What is “Alexa” ? I may be an alien cause I’ve never heard of that.
You know the Lin-Z Smart Speaker in the Sims 4 that came with the recent Winter patch. That is pretty much what an Alexa is. It is a device you talk to to do things that pretty much a phone can do as well like play music and look things up and launch apps except it talks back. Kind of like what Seri does for iphones.
“Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.” –Helen Keller
I can't help but feel sympathy for the devs who have created the Alexa skill. They were probably super excited to share it with the community, looking forward to seeing our reactions... And then this uproar (and that's putting it mildly) happened. How demoralising for them.
I can't think of any other job where you would have to put up with this much hatred and vitriol, just for doing your job. Actually, they weren't even getting paid, they were simply giving us something fun they'd spent their OWN TIME on. And then they got a reaction that was completely blown out of proportion.
If I were the devs, this kind of thing would scare me off trying to make cool new things for TS4. I hope that's not the case. I hope the last couple of days haven't dampened their passion and creativity.
I wont be speaking on the first part, but on the suggestion of making TS4 the forefront of every stream, this is not the purpose of the stream. And TS4 has PLENTY of opportunities to be the only thing showcased and focused on in both the Maxis Monthly streams and other streams. This month we did not have anything to talk about in game for TS4, so we didnt. We also didn't have anything for TSM or TSFP. So instead we gave a couple of Developers and opportunity to share a fun and cool project they had worked on and were proud of. The Alexa Skill, while not for one of our current platforms, is still part of Maxis and still part of The Sims.
Thank you for clarifying that, @SimGuruKate
While I don't (and never will) have an Alexa, I thought it was a cool thing, and I was happy to see the devs and their enthusiasm. Sometimes it's just fun to show off a cool thing you made with other people.
While watching this I got to thinking. Since you've put all the Sims music together for Alexa, will there be any other opportunities for us to get our grubby little mitts on the complete catalog? I have a lot of Sims tunes, but it's nowhere near a complete collection.
This may not be a practical solution, but have you ever considered putting out all the Sims music in a CD set? I think a Sims Tunes Box Set would be wonderful.
Also, what happened to the Bob Pancakes Official Bathrobe? Please don't tell me some suit sent down a memo saying it "didn't show Maxis in a professional light" or some such silliness.
By the way, you're getting a lot better at these Maxis Monthlies.
I personally don’t see the problem. The Guru/s were already creating the project in their own time, they chose to release it to the public. It could have stayed a side project that never saw the light of day, and no one would have been none the wiser.
MM would have happened without a teaser or information on something new, people would have been upset, but it wouldn’t have been blown out of proportion like it has been.
New content will come, announcements will come, this community has gotten so used to hearing so much about the game, that when they don’t, the world will end. What’s gonna happen if it ever gets to a time where SimGuru’s close down accounts, stop sharing information and cease communication with the community.
The Gurus do an amazing job and are always on Twitter or the Forums answering questions, being available. We need to cut them some slack, and stop being so demanding. Otherwise, it could come to a point where we lose our privileges.
This Guru is thinking "outside the box" and should be promoted rather than condemned as on here. @SimGuruKate, @SimGuruGrant etc., I am thinking ... maybe there might come a time when I can talk to my Sims in game (maybe Sims 5, 6,7.......) telling them what to do and them talking back. As someone who started with the Spectrum computer in the '80s and seen the huge advances since then, everything is possible.
By the way, my apologies for the wall of text I left you all with! Looking at it now I'm like WOAH.
Thank you for the explanation. What shocked me most out of everything is that a patch for January was never scheduled. I thought it was almost guranteed there are patches in every month (excusing October)
Also, it would be very nice if we get a vague rundown at the beginning of the stream of what's going to be announced so we wouldn't get our hopes up that new gameplay or any of that sort will be announced somehow at some point in the stream.
Hope not. I'll never get over how they casually introduced terrain tools at the end of the livestream.
Well, exceptions of course
Plus, that's why I used the word 'vague'. Like, perhaps, just a simple 'New gameplay feature for The Sims 4'
Actually, they weren't even getting paid, they were simply giving us something fun they'd spent their OWN TIME on. And then they got a reaction that was completely blown out of proportion.
You have no way of knowing whether they were paid or not. And logically, this is a paid sponsorship, I don't think the devs do projects for free especially when teaming up with huge companies like Amazon.
Playing onIntel Core i7-5960X 16 core CPU - 32 GB DDR4 Ram - GTX 980 Ti
You have no way of knowing whether they were paid or not. And logically, this is a paid sponsorship, I don't think the devs do projects for free especially when teaming up with huge companies like Amazon.
@Eliharb Actually, in SimGuruKate's response, if you go back a few pages, she starts off by addressing this:
Ok there are a few things I want to comment on, address, clarify from this thread.
First, the comment that the Alexa Skill was developed in partnership with Amazon and that it was paid/sponsored. This is 110% not true. If something is paid or sponsored we legally must disclose that. Amazon did not reach out to us to develop this, nor did we reach out to Amazon to see if they wanted to partner with us. Instead, a single Dev thought of this idea and worked with a few other Devs who were interested to bring it to life and create it outside of their TS4 development responsibilities.
If you want to read the whole thing I'd check it out, she gives details on a lot of what people are saying. I commented before her response stating that they probably were paid by Amazon to do it and she definitely corrected me in no time haha. Whether or not the few devs working on it got paid for it in GENERAL, I don't know - I have no idea if they work on their passion projects on the side or on work time, and after that response yesterday I'm not going to assume anything about them or their work environment lol.
I must say I am disappointed with this whole thread. It reminds me of the responses from Maxis in previous infamous threads by the past CM. No offense to you Maxis, but if your customers are upset with you then you have to look at yourselves and ask why. Not make speeches about how inapproraite their feelings were expressed. I have no idea what was said during the stream, nor what is said on twitter, but I have eyes on this forum and I didn't see anyone who was spewing hatred or vitirol. I'm happy EA allows developers to work on pet projects, but the outcry isnh't for pet projects and what developers want to see in the game or even what they like, but what paying customers want. Like more time spent on bugs, packs that are released bug free, more depth in these Sims personalities, not something a niche group of players who have not even a mainstream object yet, use. Outside of cursing I see nothing wrong with paying customers who keep Maxis in business expressing their dislike and( or no matter how negative) dislike of anything produced or released about this series.
I assumed from the original announcements that the Maxis Montly and Garage streams were about TS4, my bad? And interviews with some gamers and others etc. If I was lead to believe that then the original announcement should be revisted to see where it was worded incorrectly, because no where did it say it was about things outside of the pc version now did it? And I and thousands of others rarely read an announcement twice. So, that mistake doesn't fall on the fanbase of paying customers but Maxis for misleading or miswording their orignal announcements of what these streams would be about. And it is hardly vitirol or hatred for pointing that out, and then the face of Maxis blaming customers again. Just like as in the past with saying things like we aren't the vast majoirty.
Well, if we are not then why don't we just take our purses and leave? And let you, Maxis enjoy your spewing blame on your customers for your failures.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
I must say I am disappointed with this whole thread. It reminds me of the responses from Maxis in previous infamous threads by the past CM. No offense to you Maxis, but if your customers are upset with you then you have to look at yourselves and ask why. Not make speeches about how inapproraite their feelings were expressed. I have no idea what was said during the stream, nor what is said on twitter, but I have eyes on this forum and I didn't see anyone who was spewing hatred or vitirol. I'm happy EA allows developers to work on pet projects, but the outcry isnh't for pet projects and what developers want to see in the game or even what they like, but what paying customers want. Like more time spent on bugs, packs that are released bug free, more depth in these Sims personalities, not something a niche group of players who have not even a mainstream object yet, use. Outside of cursing I see nothing wrong with paying customers who keep Maxis in business expressing their dislike and( or no matter how negative) dislike of anything produced or released about this series.
I assumed from the original announcements that the Maxis Montly and Garage streams were about TS4, my bad? And interviews with some gamers and others etc. If I was lead to believe that then the original announcement should be revisted to see where it was worded incorrectly, because no where did it say it was about things outside of the pc version now did it? And I and thousands of others rarely read an announcement twice. So, that mistake doesn't fall on the fanbase of paying customers but Maxis for misleading or miswording their orignal announcements of what these streams would be about. And it is hardly vitirol or hatred for pointing that out, and then the face of Maxis blaming customers again. Just like as in the past with saying things like we aren't the vast majoirty.
Well, if we are not then why don't we just take our purses and leave? And let you, Maxis enjoy your spewing blame on your customers for your failures.
Very well said.
Another big issue about the stream yesterday was that people didn't know what to expect. It was said the stream will be "a fun one showcasing something kinda nifty". Instead it could've just been said they'll showcase something about Alexa. I read Kate's comment here where she said they want to keep a mystery, but is that really worth all the backlash? Many people are disappointed because they feel baited - They expected something about TS4 but instead they spent time on a stream that not even interested them. And it didn't happen for the first time.
Where is that "better communication plan" that gets mentioned on a weekly basis? It's all "We can't talk about it" and "We're working on things, so trust us". I totally understand that they can't mention every pack they're working on, but at least some infos what a stream will contain should be doable somehow. Just something like "We will only show news about Sims Mobile this time!" or "We made some changes to the camera mode, so join the stream and check it out!"
I must say I am disappointed with this whole thread. It reminds me of the responses from Maxis in previous infamous threads by the past CM. No offense to you Maxis, but if your customers are upset with you then you have to look at yourselves and ask why. Not make speeches about how inapproraite their feelings were expressed. I have no idea what was said during the stream, nor what is said on twitter, but I have eyes on this forum and I didn't see anyone who was spewing hatred or vitirol. I'm happy EA allows developers to work on pet projects, but the outcry isnh't for pet projects and what developers want to see in the game or even what they like, but what paying customers want. Like more time spent on bugs, packs that are released bug free, more depth in these Sims personalities, not something a niche group of players who have not even a mainstream object yet, use. Outside of cursing I see nothing wrong with paying customers who keep Maxis in business expressing their dislike and( or no matter how negative) dislike of anything produced or released about this series.
I assumed from the original announcements that the Maxis Montly and Garage streams were about TS4, my bad? And interviews with some gamers and others etc. If I was lead to believe that then the original announcement should be revisted to see where it was worded incorrectly, because no where did it say it was about things outside of the pc version now did it? And I and thousands of others rarely read an announcement twice. So, that mistake doesn't fall on the fanbase of paying customers but Maxis for misleading or miswording their orignal announcements of what these streams would be about. And it is hardly vitirol or hatred for pointing that out, and then the face of Maxis blaming customers again. Just like as in the past with saying things like we aren't the vast majoirty.
Well, if we are not then why don't we just take our purses and leave? And let you, Maxis enjoy your spewing blame on your customers for your failures.
I don't think that's fair to say - If Maxis didn't want to give us "what we want" then we wouldn't have a game at all. If it weren't for the passion projects of some developers, who knows what we wouldn't have in-game? And to reject someone's passion project - a very minor skill for Alexa-enabled electronics - is insulting. The first person camera was someone's passion project. This idea can lead to future VR/AR experiences! To say that the players just don't want it feels to me like taking someone's fun and innocent idea and stomping all over it to tell that person it's dumb and useless. Are they not allowed to do anything besides work on The Sims 4? Maxis is more than just this one game. Would it have been better for radio silence? No Maxis Monthly at all? That stream doesn't have to be about what you want, it's what Maxis is working on. If they can't disclose information about ongoing projects, why not talk about a small thing that someone did because they thought it would be a fun idea? If you were misled by the announcements and third party articles, maybe YOU should double check instead of just assuming what you think you read is correct. Don't try to blame this on the game devs because you didn't understand something. You are active on this forum, so use it! Ask questions, read threads about Maxis Monthly maybe? I assumed they were paid by Amazon to do this Alexa skill, and was promptly corrected, even though they admittedly should have mentioned it somewhere in their stream. No one is perfect and things will be skipped and forgotten - until the wild backlash of people that are so entitled they believe there should only be information they want to hear at all times exclusively come out of the mouths of the devs that work on more than the one thing they're interested in.
There was plenty of hatred before this part of this post was merged with the overall thread - there were some very rude comments towards others and about the devs. Outside of the forums there was even more hate speech on Twitter. We have every right to express that we do not like something, what we think would be better, how we think they can do better in the future, but some people do not understand how to conduct themselves that way and can only spew hatred and threatening language.
Overall this Alexa skill is so tiny, and didn't take all the devs to create. They couldn't talk about much else because THEY don't always get to choose to announce the next SP/GP/EP - sometimes they are unable to talk about those things. Don't blame Maxis - take it up with EA. Honestly, I think some of the fanbase deserves to be ashamed to have acted the way they have on these forums and other social media platforms.
So take your purses and leave - let the players who enjoy the game enjoy it.
To be fair to Kate, she said way back in September the following about the Maxis Monthly:
We've officially scheduled the first Maxis Monthly! Join us on October 2nd as we chat all things Maxis. And yes, we will be teasing at some upcoming content. And ooh, it's good. One thing to note is that rather than one hour, we've scheduled 30 minutes
And I’ve not watched every Maxis monthly I admit, I saw the terrain one and the Alexa one but my understanding is they have always covered all the sims titles on mobile, console and pc.
There was one I started watching but I stopped as they were covering the sims on mobile and I didn’t have time to wait and see the pc portion.
The forums here were calm but then the forums here are moderated. The Twitch chat doesn’t appear to have mods and given the size of the chat in numbers it would be a difficult task but not impossible and I don’t think they want to ban people. But without opening up that can of worms again, some not all deserved a time out or a ban. I’m a moderator for three twitch streamers and I wouldn’t have tolerated some of the comments. Again, I stress some not all. It’s one thing to say “This doesn’t look like something I would use or be interested in”, it’s a whole other different ball game to say things like “This is rubbish, people should be fired”
As my Granny would say: It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it.
The thing is I suppose is that we cannot be told about upcoming content, at least paid content is my understanding and this time there was no update to any of the platforms. Really I wonder if the stream should have went ahead. But I suspect that had it not went ahead, people would have complained about that. Speculation would have started. As I said had the stream went ahead and they spent the thirty minutes discussing console or mobile only I expect a backlash would have occurred too. In that sense they can’t win. (I expect had that happened the backlash would have been way worse) I think had they said at the beginning that it was just Alexa that would have helped, but what’s done is done.
I do understand why they showed the skill in action as it were, it makes sense considering the nature of it, a blog wouldn’t have done it justice.
There will always be periods in game development that are busier than others (My Husband is a dev for a AAA studio) of all the many, many games I play I can only think of two studios that interact with fans as much as Maxis does. The rest just get on with it. The game is ready when it’s ready and fans accept it. But those devs don’t interact with their communities the way Maxis does, it’s not a bad thing but there’s no expectation on the devs to talk about future content. My Husband cannot discuss what he is working on in public, he’s not allowed to disclose who he works for on social media. If you asked him what he’s working on right he couldn’t tell you. He isn’t allowed too. But he doesn’t have to communicate with fans and I for one am very, very glad. But it’s two very different communities with different expectations.
In that sense Maxis is the same with upcoming paid content. And when there are no patches or free dlc on any platform, their hands are tied and they can’t tell us what’s coming, I question what would be the purpose of the stream but I expect it’s a case of the back lash from not streaming may be worse than streaming if they aren’t showing off content for the game. Because there’s the expectation of wanting to know what’s coming next (which I’m not saying is a bad thing) some get inpatient if it’s been a month or two without news. Some get inpatient if they haven’t had any dlc to purchase in that time frame! There’s a very strong vibe of “What’s coming next” all the time. Come on to the forums a week or two after we get paid dlc and there will be at least one thread questioning what’s next. Which is not a bad thing neccasarily but it appears some want to know all the plans all the time and that’s not a realistic expectation.
Actually, they weren't even getting paid, they were simply giving us something fun they'd spent their OWN TIME on. And then they got a reaction that was completely blown out of proportion.
You have no way of knowing whether they were paid or not. And logically, this is a paid sponsorship, I don't think the devs do projects for free especially when teaming up with huge companies like Amazon.
Ok, I should have been more specific. If they were being paid, they weren't being paid for creating Sims content specifically. So they chose to spend their time doing something new for the Sims, when they could have been doing something else.
It has been stated already that this was not a paid sponsership. I understand why people would assume that, since that's how our world works now, but Kate has said that, in this case, there was no sponsorship.
To be fair to Kate, she said way back in September the following about the Maxis Monthly:
We've officially scheduled the first Maxis Monthly! Join us on October 2nd as we chat all things Maxis. And yes, we will be teasing at some upcoming content. And ooh, it's good. One thing to note is that rather than one hour, we've scheduled 30 minutes
And I’ve not watched every Maxis monthly I admit, I saw the terrain one and the Alexa one but my understanding is they have always covered all the sims titles on mobile, console and pc.
There was one I started watching but I stopped as they were covering the sims on mobile and I didn’t have time to wait and see the pc portion.
The forums here were calm but then the forums here are moderated. The Twitch chat doesn’t appear to have mods and given the size of the chat in numbers it would be a difficult task but not impossible and I don’t think they want to ban people. But without opening up that can of worms again, some not all deserved a time out or a ban. I’m a moderator for three twitch streamers and I wouldn’t have tolerated some of the comments. Again, I stress some not all. It’s one thing to say “This doesn’t look like something I would use or be interested in”, it’s a whole other different ball game to say things like “This is rubbish, people should be fired”
As my Granny would say: It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it.
The thing is I suppose is that we cannot be told about upcoming content, at least paid content is my understanding and this time there was no update to any of the platforms. Really I wonder if the stream should have went ahead. But I suspect that had it not went ahead, people would have complained about that. Speculation would have started. As I said had the stream went ahead and they spent the thirty minutes discussing console or mobile only I expect a backlash would have occurred too. In that sense they can’t win. (I expect had that happened the backlash would have been way worse) I think had they said at the beginning that it was just Alexa that would have helped, but what’s done is done.
I do understand why they showed the skill in action as it were, it makes sense considering the nature of it, a blog wouldn’t have done it justice.
There will always be periods in game development that are busier than others (My Husband is a dev for a AAA studio) of all the many, many games I play I can only think of two studios that interact with fans as much as Maxis does. The rest just get on with it. The game is ready when it’s ready and fans accept it. But those devs don’t interact with their communities the way Maxis does, it’s not a bad thing but there’s no expectation on the devs to talk about future content. My Husband cannot discuss what he is working on in public, he’s not allowed to disclose who he works for on social media. If you asked him what he’s working on right he couldn’t tell you. He isn’t allowed too. But he doesn’t have to communicate with fans and I for one am very, very glad. But it’s two very different communities with different expectations.
In that sense Maxis is the same with upcoming paid content. And when there are no patches or free dlc on any platform, their hands are tied and they can’t tell us what’s coming, I question what would be the purpose of the stream but I expect it’s a case of the back lash from not streaming may be worse than streaming if they aren’t showing off content for the game. Because there’s the expectation of wanting to know what’s coming next (which I’m not saying is a bad thing) some get inpatient if it’s been a month or two without news. Some get inpatient if they haven’t had any dlc to purchase in that time frame! There’s a very strong vibe of “What’s coming next” all the time. Come on to the forums a week or two after we get paid dlc and there will be at least one thread questioning what’s next. Which is not a bad thing neccasarily but it appears some want to know all the plans all the time and that’s not a realistic expectation.
I agree with everything you wrote in this post.
The only thing I, and I say this as a fan of Maxis, can’t really comprehend is the thought of “all things Maxis”.
Maxis is nowhere near as big as it once was (which I am very disappointed about). The only titles to Maxis’ name right now are The Sims 4 and the currently active, cash-grab apps (which will undoubtedly be pulled off within 10 years time going by the pattern). SimCity has been shelved and ignored, and the previous iterations of The Sims on PC, MySims, and Spore are simply categorized as classics by Maxis themselves. I’m not TS4’s biggest fan, but what else is Maxis today, other than TS4? Where would it be without it, other than reduced to a tiny vendor in the App Store?
Truly, there isn’t much else to Maxis right now, and I can’t see myself tuning into the stream for something like smart speakers. TS4 should be touched upon in the streams in some manner, otherwise a good portion of fans will just catch ‘CliffNotes’ on SimsVIP. This is just my opinion, I know others feel different, and I wouldn’t want that taken away from them. I just feel neglecting to engage TS4 fans, even without news, is a mistake.
@Sk8rblaze I agree. I mean honestly if we knew in advance the stream would be say the sims mobile, I wouldn’t watch. It doesn’t interest me. That’s why I don’t really watch the Guru garage. I don’t want to see devs playing the game. No offence. I don’t want to see devs playing a game that I can play myself. I don’t really enjoy watching anyone play the sims.
So I can see why they probably wouldn’t admit in advance if the stream was something not focused totally on the pc version, as I said I think had they focused on the mobile or console version, the backlash would have been way, way worse. I suppose as Kate said it’s about trying to get a balance.
I hope the last couple of days haven't dampened their passion and creativity.
Not at all! We totally expect that not every little thing we do will have 100% support across the whole community. In fact, we expect that EVERYTHING we do will NOT have 100% support across the community. There are so many different ways to play The Sims and so many aspects to it that there is no way to please everyone at the same time. Which is part of the reason we release such varied content at such a quick pace. Don't like what's being offered today (for free or paid)? Tomorrow is right around the corner with new things to evaluate and choose between.
We love what we do, love this community, and will keep busting our humps everyday for you and this game!
I hope the last couple of days haven't dampened their passion and creativity.
Not at all! We totally expect that not every little thing we do will have 100% support across the whole community. In fact, we expect that EVERYTHING we do will NOT have 100% support across the community. There are so many different ways to play The Sims and so many aspects to it that there is no way to please everyone at the same time. Which is part of the reason we release such varied content at such a quick pace. Don't like what's being offered today (for free or paid)? Tomorrow is right around the corner with new things to evaluate and choose between.
We love what we do, love this community, and will keep busting our humps everyday for you and this game!
I would guess most of us love these products and what work you guys do or we wouldn't be here. Animators are my favorite people, however, I respect those who bring magic of programming to life. It's just business and never personal.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
I hope the last couple of days haven't dampened their passion and creativity.
Not at all! We totally expect that not every little thing we do will have 100% support across the whole community. In fact, we expect that EVERYTHING we do will NOT have 100% support across the community. There are so many different ways to play The Sims and so many aspects to it that there is no way to please everyone at the same time. Which is part of the reason we release such varied content at such a quick pace. Don't like what's being offered today (for free or paid)? Tomorrow is right around the corner with new things to evaluate and choose between.
We love what we do, love this community, and will keep busting our humps everyday for you and this game!
Thanks for replying!
I figured you realise that not eveyone will like every thing, but I'm guessing some of the reactions you got to this were unexpected!
Anyway, I'm glad you guys are still as enthusiastic as ever! Thanks for your hard work and I look forward to seeing what you come up with next
What pray tell does the Alexa skill have to do with The Sims 4 pc version? Download on Android? I thought most have iPhones. And wouldn't that mean this is for The Sims Mobile, or Freeplay? And if so, who gives a flying fig when we play the pc version.
ETA: And if you want Sims to continue while you run to a bathroom why not enable the ability to set eight (8) commands in the queue (like in the older games) again? Wouldn't that be news since these Sims can't carry out two things in a queue.
No I believe more people have android phones then ios. I myself have an android phone the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 but the Alexa App works for android and ios.
Aww!
So that means that any current issues aren't scheduled to be patched at least until January's over? Possibly even longer, if there isn't one scheduled for February.
I was kind of holding out hope that the more annoying issues like the "Care for Self" or the daycare stuff would be taken care of sooner rather than later.
Especially after the emergency patch for the Lin-Z in December.
It's getting really obstructive to my enjoyment having to attempt to work around issues for months on end, while hoping a patch will come out to smooth things out a bit more.
I read it as there was no content patch scheduled, but that there could be an emergency bug fix patch to fix any major bugs, like we got the patch to solve the CAS aging bug that sprang up after the pre-GF patch.
As I said, as of right now there is no patch, not even an emergency patch, scheduled for January. We did release an emergency patch after the Dec. patch to address some massive bugs that had cropped up for everyone.
I'm so glad y'all did get that out before the holiday cause I was one of the ones who had the Errror 102 bug and this patch fixed my save asap.
What is “Alexa” ? I may be an alien cause I’ve never heard of that.
Alexa is a smart assistant developed by Amazon. Think Smart Speakers and Smart Displays aka Amazon Echo but Amazon has also intergrated Alexa into smart phones and cars now.
What pray tell does the Alexa skill have to do with The Sims 4 pc version? Download on Android? I thought most have iPhones. And wouldn't that mean this is for The Sims Mobile, or Freeplay? And if so, who gives a flying fig when we play the pc version.
ETA: And if you want Sims to continue while you run to a bathroom why not enable the ability to set eight (8) commands in the queue (like in the older games) again? Wouldn't that be news since these Sims can't carry out two things in a queue.
No I believe more people have android phones then ios. I myself have an android phone the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 but the Alexa App works for android and ios.
You know when I first heard about this Alexa feature for The Sims, I thought it was like when we read about doing stuff on our phones that would work with the game like tell your Sim to gain a skill. Do you remember reading about all that, we were reading about when TS4 was first announced. Lol, I might need to go to bed sometimes. I thought this was that. Where we could tell the thing to make our Sims do stuff.
That's why I was wondering why this app was only for Androids. lol I didn't know it's just music and such run through Alexa. Not for me, but whatever floats your boat. It's not something I would be impressed with. Let me fix that statement. My bad grammar is showing. It's not something that would impress me.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
What pray tell does the Alexa skill have to do with The Sims 4 pc version? Download on Android? I thought most have iPhones. And wouldn't that mean this is for The Sims Mobile, or Freeplay? And if so, who gives a flying fig when we play the pc version.
ETA: And if you want Sims to continue while you run to a bathroom why not enable the ability to set eight (8) commands in the queue (like in the older games) again? Wouldn't that be news since these Sims can't carry out two things in a queue.
No I believe more people have android phones then ios. I myself have an android phone the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 but the Alexa App works for android and ios.
You know when I first heard about this Alexa feature for The Sims, I thought it was like when we read about doing stuff on our phones that would work with the game like tell your Sim to gain a skill. Do you remember reading about all that, we were reading about when TS4 was first announced. Lol, I might need to go to bed sometimes. I thought this was that. Where we could tell the thing to make our Sims do stuff.
That's why I was wondering why this app was only for Androids. lol I didn't know it's just music and such run through Alexa. Not for me, but whatever floats your boat. It's not something I would be impressed with.
The Alexa App has a version for IOS and a Version for Android.
I must say I am disappointed with this whole thread. It reminds me of the responses from Maxis in previous infamous threads by the past CM. No offense to you Maxis, but if your customers are upset with you then you have to look at yourselves and ask why. Not make speeches about how inapproraite their feelings were expressed. I have no idea what was said during the stream, nor what is said on twitter, but I have eyes on this forum and I didn't see anyone who was spewing hatred or vitirol. I'm happy EA allows developers to work on pet projects, but the outcry isnh't for pet projects and what developers want to see in the game or even what they like, but what paying customers want. Like more time spent on bugs, packs that are released bug free, more depth in these Sims personalities, not something a niche group of players who have not even a mainstream object yet, use. Outside of cursing I see nothing wrong with paying customers who keep Maxis in business expressing their dislike and( or no matter how negative) dislike of anything produced or released about this series.
I assumed from the original announcements that the Maxis Montly and Garage streams were about TS4, my bad? And interviews with some gamers and others etc. If I was lead to believe that then the original announcement should be revisted to see where it was worded incorrectly, because no where did it say it was about things outside of the pc version now did it? And I and thousands of others rarely read an announcement twice. So, that mistake doesn't fall on the fanbase of paying customers but Maxis for misleading or miswording their orignal announcements of what these streams would be about. And it is hardly vitirol or hatred for pointing that out, and then the face of Maxis blaming customers again. Just like as in the past with saying things like we aren't the vast majoirty.
Well, if we are not then why don't we just take our purses and leave? And let you, Maxis enjoy your spewing blame on your customers for your failures.
I disagree with the upset customer argument. Firstly, the ones that are upset are not that many, they just make themselves more visible. There are many more who watched it and said absolutely nothing. I don't have an Alexa so I had no interest in this announcement. Did I yell at the devs "give me what I want! Where are the bug fixes?!"? No, I just closed the stream and got on with it. There is no need for an opinion of any kind, and there is also no need to let any opinion you have be known. Maybe this is an age or culture thing, I'm not sure.
I also disagree with the "what players want" argument. A lot of people want a lot of different things, and even more people don't know what they want. It's just a general statement no more specific than a horoscope reading. Some people love occult life states, some don't want to touch it, who's more right? More examples here: https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/953943/things-other-people-want-that-you-dont-care-for
Comments
I can't help but feel sympathy for the devs who have created the Alexa skill. They were probably super excited to share it with the community, looking forward to seeing our reactions... And then this uproar (and that's putting it mildly) happened. How demoralising for them.
I can't think of any other job where you would have to put up with this much hatred and vitriol, just for doing your job. Actually, they weren't even getting paid, they were simply giving us something fun they'd spent their OWN TIME on. And then they got a reaction that was completely blown out of proportion.
If I were the devs, this kind of thing would scare me off trying to make cool new things for TS4. I hope that's not the case. I hope the last couple of days haven't dampened their passion and creativity.
Thank you for clarifying that, @SimGuruKate
While I don't (and never will) have an Alexa, I thought it was a cool thing, and I was happy to see the devs and their enthusiasm. Sometimes it's just fun to show off a cool thing you made with other people.
While watching this I got to thinking. Since you've put all the Sims music together for Alexa, will there be any other opportunities for us to get our grubby little mitts on the complete catalog? I have a lot of Sims tunes, but it's nowhere near a complete collection.
This may not be a practical solution, but have you ever considered putting out all the Sims music in a CD set? I think a Sims Tunes Box Set would be wonderful.
Also, what happened to the Bob Pancakes Official Bathrobe? Please don't tell me some suit sent down a memo saying it "didn't show Maxis in a professional light" or some such silliness.
By the way, you're getting a lot better at these Maxis Monthlies.
MM would have happened without a teaser or information on something new, people would have been upset, but it wouldn’t have been blown out of proportion like it has been.
New content will come, announcements will come, this community has gotten so used to hearing so much about the game, that when they don’t, the world will end. What’s gonna happen if it ever gets to a time where SimGuru’s close down accounts, stop sharing information and cease communication with the community.
The Gurus do an amazing job and are always on Twitter or the Forums answering questions, being available. We need to cut them some slack, and stop being so demanding. Otherwise, it could come to a point where we lose our privileges.
Well, exceptions of course
Plus, that's why I used the word 'vague'. Like, perhaps, just a simple 'New gameplay feature for The Sims 4'
WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?
You have no way of knowing whether they were paid or not. And logically, this is a paid sponsorship, I don't think the devs do projects for free especially when teaming up with huge companies like Amazon.
@Eliharb Actually, in SimGuruKate's response, if you go back a few pages, she starts off by addressing this:
If you want to read the whole thing I'd check it out, she gives details on a lot of what people are saying. I commented before her response stating that they probably were paid by Amazon to do it and she definitely corrected me in no time haha. Whether or not the few devs working on it got paid for it in GENERAL, I don't know - I have no idea if they work on their passion projects on the side or on work time, and after that response yesterday I'm not going to assume anything about them or their work environment lol.
I assumed from the original announcements that the Maxis Montly and Garage streams were about TS4, my bad? And interviews with some gamers and others etc. If I was lead to believe that then the original announcement should be revisted to see where it was worded incorrectly, because no where did it say it was about things outside of the pc version now did it? And I and thousands of others rarely read an announcement twice. So, that mistake doesn't fall on the fanbase of paying customers but Maxis for misleading or miswording their orignal announcements of what these streams would be about. And it is hardly vitirol or hatred for pointing that out, and then the face of Maxis blaming customers again. Just like as in the past with saying things like we aren't the vast majoirty.
Well, if we are not then why don't we just take our purses and leave? And let you, Maxis enjoy your spewing blame on your customers for your failures.
Very well said.
Another big issue about the stream yesterday was that people didn't know what to expect. It was said the stream will be "a fun one showcasing something kinda nifty". Instead it could've just been said they'll showcase something about Alexa. I read Kate's comment here where she said they want to keep a mystery, but is that really worth all the backlash? Many people are disappointed because they feel baited - They expected something about TS4 but instead they spent time on a stream that not even interested them. And it didn't happen for the first time.
Where is that "better communication plan" that gets mentioned on a weekly basis? It's all "We can't talk about it" and "We're working on things, so trust us". I totally understand that they can't mention every pack they're working on, but at least some infos what a stream will contain should be doable somehow. Just something like "We will only show news about Sims Mobile this time!" or "We made some changes to the camera mode, so join the stream and check it out!"
I don't think that's fair to say - If Maxis didn't want to give us "what we want" then we wouldn't have a game at all. If it weren't for the passion projects of some developers, who knows what we wouldn't have in-game? And to reject someone's passion project - a very minor skill for Alexa-enabled electronics - is insulting. The first person camera was someone's passion project. This idea can lead to future VR/AR experiences! To say that the players just don't want it feels to me like taking someone's fun and innocent idea and stomping all over it to tell that person it's dumb and useless. Are they not allowed to do anything besides work on The Sims 4? Maxis is more than just this one game. Would it have been better for radio silence? No Maxis Monthly at all? That stream doesn't have to be about what you want, it's what Maxis is working on. If they can't disclose information about ongoing projects, why not talk about a small thing that someone did because they thought it would be a fun idea? If you were misled by the announcements and third party articles, maybe YOU should double check instead of just assuming what you think you read is correct. Don't try to blame this on the game devs because you didn't understand something. You are active on this forum, so use it! Ask questions, read threads about Maxis Monthly maybe? I assumed they were paid by Amazon to do this Alexa skill, and was promptly corrected, even though they admittedly should have mentioned it somewhere in their stream. No one is perfect and things will be skipped and forgotten - until the wild backlash of people that are so entitled they believe there should only be information they want to hear at all times exclusively come out of the mouths of the devs that work on more than the one thing they're interested in.
There was plenty of hatred before this part of this post was merged with the overall thread - there were some very rude comments towards others and about the devs. Outside of the forums there was even more hate speech on Twitter. We have every right to express that we do not like something, what we think would be better, how we think they can do better in the future, but some people do not understand how to conduct themselves that way and can only spew hatred and threatening language.
Overall this Alexa skill is so tiny, and didn't take all the devs to create. They couldn't talk about much else because THEY don't always get to choose to announce the next SP/GP/EP - sometimes they are unable to talk about those things. Don't blame Maxis - take it up with EA. Honestly, I think some of the fanbase deserves to be ashamed to have acted the way they have on these forums and other social media platforms.
So take your purses and leave - let the players who enjoy the game enjoy it.
And I’ve not watched every Maxis monthly I admit, I saw the terrain one and the Alexa one but my understanding is they have always covered all the sims titles on mobile, console and pc.
There was one I started watching but I stopped as they were covering the sims on mobile and I didn’t have time to wait and see the pc portion.
The forums here were calm but then the forums here are moderated. The Twitch chat doesn’t appear to have mods and given the size of the chat in numbers it would be a difficult task but not impossible and I don’t think they want to ban people. But without opening up that can of worms again, some not all deserved a time out or a ban. I’m a moderator for three twitch streamers and I wouldn’t have tolerated some of the comments. Again, I stress some not all. It’s one thing to say “This doesn’t look like something I would use or be interested in”, it’s a whole other different ball game to say things like “This is rubbish, people should be fired”
As my Granny would say: It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it.
The thing is I suppose is that we cannot be told about upcoming content, at least paid content is my understanding and this time there was no update to any of the platforms. Really I wonder if the stream should have went ahead. But I suspect that had it not went ahead, people would have complained about that. Speculation would have started. As I said had the stream went ahead and they spent the thirty minutes discussing console or mobile only I expect a backlash would have occurred too. In that sense they can’t win. (I expect had that happened the backlash would have been way worse) I think had they said at the beginning that it was just Alexa that would have helped, but what’s done is done.
I do understand why they showed the skill in action as it were, it makes sense considering the nature of it, a blog wouldn’t have done it justice.
There will always be periods in game development that are busier than others (My Husband is a dev for a AAA studio) of all the many, many games I play I can only think of two studios that interact with fans as much as Maxis does. The rest just get on with it. The game is ready when it’s ready and fans accept it. But those devs don’t interact with their communities the way Maxis does, it’s not a bad thing but there’s no expectation on the devs to talk about future content. My Husband cannot discuss what he is working on in public, he’s not allowed to disclose who he works for on social media. If you asked him what he’s working on right he couldn’t tell you. He isn’t allowed too. But he doesn’t have to communicate with fans and I for one am very, very glad. But it’s two very different communities with different expectations.
In that sense Maxis is the same with upcoming paid content. And when there are no patches or free dlc on any platform, their hands are tied and they can’t tell us what’s coming, I question what would be the purpose of the stream but I expect it’s a case of the back lash from not streaming may be worse than streaming if they aren’t showing off content for the game. Because there’s the expectation of wanting to know what’s coming next (which I’m not saying is a bad thing) some get inpatient if it’s been a month or two without news. Some get inpatient if they haven’t had any dlc to purchase in that time frame! There’s a very strong vibe of “What’s coming next” all the time. Come on to the forums a week or two after we get paid dlc and there will be at least one thread questioning what’s next. Which is not a bad thing neccasarily but it appears some want to know all the plans all the time and that’s not a realistic expectation.
Ok, I should have been more specific. If they were being paid, they weren't being paid for creating Sims content specifically. So they chose to spend their time doing something new for the Sims, when they could have been doing something else.
It has been stated already that this was not a paid sponsership. I understand why people would assume that, since that's how our world works now, but Kate has said that, in this case, there was no sponsorship.
I agree with everything you wrote in this post.
The only thing I, and I say this as a fan of Maxis, can’t really comprehend is the thought of “all things Maxis”.
Maxis is nowhere near as big as it once was (which I am very disappointed about). The only titles to Maxis’ name right now are The Sims 4 and the currently active, cash-grab apps (which will undoubtedly be pulled off within 10 years time going by the pattern). SimCity has been shelved and ignored, and the previous iterations of The Sims on PC, MySims, and Spore are simply categorized as classics by Maxis themselves. I’m not TS4’s biggest fan, but what else is Maxis today, other than TS4? Where would it be without it, other than reduced to a tiny vendor in the App Store?
Truly, there isn’t much else to Maxis right now, and I can’t see myself tuning into the stream for something like smart speakers. TS4 should be touched upon in the streams in some manner, otherwise a good portion of fans will just catch ‘CliffNotes’ on SimsVIP. This is just my opinion, I know others feel different, and I wouldn’t want that taken away from them. I just feel neglecting to engage TS4 fans, even without news, is a mistake.
So I can see why they probably wouldn’t admit in advance if the stream was something not focused totally on the pc version, as I said I think had they focused on the mobile or console version, the backlash would have been way, way worse. I suppose as Kate said it’s about trying to get a balance.
Not at all! We totally expect that not every little thing we do will have 100% support across the whole community. In fact, we expect that EVERYTHING we do will NOT have 100% support across the community. There are so many different ways to play The Sims and so many aspects to it that there is no way to please everyone at the same time. Which is part of the reason we release such varied content at such a quick pace. Don't like what's being offered today (for free or paid)? Tomorrow is right around the corner with new things to evaluate and choose between.
We love what we do, love this community, and will keep busting our humps everyday for you and this game!
I would guess most of us love these products and what work you guys do or we wouldn't be here. Animators are my favorite people, however, I respect those who bring magic of programming to life. It's just business and never personal.
Thanks for replying!
I figured you realise that not eveyone will like every thing, but I'm guessing some of the reactions you got to this were unexpected!
Anyway, I'm glad you guys are still as enthusiastic as ever! Thanks for your hard work and I look forward to seeing what you come up with next
No I believe more people have android phones then ios. I myself have an android phone the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 but the Alexa App works for android and ios.
I'm so glad y'all did get that out before the holiday cause I was one of the ones who had the Errror 102 bug and this patch fixed my save asap.
Alexa is a smart assistant developed by Amazon. Think Smart Speakers and Smart Displays aka Amazon Echo but Amazon has also intergrated Alexa into smart phones and cars now.
You know when I first heard about this Alexa feature for The Sims, I thought it was like when we read about doing stuff on our phones that would work with the game like tell your Sim to gain a skill. Do you remember reading about all that, we were reading about when TS4 was first announced. Lol, I might need to go to bed sometimes. I thought this was that. Where we could tell the thing to make our Sims do stuff.
That's why I was wondering why this app was only for Androids. lol I didn't know it's just music and such run through Alexa. Not for me, but whatever floats your boat. It's not something I would be impressed with. Let me fix that statement. My bad grammar is showing. It's not something that would impress me.
The Alexa App has a version for IOS and a Version for Android.
I disagree with the upset customer argument. Firstly, the ones that are upset are not that many, they just make themselves more visible. There are many more who watched it and said absolutely nothing. I don't have an Alexa so I had no interest in this announcement. Did I yell at the devs "give me what I want! Where are the bug fixes?!"? No, I just closed the stream and got on with it. There is no need for an opinion of any kind, and there is also no need to let any opinion you have be known. Maybe this is an age or culture thing, I'm not sure.
I also disagree with the "what players want" argument. A lot of people want a lot of different things, and even more people don't know what they want. It's just a general statement no more specific than a horoscope reading. Some people love occult life states, some don't want to touch it, who's more right? More examples here: https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/953943/things-other-people-want-that-you-dont-care-for