a small aspect of the job, but we do cover that.
Why can't you just use virtualization and clone images to play around with optimisation?
Actually, we would normally do that! Since you seem interested, I don't mind chatting about it a little. If anyone else wants to follow along, please do!
We do use an internal virtualization service and this machine could have been cloned, but starting from scratch gives us a few benefits.
1. Original was RHEL, and IT would prefer we move to the free CentOS
2. If the cloned machine was brought up in the same network, all sorts of havoc could happen before we even logged in to stop it. This was extremely unlikely to happen, but the risk was too high.
3. My teammate set up the original something like 4 years ago. He doesn't remember what he did and didn't document (for shame!). Now was a good time to document setup from scratch and eliminate unnecessary setup that happened the first time when he was just trying to get things running.
4. We could step up some versions from fresh, and with #3 above, we could adjust to a large upgrade if we thought it'd be beneficial.
5. We were switching virtualization tech and although they were probably compatible, I didn't want to find out they weren't months later.
But yes, virtualization is great! I think we arguably are pushing the envelope on EA's internal tech as earlier adopters. Heck, I spun up 4 virtual machines just for this project and will decommission all but the new one after it goes live.
Reading the SimGuru's answers about playing with families, both in this thread and others, I've come to the understanding why Sims 4 is so dry and superficial. Got to get that party in for the adults.
Oh well, that is it for me and the way I like to play the Sims. *sigh*
I do not work on the game at all. I am not a dev nor a producer nor a designer nor an animator or any other member of the team that works directly on the game, I am a Community Manager and it's part of my job to understand each aspect of the community. So my questions were purely for my own educational purposes.
@SimGuruDrake I am very happy to see that a lot of gurus are very active at the forums at the moment. However maybe you can pass along the team that we ( all sims fans) are very excited for upcoming stuff especially game pack 3. But I wonder how do you chose the date of an announcement from a game pack/stuff pack/expansion pack?
Reading the SimGuru's answers about playing with families, both in this thread and others, I've come to the understanding why Sims 4 is so dry and superficial. Got to get that party in for the adults.
Oh well, that is it for me and the way I like to play the Sims. *sigh*
I do not work on the game at all. I am not a dev nor a producer nor a designer nor an animator or any other member of the team that works directly on the game, I am a Community Manager and it's part of my job to understand each aspect of the community. So my questions were purely for my own educational purposes.
Ohhh @SimGuruDrake whilst you're talking about your play style and experiences I have a quick question for you Do you play as supernaturals much? (regarding The Sims 3 of course!) I'm curious as to whether or not if you usually play as ordinary Sims or if you play as supernaturals a lot
Also do you have a favourite Sims supernatural like the witch, vampire, werewolf, etc. that would would like to see come back to The Sims 4? I am really hoping that they bring the vampire to The Sims 4 as I have enjoyed them since The Sims 2, loved them in The Sims 3 and am hoping that they'll be just as awesome in The Sims 4
Reading the SimGuru's answers about playing with families, both in this thread and others, I've come to the understanding why Sims 4 is so dry and superficial. Got to get that party in for the adults.
Oh well, that is it for me and the way I like to play the Sims. *sigh*
I do not work on the game at all. I am not a dev nor a producer nor a designer nor an animator or any other member of the team that works directly on the game, I am a Community Manager and it's part of my job to understand each aspect of the community. So my questions were purely for my own educational purposes.
Ohhh @SimGuruDrake whilst you're talking about your play style and experiences I have a quick question for you Do you play as supernaturals much? (regarding The Sims 3 of course!) I'm curious as to whether or not if you usually play as ordinary Sims or if you play as supernaturals a lot
Also do you have a favourite Sims supernatural like the witch, vampire, werewolf, etc. that would would like to see come back to The Sims 4? I am really hoping that they bring the vampire to The Sims 4 as I have enjoyed them since The Sims 2, loved them in The Sims 3 and am hoping that they'll be just as awesome in The Sims 4
Have a nice day
Matthew.
I second this @simgurudrake would really like to know! Was so sad get together didn't come with a life state.
Whoa! I lived to see FIVE simgurus posting on the same thread in one day (correct me if any more wild gurus appeared in latter pages. I only got through page 10). I'm honoured. I feel like I've just witnessed a historical event.
@SimGuruRomeo is so cute and he seems to be so fun! @SimGuruNinja, welcome to the forums! @SimGuruDrake, you are legendary and I want to know what color is your hair now! @SimGuruSteve and @SimGuruMegs, I barely know you (I barely know many of the gurus actually) and I hope to see you both more frequently. This applies to all the gurus! You all bring some fresh air to this forums.
Now goes my question... what should I do to become a SimGuru? this seems to be one of the best jobs in the world!
Aww thank you!
As for my hair color it is what I like to call "blue steel" and what some in the fashion world call "denim". Here is an idea of what the color looks like (this is not a photo of me!):
@SimGuruDrake your hair colour is very beautiful I've never seen that sort of blue before, but it looks awesome!
Matthew.
Nice! Now I won't be surprised when I see that hair color bobbing around behind a cubicle wall.
So basically nobody knows what @SimGuruSteve really does at EA all day?
It's all about confidence and convincing other people you're important! Seriously though, I'd bet half our own team isn't sure exactly what I do - but as long as they know what to contact us for, that's what matters!
Man, I tried to think of some analogy all morning. The best I could come up with is if you're working at a tshirt company. Yeah... I think that might make sense. Maybe. I'll come back and explain sometime.
But first, I gotta do some work this morning! I have to get this license server to run consistently on our second build coordinator so we can migrate the data and hopefully recover space during the MySQL database import. We're thinking it'll make the coordinator faster, but it'll also give us a backup to work on. This way we can wipe and spin back up the FIRST coordinator, migrate data BACK to it, then try some risky optimizations on it without completely bringing down our team's entire development pipeline.
No joke, that's exactly what I'm doing and not just throwing together a bunch of buzzwords.
(And the real irony is that it IS a unix linux system I'm working on and until a month ago I really DIDN'T know this.)
I was gonna say this sounds like something a sys admin would do (in my very limited understanding). I'm training this summer for Linux sys admin, starting with network basics right now. It's been very interesting but serious information overload.
Yes! In a way we do sys admin, but EA is large enough that most of the non-dev team specifics are handled by an IT group. So things like network storage, email, permissions, user accounts, and machine connectivity are dealt with by IT. Setting up machines to interact with our build system is one of our roles and why I'm diving into it myself.
That said, we absolutely are the conduit into It for our team. For example, we had network slowdown issues last week. We'd see those complaints from the team and work with IT to fix it. From the dev team's perspective, we're a black box that can solve that problem even though we don't maintain things like giant network servers. It's a small aspect of the job, but we do cover that.
Why can't you just use virtualization and clone images to play around with optimisation?
Actually, we would normally do that! Since you seem interested, I don't mind chatting about it a little. If anyone else wants to follow along, please do!
We do use an internal virtualization service and this machine could have been cloned, but starting from scratch gives us a few benefits.
1. Original was RHEL, and IT would prefer we move to the free CentOS
2. If the cloned machine was brought up in the same network, all sorts of havoc could happen before we even logged in to stop it. This was extremely unlikely to happen, but the risk was too high.
3. My teammate set up the original something like 4 years ago. He doesn't remember what he did and didn't document (for shame!). Now was a good time to document setup from scratch and eliminate unnecessary setup that happened the first time when he was just trying to get things running.
4. We could step up some versions from fresh, and with # 3 above, we could adjust to a large upgrade if we thought it'd be beneficial.
5. We were switching virtualization tech and although they were probably compatible, I didn't want to find out they weren't months later.
But yes, virtualization is great! I think we arguably are pushing the envelope on EA's internal tech as earlier adopters. Heck, I spun up 4 virtual machines just for this project and will decommission all but the new one after it goes live.
RHEL 6.7 is the highest 6 release, yeah? CentOS 6.7 is way better because you aren't crippled by overpriced subscriptions and entitlements and you get the same kernel base, same environment. On a personal note: do you have a favourite flavour of Linux (or Windows/Mac version) that you'd prefer working with if you could or that you just like using in general? Also, do you avoid computers like the plague when you're not working?
*lol* at the lack of documentation, guess that's not just a small company problem
Thank you very much for taking the time to talk about your work at EA! And thank you for continuing to post here when you have time. You are really really really awesome
@SimGuruDrake just building off of what others are saying about family play. The dad in my family in TS2 just got a promotion from his work, and the minute his carpool dropped him off on his lot, the child daughter is sprinting to the pavement just in front of the house to congratulate her dad. He picks her up and hugs her. Later that night after dinner, the father and daughter autonomously decides to slow dance together- she is standing on his feet and he is leading the dance. I would love to see this kind of autonomous behavior return in TS4, it just seems more shallow without. I hate that sims just default to using their phone or doing pushups when they are looking for something to do.
@SimGuruDrake - But wouldn't a SimGuru have to be logged in to talk?
What’s the best thing about being a SimGuru?
"The best thing about being a SimGuru is that I get to talk with all of you."
They can read the forums, but talk on other media.
The forum is annoying because Guru posts get drowned out by everyone going crazy.
Twitter at least means we can see everything they have said, just by clicking on their name. So it's better in terms of replying because everyone can see it.
Saying you are listening is all fine and dandy, but thats the same cookie-cutter response we have gotten since The Sims 4 was announced. By this time I would expect some kind of progress to be made, especially if they've been listening this whole time.
They can listen all the want, and they should, but listening doesn't really do anything without action. A response could even be classified as an action, but we don't see that. We see complete silence surrounding important issues they've been "listening" to since before the game launched.
Except we got a lot of things since launch that have been player requested. Even Culling barely affects players since the patch and isn't being brought up nearly as much. I haven't seen a thread on it for weeks, whereas we used to see them almost daily.
The things players often want are things beyond what can be done in a simple patch, or aren't as easy as "You want this? Here it is".
But in terms of what can be tweaked, have been, Even down to the color of the loading screen, or an option to disable a sound effect.
How difficult is it to say: ''Yes we are listening!''.
Come on, everyone can say that. I don't believe it, want to see my toddlers and family play first, since that's what the community screams since the game got released and we still got to see them................... so, listening? prove it.
Also agree with this. I have proof of them not listening.
Evidence A: Toddlers
We've been asking for toddlers for a year and a half now and we still have no toddlers. They haven't even mentioned them except for RF saying it was best not to put them to date.
Evidence B: Culling
We've been complaining about culling and they go ahead and introduce a new form of culling.
I have evidence all the way up to Z , but those are like the biggest ones.
Maybe both issues can't be solved overnight.
On toddlers, I'd rather they take extra time to do them right than to rush them through. As for culling, they increased the population cap as a temporary measure while they try to solve the problem on their own -- and I've found that by doing manual culling of single elder households that my Sims never interact with, that seems to cut down a lot of the automatic culling. Relationship culling is a bother but I've worked around it by making sure Sims become at least friends with their fellow club members and other Sims I want them to stay in touch with. The two types of culling may be related so might take a while to work on.
I would agree with you but this is the thing:
Toddlers: you don't even know if they are working on them
Culling: a modder fixed it for free with mc command center
How difficult is it to say: ''Yes we are listening!''.
Come on, everyone can say that. I don't believe it, want to see my toddlers and family play first, since that's what the community screams since the game got released and we still got to see them................... so, listening? prove it.
Also agree with this. I have proof of them not listening.
Evidence A: Toddlers
We've been asking for toddlers for a year and a half now and we still have no toddlers. They haven't even mentioned them except for RF saying it was best not to put them to date.
Evidence B: Culling
We've been complaining about culling and they go ahead and introduce a new form of culling.
I have evidence all the way up to Z , but those are like the biggest ones.
This only proves that some fans are clearly not listening when they DO actually say something about these things.
When did we last hear about toddlers? I mean that interview would be worth reading if the questions were "are toddlers being worked on?" "Is it possible to have a semi open neighbourhood?" "Why are EPs taking so long?" "Whats the point of having GPs if they have less content than EPs yet take the same time in being released?" rather than "what's your favorite ice cream?"
Gamepacks take the same time, because less people work on them. They center around a specific theme and they have a way better price value than stuff packs on sims 2 and 3
I'm pretty sure one of the gurus said it would be ideal to have like 3 GPs per year. If someone can find the source great. I won't look it up.
A modder did fix it for free, yes. But it means your PC has to work harder, meaning the game would require more than what The Sims 4 says you need to play on the lowest and highest settings. Which is illegal to change once a game has been published.
But weirdly, I have been playing for a few weeks now without the no culling mod, and I play rotationally. None of my Sims are culled. Because I mark all the ones that I want as Played.
The Sims 3 used to delete non-played Sims all the time, and could often delete even alive Sims living in houses that just so happened weren't played by the user yet (babies etc). Rarely people complained because it was just another measure to have the game run as smooth as possible.
The Sims 4 doesn't delete any Sims living in houses at all. But because the game runs well, it feels like there is more room to allow more Sims, when that doesn't always mean the case.
When culling was glitched, it was bad. And it did take them to long to fix it. But none of my Sims are being deleted, and I have Sims in nearly every world.
And interms of Sims being deleted in graves, that's been the case since the Sims 2.
So in reality, nothing the Sims 4 is doing, is different to whats been done before (at least beyond Sims 1). Culling was an issue because it was deleting Sims in houses. It doesn't anymore.
Hello @SimGuruDrake, could you consider doing a spotlight on the team who does the music and ask them how they go about choosing their selection and related questions so that we can learn more about how the game gets such awesome beats in it?
How difficult is it to say: ''Yes we are listening!''.
Come on, everyone can say that. I don't believe it, want to see my toddlers and family play first, since that's what the community screams since the game got released and we still got to see them................... so, listening? prove it.
Also agree with this. I have proof of them not listening.
Evidence A: Toddlers
We've been asking for toddlers for a year and a half now and we still have no toddlers. They haven't even mentioned them except for RF saying it was best not to put them to date.
Evidence B: Culling
We've been complaining about culling and they go ahead and introduce a new form of culling.
I have evidence all the way up to Z , but those are like the biggest ones.
Maybe both issues can't be solved overnight.
On toddlers, I'd rather they take extra time to do them right than to rush them through. As for culling, they increased the population cap as a temporary measure while they try to solve the problem on their own -- and I've found that by doing manual culling of single elder households that my Sims never interact with, that seems to cut down a lot of the automatic culling. Relationship culling is a bother but I've worked around it by making sure Sims become at least friends with their fellow club members and other Sims I want them to stay in touch with. The two types of culling may be related so might take a while to work on.
I would agree with you but this is the thing:
Toddlers: you don't even know if they are working on them
Culling: a modder fixed it for free with mc command center
How difficult is it to say: ''Yes we are listening!''.
Come on, everyone can say that. I don't believe it, want to see my toddlers and family play first, since that's what the community screams since the game got released and we still got to see them................... so, listening? prove it.
Also agree with this. I have proof of them not listening.
Evidence A: Toddlers
We've been asking for toddlers for a year and a half now and we still have no toddlers. They haven't even mentioned them except for RF saying it was best not to put them to date.
Evidence B: Culling
We've been complaining about culling and they go ahead and introduce a new form of culling.
I have evidence all the way up to Z , but those are like the biggest ones.
This only proves that some fans are clearly not listening when they DO actually say something about these things.
When did we last hear about toddlers? I mean that interview would be worth reading if the questions were "are toddlers being worked on?" "Is it possible to have a semi open neighbourhood?" "Why are EPs taking so long?" "Whats the point of having GPs if they have less content than EPs yet take the same time in being released?" rather than "what's your favorite ice cream?"
Gamepacks take the same time, because less people work on them. They center around a specific theme and they have a way better price value than stuff packs on sims 2 and 3
I'm pretty sure one of the gurus said it would be ideal to have like 3 GPs per year. If someone can find the source great. I won't look it up.
A modder did fix it for free, yes. But it means your PC has to work harder, meaning the game would require more than what The Sims 4 says you need to play on the lowest and highest settings. Which is illegal to change once a game has been published.
But weirdly, I have been playing for a few weeks now without the no culling mod, and I play rotationally. None of my Sims are culled. Because I mark all the ones that I want as Played.
The Sims 3 used to delete non-played Sims all the time, and could often delete even alive Sims living in houses that just so happened weren't played by the user yet (babies etc). Rarely people complained because it was just another measure to have the game run as smooth as possible.
The Sims 4 doesn't delete any Sims living in houses at all. But because the game runs well, it feels like there is more room to allow more Sims, when that doesn't always mean the case.
When culling was glitched, it was bad. And it did take them to long to fix it. But none of my Sims are being deleted, and I have Sims in nearly every world.
And interms of Sims being deleted in graves, that's been the case since the Sims 2.
So in reality, nothing the Sims 4 is doing, is different to whats been done before (at least beyond Sims 1). Culling was an issue because it was deleting Sims in houses. It doesn't anymore.
I think the most annoying thing people are having issues with at the moment is the relationship culling, which is still happening without a mod.
It's just as annoying having your Sim to introduce themselves 10 000 times to the same Sim they already knew. And You 'mark all the ones that you want as played' , well that's good, but not everyone wants to mark every single Sim they want to keep as 'played'.
That's all extra work, and shouldn't be necessary imo.
Comments
SimGuruDrake: The C word that some Simmers are using for an abbreviation for raccoon's is actually an offensive racial slur word use to describe people of African American descent. So could you please add that word to the list of words that get switched to a non-offensive word when used on here please before a huge fight breaks over it on here.
ahhhh i see well really it comes up as pulm when i first typed it but i did a cap on the c so people would knoe
@bethyGrace This is REALLY REALLY REALLY helpful to me! Thank you! You mention that Toddlers represents progression / learning / development and I'm interested in learning a bit more from that. I am not a family player (never have been in all the years that I've played The Sims) and so I never played that stage in the game so I'm really interested -on a personal player to player level- in knowing what in particular about that stage helps immerse you in your play style.
Also thank you so much for providing so much great feedback! It's really helpful for me to get to understand what you like / dislike about the game and by pinpointing areas in which you feel it can improve allows me to take that and provide it back to those who should see it
Thank you for taking the time to provide your thoughts.
@SimGuruDrake if you take this and run with it and start putting these amazing ideas in I.. no words.. just..
thank you
SimmerJay CAS Challenge! ✨
Saw this in my facebook feed and thought it might be relevent to your interests, or at least your tastebuds.
http://www.today.com/food/sweet-news-ben-jerry-s-adds-three-new-core-flavors-t78881
Ice creeeeam....
I have no memory of this place. Time to start anew I guess
No problem @SimGuruDrake - I have plenty more where that came from
On the development / learning / progression thing - I would like to see some real "parenting" in the game. As in, teaching their kids to behave certain ways, encouraging and discouraging certain traits, skills, behaviours - teaching a toddler "no" and then having them go ahead and do it anyway.
It's interesting that we have had this kind of system with Pets since TS2, where you teach the pet certain things (like eating the right food, peeing in the right place, sitting, shaking, etc), but the closest the game has ever come to a similar thing with kids was in TS2 where we had the "encourage" interaction - a parent could encourage "activity", the kid would do some stretches or a mini workout, and then it would boost their active personality point score.
I think it would be cool to see a similar thing with raising kids in TS4. Like, there could be a few items or toys that parents could encourage their kids to use, which could then provide a bonus personality trait. Or a parent could discuss a certain behaviour with their child, and the more scolding / encouraging they give, I would like to see it actually result in something. Like, if a parent scolds a child for being rude, the child could develop a bonus 'polite' or 'friendly' trait. If the parent encourages playing outside and running around, the child could develop the active trait. If a parent lets bad behaviour go unpunished, the sim could develop a rebellious trait. Obviously you would need to be careful that it wasn't too automatic - like maybe there could be a warning prompt if a kid is getting close to something like that, giving the player the opportunity to correct it. But that would be a really interactive, hands on, family play thing that I think would be really engaging.
Anyways, hola to all the Gurus in this thread, hope to hear some news from you guys soon.
Oh well, that is it for me and the way I like to play the Sims. *sigh*
Yes! In a way we do sys admin, but EA is large enough that most of the non-dev team specifics are handled by an IT group. So things like network storage, email, permissions, user accounts, and machine connectivity are dealt with by IT. Setting up machines to interact with our build system is one of our roles and why I'm diving into it myself.
That said, we absolutely are the conduit into It for our team. For example, we had network slowdown issues last week. We'd see those complaints from the team and work with IT to fix it. From the dev team's perspective, we're a black box that can solve that problem even though we don't maintain things like giant network servers. It's a small aspect of the job, but we do cover that.
Nah, I was playing off the quote in the Jurassic Park gif, "It's a Unix system, I know this." In this specific case, it's a CentOS based off RHEL 6.
Actually, we would normally do that! Since you seem interested, I don't mind chatting about it a little. If anyone else wants to follow along, please do!
We do use an internal virtualization service and this machine could have been cloned, but starting from scratch gives us a few benefits.
1. Original was RHEL, and IT would prefer we move to the free CentOS
2. If the cloned machine was brought up in the same network, all sorts of havoc could happen before we even logged in to stop it. This was extremely unlikely to happen, but the risk was too high.
3. My teammate set up the original something like 4 years ago. He doesn't remember what he did and didn't document (for shame!). Now was a good time to document setup from scratch and eliminate unnecessary setup that happened the first time when he was just trying to get things running.
4. We could step up some versions from fresh, and with # 3 above, we could adjust to a large upgrade if we thought it'd be beneficial.
5. We were switching virtualization tech and although they were probably compatible, I didn't want to find out they weren't months later.
But yes, virtualization is great! I think we arguably are pushing the envelope on EA's internal tech as earlier adopters. Heck, I spun up 4 virtual machines just for this project and will decommission all but the new one after it goes live.
No gifs this time, I'm on mobile, sorry!
Here's a gif for you @SimGuruSteve
Matthew.
I do not work on the game at all. I am not a dev nor a producer nor a designer nor an animator or any other member of the team that works directly on the game, I am a Community Manager and it's part of my job to understand each aspect of the community. So my questions were purely for my own educational purposes.
P.s English is not my strongest language.
Ohhh @SimGuruDrake whilst you're talking about your play style and experiences I have a quick question for you
Also do you have a favourite Sims supernatural like the witch, vampire, werewolf, etc. that would would like to see come back to The Sims 4?
Have a nice day
Matthew.
I second this @simgurudrake would really like to know! Was so sad get together didn't come with a life state.
@SimGuruSteve - Very interested!
RHEL 6.7 is the highest 6 release, yeah? CentOS 6.7 is way better because you aren't crippled by overpriced subscriptions and entitlements and you get the same kernel base, same environment. On a personal note: do you have a favourite flavour of Linux (or Windows/Mac version) that you'd prefer working with if you could or that you just like using in general? Also, do you avoid computers like the plague when you're not working?
*lol* at the lack of documentation, guess that's not just a small company problem
Thank you very much for taking the time to talk about your work at EA! And thank you for continuing to post here when you have time. You are really really really awesome
They can read the forums, but talk on other media.
The forum is annoying because Guru posts get drowned out by everyone going crazy.
Twitter at least means we can see everything they have said, just by clicking on their name. So it's better in terms of replying because everyone can see it.
Insta: https://instagram.com/jkarajs?igshid=oef2ymrand3g
Except we got a lot of things since launch that have been player requested. Even Culling barely affects players since the patch and isn't being brought up nearly as much. I haven't seen a thread on it for weeks, whereas we used to see them almost daily.
The things players often want are things beyond what can be done in a simple patch, or aren't as easy as "You want this? Here it is".
But in terms of what can be tweaked, have been, Even down to the color of the loading screen, or an option to disable a sound effect.
Insta: https://instagram.com/jkarajs?igshid=oef2ymrand3g
A modder did fix it for free, yes. But it means your PC has to work harder, meaning the game would require more than what The Sims 4 says you need to play on the lowest and highest settings. Which is illegal to change once a game has been published.
But weirdly, I have been playing for a few weeks now without the no culling mod, and I play rotationally. None of my Sims are culled. Because I mark all the ones that I want as Played.
The Sims 3 used to delete non-played Sims all the time, and could often delete even alive Sims living in houses that just so happened weren't played by the user yet (babies etc). Rarely people complained because it was just another measure to have the game run as smooth as possible.
The Sims 4 doesn't delete any Sims living in houses at all. But because the game runs well, it feels like there is more room to allow more Sims, when that doesn't always mean the case.
When culling was glitched, it was bad. And it did take them to long to fix it. But none of my Sims are being deleted, and I have Sims in nearly every world.
And interms of Sims being deleted in graves, that's been the case since the Sims 2.
So in reality, nothing the Sims 4 is doing, is different to whats been done before (at least beyond Sims 1). Culling was an issue because it was deleting Sims in houses. It doesn't anymore.
Insta: https://instagram.com/jkarajs?igshid=oef2ymrand3g
I think the most annoying thing people are having issues with at the moment is the relationship culling, which is still happening without a mod.
It's just as annoying having your Sim to introduce themselves 10 000 times to the same Sim they already knew. And You 'mark all the ones that you want as played' , well that's good, but not everyone wants to mark every single Sim they want to keep as 'played'.
That's all extra work, and shouldn't be necessary imo.
You can already make attics since the base game
Proper ones too, not just a room hidden by a roof.
Insta: https://instagram.com/jkarajs?igshid=oef2ymrand3g
If you love Pokemon and Sims, I assume you'll LOVE this
Insta: https://instagram.com/jkarajs?igshid=oef2ymrand3g