My husband and I have discussed the state of Sims many, many times. There are problems programming wise with Sims 2 and 3, but since these versions are pretty much finished, modders like NRAAS for example, have fixed some of what plagues the games making them far more stable then when they were the active version. Granted hindsight is 20/20 as they say and there are so many things that EA could have done with those games.
The problem with Sims 4 started at the initial drawing board with the "online" features. While the excuse of "we wanted a game that could run on all computers" is not really relevant in today's version, you do have to look at making an online game run with multiple computers, all different, and be able to 'render' the same experience for all in an online mode. This means making everything as uniform as possible.
The fault of Sims 4 lies in the "Base game engine". If I were someone designing a Sims game from the ground up, I would look at keeping features that were introduced in prior versions that everyone loved and how we could keep them and manage them better. The open world for example. Think about Fallout 4 and Skyrim. Bethesda has the game keep track of every NPC, but does it in such a way that it is not processor intensive. EA should have explored that route to keep the world more alive. This is but one example.
I still have my love of Sims. Why? Because I have Sims 2 and 3 to fall back on. I haven't explored all the things to do with Sims 3 yet and I have the Mac version of Sims 2 which I play with sometimes (need to get my Sims 2 UC fixed. Graphics card recognition issues. ).
Second Star to the Right and Straight on 'til Morning.
In case you missed it, this was also said to a customer:
You are not personally a fan of the version. You do not speak for the entire player base. If people were not interested in what we were making we wouldn't continue what we are making. Our data shows us differently.
I guess she meant to say "vision" instead of version but either way it's another very appalling statement to make to an unhappy customer. But I suppose they don't want to make it look like they care too much about how 'unhappy' people feel since that might upset the 'happy' people. According to one of their execs, we're all just competing for status on their forum after all. /s
I've never seen anything like it. I think my days of spending any money on video games is just about done, because this seems to be a pretty typical attitude in this industry and I don't find it at all acceptable. I'll continue to play the previous games until I get tired of them, I guess. But shame on me if I ever give this company another dime.
Then again, I'm at the point where I think they are having so much difficulty adding anything to this game and that's why they're sticking to SPs. I don't think the BG engine is a suitable vehicle for a feature-packed Sims game, and all the talk about 'low-end computers' is probably just a cover for that fact. Small, minimal packs are the most anyone can expect from this version and I don't think they'll ever add many of the things people are asking for. When they have to keep culling sims and their relationships for 'performance' reasons, that should tell you something.
The Sims
Where are we going, and why am I in this hand basket?!
I thought she was extremely rude to more than one simmer in that thread. If a customer is upset and says something like; 'you are not including the type of gameplay that most fans are asking for', the FIRST RULE of good customer service is that you concentrate on what they are saying. Customer is unhappy, can you say something that will make them feel better? Something like; "I'm sorry you're not happy with the content; we try very hard to listen to all our customers and what they want for the game. I wish I had more info I can share about what might be coming up, but I share what I can...' blah blah blah.
Customer feels heard, right? Instead she hones in on 'you are not most fans - if you are, show me the proof that you are speaking for most fans'.
Un-belie-leavable! Appalling, actually. And she answered in this manner more than once. 'It's just your opinion', 'you aren't a fan of this version', etc. etc. An appalling lack of tact and customer service. But I suppose she would reply; "that's not my job".
All of this. The customer service for Maxis is absolutely horrendous and I see more blow back of the team basically saying it's OUR fault we're unhappy than anything else. You know it's a running joke when you go to OTHER places on the internet that have nothing to do with the game, and people have commented about how they won't touch it at all now, not only because they don't enjoy the new 'vision' for it, but because of the terrible customer service.
There's now rumors circulating that EP's are more or less out the window and majority of content growing will be focused on SP.
I look to Sims 4 as a complete reboot of the franchise instead of the leap forward it should have been. It is dumbed down to point that even purposely trying to kill you're sims is next to impossible , and life threatening events rarely happen. In 3 if you were doing a legacy you could easily fail in the first hour or two if you weren't extra careful. 4 is the only game in the series where I don't bother training cooking or handiness skills before letting my sims loose doing risky activities.
The lack of decent family play doesn't help. GTW as far as added content sucked. 4 new careers, and you can run your own store not much else. Certainly not worth $40. Haven't bought GT because I see the same. $40 for a dumbed down cheap version of Nightlife. Which IMHO was OK, but still lacking. Sims 4 was meh from start and meh EPs aren't going to fix that. Especially if EA wants good sales. Sims 4 is honestly the lackluster game in the series.
I'm considering going back to either The Sims 2 or The Sims 3. I've bought both Expansion Packs for this current game and I just get bored with them very quickly. They're lacking for me and offer no substantial gameplay. Or it's very repetitive gameplay. Take Get To Work for example, the active careers or whatever they're called get boring after a while. I just turn up to work and go through the same list of tasks that I'm forced to do and it gets very repetitive. So I just send my Sims off to work alone after a while.
I try and make a family to play out on The Sims 4 but they just don't seem as fun to play out as they did with the predecessors. Which is really disappointing for me . The lack of toddlers and the way babies have been created in game is a huge part of this. They've left out lots of little things too that made the game have...soul, for a lack of better word.
I keep going back to the game hoping I'll enjoy it more but after a while I just feel disappointed with it. It's fun to play for a while though. But I just don't know
I think it was evident yesterday the attitudes of company representatives. But this wasn't the first time anything like this has happened here on the forums. The previous guru before the current had also said similar things in a condescending manner, no matter the tone, and many of our friends left here not just because of not having interest in the game but due to how they were spoken to and or attitudes of they didn't matter, face book had a zillion likes and them not buying the base was often met with surge of people telling them they didn't like the game anyway and to just leave, and even by the previous community manager who without meaning to probably, had the attitude their data was right and those who were unhappy meant nothing to move on. This is also taught in EA group sessions if none of you are aware. I used to have it book marked what is taught in their workshops. How to hold your ground even if your base is unhappy with the direction or new direction you have taken. It's engrained into EA employees heads. It's sometimes a monthly work shop. It can be googled and found how to speak to people when they are not happy with the direction of any game EA produces. At least that was the take I took away from reading about a workshop dealing with those and even their own development teams who were not convinced you had done the right thing with the direction you had taken.
It's sad to me that long time players whether family players (which I am) or any other type of player has been dropped like a hot potato to cater to the likes on face book. It's more like this to me. You don't follow us on FB or Twitter, and therefore your unhappiness can't possibly be legitimate and therefore you can't possibly be a huge part of our fan base sense we know long time players have left and we have new players playing our game.
It strongly echoes of what happened with Sim City as far as I read. One guru there was asked about the backlash and he came back with they have thousands playing their game. That was a totally dismissal of those who had funded SC in 1999.
And one even wrote an article how he was proud and unbowed by their decision. EA's employees are known for a bad reputation in customer service and dismissal of concerns and seems it's not improving as much as Andrew Wilson said he hoped it would.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In case you missed it, this was also said to a customer:
You are not personally a fan of the version. You do not speak for the entire player base. If people were not interested in what we were making we wouldn't continue what we are making. Our data shows us differently.
I saw that along with her speech about data usage. That's why I asked her about Cool Kitchen Stuff and Movie Hangout Stuff's identity crisis. If your data tells you, for example, everybody uses the exact same kitchen and TV models, then you'd take that opportunity to create more variety and related content for said themes. Instead, they gave us a bunch of irrelevant clothing and Bohemian decor. That would be like ordering fish and chips at a fast food restaurant, and the server gives you a veggie burger and fries. You don't need data to tell you what is common sense. It wouldn't surprise me if the backyard stuff/game pack is 10% things commonly found in backyards and 90% unrelated, totally different themed content.
I still play The Sims 3 on and off. Before the last patch I could boot up the game instantly. Now, I need Origin to load my game library, then click the "Play" button, and then wait ten years for the game launcher to pop up so I can click on the giant arrow button to play. Ridiculous. Here's some family pics from my game in Riverview.
Jasper reads a bedtime story to little Stephen.
Stephen (far left and now a YA) talking to his soon-to-be wife on his wedding day while Jasper holds his grandson.
Jasper's other grandson that everybody forgot. (The wedding took place in the backyard of the house across the street.)
As far as I'm concerned the promises Andrew Wilson made do not apply to simmers on the ground. The month they released TS4 he promised no more unfinished games at EA and acknowledging that it gave them the poor reputations that led to unhappiness with EA from customers.
I'd like to see EA acknowledge that their customers are absolutely not the problem and that's the story we've seen over and over. Andrew Wilson gave me hope for the future and I believed in him and the team. Instead I'm made to feel like they only want to acknowledge feedback that suits them, don't want to address the issues that caused the problems in the first place and seem to be happy for customers to be left feeling badly of a company they have loved and supported for many years. That's truly, truly sad. I don't think enough was learnt from SC2013 at all.
“When the board asked me to take on this role, there were definitely things I wanted for the company – that I’d wanted for a long time,” he said. “I wanted us to be player first – to think about who the player is and what they want. For a long time, the games were the most important thing that we had. But then, in some ways, we got to thinking about EA itself, about how to to make it a good company. I said, okay, the player needs to be the lens through which we see the world and the filter through which we make decisions – and if we do that everyone wins. Players end up with great games, the people who work for the company end up working in a much more positive place and ultimately the shareholders will get a return.”
[quoteIt’s ready when it’s ready
So is this the EA maxim now: delay launching if necessary? Wilson says it is. “We decided that we couldn’t get an innovative Need For Speed title out this year so for the first time in 17 years we’re not launching one, we’re giving the team extra time. We moved Titanfall on Xbox One out of our fiscal year; we moved Dragon Age, we moved Hardline.][/quote]
“This whole concept of the industry hiding everything until the very last moment is an outdated way to make games. Invite people in as early as you can, deal with the feedback and build that back into the game. What you get two or three years down the track are amazing games built with the help of the community.”
Sims 4 looks interesting but fans are worried about how much content is being left out of the initial release. Wilson says he doesn’t want to focus on extracting money from people, but a hobbled Sims release followed by waves of downloadable content would hit the company’s reputation once again. And Wilson says he doesn’t want that: he doesn’t want to be a contender in the Consumerist awards ever again.
It's just sad. Tragic after so many years of believing in this company, this studio and this team. And it's absolutely not a 'narrative' I want as we've seen suggested. I wanted to believe in EA. I wanted to support Maxis and the team and I put a lot of effort into trying to help. But if they don't want to hear and comprehend the issues then nothing will help them. I just find it tragic that they would allow any customers to feel that way for any duration. It's an extremely poor experience for people who have given them love and support for a great many years without question until those customers were thrown out due to EA cuts to development.
As far as I'm concerned the promises Andrew Wilson made do not apply to simmers on the ground. The month they released TS4 he promised no more unfinished games at EA and acknowledging that it gave them the poor reputations that led to unhappiness with EA from customers.
I'd like to see EA acknowledge that their customers are absolutely not the problem and that's the story we've seen over and over. Andrew Wilson gave me hope for the future and I believed in him and the team. Instead I'm made to feel like they only want to acknowledge feedback that suits them, don't want to address the issues that caused the problems in the first place and seem to be happy for customers to be left feeling badly of a company they have loved and supported for many years. That's truly, truly sad. I don't think enough was learnt from SC2013 at all.
“When the board asked me to take on this role, there were definitely things I wanted for the company – that I’d wanted for a long time,” he said. “I wanted us to be player first – to think about who the player is and what they want. For a long time, the games were the most important thing that we had. But then, in some ways, we got to thinking about EA itself, about how to to make it a good company. I said, okay, the player needs to be the lens through which we see the world and the filter through which we make decisions – and if we do that everyone wins. Players end up with great games, the people who work for the company end up working in a much more positive place and ultimately the shareholders will get a return.”
[quoteIt’s ready when it’s ready
So is this the EA maxim now: delay launching if necessary? Wilson says it is. “We decided that we couldn’t get an innovative Need For Speed title out this year so for the first time in 17 years we’re not launching one, we’re giving the team extra time. We moved Titanfall on Xbox One out of our fiscal year; we moved Dragon Age, we moved Hardline.]
“This whole concept of the industry hiding everything until the very last moment is an outdated way to make games. Invite people in as early as you can, deal with the feedback and build that back into the game. What you get two or three years down the track are amazing games built with the help of the community.”
Sims 4 looks interesting but fans are worried about how much content is being left out of the initial release. Wilson says he doesn’t want to focus on extracting money from people, but a hobbled Sims release followed by waves of downloadable content would hit the company’s reputation once again. And Wilson says he doesn’t want that: he doesn’t want to be a contender in the Consumerist awards ever again.
It's just sad. Tragic after so many years of believing in this company, this studio and this team. And it's absolutely not a 'narrative' I want as we've seen suggested. I wanted to believe in EA. I wanted to support Maxis and the team and I put a lot of effort into trying to help. But if they don't want to hear and comprehend the issues then nothing will help them. I just find it tragic that they would allow any customers to feel that way for any duration. It's an extremely poor experience for people who have given them love and support for a great many years without question until those customers were thrown out due to EA cuts to development.
I am actually afraid they will never learn that online games aren't that good. I mean you pay 60 dollars for an online game like Simcity and Need For Speed and what happens when they cut the servers. The people who bought the game are out 60 dollars. I think that buying anything from them is just making them think we don't care if we wasted 60 dollars on a game we can never play again.
I think players can pretty much get their forks out now and... well, you know the rest of the saying.
On the bright side, after waiting almost two years for TS4 to become something I might even remotely consider buying, I feel freed now to concentrate on filling in the holes in my TS3 collection and buying the expansion packs that I didn't get the first time around, some more worlds, stuff packs, etc.
I think players can pretty much get their forks out now and... well, you know the rest of the saying.
On the bright side, after waiting almost two years for TS4 to become something I might even remotely consider buying, I feel freed now to concentrate on filling in the holes in my TS3 collection and buying the expansion packs that I didn't get the first time around, some more worlds, stuff packs, etc.
Have fun playing The Sims 3 and completing your collection.
As far as I'm concerned the promises Andrew Wilson made do not apply to simmers on the ground. The month they released TS4 he promised no more unfinished games at EA and acknowledging that it gave them the poor reputations that led to unhappiness with EA from customers.
I'd like to see EA acknowledge that their customers are absolutely not the problem and that's the story we've seen over and over. Andrew Wilson gave me hope for the future and I believed in him and the team. Instead I'm made to feel like they only want to acknowledge feedback that suits them, don't want to address the issues that caused the problems in the first place and seem to be happy for customers to be left feeling badly of a company they have loved and supported for many years. That's truly, truly sad. I don't think enough was learnt from SC2013 at all.
“When the board asked me to take on this role, there were definitely things I wanted for the company – that I’d wanted for a long time,” he said. “I wanted us to be player first – to think about who the player is and what they want. For a long time, the games were the most important thing that we had. But then, in some ways, we got to thinking about EA itself, about how to to make it a good company. I said, okay, the player needs to be the lens through which we see the world and the filter through which we make decisions – and if we do that everyone wins. Players end up with great games, the people who work for the company end up working in a much more positive place and ultimately the shareholders will get a return.”
[quoteIt’s ready when it’s ready
So is this the EA maxim now: delay launching if necessary? Wilson says it is. “We decided that we couldn’t get an innovative Need For Speed title out this year so for the first time in 17 years we’re not launching one, we’re giving the team extra time. We moved Titanfall on Xbox One out of our fiscal year; we moved Dragon Age, we moved Hardline.]
“This whole concept of the industry hiding everything until the very last moment is an outdated way to make games. Invite people in as early as you can, deal with the feedback and build that back into the game. What you get two or three years down the track are amazing games built with the help of the community.”
Sims 4 looks interesting but fans are worried about how much content is being left out of the initial release. Wilson says he doesn’t want to focus on extracting money from people, but a hobbled Sims release followed by waves of downloadable content would hit the company’s reputation once again. And Wilson says he doesn’t want that: he doesn’t want to be a contender in the Consumerist awards ever again.
It's just sad. Tragic after so many years of believing in this company, this studio and this team. And it's absolutely not a 'narrative' I want as we've seen suggested. I wanted to believe in EA. I wanted to support Maxis and the team and I put a lot of effort into trying to help. But if they don't want to hear and comprehend the issues then nothing will help them. I just find it tragic that they would allow any customers to feel that way for any duration. It's an extremely poor experience for people who have given them love and support for a great many years without question until those customers were thrown out due to EA cuts to development.[/quote]
Thanks for reposting what he has said in the past. It only makes me depressed to know those words don't ring true around here. Nor even with Rachel when she laughed about their fans want many things when evading questions about toddlers. It is no longer just about toddlers (to me) or about family play. It is the total lack of respect and understanding I have seen here time and time again from EA employees, and the dismissal attitude of Ms. Franklin. If ever something wasn't true is Maxis is practicing what he said. No, they are not. I know developers do care about their work however, I'm not sure EA or it's employees care about the feeling of their customers. Especially, after the last few days.
ETA: Here is something else that bothered me badly about yesterday but let it pass in the other thread. Saying they had watched many, many Youtubers angry reviews. It sort of just passed right over their intellect as to why. It seemed they believed this was due to they weren't getting what they wanted. No, sometimes what someone said is their actual truth and shouldn't be picked apart like that and dismissed. Like saying they are always ranting.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
You know I was going to say on the other thread . I really wouldbn't get on so hype how it sold 5 million copies . And how lot of people seem to enjoy it . Wel at first that might seem an accomplishment, if you didn't had it on sale most of the year.
You know I was going to say on the other thread . I really wouldbn't get on so hype how it sold 5 million copies . And how lot of people seem to enjoy it . Wel at first that might seem an accomplishment, if you didn't had it on sale most of the year.
That button isn't a five million sold button. I'm pretty sure it's a continuance of how many fans the Sims had for all versions because they had 4M button back in TS3 when The Sims series had reached 4million fans.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
You know I was going to say on the other thread . I really wouldbn't get on so hype how it sold 5 million copies . And how lot of people seem to enjoy it . Wel at first that might seem an accomplishment, if you didn't had it on sale most of the year.
That button isn't a five million sold button. I'm pretty sure it's a continuance of how many fans the Sims had for all versions because they had 4M button back in TS3 when The Sims series had reached 4million fans.
Funny thing: Consumerist hasn't done a Worst Company in America since 2014. All hail EA, new government of Pan-America.
Oh my gosh, I just realized Panem is meant to be an abbreviation/respelling of Pan-American.
Panem is actually from the Latin for "bread and circuses". Junk food and trashy entertainment, of which EA is aiming to produce the latter.
Eh, I'm still saying it's Pan-American, because it's the same sound.
Anyway, I may take a break from posting in this thread for a while since I'm sort of afraid to get into arguments with people here. I see posts and I want to say my thing, but then I get afraid that someone will get angry at what I'm saying and the thread will close down because of arguments. I'll still be looking, but I won't post until I know that the forums have calmed down. See you sometime later.
Just some random Simmer you probably don't even follow on the gallery! Gallery name's the same as my username! Did I just rhyme there?
@HIFreeBirdIH noone is here to argue with you. If they are they'll be asked to stop. Always been the case. I know you disagree with others because you are happy but there are more similarities than differences.
HIFreeBirdIH noone is here to argue with you. If they are they'll be asked to stop. Always been the case. I know you disagree with others because you are happy but there are more similarities than differences.
Well, it's just about SimGuruDrake and how people are perceiving her now. On here, it's impossible to guarantee that what you intend your tone to be will come across, and I feel like what her actual tone was tainted by people's anger over how bare the teaser was, so they thought she despised them because the anti-dev feelings bubbled, which meant that she would be the one to get the blunt of the anger, and she would undeservingly lose people's respect over how they think she was speaking.
Just some random Simmer you probably don't even follow on the gallery! Gallery name's the same as my username! Did I just rhyme there?
HIFreeBirdIH noone is here to argue with you. If they are they'll be asked to stop. Always been the case. I know you disagree with others because you are happy but there are more similarities than differences.
Well, it's just about SimGuruDrake and how people are perceiving her now. On here, it's impossible to guarantee that what you intend your tone to be will come across, and I feel like what her actual tone was tainted by people's anger over how bare the teaser was, so they thought she despised them because the anti-dev feelings bubbled, which meant that she would be the one to get the blunt of the anger, and she would undeservingly lose people's respect over how they think she was speaking.
The issue isn't a personal one for me. The issue is a problem with my experience with the company. I have never allowed gurus to be attacked here and actually have spent time soothing misunderstandings between one and a user here shortly after release too.
Yes tone is hard to convey. But I'm pretty sure people know you and that if they were worried they would communicate that with you sensibly here. We don't do big drama here.
Another issue elsewhere is a perception that communicating disappointment in what's said is personal. It's not. If people don't say why something bothers them then there is no way to straighten out misunderstandings. It's worse if you don't say why and just go off.
This is extremely late for me (after 11pm and still awake lol) but I had to go out tonight, meh (I am not a fan of large social gatherings) and just had to stop by the forums before going to sleep.
Disappointed there has been no news on the culling/relationship problems but I guess I didn't really expect any response. So bye bye to TS4 for now... I got the last of my sims 3 EPs installed before I went out this evening, so I just need to find the right manual patch and I'll be all set to go. I'm excited to play - I feel like I've been out and bought a new game
Comments
The problem with Sims 4 started at the initial drawing board with the "online" features. While the excuse of "we wanted a game that could run on all computers" is not really relevant in today's version, you do have to look at making an online game run with multiple computers, all different, and be able to 'render' the same experience for all in an online mode. This means making everything as uniform as possible.
The fault of Sims 4 lies in the "Base game engine". If I were someone designing a Sims game from the ground up, I would look at keeping features that were introduced in prior versions that everyone loved and how we could keep them and manage them better. The open world for example. Think about Fallout 4 and Skyrim. Bethesda has the game keep track of every NPC, but does it in such a way that it is not processor intensive. EA should have explored that route to keep the world more alive. This is but one example.
I still have my love of Sims. Why? Because I have Sims 2 and 3 to fall back on. I haven't explored all the things to do with Sims 3 yet and I have the Mac version of Sims 2 which I play with sometimes (need to get my Sims 2 UC fixed. Graphics card recognition issues.
I guess she meant to say "vision" instead of version but either way it's another very appalling statement to make to an unhappy customer. But I suppose they don't want to make it look like they care too much about how 'unhappy' people feel since that might upset the 'happy' people. According to one of their execs, we're all just competing for status on their forum after all. /s
I've never seen anything like it. I think my days of spending any money on video games is just about done, because this seems to be a pretty typical attitude in this industry and I don't find it at all acceptable. I'll continue to play the previous games until I get tired of them, I guess. But shame on me if I ever give this company another dime.
Then again, I'm at the point where I think they are having so much difficulty adding anything to this game and that's why they're sticking to SPs. I don't think the BG engine is a suitable vehicle for a feature-packed Sims game, and all the talk about 'low-end computers' is probably just a cover for that fact. Small, minimal packs are the most anyone can expect from this version and I don't think they'll ever add many of the things people are asking for. When they have to keep culling sims and their relationships for 'performance' reasons, that should tell you something.
Where are we going, and why am I in this hand basket?!
All of this. The customer service for Maxis is absolutely horrendous and I see more blow back of the team basically saying it's OUR fault we're unhappy than anything else. You know it's a running joke when you go to OTHER places on the internet that have nothing to do with the game, and people have commented about how they won't touch it at all now, not only because they don't enjoy the new 'vision' for it, but because of the terrible customer service.
There's now rumors circulating that EP's are more or less out the window and majority of content growing will be focused on SP.
RIP, The Sims.
The lack of decent family play doesn't help. GTW as far as added content sucked. 4 new careers, and you can run your own store not much else. Certainly not worth $40. Haven't bought GT because I see the same. $40 for a dumbed down cheap version of Nightlife. Which IMHO was OK, but still lacking. Sims 4 was meh from start and meh EPs aren't going to fix that. Especially if EA wants good sales. Sims 4 is honestly the lackluster game in the series.
I try and make a family to play out on The Sims 4 but they just don't seem as fun to play out as they did with the predecessors. Which is really disappointing for me
I keep going back to the game hoping I'll enjoy it more but after a while I just feel disappointed with it. It's fun to play for a while though. But I just don't know
Oh well.
It's sad to me that long time players whether family players (which I am) or any other type of player has been dropped like a hot potato to cater to the likes on face book. It's more like this to me. You don't follow us on FB or Twitter, and therefore your unhappiness can't possibly be legitimate and therefore you can't possibly be a huge part of our fan base sense we know long time players have left and we have new players playing our game.
It strongly echoes of what happened with Sim City as far as I read. One guru there was asked about the backlash and he came back with they have thousands playing their game. That was a totally dismissal of those who had funded SC in 1999.
And one even wrote an article how he was proud and unbowed by their decision. EA's employees are known for a bad reputation in customer service and dismissal of concerns and seems it's not improving as much as Andrew Wilson said he hoped it would.
I saw that along with her speech about data usage. That's why I asked her about Cool Kitchen Stuff and Movie Hangout Stuff's identity crisis. If your data tells you, for example, everybody uses the exact same kitchen and TV models, then you'd take that opportunity to create more variety and related content for said themes. Instead, they gave us a bunch of irrelevant clothing and Bohemian decor. That would be like ordering fish and chips at a fast food restaurant, and the server gives you a veggie burger and fries. You don't need data to tell you what is common sense. It wouldn't surprise me if the backyard stuff/game pack is 10% things commonly found in backyards and 90% unrelated, totally different themed content.
I still play The Sims 3 on and off. Before the last patch I could boot up the game instantly. Now, I need Origin to load my game library, then click the "Play" button, and then wait ten years for the game launcher to pop up so I can click on the giant arrow button to play. Ridiculous. Here's some family pics from my game in Riverview.
Jasper reads a bedtime story to little Stephen.
Stephen (far left and now a YA) talking to his soon-to-be wife on his wedding day while Jasper holds his grandson.
Jasper's other grandson that everybody forgot. (The wedding took place in the backyard of the house across the street.)
I'd like to see EA acknowledge that their customers are absolutely not the problem and that's the story we've seen over and over. Andrew Wilson gave me hope for the future and I believed in him and the team. Instead I'm made to feel like they only want to acknowledge feedback that suits them, don't want to address the issues that caused the problems in the first place and seem to be happy for customers to be left feeling badly of a company they have loved and supported for many years. That's truly, truly sad. I don't think enough was learnt from SC2013 at all.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/sep/05/andrew-wilson-of-ea-we-never-want-to-be-worst-us-company-again
[quoteIt’s ready when it’s ready
So is this the EA maxim now: delay launching if necessary? Wilson says it is. “We decided that we couldn’t get an innovative Need For Speed title out this year so for the first time in 17 years we’re not launching one, we’re giving the team extra time. We moved Titanfall on Xbox One out of our fiscal year; we moved Dragon Age, we moved Hardline.][/quote]
It's just sad. Tragic after so many years of believing in this company, this studio and this team. And it's absolutely not a 'narrative' I want as we've seen suggested. I wanted to believe in EA. I wanted to support Maxis and the team and I put a lot of effort into trying to help. But if they don't want to hear and comprehend the issues then nothing will help them. I just find it tragic that they would allow any customers to feel that way for any duration. It's an extremely poor experience for people who have given them love and support for a great many years without question until those customers were thrown out due to EA cuts to development.
https://twitter.com/sparkfairy1
On the bright side, after waiting almost two years for TS4 to become something I might even remotely consider buying, I feel freed now to concentrate on filling in the holes in my TS3 collection and buying the expansion packs that I didn't get the first time around, some more worlds, stuff packs, etc.
Have fun playing The Sims 3
It's just sad. Tragic after so many years of believing in this company, this studio and this team. And it's absolutely not a 'narrative' I want as we've seen suggested. I wanted to believe in EA. I wanted to support Maxis and the team and I put a lot of effort into trying to help. But if they don't want to hear and comprehend the issues then nothing will help them. I just find it tragic that they would allow any customers to feel that way for any duration. It's an extremely poor experience for people who have given them love and support for a great many years without question until those customers were thrown out due to EA cuts to development.[/quote]
Thanks for reposting what he has said in the past. It only makes me depressed to know those words don't ring true around here. Nor even with Rachel when she laughed about their fans want many things when evading questions about toddlers. It is no longer just about toddlers (to me) or about family play. It is the total lack of respect and understanding I have seen here time and time again from EA employees, and the dismissal attitude of Ms. Franklin. If ever something wasn't true is Maxis is practicing what he said. No, they are not. I know developers do care about their work however, I'm not sure EA or it's employees care about the feeling of their customers. Especially, after the last few days.
ETA: Here is something else that bothered me badly about yesterday but let it pass in the other thread. Saying they had watched many, many Youtubers angry reviews. It sort of just passed right over their intellect as to why. It seemed they believed this was due to they weren't getting what they wanted. No, sometimes what someone said is their actual truth and shouldn't be picked apart like that and dismissed. Like saying they are always ranting.
That button isn't a five million sold button. I'm pretty sure it's a continuance of how many fans the Sims had for all versions because they had 4M button back in TS3 when The Sims series had reached 4million fans.
Wow that actualy kinda sadder
Oh my gosh, I just realized Panem is meant to be an abbreviation/respelling of Pan-American.
Eh, I'm still saying it's Pan-American, because it's the same sound.
Anyway, I may take a break from posting in this thread for a while since I'm sort of afraid to get into arguments with people here. I see posts and I want to say my thing, but then I get afraid that someone will get angry at what I'm saying and the thread will close down because of arguments. I'll still be looking, but I won't post until I know that the forums have calmed down. See you sometime later.
https://twitter.com/sparkfairy1
Well, it's just about SimGuruDrake and how people are perceiving her now. On here, it's impossible to guarantee that what you intend your tone to be will come across, and I feel like what her actual tone was tainted by people's anger over how bare the teaser was, so they thought she despised them because the anti-dev feelings bubbled, which meant that she would be the one to get the blunt of the anger, and she would undeservingly lose people's respect over how they think she was speaking.
The issue isn't a personal one for me. The issue is a problem with my experience with the company. I have never allowed gurus to be attacked here and actually have spent time soothing misunderstandings between one and a user here shortly after release too.
Yes tone is hard to convey. But I'm pretty sure people know you and that if they were worried they would communicate that with you sensibly here. We don't do big drama here.
Another issue elsewhere is a perception that communicating disappointment in what's said is personal. It's not. If people don't say why something bothers them then there is no way to straighten out misunderstandings. It's worse if you don't say why and just go off.
https://twitter.com/sparkfairy1
This is extremely late for me (after 11pm and still awake lol) but I had to go out tonight, meh (I am not a fan of large social gatherings) and just had to stop by the forums before going to sleep.
Disappointed there has been no news on the culling/relationship problems but I guess I didn't really expect any response. So bye bye to TS4 for now... I got the last of my sims 3 EPs installed before I went out this evening, so I just need to find the right manual patch and I'll be all set to go. I'm excited to play - I feel like I've been out and bought a new game
Goodnight all xx
https://twitter.com/sparkfairy1