We do take into consideration keeping things current, which might feel "younger" in some ways. What's going on in the world today? What's happening in pop culture? What do we see our audience seeing? And what feedback are we getting in surveys or online.
The rating has always been T for Teen (and similar in other countries) and that does play a role in what we can do with the game, just as it always has. That has a lot more to do with how far we can push some of our features more so than the ones that we choose.
Well, isn't it true that the surveys you send out only go to a selected group of people and on top of that they have an age limit? I, for one, never received a survey and even if I had, it wouldn't allow me to take it if I would fill in my real age. So obviously you're going to get only the feedback of a much more younger fanbase while keeping out the people that have been with you for over 16 years.
And yes, the sims franchise has always had a T rating but you can't deny that the overall humor has changed greatly. The previous games were a lot "darker" and more mature while TS4 is more "happy" and has more of a frat humor (that is definitely not for everyone) with the "angry poop" and adult sims high-fiving each other before woohoo. For instances, I remember the grim reaper being scary in previous games, but in TS4 he just seems like a sim dressed up, randomly using a tablet and showing up at the gym (not sure if that's a bug). I do wish you could introduce some maturity back to the game. Like how sims could die from diseases, the weird phone calls in the middle of the night, the steamy makeout sessions on the couch, and even the sexy cake dancer.
We do not hand select people for surveys. We craft our survey questions and then work with a central team here to facilitate the distribution of surveys. We want to see input from all our players. That's why we also come here and to other social sites in addition to any surveys still.
The humor and tone has changed, you're right. There are definitely darker elements, in text especially, in some of the previous Sims games. We look for ways to keep the edge but are cognizant of the fact that ratings and the ratings process are different today then they were 15 years ago and there are different things happening in the world to influence how people respond to different kinds of humor that we have to be aware of. To your grim reaper example, we have actually always had a bit of fun with him. He played chess in TS1, he brought hula dancers for elders in TS2 and would hang out on your lot, stuff like that. Maybe we're having too much fun with him now? I understand what you're saying though, so thanks for sharing.
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We do not hand select people for surveys. We craft our survey questions and then work with a central team here to facilitate the distribution of surveys. We want to see input from all our players. That's why we also come here and to other social sites in addition to any surveys still.
The humor and tone has changed, you're right. There are definitely darker elements, in text especially, in some of the previous Sims games. We look for ways to keep the edge but are cognizant of the fact that ratings and the ratings process are different today then they were 15 years ago and there are different things happening in the world to influence how people respond to different kinds of humor that we have to be aware of. To your grim reaper example, we have actually always had a bit of fun with him. He played chess in TS1, he brought hula dancers for elders in TS2 and would hang out on your lot, stuff like that. Maybe we're having too much fun with him now? I understand what you're saying though, so thanks for sharing.