Okay, wow we have done a lot of talking about how to fix the communication break down between the team and the fans in this thread! I'm trying to smush it down into a handful of specific points before adding it to the list of demands suggestions we've come up with. Did I miss anything/get anything wrong? Let me know and I'll change it. Also if you see anything you think I can cut please tell me because my verbosity is very nearly a disease. The italicized parts are there for clarity, but might be unnecessary, idk.
10-step Process to Repair Communication with the Fan Base
1. Change your policy on discussing future content to be less stringent.
We don’t need to know everything, but there are certain cases where continued silence is hurting the franchise; namely toddlers and other missing base game features. Rachel has spoken about how the sims is now a “live service”. Very well, but a live service game requires a high level of openness with the fan base so that players are reassured about what they will receive for their continued support. The old policies of silence and secrecy need no longer apply.
2. Change your advertising strategy.
The current ‘trendy’ advertising strategy of S4 is only cementing the divide within your fan base. No. More. Selfies.
3. Stop referring to your ‘vision’ in interviews.
It does none of us any good since none of us understand what your vision is. You say you were focussing on the sim and what makes them real – but you removed many of the developmental milestones that make a sim who they are. Your explanation of your vision sounds lovely, but it is completely at odds to what family players are experiencing in game.
4. Reconsider your decision to veer away from ‘normal life’ simulation.
It was the very heart of your game. Some interesting points on this topic can be found here: Life Simulator vs Sims 4
5. Make a public statement regarding the omission of family play, and what you intend to do about it, in no uncertain terms.
6. Bring back Ask a Guru with less restrictions.
If our more pressing questions have been addressed in official announcements I think you’ll find these sessions to be less prone to drama and derailment.
7. Release a series of developer diaries on the recovery process you outlined in step 5.
8. Start treating your official forums as the resource that it is.
Whether you want feedback on a specific point, are brainstorming for new ideas, or want to get some answers to a survey, we’re here for you! Why pay small focus groups when you have a huge captive audience literally chomping at the bit to have their say? We want to help. Use this information in conjunction with your game telemetry. Or, better yet, take your game telemetry out back, and shoot it.
9. Encourage your social media followers to come to the forums by directing them to polls, contests, and various events outlined in step 8.
The more simmers are here, the more return you will see out of step 8. I think you’ll find it’s easier for a customer to give comprehensive feedback when they are not limited to 140 characters.
10. Profit!
@SimGuruDrake you might want to look at this! Well I am guessing you don't, but you should!
Wait.....one of the those bug fixes involved a case of incest. Yay cas cheat won't cause incest anymore . That means just the rotational gameplay one needs to be fixed now. Hopefully the conversation one won't occur again, but I think it has been fixed.
Where is the incest bug fix? The one with the friendship thingie?
Yes. CAS cheat would create incest sometimes resetting the relationships.
“Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.” –Helen Keller
Wait.....one of the those bug fixes involved a case of incest. Yay cas cheat won't cause incest anymore . That means just the rotational gameplay one needs to be fixed now. Hopefully the conversation one won't occur again, but I think it has been fixed.
Where is the incest bug fix? The one with the friendship thingie?
Yes. CAS cheat would create incest sometimes resetting the relationships.
Oh, i remember that bug. I didn't know this would be fixed with this patch! Hopefully, they'll also fix the one where it resets the generation count if using CAS at all.
Been spending some more time in TS3. And I've been enjoying it more than I did before.
In a legacy where there's no challenges going on, so I can let the family develop on its own without any rules or whatever to follow.
AHEM
It's set in a town that's essentially an expanded Sunset Valley to add content from all of the expansions.
My starter Sim, Tomeka (sound familiar? It's the Sim whose content I completely lost recently!), married Cycl0nE Sw0Rd and I IMMEDIATELY renamed him to Jeff Sword. Ugh. They had a daughter, but she was born on the full moon so, thanks to a mod, she was born a mermaid! I've actually never really played with a mermaid before.
It's hard.
Mermaids are hard.
They need to go to the ocean pretty often, they have to stay damp, it's a thing.
Anywho, so the daughter, Anise, aged through toddlerhood into childhood and learned to adore swimming in bodies of water all over town. Meanwhile, back at home, Tomeka and JEFF were working hard to have another child. Unfortunately, even with both of them having the fertility treatment THING, they weren't conceiving. So, after talking with each other and some of their close family friends, they decided to have it so Tomeka would have babies with one of their friends and the couple would raise it as their own. Using yet another mod, she became pregnant using invitro and had twins! Yay!
With...Malcom Landgrabb. Not so yay.
The twins, a boy and a girl, were raised just as lovingly as Anise had been, but their biological father insisted on them going to the fancy boarding school, so they did. The daughter came back unchanged, the son came back with the snob trait!!
As of right now, Tomeka and Jeff are at the brink of Elderhood and Tomeka had another baby girl literally the day before she became an elder! JEFF, WE TRIED LIKE FIFTY TIMES WHEN YOU WERE AN ADULT, WHAT HAPPENED?! Anise is a young adult and engaged to one of the strapping young men in town. The twins are teenagers and acting like the spoiled children they are (their daddy's rich, and he provides $1000 every couple of days for the two of them in child support, of COURSE they're going to act spoiled).
I am IN LOVE with this file. This may be the first time that I play a legacy file into the third generation since...I don't KNOW when! Fingers crossed I keep on loving it!
Does somebody know if the plants fix means you have to plant new plants or are the old ones ok after harvesting?
I don't know about after harvesting or not, but it sounds like you need to replant to fix them. You could try letting them mature then planting from the produce? It depends how patient you feel...
I'll try it out, but i'm just concerned with this fix if it means you have to replant. Because how can i replant stuff in non-editable spaces?!
One teen (not of my household, so i can't pick it up)) left his homework book on a picnic table in the non-editable public space. It has been lying there next to my house for two whole generations now and while it's kind of a running joke, it also drives me nuts lol.
Yep, that's annoying If you kill the plants in the public space by taking cuttings twice in a row and then cleaning them up, do they regenerate?
ETA: Sims 4 really ties one's hands before letting them play, doesn't it >.<
@MDancer9112 Absolutely! All those ideas are from you guys in this thread, so anyone that wants to can feel free to pass it on/share it wherever. Far as I'm concerned all of us wrote it, so consider it yours. Oh ETA that being said I am still editing it to reflect any feedback you guys have so it may evolve a bit as that comes in.
I'm going to take a break from the list and make some food/do some rl chores, but I'll get back to it shortly, hopefully I'll have something to post re general family play suggestions tomorrow.
And to tell it clear 1 time.... if it is more life you shot pas it
I think I get the vision i think many do we just don't like it
I think I 'get' the 'concept' of the vision too, but I just don't see it reflected in actual game play. I mean, before launch Rachel stated "The vision for The Sims 4 is a new experience that brings your Sims to life in deeper and uniquely personal ways – through emotions, personality traits, behaviors and interactions." I bought into it. I 'got' it. I thought it was a noble goal, and it hinted at a more in depth simming experience! But now that I've played I don't see any of that. The emotions, traits, interactions are no more alive or 'uniquely personal' than they were before. Since then the disconnect between the things the team says about the game and the way the game plays(for a family player) has only gotten worse. This is why I suggest that they stop referring to it altogether, or perhaps work on redefining it into something that can actually be observed in game. As it is, it is used as a catch all excuse, and has become a bit of a running joke.
Us "Why can't we have toddlers?"
Them "We decided to focus on our vision of making the sims more alive instead!"
Us "But... babies becoming children is undeniably less life like..."
Them "You just don't understand our vision!"
Us "Then can you please explain what the heck you mean when you say 'alive'? How do the current emotions/traits/behaviors/interactions make the sims any more alive than they were in the past? Most of us agree that sims already felt unique and alive, in previous games, and that did not require the sacrifice of a life stage."
Them "Sims seeming emotional and unique in previous games was an illusion."
Us "Of course it was an illusion... what else would it be? PSA: Sims aren't real. Everything they 'feel and think' is an illusion created by the game, that's the whole point. We didn't need their emotions and thoughts to be spelled out in so many words. It was a perfectly good illusion, and we didn't want to trade important life stages and open world for that illusion to be replaced with a buff/debuff system."
Them "You can't please everyone."
Us "Well... you could at least try."
ETA: I updated the 10 steps nevertheless to remove the line about us 'not understanding' bc I think you are right anette, that isn't quite the problem.
And to tell it clear 1 time.... if it is more life you shot pas it
I think I get the vision i think many do we just don't like it
I think I 'get' the 'concept' of the vision too, but I just don't see it reflected in actual game play. I mean, before launch Rachel stated "The vision for The Sims 4 is a new experience that brings your Sims to life in deeper and uniquely personal ways – through emotions, personality traits, behaviors and interactions." I bought into it. I 'got' it. I thought it was a noble goal, and it hinted at a more in depth simming experience! But now that I've played I don't see any of that. The emotions, traits, interactions are no more alive or 'uniquely personal' than they were before. Since then the disconnect between the things the team says about the game and the way the game plays(for a family player) has only gotten worse. This is why I suggest that they stop referring to it altogether, or perhaps work on redefining it into something that can actually be observed in game. As it is, it is used as a catch all excuse, and has become a bit of a running joke.
Us "Why can't we have toddlers?"
Them "We decided to focus on our vision of making the sims more alive instead!"
Us "But... babies becoming children is undeniably less life like..."
Them "You just don't understand our vision!"
Us "Then can you please explain what the heck you mean when you say 'alive'? How do the current emotions/traits/behaviors/interactions make the sims any more alive than they were in the past? Most of us agree that sims already felt unique and alive, in previous games, and that did not require the sacrifice of a life stage."
Them "Sims seeming emotional and unique in previous games was an illusion."
Us "Of course it was an illusion... what else would it be? PSA: Sims aren't real. Everything they 'feel and think' is an illusion created by the game, that's the whole point. We didn't need their emotions and thoughts to be spelled out in so many words. It was a perfectly good illusion, and we didn't want to trade important life stages and open world for that illusion to be replaced with a buff/debuff system."
Them "You can't please everyone."
Us "Well... you could at least try."
ETA: I updated the 10 steps nevertheless to remove the line about us 'not understanding' bc I think you are right anette, that isn't quite the problem.
Yea that sums up most their responses when we not amaze by their ya selfie party
glad you removed the not getting it though.... as you say thats not the problem
Yeah I don't know why, but when I see Sim families eating at the dinner table, I'm like the Sims 3 food looks yummier to eat than the Sims 4 food for some reason. I really do hope the musical chair glitch is fixed. It would make the family dinners and doing homework together a more pleasant experience.
“Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.” –Helen Keller
Lilly: So...
Klaus: Yes, my darling?
Lilly: Now that we have a moment to ourselves for once...how about we celebrate our anniversary?
Klaus: Oh, I would love to--wait. I see that "Have 10 Children" wish in your panel. Honey, no.
Lilly: Come on! We already have six! We're so close! And besides, it never really feels like six because somebody keeps sending them all off to Art School!
Klaus: They need to learn how to express themselves! Just...far, far away from us!
Lilly: Be quiet and give me another one.
Klaus: Yes, honey.
At least the kids are downstairs, preoccupied with other things XD
On a side note, I kind of like that Lilly and Klaus have such chiseled features. I feel like Quailhogs did a great job with his premades. No generic faces here
(Now I finally appreciate the awesome button. I'm able to "like" your post not because that is great news, but because I appreciate that you took the time to answer. Having an awesome button makes that distinction a little clearer.)
Sigh, I don't know why, but in the Sims 4, I'm not ordering pizza enough. That NPC seems glitchy to me for some reason and doesn't show up. I used to order pizza and chinese take out all the time while kids were home and parents were busy at work. Anyone else do things with their Sims kids while the parents are away?
“Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.” –Helen Keller
@esharpmajor 10-step Process to Repair Communication with the Fan Base. Awesome, brilliant!
Toddler time My couple Valerie and Yaron Yoba who's been a couple since they where teens. Here at the University, they have only themselves and each other to care for
After having invested in their careers, so they could buy a beachhouse, life looks a little different now, they got 2 sets of triplets! 3 girls and 3 boys.
It's always fun to see how the kids turn out. The girls, all blonde, are the oldest and will soon grow up to kids. Phew
Today I'm back The last days, I was a little busy...TS2UC runs perfectly and my old neighboorhod also
I guess in two or three days, my main couple will have their first baby and I will show you the screenshots. At the moment I enjoy all the lovely details of TS2 and I realize again, what I missed so much in TS4.....
I saw the patchnotes this morning...I mean, that's it ? Nothing more to the anniversary ? No statement, nothing ? I'm speakless. I even can't say, I'm disappointed.
After one year now, we still get ignored. Well, I just wished, I knew it before I gave TS4 a chance and bought it. I would have save my money. It's just sad, very sad.
The sims used to be a game for everyone. Now it's just a game for a part of players. Or should I say for a group ?
But I'm not in that group. I lost my hope today and give up TS4. So, I'm out. Or with the words of MDancer9112 signature : That's it, I'm done !
I think it's time to work on my own signature with the words : moved from Willow Creek back to Pleasantview !
Comments
Can I post it on her wall @esharpmajor ?
Me watching GT at Gamescom.
I'm back!!^-^
Paradox forum name: aMazingSimmer
Yes. CAS cheat would create incest sometimes resetting the relationships.
More content yes, but not what players are asking for
Oh, i remember that bug. I didn't know this would be fixed with this patch! Hopefully, they'll also fix the one where it resets the generation count if using CAS at all.
The Essence
How To Lose Your Ugliness in Ten Generations
In a legacy where there's no challenges going on, so I can let the family develop on its own without any rules or whatever to follow.
AHEM
It's set in a town that's essentially an expanded Sunset Valley to add content from all of the expansions.
My starter Sim, Tomeka (sound familiar? It's the Sim whose content I completely lost recently!), married Cycl0nE Sw0Rd and I IMMEDIATELY renamed him to Jeff Sword. Ugh. They had a daughter, but she was born on the full moon so, thanks to a mod, she was born a mermaid! I've actually never really played with a mermaid before.
It's hard.
Mermaids are hard.
They need to go to the ocean pretty often, they have to stay damp, it's a thing.
Anywho, so the daughter, Anise, aged through toddlerhood into childhood and learned to adore swimming in bodies of water all over town. Meanwhile, back at home, Tomeka and JEFF were working hard to have another child. Unfortunately, even with both of them having the fertility treatment THING, they weren't conceiving. So, after talking with each other and some of their close family friends, they decided to have it so Tomeka would have babies with one of their friends and the couple would raise it as their own. Using yet another mod, she became pregnant using invitro and had twins! Yay!
With...Malcom Landgrabb. Not so yay.
The twins, a boy and a girl, were raised just as lovingly as Anise had been, but their biological father insisted on them going to the fancy boarding school, so they did. The daughter came back unchanged, the son came back with the snob trait!!
As of right now, Tomeka and Jeff are at the brink of Elderhood and Tomeka had another baby girl literally the day before she became an elder! JEFF, WE TRIED LIKE FIFTY TIMES WHEN YOU WERE AN ADULT, WHAT HAPPENED?! Anise is a young adult and engaged to one of the strapping young men in town. The twins are teenagers and acting like the spoiled children they are (their daddy's rich, and he provides $1000 every couple of days for the two of them in child support, of COURSE they're going to act spoiled).
I am IN LOVE with this file. This may be the first time that I play a legacy file into the third generation since...I don't KNOW when! Fingers crossed I keep on loving it!
Yep, that's annoying
ETA: Sims 4 really ties one's hands before letting them play, doesn't it >.<
- Froggie
WIP: http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/851667/australian-world-version-1-0-uploaded/p1
I'm going to take a break from the list and make some food/do some rl chores, but I'll get back to it shortly, hopefully I'll have something to post re general family play suggestions tomorrow.
Thanks for the feedback guys!
I think I 'get' the 'concept' of the vision too, but I just don't see it reflected in actual game play. I mean, before launch Rachel stated "The vision for The Sims 4 is a new experience that brings your Sims to life in deeper and uniquely personal ways – through emotions, personality traits, behaviors and interactions." I bought into it. I 'got' it. I thought it was a noble goal, and it hinted at a more in depth simming experience! But now that I've played I don't see any of that. The emotions, traits, interactions are no more alive or 'uniquely personal' than they were before. Since then the disconnect between the things the team says about the game and the way the game plays(for a family player) has only gotten worse. This is why I suggest that they stop referring to it altogether, or perhaps work on redefining it into something that can actually be observed in game. As it is, it is used as a catch all excuse, and has become a bit of a running joke.
Us "Why can't we have toddlers?"
Them "We decided to focus on our vision of making the sims more alive instead!"
Us "But... babies becoming children is undeniably less life like..."
Them "You just don't understand our vision!"
Us "Then can you please explain what the heck you mean when you say 'alive'? How do the current emotions/traits/behaviors/interactions make the sims any more alive than they were in the past? Most of us agree that sims already felt unique and alive, in previous games, and that did not require the sacrifice of a life stage."
Them "Sims seeming emotional and unique in previous games was an illusion."
Us "Of course it was an illusion... what else would it be? PSA: Sims aren't real. Everything they 'feel and think' is an illusion created by the game, that's the whole point. We didn't need their emotions and thoughts to be spelled out in so many words. It was a perfectly good illusion, and we didn't want to trade important life stages and open world for that illusion to be replaced with a buff/debuff system."
Them "You can't please everyone."
Us "Well... you could at least try."
ETA: I updated the 10 steps nevertheless to remove the line about us 'not understanding' bc I think you are right anette, that isn't quite the problem.
Yea that sums up most their responses when we not amaze by their ya selfie party
glad you removed the not getting it though.... as you say thats not the problem
Atleast they're sitting and not playing musical chairs....
Klaus: Yes, my darling?
Lilly: Now that we have a moment to ourselves for once...how about we celebrate our anniversary?
Klaus: Oh, I would love to--wait. I see that "Have 10 Children" wish in your panel. Honey, no.
Lilly: Come on! We already have six! We're so close! And besides, it never really feels like six because somebody keeps sending them all off to Art School!
Klaus: They need to learn how to express themselves! Just...far, far away from us!
Lilly: Be quiet and give me another one.
Klaus: Yes, honey.
At least the kids are downstairs, preoccupied with other things XD
On a side note, I kind of like that Lilly and Klaus have such chiseled features. I feel like Quailhogs did a great job with his premades. No generic faces here
Toddler time
After having invested in their careers, so they could buy a beachhouse, life looks a little different now, they got 2 sets of triplets! 3 girls and 3 boys.
It's always fun to see how the kids turn out. The girls, all blonde, are the oldest and will soon grow up to kids. Phew
Well, since they can't speak about anything, what's the point?
Mylita
Thanks, no the house is quite far from the ocean actually, it's a very big beach area.
I guess in two or three days, my main couple will have their first baby and I will show you the screenshots. At the moment I enjoy all the lovely details of TS2 and I realize again, what I missed so much in TS4.....
I saw the patchnotes this morning...I mean, that's it ? Nothing more to the anniversary ? No statement, nothing ? I'm speakless. I even can't say, I'm disappointed.
After one year now, we still get ignored. Well, I just wished, I knew it before I gave TS4 a chance and bought it. I would have save my money. It's just sad, very sad.
The sims used to be a game for everyone. Now it's just a game for a part of players. Or should I say for a group ?
But I'm not in that group. I lost my hope today and give up TS4. So, I'm out. Or with the words of MDancer9112 signature : That's it, I'm done !
I think it's time to work on my own signature with the words : moved from Willow Creek back to Pleasantview !