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Respect for the player in Sims 4
jtravers88
Posts: 591 Member
Besides the obvious, like updates taking priority over new content, player control needs to be respected and here are some examples.
1) Neighborhoods don't set curfews on a regular basis. Families decide when their children need to come home at night. I'm playing a game now where an entire school is being absconded by the police for being out after curfew, right out of the school building, at 1 a.m.
2) Do NOT force the player to obey an interaction, like SCOLDING. Allow it to be cancelled at the very least. If you disrespect the player base with something like this you'll suffer the usual problems of an offline game.
3) Don't kill user interactions in queue so that a random sim can get an autograph. This is so frustrating as are my other examples.
Basically, don't presume that you can force the player to do anything.
1) Neighborhoods don't set curfews on a regular basis. Families decide when their children need to come home at night. I'm playing a game now where an entire school is being absconded by the police for being out after curfew, right out of the school building, at 1 a.m.
2) Do NOT force the player to obey an interaction, like SCOLDING. Allow it to be cancelled at the very least. If you disrespect the player base with something like this you'll suffer the usual problems of an offline game.
3) Don't kill user interactions in queue so that a random sim can get an autograph. This is so frustrating as are my other examples.
Basically, don't presume that you can force the player to do anything.
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One of the things that really, really constricted how I play was the town shuting down at around eleven p.m. in TS3. I hated that feature. It didn't matter to me open world/closed world. If I want to take my Sim somewhere at four a.m...I wanted the shops etc. to be open.
This is one thing I really disliked in TS3's 'reality' features.
I get whims in Sim games..and well..I should be able to make a Sim go anywhere at any time is the way I see it. With this so prevalent in TS3 it made me feel I was playing a version of the game the Devs thought I should play instead of how I normally played TS1 and TS2...my way...
Sims go anywhere, any time...wasn't possible..
I also hated in AL EP in TS2..when they introduced 'greet' before meet..hated it. One reason was because the Sim had to greet someone first..but it also overrode the things I had queued up for my Sim to do on community lots. Know what I mean?
My Sims were constanstly interuppted to 'greet' a Sim that was wanting to shake their hand...drove me crazy! Even if I had made them go to a lot to work as a barista or whatever..a Sim would knock that out of queue and my Sim would stop working (for spare money) and have to greet them..there still isn't a mod today to make that stop happening in TS2.. :x
It was carried over to TS3..greet before you meet..and I still hate it.
It's too realistic..and very, very annoying...a step not necessary..and a waste of animation budget.
Other Sims' autonoumous wants shouldn't over ride what I queued up for my Sim to do..ever.
It's always been aggravating to me, too.
It's the main reason I don't like Generations much.
Always let the player be able to cancel an action....
Yes BUT this is a worldwide game . I personally want to be able to have my teens going out on dates without having to come home at some unwanted curfew time . I would also like them to be able to go to a club and meet other teens there like Sims2 had NOT just adults even if it means EA decide to make teenage community clubs for TS4.
Doesn't matter that it's a world-wide game; it's a world-wide game set in a fictional counterpart of America (that's what SimNation is, which was established clear back in the original SimCity, and it is a Simlish-speaking nation with a national currency of the simoleon).
And they always base game decisions off current real-world American trends...
Agree with this thread and this post as well.
It seems like they've tried to change this in many ways in TS3, one I'm thinking of is the removal of the Santa sim in TS3 when it was added in both TS1 and TS2. I wonder if this had anything to do with it.
Not always . there are plenty of things that are not American based in the game . Makin magic and witches was based on the Harry Potter films and brought in while they were constantly in the news and a trend at the time . Also a lot of the neighbourhoods and themes are based on other countries NOT America
Harry Potter was trending in America at the time Making Magic was released. In fact, it's still trending a bit.
Take a look at every single one of those other nations, then take a look at trends in America at the time. Aurora Skies? Iceland has been trending a lot due to their green initiatives (notice how green-focused that entire neighborhood is?). Barnacle Bay is because of Pirate of the Caribbean movies. Supernatural because of Twilight and a few TV shows trending in the U.S.
I could go on, but I don't need to. Every single one of those was a real-world American trend around the time the EP or world was released. As much as you may like to argue otherwise... reality doesn't agree with you. Even the clothes they choose are based on current American trends or American perceptions... they actually got a lot of the clothes for Egypt completely wrong when they did World Adventures. And the way they dressed the Chinese is not accurate to that culture in the modern era either, but is accurate to American perceptions of that culture. Once you begin to spot the glaring mistakes... it becomes obvious which culture they're actually basing it off of.
And I know I'm being a bit harsh in my wording. I don't agree with EA doing it either. But, EA is.
Just a shame how SOME people think everything revolves around where they live and NO other country
last i am sayng on this
Have a nice day
And at this point, I'm disappointed.
You think I could make this up and get away with it? Maybe in 1980, but this is the internet era. It is extremely easy to check on what I have said about trends and such using the internet, especially as related to a game made after the internet became commonly used. It is also extremely easy to post evidence I am wrong on any claim I made about trends.
So, yes, I have to have that info correct and accurate... because you can use Google to verify it for yourself.
That is why I told you to take a look a the trends in America... because you can. Because it's easy to do so. Because you can either verify what I say or post irrefutable evidence I'm full of crap, and you can do it for every single store set, venue, world, stuff pack, and expansion pack released. So if I am full of crap, you can prove what creek I'm on and demonstrate my lack of paddles.
But, you would rather say I'm making this up. Nice.
*smh*
Charmed-American
Buffy-American
Sabrina-American
HP is just barely starting (British)
2000-present
HP has a major base now (British)
Supernatural (American)
Grimm (American)
Once Upon a Time. (American)
Twilight (American).
Hunger Games (American)
In a sense we're in a Renaissance of magical TV shows.
Don't need to get caught without a way out of even a reason for getting caught. Being right off their home lot isn't a reason.
The only things that should break action commands are emergencies, or incidents that are really attention getting and you would expect a sim to stop and take notice.
I have to agree with everything you say. Sometimes I like to set my sims loose to see what happens on their own, but if I've lined up a list of commands it bugs the heck out of me that the game cancels them :x
I agree with the OP. These options need to be set by the player.
I don't understand the whole curfew thing, if player wants one of their children out that late what difference does it make, there's no boogie man who's gonna get them.
If play you different time periods, it's actually realistic for a male child or teen to still be out and about. I know plenty of baby boomers who did this on a regular basis.
And, how do the police just know the moment they break curfew that they are out?
I also agree with the queue shouldn't be broken for an autograph. And, if they can't make fame any better than they did this time around they shouldn't even bother. It's not like Superstar, Night Life fame is not glamourous or fun it's just a nuisance: a disease that sim can catch by shaking another sim's hand. (Literally, this actually happened in my game.)
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