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EA silence on family play and family play fans

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  • sparkfairy1sparkfairy1 Posts: 11,453 Member
    Gnarl_Lee wrote: »
    ...or maybe Family play isn't as popular as some of you want it to be...sure, you family players are very vocal and visible but the bottom line is, what do the majority of people want?...clearly there are a lot more people wanting something other than family play out there.

    So you are happy with them releasing unfinished games for a premium price? Thats the main issue here, it is missing because they told us so. If they dont implement that means they are leaving it unfinished always. Thats a dangerous precedent as a consumer.
  • GoldenBuffyGoldenBuffy Posts: 4,025 Member
    Gnarl_Lee wrote: »
    ...or maybe Family play isn't as popular as some of you want it to be...sure, you family players are very vocal and visible but the bottom line is, what do the majority of people want?...clearly there are a lot more people wanting something other than family play out there.

    The "family" style was the concept of the original Sims. And so was Sims 2, and they are the highest selling Sims series, so I don't see what you're trying to say. And even if that were the case, you're saying that it's correct to completely ignore a large group of the Sims community to cater to a minority? The game is the way that it is because the developers assigned to produce it never played the Sims.
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  • Gnarl_LeeGnarl_Lee Posts: 1,014 Member

    Then marketing the Sims as a Life Simulation game will be a lie.

    theres more to life than family
  • GoldenBuffyGoldenBuffy Posts: 4,025 Member
    Yes there is more to life than having a family. But again, is it right to remove that aspect when it has been a clear feature in the game since it's start?
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    It's up to Nancy!
    My YouTube!

  • sparkfairy1sparkfairy1 Posts: 11,453 Member
    Yes there is more to life than having a family. But again, is it right to remove that aspect when it has been a clear feature in the game since it's start?

    Exactly. Family makes the other stuff mean something-your sim meets their soulmate and they live a life with said person and raise kids, or maybe they think a sim is the one and it doesnt work and they find the right one with kids already so you get a blended family. Family gives you so many opportunities, so many dynamic elements to the game. It can make the game deeper for some of us.
  • Writin_RegWritin_Reg Posts: 28,907 Member
    Well from what I see on FB and twitter and all the other places people gather that talk about Sims - the top complaint outside of when are they getting a Mac or console version of Sims 4 - is the toddlers. Tons and tons post about the toddlers practically daily - so it is pretty uniform on the majority of people wanting toddlers that never even come to the forums.

    Even over on Facebook where they get constant replies from "The Sims" people - not a word is ever replied when toddlers come up - so I find that disturbing but yet they run right in to reply to Mac people that they are "working on it". But I am pretty sure they know they are not going to silence the cry for toddlers and by not replying anywhere they are just angering what does appear the majority of players every where.

    I do see a lot less of the teens - well mainly the younger teens don't seem bent out of shape about toddlers - but older teens and above are constantly asking. I will be some angry if all they do is listen to the Tweens and young teens though. Especially seeing i actually like the Sims 4 and I love the thought of the first ep being OFB with Mall like businesses. But that no where lessens my want of the toddlers back in my game so I can get back to enjoying family style play.

    "Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.

    In dreams - I LIVE!
    In REALITY, I simply exist.....

  • sparkfairy1sparkfairy1 Posts: 11,453 Member
    Writin_Reg wrote: »
    Well from what I see on FB and twitter and all the other places people gather that talk about Sims - the top complaint outside of when are they getting a Mac or console version of Sims 4 - is the toddlers. Tons and tons post about the toddlers practically daily - so it is pretty uniform on the majority of people wanting toddlers that never even come to the forums.

    Even over on Facebook where they get constant replies from "The Sims" people - not a word is ever replied when toddlers come up - so I find that disturbing but yet they run right in to reply to Mac people that they are "working on it". But I am pretty sure they know they are not going to silence the cry for toddlers and by not replying anywhere they are just angering what does appear the majority of players every where.

    I do see a lot less of the teens - well mainly the younger teens don't seem bent out of shape about toddlers - but older teens and above are constantly asking. I will be some angry if all they do is listen to the Tweens and young teens though. Especially seeing i actually like the Sims 4 and I love the thought of the first ep being OFB with Mall like businesses. But that no where lessens my want of the toddlers back in my game so I can get back to enjoying family style play.

    Thank you @Writin_Reg. I totally agree.
  • GoldenBuffyGoldenBuffy Posts: 4,025 Member
    My oldest girls, they are teens, LOVE toddlers. After creating their male and female sims they get them into a house and start having babies. Their favorite life stage are toddlers. Then even adjusted the age settings in SimPE to make toddlers last longer. Even my youngest, who is 9 loves the toddlers. LOL So I know that that is a huge point with the Sims, the family aspect. Even if you play where your sims party, have many relationships eventually they are going to have a baby. LOL It happens, I know it's happened plenty of times in my games. It's a life simulator, therefore it should be able to simulate many different aspects of life, no matter how the simmer plays.

    EA is doing a huge dis-service to customer relations and with loyal simmers who have supported them for years. I can't believe a company would treat those who supply them with money by supporting and buying their games in such a fashion. Again, boo, shame on EA.
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  • JaciJadeJaciJade Posts: 1,078 Member
    Gnarl_Lee wrote: »

    Then marketing the Sims as a Life Simulation game will be a lie.

    theres more to life than family
    Considering the game has everything but family play already, there's really no need for another non family EP then is there? Advertising the game as a life simulator and leaving out family play is a lie. Ghost, vampires, werewolves, aliens and all that other nonsense doesn't even remotely represent life since they are all fake to begin with.

    Thank you EA and thank you Maxis..we got our babies back, Yay!
  • Wildley CuriousWildley Curious Posts: 5,349 Member
    Gnarl_Lee wrote: »
    ...or maybe Family play isn't as popular as some of you want it to be...sure, you family players are very vocal and visible but the bottom line is, what do the majority of people want?...clearly there are a lot more people wanting something other than family play out there.

    The "family" style was the concept of the original Sims. And so was Sims 2, and they are the highest selling Sims series, so I don't see what you're trying to say. And even if that were the case, you're saying that it's correct to completely ignore a large group of the Sims community to cater to a minority? The game is the way that it is because the developers assigned to produce it never played the Sims.

    Or never had their own kids. I'm being a little facetious here, but not by much.
    “I was so sure that I knew what they needed and what I wanted to sell them that I never stopped long enough to find out what it was they wanted to buy.”
    ― Chris Murray, The Extremely Successful Salesman's Club
  • sparkfairy1sparkfairy1 Posts: 11,453 Member
    My oldest girls, they are teens, LOVE toddlers. After creating their male and female sims they get them into a house and start having babies. Their favorite life stage are toddlers. Then even adjusted the age settings in SimPE to make toddlers last longer. Even my youngest, who is 9 loves the toddlers. LOL So I know that that is a huge point with the Sims, the family aspect. Even if you play where your sims party, have many relationships eventually they are going to have a baby. LOL It happens, I know it's happened plenty of times in my games. It's a life simulator, therefore it should be able to simulate many different aspects of life, no matter how the simmer plays.

    EA is doing a huge dis-service to customer relations and with loyal simmers who have supported them for years. I can't believe a company would treat those who supply them with money by supporting and buying their games in such a fashion. Again, boo, shame on EA.

    I feel exactly the same way. Purely from a customer relations stand point they should be acknowledging this. Instead of continuing to act like we dont matter.
  • zOmBiEcLoWnzOmBiEcLoWn Posts: 48 Member
    > @JaciJade said:
    >
    > Considering the game has everything but family play already, there's really no need for another non family EP then is there? Advertising the game as a life simulator and leaving out family play is a lie. Ghost, vampires, werewolves, aliens and all that other nonsense doesn't even remotely represent life since they are all fake to begin with.

    Aliens are fake????
  • JaciJadeJaciJade Posts: 1,078 Member
    > @JaciJade said:<br />
    > <br />
    > Considering the game has everything but family play already, there's really no need for another non family EP then is there? Advertising the game as a life simulator and leaving out family play is a lie. Ghost, vampires, werewolves, aliens and all that other nonsense doesn't even remotely represent life since they are all fake to begin with.<br />
    <br />
    Aliens are fake????

    Lol, yes they are. No offense to your avatar there. :D

    Thank you EA and thank you Maxis..we got our babies back, Yay!
  • Wildley CuriousWildley Curious Posts: 5,349 Member
    > @JaciJade said:<br />
    > <br />
    > Considering the game has everything but family play already, there's really no need for another non family EP then is there? Advertising the game as a life simulator and leaving out family play is a lie. Ghost, vampires, werewolves, aliens and all that other nonsense doesn't even remotely represent life since they are all fake to begin with.<br />
    <br />
    Aliens are fake????

    Thanks for the laugh! :smiley: I needed that.
    “I was so sure that I knew what they needed and what I wanted to sell them that I never stopped long enough to find out what it was they wanted to buy.”
    ― Chris Murray, The Extremely Successful Salesman's Club
  • Gnarl_LeeGnarl_Lee Posts: 1,014 Member
    lol jeez you guys...I never said it shouldn't be included...it definitely should, and is...and more will come, you just have to be patient!....including Toddlers isn't going to magically "fix" the whole game....theres more to The Sims than family play...that's all im saying...if its such a huge and inarguable fact that everyone wants family play then why isn't it happening?...you are fighting against reality...spoiler alert! : Reality Wins
  • zOmBiEcLoWnzOmBiEcLoWn Posts: 48 Member
    I rarely played the toddlers in TS3. I would just age them up to avoid the hassle. What I would like is some way to tell the difference between a teen and young adult. Cassandra Goth aged up, but still looks like a teen.
  • sparkfairy1sparkfairy1 Posts: 11,453 Member
    Gnarl_Lee wrote: »
    lol jeez you guys...I never said it shouldn't be included...it definitely should, and is...and more will come, you just have to be patient!....including Toddlers isn't going to magically "fix" the whole game....theres more to The Sims than family play...that's all im saying...if its such a huge and inarguable fact that everyone wants family play then why isn't it happening?...you are fighting against reality...spoiler alert! : Reality Wins

    The issue is many of us feel we have been patient. We cant enjoy the game, so keep telling people to be patient and those customers will disappear. Thats fine if we arent good enough for EA to want our custom, we would just rather know now than in six months time to be told oh well too bad toddlers arent ever coming in 4.

  • sparkfairy1sparkfairy1 Posts: 11,453 Member
    I rarely played the toddlers in TS3. I would just age them up to avoid the hassle. What I would like is some way to tell the difference between a teen and young adult. Cassandra Goth aged up, but still looks like a teen.

    Many of us agree with you on the teen issue. But you had the option to age them up. EA has deprived us of toddlers at all, theres where the problem lies. No opportunity to play as we like.
  • Sk8rblazeSk8rblaze Posts: 7,570 Member
    blewis823 wrote: »
    That's another case of EA trying to force the game into another form, be it RPG, MMO, or whatever the cool thing to do. I remember SimGuru Graham telling us at MTS this game was created for those that don't visit the forums and find the past iterations too hard. Either the hard core simmers would have to jump on board or be passed by. Well, lots of the hardcore simmers decided to let it past by, they don't want to jump on board with a game that doesn't have true fans simming in mind. Now EA wants to send out surveys, open up threads for ideas. Why now? I know you all didn't want us to give any suggestions before, but asking now for ideas looks very suspicious. Didn't it all work out the way you wanted? Now you want to cater to the hardcore simmer? Again I SMH.

    @blewis823 Could you link us to the MTS post where Graham had said that?

    IMHO, that's enough to turn me off from this gen of Sims completely.
  • AnavastiaAnavastia Posts: 6,515 Member
    Sparkfairy i just couldn't agree more. If anything this game just makes me feel totally removed from the series. I'm a generational family player, it's just the worst to see an entire series throw out what you found so great about the sims for over 10 years. I don't feel at all it can be solved with a generations ep.

    Are dev's willing to add back toddlers? Not only that but advance their play and design? Are they willing to fix the babies and add in nursery content and more interactions? Are the willing to flesh out the other life stages at all with better designs and concepts? Nothing in this base game screams they will or that the game is capable of such at all in the first place. It just feels like another series dedicated to young adult females and the single bro's. Doing immature things like angry poops and peeing like champions. I like humour but sims humor has always been cleaver and witty, toliet humor is just disgusting.....
  • Writin_RegWritin_Reg Posts: 28,907 Member
    Gnarl_Lee wrote: »
    ...or maybe Family play isn't as popular as some of you want it to be...sure, you family players are very vocal and visible but the bottom line is, what do the majority of people want?...clearly there are a lot more people wanting something other than family play out there.

    The "family" style was the concept of the original Sims. And so was Sims 2, and they are the highest selling Sims series, so I don't see what you're trying to say. And even if that were the case, you're saying that it's correct to completely ignore a large group of the Sims community to cater to a minority? The game is the way that it is because the developers assigned to produce it never played the Sims.

    Or never had their own kids. I'm being a little facetious here, but not by much.

    As far as most of the Devs go - they actually have toddlers - which is ironic. Several has mentioned that fact during some of the playing with Sims 4 videos. Actually one of the requirements to work on the Sims is they need to be a Sims player and know the game well. It is in all the requirements for any job at EA to work on the Sims. So neither of those assumptions are correct.


    "Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.

    In dreams - I LIVE!
    In REALITY, I simply exist.....

  • sparkfairy1sparkfairy1 Posts: 11,453 Member
    edited November 2014
    SelenaGrey wrote: »

    From what I've gathered the people who are most disappointed with The Sims 4 want toddlers. They want the game to recognize great grand parents for their legacies. They want a family tree. There is nothing for these types of players in The Sims 4.

    Please don't interpret this as me trying to stir up controversy but I'm genuinely curious - do "toddlers" simply represent "full lifestages" or, as I've hypothesized in other responses here - do they simply represent a feeling of lack of deep family gameplay? Is it because you want those "teaching" moments?

    See THIS is why I worry. This is back in september. In the EA/Maxis silence thread. Since then we have had nothing more said on the family subject. Its like if they pretend we dont exist then that will work and we will all get used to being treated this way. Im sorry, I wont.
    In case anyone is interested they were fully aware of the issues people had regarding family because some wonderful community members engaged and went into a deep explanation of what was missing. After all this it feels wrong that we havent moved forward with this at all. @SelenaGrey had it right here. Shes totally on the money. Click the further quote thing to read her comment :-)

    http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/790584/ea-maxis-silence/p22 here is the link to the post. Feel free to read through and see how clear it was made on a lot of issues-and in a really nice way too.
  • sparkfairy1sparkfairy1 Posts: 11,453 Member
    Anavastia wrote: »
    Sparkfairy i just couldn't agree more. If anything this game just makes me feel totally removed from the series. I'm a generational family player, it's just the worst to see an entire series throw out what you found so great about the sims for over 10 years. I don't feel at all it can be solved with a generations ep.

    Are dev's willing to add back toddlers? Not only that but advance their play and design? Are they willing to fix the babies and add in nursery content and more interactions? Are the willing to flesh out the other life stages at all with better designs and concepts? Nothing in this base game screams they will or that the game is capable of such at all in the first place. It just feels like another series dedicated to young adult females and the single bro's. Doing immature things like angry poops and peeing like champions. I like humour but sims humor has always been cleaver and witty, toliet humor is just disgusting.....

    I worry they arent purely because its not easy. It may not be but its incredibly important if you want the sims 4 to appeal to a wide audience. Im totally with you on toilet humour too.
  • sparkfairy1sparkfairy1 Posts: 11,453 Member
    Writin_Reg wrote: »
    Gnarl_Lee wrote: »
    ...or maybe Family play isn't as popular as some of you want it to be...sure, you family players are very vocal and visible but the bottom line is, what do the majority of people want?...clearly there are a lot more people wanting something other than family play out there.

    The "family" style was the concept of the original Sims. And so was Sims 2, and they are the highest selling Sims series, so I don't see what you're trying to say. And even if that were the case, you're saying that it's correct to completely ignore a large group of the Sims community to cater to a minority? The game is the way that it is because the developers assigned to produce it never played the Sims.

    Or never had their own kids. I'm being a little facetious here, but not by much.

    As far as most of the Devs go - they actually have toddlers - which is ironic. Several has mentioned that fact during some of the playing with Sims 4 videos. Actually one of the requirements to work on the Sims is they need to be a Sims player and know the game well. It is in all the requirements for any job at EA to work on the Sims. So neither of those assumptions are correct.

    Yeah I wouldnt assume that. And I have no kids yet but love toddlers :-)
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