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Is The Sims FreePlay making people switch to The Sims 4?
WinMacSims3
Posts: 1,610 Member
You may remember back in March 2014 when The Sims FreePlay introduced the controversial Life Dreams update by not allowing aging to be disabled, requiring LP to reverse aging. This has angered the Sims community on sites like Facebook leading to players quit playing the game and switch to other games such as The Sims 3 and later The Sims 4. About 3 years later, the same thing is happening again with the Events.
Time limits in FreePlay have been hated by Simmers particularity those involving Hobbies and those that use SP which are considered impossible to win. One of the time limits that Simmers complain of difficulty is timed Hobbies. Many of the timed Hobbies are almost impossible to complete in time without using LP since you have to use up most of the days to reach level 6 and then use the remaining days to get the remaining Collectibles which isn't easy with FreePlay's Random Number Generator. Aerobics is the worst since you have to complete the Collection 7 times and complete it under 7 days. Another example are the Community/Live Events which people say you have to spend real money to get all unlocks since you won't have enough to get the requirements for the unlocks.
Recently the Events have been impossible, even The Girl Who Games made a post about the impossible Events. This has led to people stop playing the game and possibly switch to other games such as The Sims 4 which doesn't have the timed Events. Rage quitting is usually uncommon in a Sims game except probably MySims Party.
It's not only the difficulty that is making people stop playing, the frequency of the Events is also making people stop playing. Many Simmers have noted that the game tends to push Event after Event giving you little time in between, sometimes a Event will overlap another Event at the time of post, we got 3 Events, Tropical Romance Island, Ice Sculpture Special Event, and Time Extensions. Here's the comment from the thread.
Also, the problem with these Events is that your Sims are constantly working causing them to age and not being to complete their Life Dreams and this was made worse that you needed to use LP to reverse aging but they removed the LP requirement on reversing aging with the French Romance Update. The removal of the LP requirement to reverse aging may make people happy but the Events are making people stop playing anyway.
Lastly, did I forget to mention that the prizes can be prematurely missable?
However, Events may return again giving you a second chance.
This is one of the reasons I think The Sims 4 gets right as TS4 doesn't have constant Events/time limits, time limits that block unlocks, or any of the Social Point stuff. The time limits are increasing tensions between The Sims FreePlay and The Sims 4 if others like VIP or real time didn't make it worse enough. The two games are often compared since FreePlay is a freemium game whereas TS4 is a paid game, many PC/Mac fans tend to view FreePlay as a watered down version to The Sims 3 and The Sims 4. I think the reason why Sims 3/Sims 4 players do not like FreePlay is because many players are used to the time mechanics where 24 minutes (on Normal Speed) equals to 24 real life hours rather than the real time used in FreePlay as well as The Sims 2 for DS, and the game is mostly goal focused. Gameplay in FreePlay is really different from the PC/Mac games such as Adoption requiring real money, having to complete Quests to unlock content, etc.
Do you think The Sims FreePlay is compelling people to quit the game and play The Sims 4?
Time limits in FreePlay have been hated by Simmers particularity those involving Hobbies and those that use SP which are considered impossible to win. One of the time limits that Simmers complain of difficulty is timed Hobbies. Many of the timed Hobbies are almost impossible to complete in time without using LP since you have to use up most of the days to reach level 6 and then use the remaining days to get the remaining Collectibles which isn't easy with FreePlay's Random Number Generator. Aerobics is the worst since you have to complete the Collection 7 times and complete it under 7 days. Another example are the Community/Live Events which people say you have to spend real money to get all unlocks since you won't have enough to get the requirements for the unlocks.
Recently the Events have been impossible, even The Girl Who Games made a post about the impossible Events. This has led to people stop playing the game and possibly switch to other games such as The Sims 4 which doesn't have the timed Events. Rage quitting is usually uncommon in a Sims game except probably MySims Party.
It's not only the difficulty that is making people stop playing, the frequency of the Events is also making people stop playing. Many Simmers have noted that the game tends to push Event after Event giving you little time in between, sometimes a Event will overlap another Event at the time of post, we got 3 Events, Tropical Romance Island, Ice Sculpture Special Event, and Time Extensions. Here's the comment from the thread.
I used to play but the time limits were so insane I decided to quit playing. It's a fun casual game to play when you lie in bed or something but you litterly have to play all day to complete things in time. I know it's how they make money, but dang gives us a little space to actually enjoy the game instead of rushing all these quests.
Also, the problem with these Events is that your Sims are constantly working causing them to age and not being to complete their Life Dreams and this was made worse that you needed to use LP to reverse aging but they removed the LP requirement on reversing aging with the French Romance Update. The removal of the LP requirement to reverse aging may make people happy but the Events are making people stop playing anyway.
Lastly, did I forget to mention that the prizes can be prematurely missable?
However, Events may return again giving you a second chance.
This is one of the reasons I think The Sims 4 gets right as TS4 doesn't have constant Events/time limits, time limits that block unlocks, or any of the Social Point stuff. The time limits are increasing tensions between The Sims FreePlay and The Sims 4 if others like VIP or real time didn't make it worse enough. The two games are often compared since FreePlay is a freemium game whereas TS4 is a paid game, many PC/Mac fans tend to view FreePlay as a watered down version to The Sims 3 and The Sims 4. I think the reason why Sims 3/Sims 4 players do not like FreePlay is because many players are used to the time mechanics where 24 minutes (on Normal Speed) equals to 24 real life hours rather than the real time used in FreePlay as well as The Sims 2 for DS, and the game is mostly goal focused. Gameplay in FreePlay is really different from the PC/Mac games such as Adoption requiring real money, having to complete Quests to unlock content, etc.
Do you think The Sims FreePlay is compelling people to quit the game and play The Sims 4?
Origin ID: GothicSimmer, YouTube: GothicSimmer
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The Sims Freeplay is perfect for my iPad where I also play other MMO freemium games. But it is actually very hard to find such games if you want as much variation in the gameplay as the Sims Freeplay has. Therefore this game is still my preferred game.
But I don't think that many of the mobile gamers who starts with the Sims Freeplay on there smartphones will switch to TS4 either. The games are too different, for different platforms and appeal to different types of gamers.