Forum Announcement, Click Here to Read More From EA_Cade.
Why being positive does not help dissatisfied players
SimmieSims
Posts: 234 Member
I saw this thread that basically says the opposite. I don't want to ruin the party for the OP, but I have a few thoughts in regards to the idea of blaming attitudes, vs looking at facts, and to be respectful towards OP, I'm taking this to my opposing thread.
Let me get the most important thing out of the way first. To me, it's disrespectful to blame attitudes on people's dislike of TS4. Why do I feel this way? Let me explain.
After playing 3 previous installments, and paying a lot of money in the process, I can say with absolute certainty, that I know how to have fun playing The Sims. Moreover, I have played many other video games, and had enjoyable experiences.
The premise that somehow I didn't give the game a chance, is absolutely wrong. I preordered, I waited with excitement for the release date, and I couldn't wait to start playing. I spent 2 hours in CAS, which I thought was great, even though there was no color wheel.
And then I started the game, and I thought that I had downloaded the demo by mistake. I checked. Nope, no mistake, THIS was the game.
Fine, I thought, this is just a base game. It will get better after a few GPs, SPs, and mostly EPs. To my big disappointment, this was not the case. The game still lacks one important thing for me, and that is the actual game play.
So saying that the only thing that's wrong, is my attitude as a customer, is beyond insulting to me. And no improvement in my attitude, is going to make up for what the game lacks in terms of game play.
If having a positive attitude works on an individual basis, more power to you. But, please don't make your own experience a law for every other player, and don't blame people for not feeling the same way.
To other players, who are dissatisfied with The Sims 4: Have you not given the game a chance, and do you have a negative attitude that is preventing you from enjoying TS4? If positivity has not helped you, this is the thread for you.
Please discuss.
Let me get the most important thing out of the way first. To me, it's disrespectful to blame attitudes on people's dislike of TS4. Why do I feel this way? Let me explain.
After playing 3 previous installments, and paying a lot of money in the process, I can say with absolute certainty, that I know how to have fun playing The Sims. Moreover, I have played many other video games, and had enjoyable experiences.
The premise that somehow I didn't give the game a chance, is absolutely wrong. I preordered, I waited with excitement for the release date, and I couldn't wait to start playing. I spent 2 hours in CAS, which I thought was great, even though there was no color wheel.
And then I started the game, and I thought that I had downloaded the demo by mistake. I checked. Nope, no mistake, THIS was the game.
Fine, I thought, this is just a base game. It will get better after a few GPs, SPs, and mostly EPs. To my big disappointment, this was not the case. The game still lacks one important thing for me, and that is the actual game play.
So saying that the only thing that's wrong, is my attitude as a customer, is beyond insulting to me. And no improvement in my attitude, is going to make up for what the game lacks in terms of game play.
If having a positive attitude works on an individual basis, more power to you. But, please don't make your own experience a law for every other player, and don't blame people for not feeling the same way.
To other players, who are dissatisfied with The Sims 4: Have you not given the game a chance, and do you have a negative attitude that is preventing you from enjoying TS4? If positivity has not helped you, this is the thread for you.
Please discuss.
"Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning." - William Henry Gates III
70
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
I wanted to like the game. I played it with every good intention, even exited. If so many things weren't there, well, there must have been at least SOMETHING to repay for those losses, right?
Wrong. I've only found two things that are quite cute, but both aren't worth for me the lack of features (detailed body CAS. No colour wheel, no slides for the make up saturation. better building tools for roofs and walls. No CASt, no terrain tools, no open world.
And gameplay speaking: a oversimplify gameplay, lack of life stages (I count as lacking teens too, since slapping a "teen" over a young adult is not a teen for me), sims with very lacking reactivity, broken genetics, and a depressing sense of humor.
Is not me that I am a negative player. I'm simply a player with certain standards.
Here is the way I see it. If indeed the Sims started out as an online game that the studio later realized that players really didn't want, and then they set about returning it to an single player game, why castigate them over and over? So they made a miscalculation based on the current obsession with social networking and online play. That doesn't surprise me that they would think that. I don't get Facebook, but many do.
As for some of the other things mentioned in this thread, I don't care about makeup, open world, or casT. I prefer the gameplay in the Sims 4. As for standards, Sims 3 was broken in so many ways that actually saying it had better standards is laughable.
The thing that I find most disturbing is the attitude that many of you seem to have, which is that the game should be designed to suit you, and anyone that disagrees apparently has something wrong with them (i.e that lack standards).
For the me the negativity on the forums that has turned me into mostly a lurker on here, is the trolls, those who name call, those who bash, those who keep getting banned because of their behavior, and this huge divide in the forums that some take so very personally at heart. That is what I mean when I say that this forum is negative. It happens on both side by the way and it was also why I took breaks from the sims 3 forums during their big insulting others debates. I mean I went away when supernatural versus seasons people decided to take over the forums, because the forums became so toxic over it.
For me I would rather see the constructive criticism, which I do think helps dissatisfied customers in the long run. Real insights into why they don't like the game, as well as feedback that will get to EA better then some of what I have said above. I also love to see new ideals brought on by informative debates.
On a personal note I have liked all the sims games. I have played since the original sims. All the games have had their pros and cons. All could of been improved in one way or another.
You can't just skip the thread and look for something that applies to you?
What I find disturbing is YOUR attitude, to think that I have to like the game because YOU do.
I did not bring up standards. You did.
I did not compare TS4 to TS3. You did.
You just had an entire argument with yourself, because you did not read what I said, but instead you read what you wanted to read. Apparently you just wanted to flame bait, when somebody dares not to agree with you.
Please, do not come on here to attack me, to flame bait, and start an argument. Thank you.
What was the point of the other thread then? This is exactly the same thing, just an opposite opinion.
Also I don't think anyone is wanting the game to be designed specifically for them so I don't know where you're getting that from. If you enjoy the game the way it is, then that's awesome! I wish I could too, but I can't. Not fully. Most of these "negative" threads are talking about really valid things. Cut features or features that are totally watered down from previous games. What's so disturbing about that?
And OP wasn't saying that anyone who likes the game lacks standards, only that they have certain ones that just aren't being met by this game right now.
I want to like it.
But it's just so empty. It makes me sad.
The thing I think is so short sighted with comments like this is, how many people do you think can grow frustrated and then leave the game and still have it be a viable product? EA/Maxis needs a certain number of people spending a certain amount of money to justify a title. Many people have left- especially of late and I think EP 3 is make or break for many others. So, how many would you see leave if it meant the game you love is shuttered because honestly if just the people who "love" 4 stay and the rest of us filter off I don't see enough money in it to keep the game afloat. I haven't left 4 for good- there's stuff I really like about it but I'm as frustrated anymore by what my game lacks as the family play group are over toddlers and I'm rapidly wondering why I'm pouring money into 4. I'm waiting on EP 3 to see and I'll go from there. In the meantime I, like so many others, have simply gone back to 3... which was really pretty neat- I've NEVER even done the whole nectar making thing! I planted a bunch of grapes and stomped them into the press- I wonder, really wonder how much else I'm going to uncover that I've never done in 3! Lots still to do there!
I didn't get any of what you seem to have gotten from the OP's thread. They were respectful and simply presented their feelings on why they cannot enjoy the game. If we are allowed to make positive threads then we should be able to make negative threads. If it makes you unhappy to read negative threads, you can always avoid them. The OP's subject was not misleading in any way.
I for one agree with the OP. While I think the game has gotten better over time, it's not the improvement I excepted or was hoping for. It makes me sad that this game isn't on par with the excellence of other Sims game (at least to me - not speaking for everyone). And not everyone has a broken experience with Sims 3. After a few hitches and some fixes, the game worked great for me and still does.
I'm glad you are enjoying Sims 4 so much. I can't say the same but I won't berate someone for loving it just as I expect not to be berated for being unhappy with it.
People are allowed to state their opinion positively or negatively, no matter what, as long as it is done respectfully and follows the rules, which the OP has done from what I have read.
Bashing someone's opinion that is different than yours is quite messed up.
While I do disagree with the OP that the Sims 4 is lacking (I have a much different play style anyhow), I am not seen bashing people's opinions. The OP is entitled to what they can like and what they can dislike - I am not in control of anyone's opinions, except my own.
I think the attitudes being blamed were the attitudes towards the SimGurus and production staff. If you work in fast food as the cashier, and a customer yells at you, are you motivated by their yelling to help them? No. In fact, the more customers yell, the more you find yourself motivated by the paycheck instead of by the motive to please the customer. On the other hand, if a dissatisfied customer calmly explains that there was no cheese on their cheeseburger, then that is constructive feedback, and the simple thing to do is to get the burger remade with the cheese. On the other hand, if a customer yells at you that remaking the burger with the cheese on it is taking too long, there usually isn't much that can be done, because certain tasks take a certain amount of time, regardless of the customer's or employee's wishes. So that is not constructive feedback. If the customer demands access to the kitchen because the burger is taking too long, you also cannot grant the customer access to the kitchen. So that is not constructive feedback either.
The main thing I object to from dissatisfied players is the way they claim they are "in the majority" just because they scream the loudest. Perhaps the majority are satisfied players, who have been driven away from the forums by negativity about the game, just like customers in a burger restaurant who were in line for burgers when the customer at the head of the line started screaming at the cashier and showed no sign of stopping, who didn't want to hear the drama, and didn't want to wait for the unhappy customer to stop screaming, but will probably return later that week because they live/work nearby.
This thread is not the place to make critics look like lunatics, or to insult people.
I simply don't think that positivity will help me like TS4. And I'm tired of being insulted, just because my experience as a player differs from someone else's.
There are enough threads with ideas and improvement suggestions for TS4, this is not one if them. This is not game feedback either. We're talking about positive vs negative attitudes towards TS4. I don't think that putting a big pink bubble over this forum or my attitude could make a difference in my gaming experience.
Btw, if we don't voice our opinions on the official game forum, where else would we go? Or is there no appropriate place, because we need to shut up and go away?
Is that the message EA wants to send to players who criticize and hope that criticism will eventually equal game improvement?
The people who start to flame bait, argue, etc. from both sides are pretty much the ones that made me no longer want to post in the Sims 4 General Discussion section, as I do not want my opinion to be bashed - I mainly stick with only helping out in the technical sections and the off-topic section.
When I do post in the Sims 4 General Discussion thread, I try not to post my opinion on anything, as I do not want my opinion to be bashed from those who think they own this forum and want everyone to share the same opinion as them.
Amen to that, yup.:)
I am sorry that you don't like sims 4 and it disappointed you. I am sorry you are so frustrated. I'm not saying being positive will help you to personally like the sims 4. If you already dislike it then you have kind of made up your mind on that, and that's fine. I'm not here to force you to like something you don't. I'm the same way with my kids. My oldest hates tomatoes, she has tried them and hates them so I don't force her to eat tomatoes.
I am also tired of the fighting period. Not just that people call you names for disliking the game, but also those that will call me names for liking sims 4. It's a terrible things on both sides, which I dislike there has to be "sides" on this forum. I don't think there has to be a positive versus negative on the forum.
All I personally mean by being positive, is giving feedback in a polite, positive way. Giving reasons why someone dislikes or likes a game without all caps, without all bold, without saying such n' such people can't post on this post, basically without everything you have said about flamebait too. It's just so exhausting to see that on the forum so much.
I do believe that constructive criticism can lead to game improvement, it has before, so I haven't lost complete hope that it won't now.
I happen to work in fast food and I have a hard time finding any correlation in your comparison. These are game developers we're talking about here, not underpaid fast food workers. At the end of the day, it's them and their company who decide what to work on and how to implement it. They get to decide what gets cut and what doesn't. I don't get to stand in the kitchen and decide what goes onto someone's sandwich. It's a completely different thing. It's not like they made a mistake, like "forgetting the cheese". They chose to make the game this way.
Yup I agree with this message.
Terrible analogy.
I doubt the level of passion for an individual frying burgers is equivalent to a software developer. I'd expect Joe Smoe working at McDonalds to not give a rat's behind messing up my Big Mac order. That's a crappy job, with crappy pay and a crappy work environment, serving crappy food. Game developers go to school for this craft. They have passion for this craft and should not get but hurt over a couple nobodies on the internet critiquing their work. Anybody in any profession understands that constructive criticism makes their work better. If gurus are going home crying over what a couple of us say about their game, they should probably work elsewhere. Critics are typically their biggest fans in this craft.
As for the second bolded statement, if people are so fickle enough to leave when something they enjoy gets some heat than perhaps they didn't like it (or with your burger analogy, want it) anyway.
But the Simgurus, not the game developers, are the ones who have been targeted. They don't necessarily make the decision of what to work on and how to implement it, though they can give input into the process, just like the cashier isn't necessarily the one making the burger. And those Simgurus are under non-disclosure agreements, which means they are prohibited from disclosing future content. Asking the Simgurus to break those non-disclosure agreements is like demanding to be let into the kitchen at a fast food or other restaurant. There are laws against both things. Finally, it is likely that poor decisions were made, with the result that features people like were left out. That is called a mistake.
Then, there is also the possibility that customers unhappy about certain features want so much from those features, that it is like asking a fast food restaurant to substitute an expensive cheese that costs $15 a pound for the standard American cheese that comes on a cheeseburger.
I wouldn't mind having toddlers in the game, but I don't want to be treated like one, when I criticize the game, hoping that somebody will listen to everybody who is dissatisfied, with the goal of improving the game. And btw, I have issues with the lack of game play in TS4, I am not just asking for toddlers.
But people who are asking for family play, are being disrespected on this forum all the time, with other members basically telling them to shut up. And if it's not done on here, the same people take it elsewhere to say the nastiest things about forum members, only to come back on this forum to be the teacher's pets. It's the most disgusting human behavior, thanks to the Internet and anonymous websites that cater to total degenerates.
I don't want to be told that I'm not playing the game the right way, that I have the wrong attitude towards the game, and that I have no right to criticize constructively. Positivity will help people respond as humans should when interacting with other forum members, or interacting with people generally, but lack of positivity is not going to solve game play issues.
@Colton147147 - It's sad that anybody feels that they don't want to participate in a topic, because they fear backlash, or arguments. Your posts usually make me laugh, so please keep posting.
So SimGuru Grant, Lyndsay, Ninja, Graham etc. aren't developers on the game? I think you're mistaken.