For those in doubt of SGDoi being a Guru just go to his Twitter page and read his tweets and his chatter with other Gurus to see that he is a Guru with the goofball trait! https://twitter.com/GrimSuruDoi/with_replies
I have confirmed it myself by reading his twitter. He is a Designer for TS4.
Whether or not he works for them it has been retweeted by Gurus. That really does not give the sort of message I want to see when I am a customer. Really awful.
I haven't read all pages, so, sorry when I miss on something. I was planing to posting in this thread anyway, before the SimGuru tweeted such nasty things and other Gurus re-tweeted it. So, I guess everyone has the answer now: No, they don't listen to us. We are just annoying background noises for them, and if we get to loud, they do some damage control.
Yes, unfortunately I don't see family trees and free days after a new baby or whatever update they released as "listening". For me, it is damage control and nothing more.
Now here comes a longer explanation of why I don't believe they are listening to us:
Back then when we all played Sims 1, we were happy someone produced such a great game for us. However, there were some thing we would have liked to be improved. One of that was, that we wanted more age groups. There were actually custom content out there with which you could fake teenagers.
EA was great in listening to the community back then and monitored a lot Sims-Fansites. So when Sims 2 came, we got age groups, genetic and more ways to individualize our Sims. We even got a better system to manage custom content: We could delete it in game.
But EA also listened to those Fans who did not want her Sims to die or age. So the aging on cheat was implemented right from the start. If you wanted your Sims 2 to play like Sims 1 you easily could.
However, among those Sims 2 players were some who did not like rotational game play and who wanted there Sims to act more free. So, in Sims 3 open worlds and story progression were implemented.
Now came the time were EA stopped to listen or monitor the community.
A lot of players said: "Please rework the story progressions and let us decide if we want to Play Sims 3 in the Sims 2 style or move on to the new style."
EA a did, in all those years, not listen. They did not make it possible to play Sims 3 completely like Sims 2. Yes, you could turn out story progression, but that did not work for a lot of players - me included. However, the community itself listened to the fans. People like Twallan made great mods and fixes for a game that EA never fixed completely. Did they learn from that and from the fact that Twallans Mods were the most wanted in the whole community? No. Because they listened only half to us. It was like this:
"Listen, EA, some of us like to micromanage, like in Sims 2, so we want an option to turn story progression of - don't remove it, we just want to make it optional, like Twallan did for us."
What EA heard was: "We want Sims 2." So Sims 4 came without story progression.
You want to hear other examples of when EA just listened half?
"Listen, there is not much to do with toddlers. We want more to do, with them, please." What EA heard: "There is not much to do with toddlers." - and they cut them out.
"Listen, babies in diapers are freezing. Could we please dress them?" What EA heard: "Babies in diapers are freezing." - They made burrito babies.
"Err, listen, that was not what we wanted. We wanted babies with legs, that can be dressed." EA heard: "We want babies with legs." They got legs. Period.
Some other problems with EA: It is not only that they aren't listening, it is also that they are not playing the game. That's the reason why the incest bug wasn't found (EA only does play Single Sims that party and whoohoo, it seems), why they are no dishwashers (who are needed in a large family, due to time management) and so on.
I also don't think that a lot of EA are into kids these days. And that actually even was an issue back in Sims 2, when we were not happy that you could not take your toddlers on vacation. One of the Gurus then said: "We wanted to give your Sims a break from annoying, crying toddlers."
That and the attitude of EA (ignoring customers, snapping at customers, calling them haters) made me give up on Sims 4. And even if I feel really, really bad for those who like Sims 4, I am getting satisfied by just seeing this ship think now. Because, a company that calls customers haters does not is NOT listening to complains and critic does not deserve better.
So here is hoping another company who does listen to customers is creating a REAL life simulation with all life stages. I mean, at least we have city skylines already.
This is really basic when it comes to communication and I'm floored that the Sims team hasn't done it yet. It's really easy to do, too.
All you have to do is make a post to the community saying, "We've heard what you've been asking for." then list the things that you've heard people asking for. If you are not able to say what you are or aren't working on yet, let us know. Actually make a post stating "we hear you, but we can't tell you what we're working on. we know you want this, this, and this, though, and we're doing our best to see if we can or can't actually get it into the game". If there's something that they absolutely can't get into the game, they need to tell us up front. That way, people can stop asking for it and being upset about it not being added into the game.
Saying in an interview that you like when Simmers yell at you is all fine and good, but it doesn't let us know that you've been listening, only that you've heard the yelling. Repeat back what we say to you. Confirm that you have, in fact, heard what people want in their games. Let us know if something is impossible. Let us know if you honestly can't tell us if you're working on something. Communicate with your customers.
Doing so would probably render this entire dang thread pointless. C:
Great post, @mizuru007 . I wish at least the faces of EA would know these basic of communication.
Last sentence: I'm sure EA will listen to something. The the silence in the cash-register. No "kaching" out of my wallet anymore, EA. Congratulations!
I read the apology. While I accept it from him as a person, the apology is too late for me concerning EA as a business. I mean, it wasn't just him who treated me as a customer disrespectful in the past... *counting* 6 month.
I read the apology. While I accept it from him as a person, the apology is too late for me concerning EA as a business. I mean, it wasn't just him who treated me as a customer disrespectful in the past... *counting* 6 month.
My irrtation isn't at the SimGurus as much as those who made the decision to not communicate with us. Asking for feedback but not giving feedback in return is a stall tactic that gets old really fast!
I am thankful with no ill will toward him. I just wish we had better communication.
Its good to see that he apologized. Its easier to respect someone who is willing to take responsibility for their ill manerism. Very good. However, I am still a bit concerned at the idea that other gurus seemed to be ok with the original tweet, and show their support of such behavior by re-tweeting it.
It almost shows a "double standard" type of deal. If we speak ill of EA/Maxis, and/or their staff, we get our posts/threads/accounts closed or deleted. But if they speak ill of us..... the gurus come together and retweet their poor behavior.
It almost shows a "double standard" type of deal. If we speak ill of EA/Maxis, and/or their staff, we get our posts/threads/accounts closed or deleted. But if they speak ill of us..... the gurus come together and retweet their poor behavior.
Things that make me go hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Good point !
kim
Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.
Abraham Lincoln
What you have to remember is that the Devs of any game or anyone who works on a game signs a "non disclosure" agreement meaning they can't talk about the game, what's being developed for the game, what the future of the game is until Marketing chooses official spokespeople for the game/EP/SP/whatever. Also it takes months to program and make an EP so GTW was probably one of the first ones planned from the get go. As much as we'd love for it, the game code doesn't write itself as they made a totally new base for TS4. I'm not trying to make excuses for EA/Maxis/Sims Studios, just trying to bring to light a few things people may not know about how these things work.
Another thing is that EA probably placed Maxis/Sims Studios under a deadline and because they weren't going to make the MMO, they had to come out with something. Coding was probably partially done on many things, but not fully developed because of the time. I'm sure they would have loved to delay the game, but EA was demanding something be released in September 2014. They had pretty much shut down TS3 while waiting for TS4 to launch. Shame they can't patch TS3 one more time to fix many of the bugs that plague the game.
They could reuse animations from previous games, heck even Disney did it back in the 1970's. It isn't like these games exist in a vacuum where they can't go back and look at how something was done. I know they can transfer animations from one game to another. Just look at the Kid's Channel in TS4. The characters are made using TS3 and they are dancing the Smutsle from TS2.
One last thing. The vast majority of the fans on these forums aren't Haters. We're very passionate about the game, no matter the version. Those that were nasty, rude and vile to other members of the community have been banned. They went beyond the pale in many cases and I saw many ugly posts that I'm glad are buried deep in the forums by now. They were the "Haters". Just because you really want TS4 to be the best of series by offering suggestions, sharing your views and presenting well reasoned arguments does not make you a "Hater". It makes you a fan who wants to make the game better than how it started out. To truly be the best and the newest jewel in the Sims Series.
Second Star to the Right and Straight on 'til Morning.
Saying in an interview that you like when Simmers yell at you is all fine and good, but it doesn't let us know that you've been listening, only that you've heard the yelling. Repeat back what we say to you. Confirm that you have, in fact, heard what people want in their games. Let us know if something is impossible. Let us know if you honestly can't tell us if you're working on something. Communicate with your customers
Great post, @mizuru007 . I wish at least the faces of EA would know these basic of communication.
Seriously if EA did this it's make such a positive impact on the community. I know they will never tell us if things are possible/impossible, but it'd be great if they would just repeat back to us what it is we've been asking for so we know whether they've understood or not. Honestly I don't think in general the do understand. Either that or they aren't listening. I'm sick of "don't improve, remove" type thinking from them.
Customers don’t expect you to be perfect. They do expect you to fix things when they go wrong. ~ Donald Porter
Exactly, @Neia. No matter how you put it, and no matter how often you state that it´s not a fuss for the gurus to change a single animation or interaction, @muckzickmage - by the way, I never said a word about walking interactions, it was talking interactions, so I see no use in commenting what you said on that - seen on the whole, it is a lot of work now, no matter what they could and should have done in the past. Fact is that they haven´t done it.
Now now EA, don't be stinking up our lovely lavender bath with your shopping fart. - My TS4 mods - Gallery ID: 83bienchen
What you have to remember is that the Devs of any game or anyone who works on a game signs a "non disclosure" agreement meaning they can't talk about the game, what's being developed for the game, what the future of the game is until Marketing chooses official spokespeople for the game/EP/SP/whatever. Also it takes months to program and make an EP so GTW was probably one of the first ones planned from the get go. As much as we'd love for it, the game code doesn't write itself as they made a totally new base for TS4. I'm not trying to make excuses for EA/Maxis/Sims Studios, just trying to bring to light a few things people may not know about how these things work.
Another thing is that EA probably placed Maxis/Sims Studios under a deadline and because they weren't going to make the MMO, they had to come out with something. Coding was probably partially done on many things, but not fully developed because of the time. I'm sure they would have loved to delay the game, but EA was demanding something be released in September 2014. They had pretty much shut down TS3 while waiting for TS4 to launch. Shame they can't patch TS3 one more time to fix many of the bugs that plague the game.
They could reuse animations from previous games, heck even Disney did it back in the 1970's. It isn't like these games exist in a vacuum where they can't go back and look at how something was done. I know they can transfer animations from one game to another. Just look at the Kid's Channel in TS4. The characters are made using TS3 and they are dancing the Smutsle from TS2.
One last thing. The vast majority of the fans on these forums aren't Haters. We're very passionate about the game, no matter the version. Those that were nasty, rude and vile to other members of the community have been banned. They went beyond the pale in many cases and I saw many ugly posts that I'm glad are buried deep in the forums by now. They were the "Haters". Just because you really want TS4 to be the best of series by offering suggestions, sharing your views and presenting well reasoned arguments does not make you a "Hater". It makes you a fan who wants to make the game better than how it started out. To truly be the best and the newest jewel in the Sims Series.
Yes, they can't disclose actual content we all know that. However, here is the problem for many family players. You ask SimGuruLyndsay about worlds and how tiny they really are and she answers they are tossing around ideas of how to open up the worlds more etc. You ask another guru about Story Progression, and they answer, they are looking into story progression. You ask about toddlers and you get nothing, other than we know you all would like toddlers. Not we are tossing around ideas, we are looking into it etc. Just nothing.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
What you have to remember is that the Devs of any game or anyone who works on a game signs a "non disclosure" agreement meaning they can't talk about the game, what's being developed for the game, what the future of the game is until Marketing chooses official spokespeople for the game/EP/SP/whatever. Also it takes months to program and make an EP so GTW was probably one of the first ones planned from the get go. As much as we'd love for it, the game code doesn't write itself as they made a totally new base for TS4. I'm not trying to make excuses for EA/Maxis/Sims Studios, just trying to bring to light a few things people may not know about how these things work.
Another thing is that EA probably placed Maxis/Sims Studios under a deadline and because they weren't going to make the MMO, they had to come out with something. Coding was probably partially done on many things, but not fully developed because of the time. I'm sure they would have loved to delay the game, but EA was demanding something be released in September 2014. They had pretty much shut down TS3 while waiting for TS4 to launch. Shame they can't patch TS3 one more time to fix many of the bugs that plague the game.
They could reuse animations from previous games, heck even Disney did it back in the 1970's. It isn't like these games exist in a vacuum where they can't go back and look at how something was done. I know they can transfer animations from one game to another. Just look at the Kid's Channel in TS4. The characters are made using TS3 and they are dancing the Smutsle from TS2.
One last thing. The vast majority of the fans on these forums aren't Haters. We're very passionate about the game, no matter the version. Those that were nasty, rude and vile to other members of the community have been banned. They went beyond the pale in many cases and I saw many ugly posts that I'm glad are buried deep in the forums by now. They were the "Haters". Just because you really want TS4 to be the best of series by offering suggestions, sharing your views and presenting well reasoned arguments does not make you a "Hater". It makes you a fan who wants to make the game better than how it started out. To truly be the best and the newest jewel in the Sims Series.
Yes, they can't disclose actual content we all know that. However, here is the problem for many family players. You ask SimGuruLyndsay about worlds and how tiny they really are and she answers they are tossing around ideas of how to open up the worlds more etc. You ask another guru about Story Progression, and they answer, they are looking into story progression. You ask about toddlers and you get nothing, other than we know you all would like toddlers. Not we are tossing around ideas, we are looking into it etc. Just nothing.
I went with the Non-disclosure for an excuse but then I thought about it. They sign it when they start working for EA, so why did they communicate during TS 1-2-3? There wasn't this amount of lack/clamming up in communication before. When TS4 first came out they communicated daily here onsite, so what gives? We give feedback and they have quit responding. They asked for the feedback that we are trying so very hard to give them, they just quit listening and/or responding. It is kinda like, if you are not going to like the answer don't ask the question!! If you are not going to respond to feedback then don't ask for it!!
Feedback is supposed to help improve a product. General feedback here is the dislike of limiting linear/scripted game play. Did they listen with GTW? No!!! If anything it is even more limited and linear. Proving to me that they are not listening nor do they care one whit what we would like.
Honestly the credit for them "Giving" us missing things in a forced patch that so far has made for more bugs isn't actually "Giving" us anything. It is used as an incentive to make them look better in the eyes of the GP & Press. Doesn't do a thing for me as a $60 over paid for customer that didn't get these things in the base game I paid for. As I see it they are using the trickle content to try and keep us around hoping we will "Get used to it" and keep buying.
We are going into the 7th month since release and they haven't addressed any of the feedback in communication or improvements to the game. It is still limited and script based (if not more so) as it was the day it released. Rebuilding from the online version didn't make it this way. They have a ball of clay that they can do almost anything with. Making it linear and scripted takes more than making it based on player interactions actually. Take dates for example, You have to do such and such so many times to get the progress bar to move. All of that is scripted. In TS2 it was tied into the sims themselves. If the sim you are on the date with was enjoying themselves and having plus signs the progress bar moved up, and if not then down. You could do whatever you wanted not limited to doing only certain things that you might not want to do on EVERY date. Same with the parties in TS3 they were graded by how happy your party goers were not what you did to make them happy. This system is much easier to program than scripting mainly because it is working on already existing interactions. No new interactions have to be scripted nor written. It is tied into if the sim is having a plus or minus sign with what is happening. Simple and could have been done from the start, making more time to add the missing content before release.
That being said, it is my belief that TS4 is exactly what they were planing and that they have absolutely no intention of changing any of it for any reason. The they will "Get used to it!" remark proves just that. No I believe what we see is what will be and that is it. No comment necessary because they aren't going to change a thing. That simple! While I would prefer them to come out and just say yes or no to feedback, They wont because we would give up and wash our hands of TS4. While doing it we would also tell everyone on our grapevine which in turn would impact TS4/EA/Maxis. As has been stated and is well known word-of-mouth can kill businesses. I foresee this lack of communication going to drag out throughout the life of TS4. EA/Maxis expecting us to either "Get used to it!" or quietly fading away with time. What they need to think about is if we do quietly or not so quietly fade away we take not ony our money with us but our friends and family money also. And i for one will not come back. No TS5 or any other Sims games for me. As with SC, Cities:Skylines is a even better replacement and there are more games being produced daily to fill the gap with some other company that wont treat a loyal customer like,,,,,,.
A big thumbs up to both @Terrylin & @Cinebar ... EA will never communicate to us what their Lack of plans are because even more customers will walk away. They have figured out how to supply less product for more money which of course requires less work. They are putting up a pretense IMHO of listening while they are basically saying talk to the hand. All I know is I spent $70 on a product I can't play. If I wanted scripted play I'd go a play another game that excels at that sort of thing.
Thank you EA and thank you Maxis..we got our babies back, Yay!
A few years ago Electronic Arts published Dragon Age II and there was much bemoaning about so many things. They listened to the customers and Dragon Age III was so much better. The Sims 4 has more opportunity to get things players want. At the very least I expect The Sims 5 will be a much different game.
At this point I do not think there will be a sims 5. Sims 4 needs to be a great success for them to collect enough money to make a sims 5. Unless they get money from other companies investing in the cause of the sims 5. Or "borrow" the money from one of their other major game franchise such as Battlefield which I don''t think companies do that.. but i'm not sure how it all works. maybe another game title borrowed the funds that was meant for the sims 4 and thats how it came out to be so.. meh haha.
At this point I do not think there will be a sims 5. Sims 4 needs to be a great success for them to collect enough money to make a sims 5
The CFO for EA has said Sims4 is making a profit. He didn't say how much profit but still it is not losing money.
Making as much as the money printing press of Sims2 or Sims3? Highly doubtful.
It's making money but not on the scale of previous games.
THAT should be a sign for EA that the POTENTIAL for massive profits exists...just not with this version of the game.
The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.
Comments
(She/her)
https://twitter.com/GrimSuruDoi/with_replies
I have confirmed it myself by reading his twitter. He is a Designer for TS4.
https://twitter.com/sparkfairy1
Yes, unfortunately I don't see family trees and free days after a new baby or whatever update they released as "listening". For me, it is damage control and nothing more.
Now here comes a longer explanation of why I don't believe they are listening to us:
Back then when we all played Sims 1, we were happy someone produced such a great game for us. However, there were some thing we would have liked to be improved. One of that was, that we wanted more age groups. There were actually custom content out there with which you could fake teenagers.
EA was great in listening to the community back then and monitored a lot Sims-Fansites. So when Sims 2 came, we got age groups, genetic and more ways to individualize our Sims. We even got a better system to manage custom content: We could delete it in game.
But EA also listened to those Fans who did not want her Sims to die or age. So the aging on cheat was implemented right from the start. If you wanted your Sims 2 to play like Sims 1 you easily could.
However, among those Sims 2 players were some who did not like rotational game play and who wanted there Sims to act more free. So, in Sims 3 open worlds and story progression were implemented.
Now came the time were EA stopped to listen or monitor the community.
A lot of players said: "Please rework the story progressions and let us decide if we want to Play Sims 3 in the Sims 2 style or move on to the new style."
EA a did, in all those years, not listen. They did not make it possible to play Sims 3 completely like Sims 2. Yes, you could turn out story progression, but that did not work for a lot of players - me included. However, the community itself listened to the fans. People like Twallan made great mods and fixes for a game that EA never fixed completely. Did they learn from that and from the fact that Twallans Mods were the most wanted in the whole community? No. Because they listened only half to us. It was like this:
"Listen, EA, some of us like to micromanage, like in Sims 2, so we want an option to turn story progression of - don't remove it, we just want to make it optional, like Twallan did for us."
What EA heard was: "We want Sims 2." So Sims 4 came without story progression.
You want to hear other examples of when EA just listened half?
Some other problems with EA: It is not only that they aren't listening, it is also that they are not playing the game. That's the reason why the incest bug wasn't found (EA only does play Single Sims that party and whoohoo, it seems), why they are no dishwashers (who are needed in a large family, due to time management) and so on.
I also don't think that a lot of EA are into kids these days. And that actually even was an issue back in Sims 2, when we were not happy that you could not take your toddlers on vacation. One of the Gurus then said: "We wanted to give your Sims a break from annoying, crying toddlers."
That and the attitude of EA (ignoring customers, snapping at customers, calling them haters) made me give up on Sims 4. And even if I feel really, really bad for those who like Sims 4, I am getting satisfied by just seeing this ship think now. Because, a company that calls customers haters does not is NOT listening to complains and critic does not deserve better.
So here is hoping another company who does listen to customers is creating a REAL life simulation with all life stages. I mean, at least we have city skylines already.
Great post, @mizuru007 . I wish at least the faces of EA would know these basic of communication.
Last sentence: I'm sure EA will listen to something. The the silence in the cash-register. No "kaching" out of my wallet anymore, EA. Congratulations!
I am thankful with no ill will toward him. I just wish we had better communication.
https://twitter.com/sparkfairy1
My irrtation isn't at the SimGurus as much as those who made the decision to not communicate with us. Asking for feedback but not giving feedback in return is a stall tactic that gets old really fast!
Its good to see that he apologized. Its easier to respect someone who is willing to take responsibility for their ill manerism. Very good. However, I am still a bit concerned at the idea that other gurus seemed to be ok with the original tweet, and show their support of such behavior by re-tweeting it.
It almost shows a "double standard" type of deal. If we speak ill of EA/Maxis, and/or their staff, we get our posts/threads/accounts closed or deleted. But if they speak ill of us..... the gurus come together and retweet their poor behavior.
Things that make me go hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Good point !
kim
Abraham Lincoln
If they were, The sims 4 wouldn't be the way it is now.
Another thing is that EA probably placed Maxis/Sims Studios under a deadline and because they weren't going to make the MMO, they had to come out with something. Coding was probably partially done on many things, but not fully developed because of the time. I'm sure they would have loved to delay the game, but EA was demanding something be released in September 2014. They had pretty much shut down TS3 while waiting for TS4 to launch. Shame they can't patch TS3 one more time to fix many of the bugs that plague the game.
They could reuse animations from previous games, heck even Disney did it back in the 1970's. It isn't like these games exist in a vacuum where they can't go back and look at how something was done. I know they can transfer animations from one game to another. Just look at the Kid's Channel in TS4. The characters are made using TS3 and they are dancing the Smutsle from TS2.
One last thing. The vast majority of the fans on these forums aren't Haters. We're very passionate about the game, no matter the version. Those that were nasty, rude and vile to other members of the community have been banned. They went beyond the pale in many cases and I saw many ugly posts that I'm glad are buried deep in the forums by now. They were the "Haters". Just because you really want TS4 to be the best of series by offering suggestions, sharing your views and presenting well reasoned arguments does not make you a "Hater". It makes you a fan who wants to make the game better than how it started out. To truly be the best and the newest jewel in the Sims Series.
Yes, they can't disclose actual content we all know that. However, here is the problem for many family players. You ask SimGuruLyndsay about worlds and how tiny they really are and she answers they are tossing around ideas of how to open up the worlds more etc. You ask another guru about Story Progression, and they answer, they are looking into story progression. You ask about toddlers and you get nothing, other than we know you all would like toddlers. Not we are tossing around ideas, we are looking into it etc. Just nothing.
I went with the Non-disclosure for an excuse but then I thought about it. They sign it when they start working for EA, so why did they communicate during TS 1-2-3? There wasn't this amount of lack/clamming up in communication before. When TS4 first came out they communicated daily here onsite, so what gives? We give feedback and they have quit responding. They asked for the feedback that we are trying so very hard to give them, they just quit listening and/or responding. It is kinda like, if you are not going to like the answer don't ask the question!! If you are not going to respond to feedback then don't ask for it!!
Feedback is supposed to help improve a product. General feedback here is the dislike of limiting linear/scripted game play. Did they listen with GTW? No!!! If anything it is even more limited and linear. Proving to me that they are not listening nor do they care one whit what we would like.
Honestly the credit for them "Giving" us missing things in a forced patch that so far has made for more bugs isn't actually "Giving" us anything. It is used as an incentive to make them look better in the eyes of the GP & Press. Doesn't do a thing for me as a $60 over paid for customer that didn't get these things in the base game I paid for. As I see it they are using the trickle content to try and keep us around hoping we will "Get used to it" and keep buying.
We are going into the 7th month since release and they haven't addressed any of the feedback in communication or improvements to the game. It is still limited and script based (if not more so) as it was the day it released. Rebuilding from the online version didn't make it this way. They have a ball of clay that they can do almost anything with. Making it linear and scripted takes more than making it based on player interactions actually. Take dates for example, You have to do such and such so many times to get the progress bar to move. All of that is scripted. In TS2 it was tied into the sims themselves. If the sim you are on the date with was enjoying themselves and having plus signs the progress bar moved up, and if not then down. You could do whatever you wanted not limited to doing only certain things that you might not want to do on EVERY date. Same with the parties in TS3 they were graded by how happy your party goers were not what you did to make them happy. This system is much easier to program than scripting mainly because it is working on already existing interactions. No new interactions have to be scripted nor written. It is tied into if the sim is having a plus or minus sign with what is happening. Simple and could have been done from the start, making more time to add the missing content before release.
That being said, it is my belief that TS4 is exactly what they were planing and that they have absolutely no intention of changing any of it for any reason. The they will "Get used to it!" remark proves just that. No I believe what we see is what will be and that is it. No comment necessary because they aren't going to change a thing. That simple! While I would prefer them to come out and just say yes or no to feedback, They wont because we would give up and wash our hands of TS4. While doing it we would also tell everyone on our grapevine which in turn would impact TS4/EA/Maxis. As has been stated and is well known word-of-mouth can kill businesses. I foresee this lack of communication going to drag out throughout the life of TS4. EA/Maxis expecting us to either "Get used to it!" or quietly fading away with time. What they need to think about is if we do quietly or not so quietly fade away we take not ony our money with us but our friends and family money also. And i for one will not come back. No TS5 or any other Sims games for me. As with SC, Cities:Skylines is a even better replacement and there are more games being produced daily to fill the gap with some other company that wont treat a loyal customer like,,,,,,.
Just my two cents worth!
At this point I do not think there will be a sims 5. Sims 4 needs to be a great success for them to collect enough money to make a sims 5. Unless they get money from other companies investing in the cause of the sims 5. Or "borrow" the money from one of their other major game franchise such as Battlefield which I don''t think companies do that.. but i'm not sure how it all works. maybe another game title borrowed the funds that was meant for the sims 4 and thats how it came out to be so.. meh haha.
The CFO for EA has said Sims4 is making a profit. He didn't say how much profit but still it is not losing money.
Making as much as the money printing press of Sims2 or Sims3? Highly doubtful.
It's making money but not on the scale of previous games.
THAT should be a sign for EA that the POTENTIAL for massive profits exists...just not with this version of the game.
The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.
Marcus Aurelius