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Make-yourself-simulator vs dollhouse simulator
thesimmer14
Posts: 393 Member
Has anyone noticed the shift in marketing? It seems as if they're catering to a very specific kind of escapism.
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A lot more talk from devs and spokesmen about playing self and or self, self, self. A lot more push back from those we never met before on any forums with low post numbers about self, and representation. More and more about safe spaces ads and how the series had saved them from dispair and or helped with a bad life. Even commercials advertising this game is about safe spaces and self saving from bad lives. It's all gone weird because dang I thought The Sims was about entertainment all these years. I didn't know it was about safe spaces and myself or even supposed to represent me or anyone else. I thought it was a series about my unlimited imagination. Obvivously, I have been wrong.
Not that "making yourself" or "playing dollhouse" (which I see as the less smitey and puppet-masterish version of "playing God") haven't also been legitimate playstyles since the inception of the franchise. It's just that "playing God"/"playing the author" is the way that I've always approached and enjoyed these games. My first ever save in TS2 was just me recreating my OC's in a custom world where characters from different universes (and, yes, my imagination landscape is a multiverse, it's that crazy active) would cross paths, become friends or rivals, and get into all sorts of trouble in this digital world they've suddenly been dropped into because their creator is a sick, sick woman. From there, I've orchestrated elaborate plans for sims from birth involving who they will marry, what they will do for a living, what sort of supernatural weirdness with plague or bless them, how many kids they'll have, and who their kids will eventually become. That's why I've never been fond of heavy story progression. It's like someone else going behind my back and messing with my elaborate plans without my permission...and I'm big on keeping creative control over my creations.
Honestly, I think that both the "Dollhouse" approach and the "Fantasy Life" approach to marketing this franchise are totally missing one of the best angles of these games. Control the World. Be the Puppet Master. Bless and Smite. Build and Destroy. Pamper and Torment. Play Matchmaker or Home Wrecker. It's Your World, The Sims Are Just Living In It.
...Man, they should be paying me to make their marketing campaigns instead of some suits who only know how to market games through controversy or glitter-bombs...
Actually it's back to the Sims 2 and 3 (and early Sims 4) marketing. The Dollhouse Simulator ads has actually always been in the minority for the Sim games.
@SimsLovinLycan absolutely the same. I came to Sims 1 from the other Sim games and I have always labeled them as a God simulator.
I have not noticed this at all. Please explain what you mean?
The forced in the pocket cell phone as soon as the toddler pops out if the bassinet is an example. Also, the sims gravitating more toward electronics for fun. I enjoy setting my game to play in a past era, you know where there is no cell phone or even computers were common place. There is furniture to fit the aesthetics of the past eras, from victorian style to 1950's style as examples. But, the gameplay for a majority of careers and the way the devs set up the phone needed for many tasks and travel. It makes it impossible to play the way I prefer without heavily modding. In other iterations, it was not as difficult to play the way I desire. If it takes me 200+ hours just to set up a game file to be somewhat playable, that is a very telling. My guess is you don't mind the sims with constant tech addiction, as it fits your playstyle.
Now, the game is just wish fulfillment for having a "perfect" life. Yawn!!
We have had this discussion. I simply does not consider this a valid complaint for reasons I have already stated. Again, Sims 4 takes place in the modern world. The fact that you still can use the mailbox for as much things as you can is actually becoming unrealistic already.
I know the US is behind Europe (not being obnoxious, I have an American wife and have spent a lot of time in the US) like actually paying people by check still (!!!), something that stopped in Sweden around 1982 (not exaggerating). After that it was automatic bank transfers only. But even taking that in consideration... For me, as a Swede, not having a smart phone I guess is like for an American to not have a car. Virtually unheard of.
It is a valid complaint. The game has the requirement of sims using the phone or computer for everything as the main weakness and flaw.
As for your other comments, would you be surprised that some people do not even own any credit cards? I have not written a check in almost 20 years, but I also refuse to do electronic payments for almost everything. Many places add a "convenience fee" to use an electronic payment and I REFUSE to pay that. Personally I use cash or a cashier's check (printed by the bank) for most things. My debit card hardly even gets used unless I have to. There are many like me, I know even in Europe there are people like me.
I agree, I am European and don't have a credit card either and don't like how they try to force electronic payment on everyone. A year ago or so, there was even some talking about getting rid of physical money completely in the favor of electronic payment, which I just don't feel comfortable with at all. I just prefer real money instead of digital one. I also dislike things like e-books, they're just not the same as holding a real book imo. I am not even that old, I am only 19 and have friends around the same age who think the same. Then again, countries like Sweden generally have a different attitude towards these things, with things like electronic payment being much more normalized over there than in the USA or Germany.
As for the actual topic of the thread, I party agree. I also noticed a shift in the way the game has been advertised more as a create-yourself-game than a virtual dollhouse, but I feel like this already started at the very beginning of TS4. I already said it in another thread, but I feel like it's their way of catering to a bigger audience than before. Many people would say The Sims is a "girl game" because of the dollhouse aspect. I could imagine they changed their advertising to attract players of all ages and genders. There were probably many men or older people who felt like they couldn't play the game because they didn't see themselves as the intended target audience. That's just a theory though.
As for the criticism of the game being too "modern" for certain playstyles, I definitely get the complaint, and even though it doesn't really bother me, I can understand why people are upset. However, I am afraid it's too late for TS4 to catch up to those players. Even if they'll ever decide to remove the phone and give players the option to buy one manually, this wouldn't change the fact that many of the worlds and their backdrops look too modern to play in any era before the 20th century. I'd just advise those players to get TS3. It has many medieval looking custom worlds for example, which are perfect for gameplay like this. It also has more options for old-school alternatives, like newspapers, landlines etc. Let's face it, TS4 isn't made for this kind of gameplay.
I like to build stuff
In the beginning (The Sims) was about can you keep you "family" alive. There was challenge. There was a bit of family play, just not multiple generations over time. It was also about did the sims approve of the house design. Never saw it to be a about only playing a single sim that only liked to party.
It absolutely is a valid complaint. The Sims 4 is a sandbox game. You know what else isn't realistic? Vampires. The Sims 4 has them.
I don't see what's so obscene or out there about catering to people who want to set their game in different eras or setting styles. The Sims 3 did this. Into the Future, Dragon Valley, there was a whole Steampunk set on the store, etc. The Sims 4 has nothing like this. I think a Victorian themed pack would be super cool. The issue is the lack of Create-A-World. You should be able to create your own world theme, and add existing sub neighborhoods, like in The Sims 2.
Does San Myshuno not fit in with the play style you're using for one save file, but you still enjoy City Living as a whole? Just don't add it to that file! It'd be such a simple fix, and The Sims 2 could do it, albeit save files were handled differently.
Magnezone, the lover of Calientes, Lotharios, Landgraabs and Curiouses everywhere.
...Not how sandboxes work.
Roller Coaster Tycoon is a sandbox game. But you can't sway too far from the original premise anyway. You still have to build modern amusement parks. And so on.
As for the rest... If you start adding different eras to the game (and do it correctly, so no phone and whatnot)... who decides which ones? Because i am definitely not interested in a Sci fi one OR a Victorian one (19th century is the most boring century I know of). If you get a victorian pack, then I should have the right to expect a Pre-Roman Persian pack.
Quite frankly if they open that can of worm, they really should be obligated to release on pack per age, at least. One stone age, one bronze age, one iron age, etc. Because why should I be left out?
(Now if they give another community pack, and you can vote for a period pack? Go for it. That's fine; no voted on packs so far interest me anyway)
You do realise The Sims 3's towns were all designed after different eras and places, right?
"The Future" from Into The Future was futuristic, as was Lunar Lakes, Twinbrooke was very 50-60s era in the style of its Sims (clothes and hair styles of many premades - though some like DeAndre Wolff were not), Riverview had a very dated southern feel but not being American its difficult to put my finger in it, Dragon Valley was high fantasy middle ages, Barnacle Bay (I honestly nearly wrote 🐸🐸🐸🐸 Bay before going 'wait that's not right') had a pirate/sailor theme to it, etc etc.
There's nothing wrong with adding stylistic choices. I just wish there was a way by default to stop the game from randomly generating townies that don't fit into whatever theme you're going for, and well, create a world tool.
Edit: got autocensored, word I said wasn't a swear. It's the name of the Goblin harbor town in the south of the Eastern Kingdoms in WoW. If you know, you know.
Magnezone, the lover of Calientes, Lotharios, Landgraabs and Curiouses everywhere.
I only played Sunset Valley until the City pack came out, and then I played that. The reason? Because you were locked into a world, the City one was the ONLY map I could fit everything I wanted into the world and still have actual households. Because of the fact that you had an "open" world which didn't let you leave that world.
I never liked Riverview compared to Sunset valley; I would have loved to play in Twinbrooke but the map was so small you had to sacrifice 90% of things you got in expansion packs if you wanted to play there and so on.
Besides, the "feel" has nothing to do with actual settings; Oasis Springs is modeled after a (when it was built) very modern 60's suburb to Las Vegas. But it doesn't mean it is taking place in the 60's. Neither does the fact that Twinbrook is New Orleans mean it "takes place in the past" unless you believe that IRL New Orleans is in the past?
Oh my god. You actually really are trying to argue this. They are absolutely intended to be set in the era they're based on. I don't know what to tell you.
You think this family is intended to be a "modern day New Orleans" family? This is the Castor family from Twinbrook.
Ignoring that, lets put Twinbrook to the side for now, how can you argue this when DRAGON VALLEY is clearly supposed to be high fantasy medieval? Even ALL OF THE SIMS there are dressed in fantasy clothing! Dragon Valley is not set in modern day. There is absolutely no point in trying to tell you this if you're going to ignore the very basic realities of the game - thematically (and even in lore, look it up, Sunset Valley, Twinbrook and Riverview are set 50 years before The Sims 2, which we can assume was set in 2004), these locations are based on the past, and whether or not you played in them is completely irrelevant. Sure, you can place modern things if you like, but we're not arguing that. They shouldn't be fundamental to the game to do basic things, there should be alternatives for people who want to play this way.
For example! In The Sims 3 you could go to a rabbit hole and apply to a job in person. You could register as self employed at the Town Hall. You could basically opt out of using the phone entirely, except for things like throwing parties. The only thing you really needed a PC for was writing skill.
There is even an Off The Grid lot trait in The Sims 4 game, for people who don't want houses with running electricity, yet you still need a PC to do so much, so what's the point in it?
Magnezone, the lover of Calientes, Lotharios, Landgraabs and Curiouses everywhere.
As I said, I never played Twinbrooke, really; the few times I tried I got so annoyed I couldn't fit everything I wanted in that I started over on another map, as usual. I guess I missed that; they were ugly so I never talked to them. (Who me shallow?)
I stand corrected, you have a point. Especially about Dragon Valley. I never played that; I had stopped playing Sims 3 before that came out (I got less and less interested in it and I quit after the Supernatural pack came out (I still regret buying that; I bough it, spent a weekend making fairies, then quit Sims 3 and never started it again).
Anyway, point is, you are right; I am wrong.
However, having different towns set in different eras does not work if you can travel between them freely. And that is the one benefit Sims 4 has over all the other games: You are not locked in the world you start in. And if I have to chose between the two? Heck yes I take Sims 4's approach EVERY. TIME. Being locked in one world felt so very very limiting in Sims 3 after the charade of the "Open world" is clear to you (Yay you can go everywhere but you can never leave).
So, what is needed here if you want to play a new era is simply a spinoff. Like Castaway or Medieval. That's the only way this will function. And that I am all for, btw. I would probably buy a new "Sims 4" Medieval.
I addressed this in the post I agreed with the idea initially.
In The Sims 2, I could add sub-neighborhoods with any theme I liked. They were listed as "Downtown" and "Business District", but they were essentially just new neighborhoods you could build from scratch, and didn't really have a unique function from the base neighborhood as opposed to the college campuses and vacation neighborhoods, as far as I can tell. People even took the other neighborhoods in the game and converted them to sub-neighborhoods, allowing people to make what is referred to as "megahoods", which are essentially the same as The Sims 4 - all the neighborhoods combined into one save file. So not only did you have the option to add any neighborhoods you like, but you had the option to keep ones you didn't want out too, without needing to entirely uninstall the pack.
I'd also love a new Sims Medieval, playing up the fantasy elements way more. Contrary to popular opinion, that is. But it absolutely flopped sales-wise, so it's not happening
Magnezone, the lover of Calientes, Lotharios, Landgraabs and Curiouses everywhere.
My problem with Medieval was the fixed perspective and the complete change of gameplay. It was what first turned me off of Strangerville btw (now I actually like the expansion and especially the world); I was had bad memories of the whole "point and click adventure" thing that Medieval had going.
And I think that was the reason for the flop in general; it was not the Sims. It was... something else. The humor was on point, the character design was on point... but the rest? It was a very shallow point and click adventure where you could not actually build your own castle but just peek thru the front windows of it.
It needs elves though. Actual elves! Not people with pointed ears, which is what I made them like in Medieval when I wanted someone to be elven.
Magnezone, the lover of Calientes, Lotharios, Landgraabs and Curiouses everywhere.
I NEVER play with my simself to escape my miserable life into an alternate reality (sounds mentally unhealthy) and I never play a game to feel safe. I've been playing games since I was a small child and it was for nothing more than ENTERTAINING Mindless fun. And that's why I play the sims now. That and creating stories. And as stated above I want drama, good, evil, danger, safety, all of it! The fun part is having the choice! In sims 4 I struggle to get out of the "safe space"