@JoAnne65 We won't agree on that because I remember those days very differently.
Yes, I was old enough to play the games. But in those days I visited the game stores to study other games and the games I bought were Might&Magic VI, Starcraft, Civilization III and similar games. I wondered why this uninteresting "The Sims" game with its primitive ugly graphics got so much attention and several expansions because it clearly seemed targeted at young girls and in those days girls were rare customers in the game stores. But all the boxes with "The Sims" at the cover were more and more often studied eagerly by young girls who often also discussed the boxes with an adult women - which probably was their mum who had followed them to the store
TS1 was to my judgement almost only played by females. But both the times and the games have changed. Already in 2004 I saw a video about TS2 and this game had much better graphics and clearly also much more interesting gameplay. So I bought it and played it every day for about two years. I therefore also bought the complete collection of TS1 to learn a little about its predecessor. But after playing it for just about 3 weeks I knew what I was interested in and stopped playing it. It was only slightly better than I originally expected and it was mainly only interesting for me because it was the predecessor to the Sims 2.
Today I won't call the Sims games "games for girls" because the times have changed. Most of the simmers are still females. But there are many more males playing the Sims games too and I am one of them myself
You were wondering why this uninteresting The Sims game with its primitive ugly graphics got so much attention and several expansions because it 'clearly' seemed targeted at young girls. Who said it was? You did, apparently. It was your private conclusion and the facts contradicted with that assumption (at least, that's how I interprete your words). I do think, like you write, the game did appeal to girls and women more than other games. The fact girls liked The Sims however doesn't mean it was aimed at them. Also I don't quite get the link between you discovering the graphics improved and therefore suddenly concluded it was suitable for guys after all ? I truely wonder if the percentage of male simmers increased over the years. I doubt that to be honest, are there any statistics on that?
No I wasn't wondering because it was targeted at young girls (who until then very rarely played video games). I wondered because the game looked very primitive and had ugly graphics. So I knew that experienced gamers like myself wouldn't consider to buy it. But why were all those girls so interested when they never visited the game stores before?
I studied the boxes to see if there should be any interesting which I had overlooked. But there sure wasn't neither in the Sims 1 basegame nor in the first expansions. I actually became interested though when Makin' Magic was released though because I liked the magic in other games like Might&Magic VI and Might&Magic VII very much. Still I didn't buy Makin' Magic anyway because it was an expansion to a primitive game which didn't look interesting at all and which I would have to buy too
Putting aside the fact you fail to clarify for me why you're insisting it was aimed at young girls (your theory seems to be based on the fact the game had poor graphics so it must be for girls?), how does one check out a game by studying the box? That's like reviewing a book by studying the cover isn't it? Again, I do think The Sims was a game that did appeal to females (and still, which by the way doesn't necessarily mean young girls), but I don't think that was the goal of the creators.
Personally, I don't think his daughter was that big of a influence regarding the Sims. I just think he wanted to do well as a parent generally speaking.
I've been playing The Sims 4 since it was released , it was fun the first month but it felt empty & it still feels empty till today , I got all EP / GP / SP So far & I can't get into it.
I don't think that future packs will help this game , not only because we don't have open worlds / T****** / CasT etc .... but because I can't feel the game , I started a thread recently called "Why do sims feel dead to me?" & it blew up with comments that made me realize that The Sims 4 will never stand on it's feet again ... the game's been released 2 years ago and till this date it feels empty & we're missing a lot of core features.
I think the team should stop working on this game after the third expansion pack is released & focus more on The Sims 5 to give us something that will blow us all away ! , if The Sims 4 team joined The Sims 5 team in development of the sims 5 I think we'd have a revolutionary game when it's released.
This is just my personal opinion , don't get offended if You feel otherwise.
I do feel offended because you are wanting them to quit the game and most of us might not go to sims 5 so you can get the game you want. What about the people who want TS4 to be complete?
Even if it was completed ... we will still have closed world / annoying emotions system / sims who feel dead etc ....
What game are you playing my game is far from dead. I never liked the open world and all my sims have different personalities and different interests. I have never had to make drama happen in my game it just happens.
You said this on my other thread & everyone disagreed with You , I wish my game ran the way You're running it , cuz my game is dead as plum.
This is possibly because I depend on mods to enhance my game other yes it might be dead and I depended on mods to do that to TS3 because that game was just a buggy mess without mods the neighborhoods would die. I play the same game as everyone else but I do things to make my game fun to me and to make it so I enjoy playing it. I learned last time with TS3 that all the patches end up breaking things so I just learned to play with mods to fix my game and learned to play with mods that make my game enjoyable. I am not saying the mod causes the drama in my game or that it causes my sims to act any different then anyone else's game. I am just saying that is how I choose to play.
It's sad IMO, that anyone has to depend on mods to enjoy their game, but it's the case for a lot of Simmers.
PLEASE FIX TEENS IN TS4! I NEED YOUNGER TEENS NOT YA TEENS! (^_^)Please add Music Bands with lead singers! Please add vehicles and garages! Vehicles have always been part of The Sims.
The Sims 4 feels dead to me. I always start up the game and say "This is boring" and end up exiting the game in 2 min. Sadcase
Lol This is me exactly. I always try to see if I missed something.
Me: "Maybe I can enjoy it if I play it the way they want me to play."
It never works.
PLEASE FIX TEENS IN TS4! I NEED YOUNGER TEENS NOT YA TEENS! (^_^)Please add Music Bands with lead singers! Please add vehicles and garages! Vehicles have always been part of The Sims.
@JoAnne65 We won't agree on that because I remember those days very differently.
Yes, I was old enough to play the games. But in those days I visited the game stores to study other games and the games I bought were Might&Magic VI, Starcraft, Civilization III and similar games. I wondered why this uninteresting "The Sims" game with its primitive ugly graphics got so much attention and several expansions because it clearly seemed targeted at young girls and in those days girls were rare customers in the game stores. But all the boxes with "The Sims" at the cover were more and more often studied eagerly by young girls who often also discussed the boxes with an adult women - which probably was their mum who had followed them to the store
TS1 was to my judgement almost only played by females. But both the times and the games have changed. Already in 2004 I saw a video about TS2 and this game had much better graphics and clearly also much more interesting gameplay. So I bought it and played it every day for about two years. I therefore also bought the complete collection of TS1 to learn a little about its predecessor. But after playing it for just about 3 weeks I knew what I was interested in and stopped playing it. It was only slightly better than I originally expected and it was mainly only interesting for me because it was the predecessor to the Sims 2.
Today I won't call the Sims games "games for girls" because the times have changed. Most of the simmers are still females. But there are many more males playing the Sims games too and I am one of them myself
You were wondering why this uninteresting The Sims game with its primitive ugly graphics got so much attention and several expansions because it 'clearly' seemed targeted at young girls. Who said it was? You did, apparently. It was your private conclusion and the facts contradicted with that assumption (at least, that's how I interprete your words). I do think, like you write, the game did appeal to girls and women more than other games. The fact girls liked The Sims however doesn't mean it was aimed at them. Also I don't quite get the link between you discovering the graphics improved and therefore suddenly concluded it was suitable for guys after all ? I truely wonder if the percentage of male simmers increased over the years. I doubt that to be honest, are there any statistics on that?
No I wasn't wondering because it was targeted at young girls (who until then very rarely played video games). I wondered because the game looked very primitive and had ugly graphics. So I knew that experienced gamers like myself wouldn't consider to buy it. But why were all those girls so interested when they never visited the game stores before?
I studied the boxes to see if there should be any interesting which I had overlooked. But there sure wasn't neither in the Sims 1 basegame nor in the first expansions. I actually became interested though when Makin' Magic was released though because I liked the magic in other games like Might&Magic VI and Might&Magic VII very much. Still I didn't buy Makin' Magic anyway because it was an expansion to a primitive game which didn't look interesting at all and which I would have to buy too
Putting aside the fact you fail to clarify for me why you're insisting it was aimed at young girls (your theory seems to be based on the fact the game had poor graphics so it must be for girls?), how does one check out a game by studying the box? That's like reviewing a book by studying the cover isn't it? Again, I do think The Sims was a game that did appeal to females (and still, which by the way doesn't necessarily mean young girls), but I don't think that was the goal of the creators.
It wasn't Will Wright's original idea. He has told that he had some young boys to test the game. But that the boys just ran away when he told them that the game's name was planned to be Dollhouse
He was inspired by SimCity and that his own house burned down so he had to build a new one and put new furniture into it. This was what he originally had planned. But his daughter Cassidy became interested and pursuaded him to focus more on the people living in the houses than the houses themselves. Therefore the game became more like a real dollhouse simulation even though this wasn't his real intention because back then in the early 1990's girls weren't interested in PC games at all.
When I wrote that the Sims games originally are targeted at young teen girls and still are targeted at teens it wasn't as much about Will Wright's original ideas though as it is about EA's marketing which still clearly seems to have inexperienced teen gamers as its main target. Therefore I am also sure that EA still asks the developers to have this in mind when they design the Sims games.
It is true that it is difficult to judge a game from studying the descriptions on the boxes. But in those days I didn't have other options even though it several times meant that I bought games which I very soon stopped playing because they weren't the game that I had hoped anyway. But the Sims 1 wasn't even interesting for me in its box description or in the way all those young female simmers seemed to talk about it
Therefore the game became more like a real dollhouse simulation even though this wasn't his real intention because back then in the early 1990's girls weren't interested in PC games at all.
Well, I must have been an oddball then..nothing new there I remember my dad being slightly embarrassed when he caught me playing his Leisure Suit Larry game. I played mostly adventure games and remember playing the original Doom and Duke Nukem..what horrid graphics those had. Oh my. I got my dad hooked on Sim City 2000 later I don't think PC games were common in general back then since PC's weren't. I had female friends that played on the SNES. Dollhouse is a terrible name imo, lol. I would have thought it was for little girls.
@JoAnne65 We won't agree on that because I remember those days very differently.
Yes, I was old enough to play the games. But in those days I visited the game stores to study other games and the games I bought were Might&Magic VI, Starcraft, Civilization III and similar games. I wondered why this uninteresting "The Sims" game with its primitive ugly graphics got so much attention and several expansions because it clearly seemed targeted at young girls and in those days girls were rare customers in the game stores. But all the boxes with "The Sims" at the cover were more and more often studied eagerly by young girls who often also discussed the boxes with an adult women - which probably was their mum who had followed them to the store
TS1 was to my judgement almost only played by females. But both the times and the games have changed. Already in 2004 I saw a video about TS2 and this game had much better graphics and clearly also much more interesting gameplay. So I bought it and played it every day for about two years. I therefore also bought the complete collection of TS1 to learn a little about its predecessor. But after playing it for just about 3 weeks I knew what I was interested in and stopped playing it. It was only slightly better than I originally expected and it was mainly only interesting for me because it was the predecessor to the Sims 2.
Today I won't call the Sims games "games for girls" because the times have changed. Most of the simmers are still females. But there are many more males playing the Sims games too and I am one of them myself
You were wondering why this uninteresting The Sims game with its primitive ugly graphics got so much attention and several expansions because it 'clearly' seemed targeted at young girls. Who said it was? You did, apparently. It was your private conclusion and the facts contradicted with that assumption (at least, that's how I interprete your words). I do think, like you write, the game did appeal to girls and women more than other games. The fact girls liked The Sims however doesn't mean it was aimed at them. Also I don't quite get the link between you discovering the graphics improved and therefore suddenly concluded it was suitable for guys after all ? I truely wonder if the percentage of male simmers increased over the years. I doubt that to be honest, are there any statistics on that?
No I wasn't wondering because it was targeted at young girls (who until then very rarely played video games). I wondered because the game looked very primitive and had ugly graphics. So I knew that experienced gamers like myself wouldn't consider to buy it. But why were all those girls so interested when they never visited the game stores before?
I studied the boxes to see if there should be any interesting which I had overlooked. But there sure wasn't neither in the Sims 1 basegame nor in the first expansions. I actually became interested though when Makin' Magic was released though because I liked the magic in other games like Might&Magic VI and Might&Magic VII very much. Still I didn't buy Makin' Magic anyway because it was an expansion to a primitive game which didn't look interesting at all and which I would have to buy too
Putting aside the fact you fail to clarify for me why you're insisting it was aimed at young girls (your theory seems to be based on the fact the game had poor graphics so it must be for girls?), how does one check out a game by studying the box? That's like reviewing a book by studying the cover isn't it? Again, I do think The Sims was a game that did appeal to females (and still, which by the way doesn't necessarily mean young girls), but I don't think that was the goal of the creators.
It wasn't Will Wright's original idea. He has told that he had some young boys to test the game. But that the boys just ran away when he told them that the game's name was planned to be Dollhouse
He was inspired by SimCity and that his own house burned down so he had to build a new one and put new furniture into it. This was what he originally had planned. But his daughter Cassidy became interested and pursuaded him to focus more on the people living in the houses than the houses themselves. Therefore the game became more like a real dollhouse simulation even though this wasn't his real intention because back then in the early 1990's girls weren't interested in PC games at all.
When I wrote that the Sims games originally are targeted at young teen girls and still are targeted at teens it wasn't as much about Will Wright's original ideas though as it is about EA's marketing which still clearly seems to have inexperienced teen gamers as its main target. Therefore I am also sure that EA still asks the developers to have this in mind when they design the Sims games.
It is true that it is difficult to judge a game from studying the descriptions on the boxes. But in those days I didn't have other options even though it several times meant that I bought games which I very soon stopped playing because they weren't the game that I had hoped anyway. But the Sims 1 wasn't even interesting for me in its box description or in the way all those young female simmers seemed to talk about it
The fact they changed the name because it made boys run away indicates they didn't want boys to run away is my point Sims 1, 2 and 3 also don't necessarily say 'for teens' to me. Sims 3 started to do that at one point (Katy Perry anyone? Twilight references). And Sims 4 is highly aimed at teens imo. But Sims 1 and 2 and Sims 3 with some exceptions in the package department weren't.
Therefore the game became more like a real dollhouse simulation even though this wasn't his real intention because back then in the early 1990's girls weren't interested in PC games at all.
Well, I must have been an oddball then..nothing new there I remember my dad being slightly embarrassed when he caught me playing his Leisure Suit Larry game. I played mostly adventure games and remember playing the original Doom and Duke Nukem..what horrid graphics those had. Oh my. I got my dad hooked on Sim City 2000 later I don't think PC games were common in general back then since PC's weren't. I had female friends that played on the SNES. Dollhouse is a terrible name imo, lol. I would have thought it was for little girls.
Actually PCs were quite common already in the late 1980s when I bought my first PC and therefore there also were many DOS games and soon also games for Windows 3.0/3.1. Girls could often be interested especially in the free games like Minesweeper and Solitaire which came with the first versions of Windows. They could also as children be very interested in platform games like the popular Super Mario games. But almost no girls (teens and young adults) were interested in the big PC games which instead were almost exclusively played by boys which the girls found boring and called nerds
I only played singleplayer PC games though. But a lot of teens and young adults in those day visited clubs where they could play multiplayer games over a local network for a small fee. I am quite sure that most of them were males too. But there was a small minority of girls among those gamers anyway.
Why does it need to end? There is so much that this game can be built on. More worlds are definitely needed and some bugs and kinks need to be fixed, but the quality of the game versus Sims3 is so much better. The expressions alone in my sims make them more personable.
No. Millions of people enjoy this game, as evidenced by the record breaking sales. If you don't like it, go play something else. You can't please everybody.
I'm reopening this thread, but please keep the following in mind:
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And for all we know the content could remain as shallow as its consistently been.
I've seen others be patient and that's great for them, but it's rude to imply that people are being impatient when we're 2 years in and BASIC ncps and features are missing.
Well at least they've given us phone covers now.
You're right, I'm so ungrateful.
Thank you, EA! Who needs toddlers, cars and NCPs when you give us phone covers
Yes phone covers are a step forward, Almost like going back to 2002 when every had a phone cover for the Nokia 360! Who remembers those
If they can't make it a true The Sims game with the limited programming that they have with the game, then yes, it should end. But will it end? No, it has to run its course just like all the other The Sims games. There are players who are enjoying this version of the game, and like those who enjoyed Sims 3, it wouldn't be fair to them to end the game. But I truly hope that EA/Maxis return to their roots and produce a true sequel with TS5, and not try to make it something that it's not (i.e. keep it a life simulator/sandbox).
No. I don't think it should end after EP3, for better or for worse it does need to be allowed to run its course ... its full course.
They do need to push the base engine more to its limits and get it to whatever it can do. I would hate to have another Sims game have the release like Sims4 had. Besides, the average lifespan of any sims series is 5-6 years. We are now at the two year mark for the game. Given the timeline, base work for Sims5 should begin sometime this year.
I agree with OP. The Sims 4 fell flat... time to accept it and start over with The Sims 5. EA is NOT listening, mo matter how much they tell us they are.
No, I really don't think it's time to throw in the towel just yet. We haven't seen the release of the third EP yet and I personally think there's still potential for this game to improve.
While the Sims 3 and the Sims 2 certainly had more content in their base games, playing the base games on their own was still quite boring compared to playing them with most of the expansions and various add-ons installed. I think I'd rather see how Sims 4 changes as we get more expansions before giving up rather than say it should end here after the third expansion has been released.
No. I don't think it should end after EP3, for better or for worse it does need to be allowed to run its course ... its full course.
They do need to push the base engine more to its limits and get it to whatever it can do. I would hate to have another Sims game have the release like Sims4 had. Besides, the average lifespan of any sims series is 5-6 years. We are now at the two year mark for the game. Given the timeline, base work for Sims5 should begin sometime this year.
Yes that was what I was thinking.
Pulling the plug now would just mean a couple of years of no Sims releases what so ever. How is that supposed to fund TS5 which, if it is coming, would be in early development stages...
I'm no fan of Sims 4 but I don't think it should end now. If for no other reason, those who enjoy the game and continue to buy new content deserve to have as much as possible. I had a real love/hate relationship with Sims 3 for such a long time but I would've been furious if they had just pulled the plug on it, Sims 4 deserves to have the same time given to it.
If things don't work well with Sims 4, it gives the devs time to see that and look at what can be done differently for Sims 5 (I really hope there is a 5!!).
Comments
Theo♥
I stopped doing that in December. Haven't even loaded Origin since then. Not even sure if I still have it, actually.
berkeleyside.com/2011/10/17/will-wright-inspired-to-make-the-sims-after-iosing-a-home/
cnn.com/chat/transcripts/he said that 2000/1/wright/index.html
In the CNN interview Will Wright said he was also influenced and given valuable feedback by the My Little Computer People Reasearch Project.
It's sad IMO, that anyone has to depend on mods to enjoy their game, but it's the case for a lot of Simmers.
Lol This is me exactly. I always try to see if I missed something.
Me: "Maybe I can enjoy it if I play it the way they want me to play."
It never works.
He was inspired by SimCity and that his own house burned down so he had to build a new one and put new furniture into it. This was what he originally had planned. But his daughter Cassidy became interested and pursuaded him to focus more on the people living in the houses than the houses themselves. Therefore the game became more like a real dollhouse simulation even though this wasn't his real intention because back then in the early 1990's girls weren't interested in PC games at all.
You can read more about Cassidy's influence on the game on http://www.will-wright.com/family.php
When I wrote that the Sims games originally are targeted at young teen girls and still are targeted at teens it wasn't as much about Will Wright's original ideas though as it is about EA's marketing which still clearly seems to have inexperienced teen gamers as its main target. Therefore I am also sure that EA still asks the developers to have this in mind when they design the Sims games.
It is true that it is difficult to judge a game from studying the descriptions on the boxes. But in those days I didn't have other options even though it several times meant that I bought games which I very soon stopped playing because they weren't the game that I had hoped anyway. But the Sims 1 wasn't even interesting for me in its box description or in the way all those young female simmers seemed to talk about it
Well, I must have been an oddball then..nothing new there
newyorker.com/magazine/2006/11/06/game-master
I only played singleplayer PC games though. But a lot of teens and young adults in those day visited clubs where they could play multiplayer games over a local network for a small fee. I am quite sure that most of them were males too. But there was a small minority of girls among those gamers anyway.
We're all here because we love The Sims, and all opinions are welcome; our only caveat is that posts must be respectfully expressed and on-topic with the thread. To make sure that a post is respectful and on-topic, go through this list of my golden rules:
If your post doesn't meet this criteria, remember that not posting on a particular topic is always an option.
We will be monitoring this thread, and further disruption will probably result in it permanently being closed.
Yes phone covers are a step forward, Almost like going back to 2002 when every had a phone cover for the Nokia 360! Who remembers those
Ouch!
They do need to push the base engine more to its limits and get it to whatever it can do. I would hate to have another Sims game have the release like Sims4 had. Besides, the average lifespan of any sims series is 5-6 years. We are now at the two year mark for the game. Given the timeline, base work for Sims5 should begin sometime this year.
While the Sims 3 and the Sims 2 certainly had more content in their base games, playing the base games on their own was still quite boring compared to playing them with most of the expansions and various add-ons installed. I think I'd rather see how Sims 4 changes as we get more expansions before giving up rather than say it should end here after the third expansion has been released.
Yes that was what I was thinking.
Pulling the plug now would just mean a couple of years of no Sims releases what so ever. How is that supposed to fund TS5 which, if it is coming, would be in early development stages...
If things don't work well with Sims 4, it gives the devs time to see that and look at what can be done differently for Sims 5 (I really hope there is a 5!!).