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Why MultiPlayer Won't Work

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  • KathykinsKathykins Posts: 1,881 Member
    I really don't mind multiplayer games. I've played Wow almost 14 years. I also played TSO until Eaxis closed it down, and then EAland until that flopped and was closed down. A lot of people loved TSO, myself included.

    Although, what did I do in the game? I joined a skill house as a hostess. I skilled (which you had to do constantly, because our skills decayed) and took care of other people's sims who also skilled. After they were done skilling, it was off to make money. That was what "most" people did in TSO. Thinking back on it, that was pretty boring game play and to be honest, today I'd expect more from an online multiplayer sims game. The fun in TSO was of course the contact and connection to other players. I met some pretty awesome people there (actually still have occasional contact with some), and wouldn't have missed it for the world.

    I want the freedom to do whatever I want in my game, for my sims to be what I want them to be, do what I want when I want. I need freedom, and not depend on other simmers. I don't think that would be possible if Eaxis went the multiplayer route.
  • CinebarCinebar Posts: 33,618 Member
    edited March 2020
    Kathykins wrote: »
    I really don't mind multiplayer games. I've played Wow almost 14 years. I also played TSO until Eaxis closed it down, and then EAland until that flopped and was closed down. A lot of people loved TSO, myself included.

    Although, what did I do in the game? I joined a skill house as a hostess. I skilled (which you had to do constantly, because our skills decayed) and took care of other people's sims who also skilled. After they were done skilling, it was off to make money. That was what "most" people did in TSO. Thinking back on it, that was pretty boring game play and to be honest, today I'd expect more from an online multiplayer sims game. The fun in TSO was of course the contact and connection to other players. I met some pretty awesome people there (actually still have occasional contact with some), and wouldn't have missed it for the world.

    I want the freedom to do whatever I want in my game, for my sims to be what I want them to be, do what I want when I want. I need freedom, and not depend on other simmers. I don't think that would be possible if Eaxis went the multiplayer route.

    You have just described why many single player gamers didn't like TSO, why we wouldn't touch it, and why we would never play it. The meeting other nice players is a nice thing but I have met and still remember dozens of nice people I found on forums. Discussing Sims and Sims' games and theories and wish lists and helping with other people's pc problems and sharing or using other people's content was a great experience for most of us. We didn't have to play multiplayer games to find all that, nor have to play a multiplayer game to meet and talk to nice people who were on the forums. It's not like it used to be, but that was my experience from being able to get online (when I had internet off and on) back in the day. No multiplayer was needed. We had each other on the official forums to answer questions, have a few laughs and enjoy the discussions, and or make a good friend if you can call people on the internet a 'friend'. As for the gameplay of TSO your description is why those of us who enjoy the sandbox and being the director of our own Sims' lives will never want another multiplayer, even if they don't make it a grind fest as they did that one. ETA: Thank you for the correct description of it, because it is true it's one of the reason we have no faith in Maxis the next time either.
    "Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
  • OldeseadoggeOldeseadogge Posts: 4,973 Member
    If my expeiences today in attempting to launch the game and interact with th gallery are any indication. EA is simply incapable of the hosting side. If they can't keep Origin and the Gallery running smoothly (often at all) how in plumbob can they handle the 24/7/365 of an online game?
  • SimsLovinLycanSimsLovinLycan Posts: 1,910 Member
    edited March 2020
    Exactly. If you want a multi-player experience with your own created avatar where you can hang out with friends...there's MMORPG's. In fact, Mabinogi is probably very close to what you would have to have for an online Sims game (minus the combat and dungeon crawling, of course...so it would be Mabi minus 98% of the fun).

    There would be quests for skills, jobs, and objects that would require you to team up with at least one other sim. You don't have to do it, but if you want to unlock that skill, get that promotion, or unlock that object for your house or CAS...you'd better force yourself to scrounge for another human to play with. And they're probably going to want to chat during the mission...or (more awkward still) want to hang out afterward. Sometimes you make a friend that way...mostly you just make that awkward acquaintance who always seems to message you when you're in the middle of something that requires your active attention.

    Another social bother? Guilds. Oh, you know there would be guilds. Guilds thirsty for new players to bolster their ranks. You'd be getting random guild invites from random players who never even said two words to you before. You'll turn them down because you don't really want to be in a guild. It's awkward and kind of a pain. The same with random friend invites from players who never talked to you before. Awkward and weird and kind of annoying.

    Oh, and the trolls. All the trolls. You know for a FACT that there will be trolls...And BOTTERS!! Yeah, botters. Spamming in the market, trying to sell you Simoleons for real money. Sure, they'll get banned...but they'll come back, like roaches. The botters and trolls shall be a plague amongst simmer kind.

    The only thing that makes MMORPG's fun in spite of the awkward social situations is if--in spite of the awkward encounters, trolls, and botters--the core gameplay (the combat, the dungeon crawling, traversal, exploration, advancement, etc.) is fun, even when going solo (which I often do), and the majority of the community is friendly and chill. Most simmers are friendly and chill...but the gameplay in an online Sims game (especially in the modern era) would likely not be very much fun. Most of the fun in the sims is...well, making your own fun. Building your town up, creating your sims and bending their lives and world to your will, making and adding CC and mods for extra flavor, and really making the game your own.

    The Sims is often (sometimes derisively) compared to virtual Barbies. Well, if that's so, then building, making sims, ruling over them and their world, and adding mods and CC is what we do after we bring the dolls home. We name them; change their clothes; cut their hair; add non-Barbie toys into the mix (some store-bought [intact and broken alike]; others crafted from odds and ends around the house) to enhance our stories; we buy off-brand fashion doll clothes and sew, knit, or crochet extra outfits for our dolls; we add stickers and marker marks of our own to official Barbie add-ons; and we make our Barbie experience our own based on our own interests, tastes, and personalities. It's the same with boys and their action figures, really. Kids never play with their toys exactly as the company that manufactured them would like, because they always, ALWAYS, add their own creations and imagination to them.

    Forcing multi-player on the next Sims game would take all of the actual gameplay--the gameplay we make ourselves after we take Barbie and Optimus Prime out of their packaging--away. Instead, it would be that weird situation when your cousins come over for a cook-out and, as the night wares on, the adults decide to sit and talk outside while they send all the kids inside to play. Your cousins want to play dolls/Transformers/G.I. Joes, whatever, with you, and they go and grab your toys...but they don't play like you do. They try to dress your dolls in outfits that they don't belong in. They make Beastman Man-At-Arms' best friend when, in your world, they're bitter rivals, locked in an honor-bound feud that's lasted since they were in diapers. They use the wrong voice for EVERYONE. You get mad at your cousins. You argue, maybe it even comes to blows. You take your toys back and kick them out. You hate each other for years over it...THAT would be how an online Sims game in this day and age would end: tears and bitterness and broken friendships...because there would be no good gameplay to save it.
    There is a song I hear, a melody from the past...
    5MNZlGQ.gif
    When I woke for the first time, when I slept for the last.
  • OldeseadoggeOldeseadogge Posts: 4,973 Member
    Truer then you think! It would be the end of the franchise. Maybe that's what EA wants, end the game so they can focus on what they really like - war and sports (civilized warfare), to - like vultures - descend upon the prey and rake in the $.
  • ClarionOfJoyClarionOfJoy Posts: 1,945 Member
    Exactly. If you want a multi-player experience with your own created avatar where you can hang out with friends...there's MMORPG's. In fact, Mabinogi is probably very close to what you would have to have for an online Sims game (minus the combat and dungeon crawling, of course...so it would be Mabi minus 98% of the fun).

    There would be quests for skills, jobs, and objects that would require you to team up with at least one other sim. You don't have to do it, but if you want to unlock that skill, get that promotion, or unlock that object for your house or CAS...you'd better force yourself to scrounge for another human to play with. And they're probably going to want to chat during the mission...or (more awkward still) want to hang out afterward. Sometimes you make a friend that way...mostly you just make that awkward acquaintance who always seems to message you when you're in the middle of something that requires your active attention.

    Another social bother? Guilds. Oh, you know there would be guilds. Guilds thirsty for new players to bolster their ranks. You'd be getting random guild invites from random players who never even said two words to you before. You'll turn them down because you don't really want to be in a guild. It's awkward and kind of a pain. The same with random friend invites from players who never talked to you before. Awkward and weird and kind of annoying.

    Oh, and the trolls. All the trolls. You know for a FACT that there will be trolls...And BOTTERS!! Yeah, botters. Spamming in the market, trying to sell you Simoleons for real money. Sure, they'll get banned...but they'll come back, like roaches. The botters and trolls shall be a plague amongst simmer kind.

    The only thing that makes MMORPG's fun in spite of the awkward social situations is if--in spite of the awkward encounters, trolls, and botters--the core gameplay (the combat, the dungeon crawling, traversal, exploration, advancement, etc.) is fun, even when going solo (which I often do), and the majority of the community is friendly and chill. Most simmers are friendly and chill...but the gameplay in an online Sims game (especially in the modern era) would likely not be very much fun. Most of the fun in the sims is...well, making your own fun. Building your town up, creating your sims and bending their lives and world to your will, making and adding CC and mods for extra flavor, and really making the game your own.

    The Sims is often (sometimes derisively) compared to virtual Barbies. Well, if that's so, then building, making sims, ruling over them and their world, and adding mods and CC is what we do after we bring the dolls home. We name them; change their clothes; cut their hair; add non-Barbie toys into the mix (some store-bought [intact and broken alike]; others crafted from odds and ends around the house) to enhance our stories; we buy off-brand fashion doll clothes and sew, knit, or crochet extra outfits for our dolls; we add stickers and marker marks of our own to official Barbie add-ons; and we make our Barbie experience our own based on our own interests, tastes, and personalities. It's the same with boys and their action figures, really. Kids never play with their toys exactly as the company that manufactured them would like, because they always, ALWAYS, add their own creations and imagination to them.

    Forcing multi-player on the next Sims game would take all of the actual gameplay--the gameplay we make ourselves after we take Barbie and Optimus Prime out of their packaging--away. Instead, it would be that weird situation when your cousins come over for a cook-out and, as the night wares on, the adults decide to sit and talk outside while they send all the kids inside to play. Your cousins want to play dolls/Transformers/G.I. Joes, whatever, with you, and they go and grab your toys...but they don't play like you do. They try to dress your dolls in outfits that they don't belong in. They make Beastman Man-At-Arms' best friend when, in your world, they're bitter rivals, locked in an honor-bound feud that's lasted since they were in diapers. They use the wrong voice for EVERYONE. You get mad at your cousins. You argue, maybe it even comes to blows. You take your toys back and kick them out. You hate each other for years over it...THAT would be how an online Sims game in this day and age would end: tears and bitterness and broken friendships...because there would be no good gameplay to save it.


    I just have to say....your post is AMAZING!

  • HannaZojaHannaZoja Posts: 93 Member
    The Sims is a unique game. The only good game you can play on your own. The only game to wind down after a hard day's work - and not having to please a Guild, etc.... I can risk playing it while studying - because playing on my own means, that I can exit any time and continue working. Maxis: Regular people have friends in real life, only addicts live on server platform!
    Favourite Game: Sims 3 <3
    Favourite Worlds Sims 3: Hidden Springs, Barnacle Bay, Riverview, Isla Paradiso, Sunlit Tides, Monte Vista, Dragon Valley, Al Simhara, Shang Simla, Roaring Heights, Lunar Lakes

    Favourite Worlds Sims 4: Britechester, Windenburg, Sulani - possibly Mt. Komorebi
  • ScobreScobre Posts: 20,665 Member
    Because Animal Crossing always does it better, that's why.
    “Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.” –Helen Keller
  • GlacierSnowGlacierSnow Posts: 2,301 Member
    @SimsLovinLycan Your post describes exactly my own feelings. The last two paragraphs in particular resonate with me, and eloquently describe why I would never be interested in a multiplayer version of this game. Well said. Thank you.
    Forum-Banner-01.jpg
    Seventeen & Maldusk Forum thread link
    My name on AHQ (and the upcoming sims forum) is "GlacierSnowGhost".
  • Nikkei_SimmerNikkei_Simmer Posts: 9,405 Member
    edited April 2020
    Having to play Sims with other players would just make me want to hurl meteors at darned near everybody. I like my solo games and the ability to romance any townie I choose instead of wondering if there is a five mile long lineup to woo a particular pre-made or townie. .
    BE27350E-CAF5-438A-AFC6-8EE15AB6DDE3.jpeg
    No one is interrupting this wedding at the “Does anyone have any objections?”
    F258481D-A0AD-41B4-B382-4FD44E9D250B.jpeg
    ...or the first dance.
    479ACE8A-649E-4F78-915C-D9DE942D7413.jpeg
    I don’t want anyone else interrupting the flow of my games or my storyline.

    If EA/Maxis wants something like this have them make a SIMS SOCIAL online game to appease those, but leave our Sims (inset number of new version) alone.
    GYZ6Ak9.png
    Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
  • OldeseadoggeOldeseadogge Posts: 4,973 Member
    Hear hear! Great pix, BTW.
  • Nikkei_SimmerNikkei_Simmer Posts: 9,405 Member
    Thanks @Oldeseadogge - Just find that River tends to have the same type of childhood background as my RL Wife @Featherbelle.

    1. Raised by a single mother,
    2. Father absconded elsewhere when she was little
    3. Of Irish descent. (McIrish/Irish - Yeah I know it’s a stretch) :mrgreen:

    That’s why I always pick River as my sim-spouse
    GYZ6Ak9.png
    Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
  • OldeseadoggeOldeseadogge Posts: 4,973 Member
    Most welcome. Lucky you, and best wishes to you both! Get you on the Irish stretch as have an I don't remember how many greats grandmum (enough to go back to middle 1800s) but still consider myself one of Erin's sons.
  • TS1299TS1299 Posts: 1,604 Member
    The Only Multiplayer that is acceptable to me is the gallery feature. That's it.
  • kwanzaabotkwanzaabot Posts: 2,440 Member
    edited April 2020
    The Sims is unbearable without custom content and mods. There's a reason this community is so active, and it's not the Gurus dropping a barebones expansion on us every couple of months.

    Just look at the gallery sometime, 99% of no-CC players only create Sims with the most recent content. Yeah, that'll be super exciting.

    That alone is enough of a reason why multiplayer won't work; everybody's Sims will look the same, they'll have the same jobs, the same interactions... it's gonna be boring AF.

    The dollhouse analogy is 100000000% true, though: nobody likes other people messing with their stories.
    wJbomAo.png
  • Nikkei_SimmerNikkei_Simmer Posts: 9,405 Member
    @Oldeseadogge, My beloved wife is, as far as I can tell, descended from the Galway O’Lees, but that will probably require an extensive genealogical research period that could end up with a trip to Eire to study the tax rolls.

    She and I will have been married 20 years as of this coming August.

    GYZ6Ak9.png
    Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
  • OldeseadoggeOldeseadogge Posts: 4,973 Member
    Wonderful! May it be only the beginning to many more! My link is with the McFarlands, but no idea where from. My digging so far has been through Ancestry.com, and things start getting dodgy once you cross the pond.
  • DijktafoneDijktafone Posts: 775 Member
    edited April 2020
    While the dollhouse analogy is true for TS1, 2 and 3 (also awesome, and very fun to read), I wouldn't have mind playing TS4 with other folks; a game I'm far too often wandering aimlesly in...
    In Ts3, dude would change Nancy Landgraab's aspiration from C.E.O to heartbreaker, I'd have said 'makes no sense whatsoever, get out of my game, bruh/sis!'. If he'd want to do that in TS4, I'd say 'suit yourself, you just need one click, and she won't see the difference anyways, cause whims are pointless'.

    Ooook I'd still yell for 'Nina Caliente-bodybuilder'... but that's about it.
  • LeosimsLeosims Posts: 47 Member
    We Have it!

    The sims Online!

    Renamed as EA Land but Shut down in 2008.
  • CinebarCinebar Posts: 33,618 Member
    lol, I don't really know many people (but there are a few) who want TSO revied. But I also think most who like the older games and even TS4 (I like a lot of TS4, myself) probably aren't going to be interested in the new TS5 (if that's it's name) if it shapes up as rumors say it will be multiplayer. Multiplayer games have to have questy type things to do or there is no point to them. And multiplayer games have to have microtransactions or they can't really make any money if you pay one time and just keep playing on their servers for years. DLC can be added but that isn't going to be as beneficial as microtransactions...now thinking about EA/Maxis one has to wonder which one they would pick to be the most profitable and that would have to be weekly or monthly or some other scheduled microtransactions. Such as Free Play and or some other games offer, spend real money to succeed faster or grind away...I think I know which type of gameplay EA would push.
    "Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
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