Having a T rating and being an international game means EA has to cater to nations that don't exactly agree with what the States finds acceptable in terms of language, nudity, etc. Unless the servers are aggressively moderated - which would cost a fortune in manpower alone - I don't see it happening. Just my opinion.
This happens all the time, with mmorpgs being rated T and the abuse and nonsense happens anyway behind filters similar to the one used on this forum. The logic they use seems to be something like, well, you agreed to obey the rules, we can't be held responsible if your parents weren't watching. I've seen some really terrible things happen in those games *shudder* which is why if I play them at all, I stick with a small group of nice people and turn all public chats off. Some companies are better than others with monitoring and punishing infractions, but there's really no major consequence if they allow a toxic environment (losing a few customers who get offended costs less than hiring all that extra staff). In one of these games, my friend and I were followed in game and taunted with racial slurs for no reason. Took the company 2 months to even respond to the ticket I sent. Needless to say, I left, and they didn't get a penny from me. This is why I'm eternally grateful that the sims isn't online. Don't even have to worry about this nonsense.
I'm probably going to offend / upset some people here but I feel very very strongly about this topic. I'm going to be very one-sided and even probably a bit biased & selfish. I hope no one takes it personally because it isn't intended that way.
The thing that irritates me more than anything about the ones who repeatedly ask for online elements to be added into the game is they often don't stop and think about what that actually means for the game (in fairness I don't think it is everyone - but a lot of people seem to have deluded themselves on this). I think some people are genuinely convinced you could take a game like The Sims, turn it into an online game and have it play exactly the same when the fact of the matter is it wouldn't and couldn't.
I'm of the opinion that this obsession (because that's what I think it is - not just related to this game but in general) with taking games online is ridiculous. Not every single game needs to be multiplayer / online to be enjoyable and not every single game SHOULD be multiplayer / online. Yes there have been some fantastic games that have introduced both a good single player mode and a good online / multiplayer mode but for the most part what seems to happen, from my experience, is that the multiplayer / online play is either added on as an after thought so it's absolutely rubbish or it has been added in at the cost of the main game so the main game is rubbish.
If we're talking a completely separate, un-related game that just so happens to have The Sims in the title (because let's face it, that's exactly what an online version of the game would become anyway) then I honestly have no problem with it. The people who want the game to be online can buy that and my single player experience can be left alone, unhindered by all that unnecessary rubbish.
However, call me selfish or whatever but I will fight tooth and nail to keep that nonsense out of the main game, including an "optional" online element since EA don't even seem to understand what optional means anyway (I.E. Showtime with the mandatory Simporting to unlock objects).
Edit: Shortened ever so slightly, I think I ended up repeating myself at one point so yeah ^_^;
You're right, you are going to make an eye or two twitch not by your professed disdain for the concept of an online sims, but the totally dishonest way you go about presenting it. YES you could make a game like the sims that is multiplayer and it be the same game as any other sims game. You say that "not every game needs to be online" and that suggests that you even know that it could be done. Wanting this or that game to have a multiplayer option is now an "obsession?" See again, its your combative choice of words that would totally steal the glory away from any real argument you could have outside of how you feel about it personally. I could also say the same, that some people have this "obsession" to preserve sims' sacred single player status. Catch phrases like "I will fight tooth and nail" seem quite a bit more "obsessed" than "hey if you made that I would buy it." Just saying.
I disagree. Perhaps it's possible for EA to make a game just like a any other sim game and put it online. But I can almost guarantee you that they will not do that. The Sims has always been a game rated Teen and above and I do not believe they will ever risk changing that rating by allowing all age stages in an online multi-player game.
Take this game, change nothing other than make it multiplayer, are you saying that the game under that pretense would need to be rated above teen?
If so, then this game needs to be rated above teen now, and since when am I supposed to gauge what I do or don't want in video games over mine or others' predictions about what EA will do or not?
When I first got into The Sims Online, I was under the impression that I would be able to play it in the same way that I could play The Sims; only, since my first experience with online multi-player gaming was Ultima Online with its open world and vibrant towns, I thought my avatar would be free to move around, and I could buy her a small house and take my own sweet time and explore the world. Boy, was *I* wrong!
Those of you who are old enough to remember and were actually members of the Sims Online community will understand where I'm coming from. @Vlaxitov, there is no way that EA can make an online version of The Sims 4 by just taking the current game, slapping a multiplayer online label on it and not change the design. It won't work. Although Second Life and Imvu boast that players can now create virtual families, I do wonder how that works, exactly. I expect that the toddlers shown in the pictures are little more than objects.
I'm not going to sit here and say that EA will never make an online version of the Sims. After all, they swore up and down they'd never have teen woohoo, even though the fans wanted it (and teen pregnancy) and yet, here we are, with teens being able to "mess around" (gee, sure looks like woohoo to me!) even though they still can't get "with child" so to speak.
So, yeah, I can see the possibility of them making The Sims Online 2, once they finish with this game. I just hope it's free-to-pay...er...I mean, play. They've already got the template with Sims Free Play. They might as well take that concept and market it for the PC.
EA Marketing Department Motto:
"We Don't Care If You LIKE The Game, Just As Long As You BUY The Game!"
I Disapprove (Naturally) I Took The Pledge!
I want multiplayer but handled correctly! the only way I can see multiplayer working out for the Sims is if they do something like Minecraft. Host a server, and you and the people you invite can create, build, and live together.
It makes me so irritated whenever I'm reminded that there's a petition around here with a relatively large amount of signatures that wants Maxis to add in an online mode to the game completely oblivious to the fact that the last Simcity showed exactly how much damage a forced multiplayer aspect will do to a game about SIMULATION.
They try to justify the stupid idea by saying "BUT WE WANTS IT TO OPTIONAL! HURR DURR!" again being blissfully unaware that EA doesn't understand what optional means and not realizing that pretty much all of TS4's shortcomings came from it being originally developed as a dumb social game like Simcity 2013. The sad thing is that if this continues we might get the final dumbed-down social game in the next iteration of the series because these people fail to understand that the novel concept of playing The Sims with your friends online will wear out fast - just look at The Sims Social on FB and you'll see what I mean.
I'm sorry if this sounds harsh. It's just that every time I see someone request multiplayer for stupid reasons it ticks me off so badly that these were the people Maxis originally wanted to rope in with Olympus and knowing that the toned-down nature of this game is the result of that just adds insult to injury.
What people should consider:
1. The concept of Sims 4 was originally to be an MMO game. It was called "Project Olympus". That got scrapped because of the uproar on SimCity and the Sims 3 Showtime EP. Idk how chances are that EA heads back to the original design considering the latest consumer analysis.
2. It is not possible to make MMO optional. Single player games and MMO need completely different game engines. It would cost way too much money to implement both in one game.
I'm probably going to offend / upset some people here but I feel very very strongly about this topic. I'm going to be very one-sided and even probably a bit biased & selfish. I hope no one takes it personally because it isn't intended that way.
The thing that irritates me more than anything about the ones who repeatedly ask for online elements to be added into the game is they often don't stop and think about what that actually means for the game (in fairness I don't think it is everyone - but a lot of people seem to have deluded themselves on this). I think some people are genuinely convinced you could take a game like The Sims, turn it into an online game and have it play exactly the same when the fact of the matter is it wouldn't and couldn't.
I'm of the opinion that this obsession (because that's what I think it is - not just related to this game but in general) with taking games online is ridiculous. Not every single game needs to be multiplayer / online to be enjoyable and not every single game SHOULD be multiplayer / online. Yes there have been some fantastic games that have introduced both a good single player mode and a good online / multiplayer mode but for the most part what seems to happen, from my experience, is that the multiplayer / online play is either added on as an after thought so it's absolutely rubbish or it has been added in at the cost of the main game so the main game is rubbish.
If we're talking a completely separate, un-related game that just so happens to have The Sims in the title (because let's face it, that's exactly what an online version of the game would become anyway) then I honestly have no problem with it. The people who want the game to be online can buy that and my single player experience can be left alone, unhindered by all that unnecessary rubbish.
However, call me selfish or whatever but I will fight tooth and nail to keep that nonsense out of the main game, including an "optional" online element since EA don't even seem to understand what optional means anyway (I.E. Showtime with the mandatory Simporting to unlock objects).
Edit: Shortened ever so slightly, I think I ended up repeating myself at one point so yeah ^_^;
You're right, you are going to make an eye or two twitch not by your professed disdain for the concept of an online sims, but the totally dishonest way you go about presenting it. YES you could make a game like the sims that is multiplayer and it be the same game as any other sims game. You say that "not every game needs to be online" and that suggests that you even know that it could be done. Wanting this or that game to have a multiplayer option is now an "obsession?" See again, its your combative choice of words that would totally steal the glory away from any real argument you could have outside of how you feel about it personally. I could also say the same, that some people have this "obsession" to preserve sims' sacred single player status. Catch phrases like "I will fight tooth and nail" seem quite a bit more "obsessed" than "hey if you made that I would buy it." Just saying.
I disagree. Perhaps it's possible for EA to make a game just like a any other sim game and put it online. But I can almost guarantee you that they will not do that. The Sims has always been a game rated Teen and above and I do not believe they will ever risk changing that rating by allowing all age stages in an online multi-player game.
Take this game, change nothing other than make it multiplayer, are you saying that the game under that pretense would need to be rated above teen?
If so, then this game needs to be rated above teen now, and since when am I supposed to gauge what I do or don't want in video games over mine or others' predictions about what EA will do or not?
No, that is not what I am saying at all.
When the current game was the Olympus project, all it had was young adults. This is why when they decided to turn it into an offline single player game, all the other age stages, with the exception of children, were "shoehorned" into the game. Also look at the teensy 'hoods, and the almost total lack of customization to those 'hoods.
I am saying look at the evidence. EA was NOT going to make a 'regular' Sims game and put it online. They were making a game that only had young adults in it. I can't see this changing anytime soon - if they decide to make another online multiplayer game, I would bet it would also only have young adults in it. Simmers have admitted to playing the Sims games at very young ages; it's my opinion that EA does not want the publicity of allowing simulated woohoo/procreation between simmers of all ages, and there is a very wide range of people who play this game. Can't you just imagine the uproar?
Not gonna happen, IMO. That is all.
The Sims
Where are we going, and why am I in this hand basket?!
Also recall the houses of ill repute that sprang up all over The Sims Online game...I don't recall if woohoo was possible in that game, but if it was...that explains a lot. Kids today aren't as innocent as we like to think. They've been exposed to too much too soon, and they don't always understand it all.
The danger in having this franchise turn into an mmorpg is all the griefers that will flood the game and give everyone a hard time, just because they can. I still remember the complaints from the female Sims players who signed up for the Sims Online, because complete random "male" strangers would come up to them and kiss them and hug them, and they had no way to refuse the interaction, until EA changed the menu to where they could say no, and the action would be blocked.
EA Marketing Department Motto:
"We Don't Care If You LIKE The Game, Just As Long As You BUY The Game!"
I Disapprove (Naturally) I Took The Pledge!
Maxis should just give Simmers an Online MMO game for mobile and leave the PC games alone. I mean Sims have already failed like five times trying to go MMO for the PC. They need to give up and try a cheaper platform if they want to risk it again. They have the Sims Freeplay for now and I expect them to continue to make mobile games.
“Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.” –Helen Keller
TS4 was originally supposed to be a online multiplayer game like the next Sims Online but was totalled in the end and quickly rebuilt and now we got the rehashed lackluster rushed singleplayer product that is TS4!
1. The Sims 2
2. The Sims 3
3. The Sims 4 (5 years later its decent)
4. The Sims 1
Comments
This happens all the time, with mmorpgs being rated T and the abuse and nonsense happens anyway behind filters similar to the one used on this forum. The logic they use seems to be something like, well, you agreed to obey the rules, we can't be held responsible if your parents weren't watching. I've seen some really terrible things happen in those games *shudder* which is why if I play them at all, I stick with a small group of nice people and turn all public chats off. Some companies are better than others with monitoring and punishing infractions, but there's really no major consequence if they allow a toxic environment (losing a few customers who get offended costs less than hiring all that extra staff). In one of these games, my friend and I were followed in game and taunted with racial slurs for no reason. Took the company 2 months to even respond to the ticket I sent. Needless to say, I left, and they didn't get a penny from me. This is why I'm eternally grateful that the sims isn't online. Don't even have to worry about this nonsense.
Take this game, change nothing other than make it multiplayer, are you saying that the game under that pretense would need to be rated above teen?
If so, then this game needs to be rated above teen now, and since when am I supposed to gauge what I do or don't want in video games over mine or others' predictions about what EA will do or not?
Those of you who are old enough to remember and were actually members of the Sims Online community will understand where I'm coming from. @Vlaxitov, there is no way that EA can make an online version of The Sims 4 by just taking the current game, slapping a multiplayer online label on it and not change the design. It won't work. Although Second Life and Imvu boast that players can now create virtual families, I do wonder how that works, exactly. I expect that the toddlers shown in the pictures are little more than objects.
I'm not going to sit here and say that EA will never make an online version of the Sims. After all, they swore up and down they'd never have teen woohoo, even though the fans wanted it (and teen pregnancy) and yet, here we are, with teens being able to "mess around" (gee, sure looks like woohoo to me!) even though they still can't get "with child" so to speak.
So, yeah, I can see the possibility of them making The Sims Online 2, once they finish with this game. I just hope it's free-to-pay...er...I mean, play. They've already got the template with Sims Free Play. They might as well take that concept and market it for the PC.
"We Don't Care If You LIKE The Game, Just As Long As You BUY The Game!"
I Disapprove (Naturally)
I Took The Pledge!
My Mood:
1. The concept of Sims 4 was originally to be an MMO game. It was called "Project Olympus". That got scrapped because of the uproar on SimCity and the Sims 3 Showtime EP. Idk how chances are that EA heads back to the original design considering the latest consumer analysis.
2. It is not possible to make MMO optional. Single player games and MMO need completely different game engines. It would cost way too much money to implement both in one game.
No, that is not what I am saying at all.
When the current game was the Olympus project, all it had was young adults. This is why when they decided to turn it into an offline single player game, all the other age stages, with the exception of children, were "shoehorned" into the game. Also look at the teensy 'hoods, and the almost total lack of customization to those 'hoods.
I am saying look at the evidence. EA was NOT going to make a 'regular' Sims game and put it online. They were making a game that only had young adults in it. I can't see this changing anytime soon - if they decide to make another online multiplayer game, I would bet it would also only have young adults in it. Simmers have admitted to playing the Sims games at very young ages; it's my opinion that EA does not want the publicity of allowing simulated woohoo/procreation between simmers of all ages, and there is a very wide range of people who play this game. Can't you just imagine the uproar?
Not gonna happen, IMO. That is all.
Where are we going, and why am I in this hand basket?!
The danger in having this franchise turn into an mmorpg is all the griefers that will flood the game and give everyone a hard time, just because they can. I still remember the complaints from the female Sims players who signed up for the Sims Online, because complete random "male" strangers would come up to them and kiss them and hug them, and they had no way to refuse the interaction, until EA changed the menu to where they could say no, and the action would be blocked.
"We Don't Care If You LIKE The Game, Just As Long As You BUY The Game!"
I Disapprove (Naturally)
I Took The Pledge!
2. The Sims 3
3. The Sims 4 (5 years later its decent)
4. The Sims 1