I'm excited that there might be a Campus especially for Magical Sims if you have Supernatural installed. How cool is that!?
Also, I don't think that Education Campus is the title. More than likely it's just code reference to the different campuses, which are probably subhoods.
"It's like there's a pink elephant in the room and no one's allowed to talk about it."
I'm excited that there might be a Campus especially for Magical Sims if you have Supernatural installed. How cool is that!?
Also, I don't think that Education Campus is the title. More than likely it's just code reference to the different campuses, which are probably subhoods.
We have simbots, so I'm guessing that's our servo. I think the fairies with their abilities are as close to plantsims as we'll get.
I thought for sure one of the mascots would be a llama, but in the live chat, they showed a tiger.
It would be interesting to see someone who knows coding have a look at this and see what they think. Did you copy/paste this from SimsVIP, or did you do it from memory?
I copied and pasted it. I had it in my NotePad tab ever since and decided I should use it because they deleted it.
Harry, , I don't know what's happened here, but I do believe you posted with the best of intentions. The info just seems very fishy. I think you have to be careful to provide a link for info like this, otherwise people just don't believe you.
I'm excited that there might be a Campus especially for Magical Sims if you have Supernatural installed. How cool is that!?
Also, I don't think that Education Campus is the title. More than likely it's just code reference to the different campuses, which are probably subhoods.
This is fake lol. Sorry.
Lol, suppose I should have read the whole thread before commenting. Ah well, I guess the OP is just another annoying troll.
It would still be cool to have a special campus for Magic Sims, though EA is not in the habit of creating content that requires a separate EP to use.
"It's like there's a pink elephant in the room and no one's allowed to talk about it."
Yay! Mersims I'm so happy about them. I hope they are really really good I'm not surprised, I actually expected this to happen because of the large amount of hints. But I was thinking they would be in a Vacation Pack at first because of the Survey. The sooner the better
It has lots of ideas and feedback from everyone. 24 pages do far
This.
How would mermaids work is explained countless times on so many different treads.
Thank you GREENEYA
Mersims can really work and have amazing potential. They are Sirens, have hydrokinesis and other powers, just to name a few things. They could be very interesting. Also they are brand NEW! to The Sims Series
Mermaids would be first new creature in The Sims Series since TS2.
Finally something new.
Fairies were new. Well, they're the first playable life-state as a fairy in The Sims Series.
Fairies are not new.
We had fairies in TS1.
I think they meant that they are now playable. Do unicorns, mummies, imaginary friends, genies and mummies not count as new? If they are available to be played for the first time in sim history I consider them new.
Creatures, occults from TS1 in general where not playable.
TS2 introduced playable creatures.
But mummies, imaginary friends, genies and fairies are not new.
We have all of them in TS1.
I'm annoyed that this thread still hasn't been removed, I know several people including myself have reported it for its misleading info, but still nothing. :roll:
Been hoping for Bigfoot/Sasquatch forever. Mermaid sounds cool too. Can't think of any creature that's missing now if those are true.
I can! Dragons, weresims, centaurs, gargoyles, satyrs and a bunch more! They really haven't added any pet creatures since the pets EP and there's so many they could do! A big rideable, trainable, fire-breathing & Ice-breathing dragons. Then smaller lap sized fire & ice-breathing dragons. They would be the best pet in the game for sniffing out the best gems and sims should be able to tell them to find a specific kind of metal or gem and they'll bring it back to you.
You should be able to adopt one or find a dragon egg somehow that will allow you to care for it and hatch it. Sims should have to care for it for 3 days until it hatches. The type of egg you find is the kind of dragon you'll hatch. Bigger eggs for the bigger dragons and smaller eggs for the smaller dragons.
Then, from there they could make gryphons, Phoenix's, sphinx, real spectral pets for witches and a bunch of other mythical beasts I'm sure I'm forgetting.
Anyways! If these rumors are true, I will be getting the mersims that I've been waiting for since TS1!!!! YAY!!!!
My 3 favorite creatures are dragons genies and mermaids/merfolk. I've already got my genies! I'm just waiting on my dragons and mersims! Come on EA and make a girl giddy! Dragons and mersims! Bring 'Em Onnnnn!!!!
I'm annoyed that this thread still hasn't been removed, I know several people including myself have reported it for its misleading info, but still nothing. :roll:
Seriously? Ppl post misinformation here all the time. There's no rules or ToS that state that your information has to be accurate. That'd be why it hasn't been removed.
Reporting it is petty and a waste of time. There's no confirmation that we're getting Uni anyway and yes, I know about Origin and the hint in the recent chat, but that's not exactly official confirmation.
Instead of wasting the mods times with unnecessary reports just point out to believers that it is as far as anybody knows inaccurate information. Yeesh.
Been hoping for Bigfoot/Sasquatch forever. Mermaid sounds cool too. Can't think of any creature that's missing now if those are true.
I can! Dragons, weresims, centaurs, gargoyles, satyrs and a bunch more! They really haven't added any pet creatures since the pets EP and there's so many they could do! A big rideable, trainable, fire-breathing & Ice-breathing dragons. Then smaller lap sized fire & ice-breathing dragons. They would be the best pet in the game for sniffing out the best gems and sims should be able to tell them to find a specific kind of metal or gem and they'll bring it back to you.
You should be able to adopt one or find a dragon egg somehow that will allow you to care for it and hatch it. Sims should have to care for it for 3 days until it hatches. The type of egg you find is the kind of dragon you'll hatch. Bigger eggs for the bigger dragons and smaller eggs for the smaller dragons.
Then, from there they could make gryphons, Phoenix's, sphinx, real spectral pets for witches and a bunch of other mythical beasts I'm sure I'm forgetting.
Anyways! If these rumors are true, I will be getting the mersims that I've been waiting for since TS1!!!! YAY!!!!
My 3 favorite creatures are dragons genies and mermaids/merfolk. I've already got my genies! I'm just waiting on my dragons and mersims! Come on EA and make a girl giddy! Dragons and mersims! Bring 'Em Onnnnn!!!!
those are some really great ideas about the dragons it would be really cool if they did that!
As you might all know, The Sims 3: University was leaked a few months ago. Today, SimsVIP found a patch on EA's website! Now, I'm afraid they have taken it down and she has as well, so I remember what it said! Here:
That means that Bigfoot and Mermaid will be our creature in University! It also means it will be called "The Sims 3 Education Campus" according to the patches and files. Any thoughts?
--Elizabeth2345
Freaking cool! :thumbup:
Sad to see they're not gonna bring back the Greco-Roman theme.
just a crazy idea, Mermaids, wont start as babies, they will start as eggs, that egg will turn into toddler. An egg will have a different need from an infant.
One more thing, Mermaids dont do the traditional woohoo, I want their woo hoo to be similar how fishes breed.
just a crazy idea, Mermaids, wont start as babies, they will start as eggs, that egg will turn into toddler. An egg will have a different need from an infant.
One more thing, Mermaids dont do the traditional woohoo, I want their woo hoo to be similar how fishes breed.
But given that the idea is they can crossbreed...
I need some brain bleach. Does anyone have some I can borrow?
even reading through the 'how mermaids would work' thread is not making them practical. The issue is that maxis would be required to rewrite much of the games engine to its core to make mermaids playable. sure, they could create a code to replace the legs with fins, but the world itself is not designed in such a way for one to be able to look underwater. The closest we have is windows in pools, but the inside of the pool remains unaccessable. it is not as simple as one might think to change that, because you have to both rewrite how the world and pools are rendered, but also recode the entire camara system, and create completely new effects to go with underwater enviorments.
thats alot bigger than doing what EP's do, and making additions to the engine that allow them to do things such as pets, seasons, and tombs; it doesn't rewrite how the enviorment works. it just adds to it.
the problem is, again, water is not coded to be accesable in the way you would need it for mermaids.
unless mermaids exist purely on the surface of the water (which would kinda defeat the creature), its not feasble. allowing a sim to swim in the ocean is a far easier thing than to create a way for a sim to live in the water itself, which is vastly more complex, and again, the engine would have to be rewritten on a scale we have never seen from an expansion.
also, given that mermaids require being in water, it means that most of the world is inaccessable.
even reading through the 'how mermaids would work' thread is not making them practical. The issue is that maxis would be required to rewrite much of the games engine to its core to make mermaids playable. sure, they could create a code to replace the legs with fins, but the world itself is not designed in such a way for one to be able to look underwater. The closest we have is windows in pools, but the inside of the pool remains unaccessable. it is not as simple as one might think to change that, because you have to both rewrite how the world and pools are rendered, but also recode the entire camara system, and create completely new effects to go with underwater enviorments.
thats alot bigger than doing what EP's do, and making additions to the engine that allow them to do things such as pets, seasons, and tombs; it doesn't rewrite how the enviorment works. it just adds to it.
the problem is, again, water is not coded to be accesable in the way you would need it for mermaids.
unless mermaids exist purely on the surface of the water (which would kinda defeat the creature), its not feasble. allowing a sim to swim in the ocean is a far easier thing than to create a way for a sim to live in the water itself, which is vastly more complex, and again, the engine would have to be rewritten on a scale we have never seen from an expansion.
also, given that mermaids require being in water, it means that most of the world is inaccessable.
You and everyone else involved are all making this out to be more complex than it needs to be.
Changing legs to fins? Easy; swimming in water? They're coding that for oceans. Changing how the mechanics of the game work? That's been done consistently since WA and Seasons is just changing something else. Mermaids underwater? Rabbithole with some adaptation of the same coding for work rabbitholes.
even reading through the 'how mermaids would work' thread is not making them practical. The issue is that maxis would be required to rewrite much of the games engine to its core to make mermaids playable. sure, they could create a code to replace the legs with fins, but the world itself is not designed in such a way for one to be able to look underwater. The closest we have is windows in pools, but the inside of the pool remains unaccessable. it is not as simple as one might think to change that, because you have to both rewrite how the world and pools are rendered, but also recode the entire camara system, and create completely new effects to go with underwater enviorments.
thats alot bigger than doing what EP's do, and making additions to the engine that allow them to do things such as pets, seasons, and tombs; it doesn't rewrite how the enviorment works. it just adds to it.
the problem is, again, water is not coded to be accesable in the way you would need it for mermaids.
unless mermaids exist purely on the surface of the water (which would kinda defeat the creature), its not feasble. allowing a sim to swim in the ocean is a far easier thing than to create a way for a sim to live in the water itself, which is vastly more complex, and again, the engine would have to be rewritten on a scale we have never seen from an expansion.
also, given that mermaids require being in water, it means that most of the world is inaccessable.
You and everyone else involved are all making this out to be more complex than it needs to be.
Changing legs to fins? Easy; swimming in water? They're coding that for oceans. Changing how the mechanics of the game work? That's been done consistently since WA and Seasons is just changing something else. Mermaids underwater? Rabbithole with some adaptation of the same coding for work rabbitholes.
There. Simple.
actually it is not simple. They add to the game mechanics, but they have never done anything that dramatically requires a large scale recoding of the game engine itself. I don't think the people who are demanding mermaids understand the difference between adding to the game engine, and recoding it completely to allow things that are impossible. So far, they have not added anything to the game that was impossible. the games engine confines what the game can be, hence why every 4-6 years we get a completely new base game, because they cant simply break down the game engine to add things in for expansions everytime they want.
You dont seem to know much about how game engines work. they run the very basic core of the game, and constrain it. adding things like new plants or new creatures is easy, because it doesnt actually change the game's engine that drives the game. but mermaids are not like any other creature. Their gameplay is dependent upon things that the game engine doesnt support (unless they, again, as I pointed out, live purely on the surface of the water, like a swimmer in pools or ocean).
the games engine would have to be rewritten in part to make bodies of water truly accessable, and thats not an easy feat, because it changes how the world is rendered (seasons doesnt change it at the core, it applies textures, puddles, leave piles, and snow, all of which are overlaid effects placed on the world, not technically part of the world itself.
the reason they dont dramatically rewrite the game engine is because it creates a massive logistical challange, as you then have to make sure that it doesnt break everything in other expansions, and with the number of expansions we have, that is an undertaking on par with greating the base game itself.
the reasons we have alot of the bugs that occur is because of minor changes to the engine, which are feasble, which creates conflicts in the coding that are not always foreseeable. do a massive rewrite, as would be required of the engines ability to render the world itself. the small changes adds bugs, huge changes would break the game.
there is a HUGE difference between adding a code to open up the oceans for swimming, and adding a few new animations for it, and making the oceans a livable enviorment.
there is a HUGE difference between adding a code to open up the oceans for swimming, and adding a few new animations for it, and making the oceans a livable enviorment.
The part I bolded in your statement proves to me that you did not even read my post, but instead skimmed it and replied to what you thought I said. Here's what I actually said on the idea of anything underwater:
Mermaids underwater? Rabbithole with some adaptation of the same coding for work rabbitholes.
Yep. I said a rabbithole. Do me a favor and actually read what I say and reply to what I say.
And the rest of your post that I didn't quote? Completely irrelevant; nothing I suggested is anything outside of mechanics which already exist in the game and are part of the engine.
Edit: After looking, part of that came across as more hostile than intended. It's been removed.
Skimming the first and last two pages, I gathered that everyone now knows this was fake.
I dunno if it ever really was on SimsVIP, but if it was, the fact that they took it down would pretty much mean it is confirmed as fake.
Also, even if this had been true, I just see it as backing up what I've been saying all along. Unless you want the sea to become a massive rabbithole, mermaids would just be Sims with tails that swim like any other. And since swimming in the ocean comes with the Seasons patch, the only different thing about them would be the tails.
See how your water is all blue beyond the beach (or grey, in Bridgeport)? That's an effect that's programmed into CAW (both our and the dev's version). Water under a certain depth gets "blued" out, otherwise you'd be able to see right through to the ocean floor. And, not only would that make the size of the worlds much greater (they'd have to paint all underwater terrain), but it would look pretty stupid and unrealistic (and I don't mean unrealistic as in fantasy unrealistic, I mean... well, it's hard to describe :P ). So the only way they could have Mersims swim into the depths would be to turn that blue area into a rabbithole.
ETA: knew this would come in handy some day :P
Here's one of my worlds with the blue effect on and off (you can't actually turn it off properly, only in CAW for seeing under the water) Fog on Fog off
even reading through the 'how mermaids would work' thread is not making them practical. The issue is that maxis would be required to rewrite much of the games engine to its core to make mermaids playable. sure, they could create a code to replace the legs with fins, but the world itself is not designed in such a way for one to be able to look underwater. The closest we have is windows in pools, but the inside of the pool remains unaccessable. it is not as simple as one might think to change that, because you have to both rewrite how the world and pools are rendered, but also recode the entire camara system, and create completely new effects to go with underwater enviorments.
thats alot bigger than doing what EP's do, and making additions to the engine that allow them to do things such as pets, seasons, and tombs; it doesn't rewrite how the enviorment works. it just adds to it.
the problem is, again, water is not coded to be accesable in the way you would need it for mermaids.
unless mermaids exist purely on the surface of the water (which would kinda defeat the creature), its not feasble. allowing a sim to swim in the ocean is a far easier thing than to create a way for a sim to live in the water itself, which is vastly more complex, and again, the engine would have to be rewritten on a scale we have never seen from an expansion.
also, given that mermaids require being in water, it means that most of the world is inaccessable.
You and everyone else involved are all making this out to be more complex than it needs to be.
Changing legs to fins? Easy; swimming in water? They're coding that for oceans. Changing how the mechanics of the game work? That's been done consistently since WA and Seasons is just changing something else. Mermaids underwater? Rabbithole with some adaptation of the same coding for work rabbitholes.
There. Simple.
actually it is not simple. They add to the game mechanics, but they have never done anything that dramatically requires a large scale recoding of the game engine itself. I don't think the people who are demanding mermaids understand the difference between adding to the game engine, and recoding it completely to allow things that are impossible. So far, they have not added anything to the game that was impossible. the games engine confines what the game can be, hence why every 4-6 years we get a completely new base game, because they cant simply break down the game engine to add things in for expansions everytime they want.
You dont seem to know much about how game engines work. they run the very basic core of the game, and constrain it. adding things like new plants or new creatures is easy, because it doesnt actually change the game's engine that drives the game. but mermaids are not like any other creature. Their gameplay is dependent upon things that the game engine doesnt support (unless they, again, as I pointed out, live purely on the surface of the water, like a swimmer in pools or ocean).
the games engine would have to be rewritten in part to make bodies of water truly accessable, and thats not an easy feat, because it changes how the world is rendered (seasons doesnt change it at the core, it applies textures, puddles, leave piles, and snow, all of which are overlaid effects placed on the world, not technically part of the world itself.
the reason they dont dramatically rewrite the game engine is because it creates a massive logistical challange, as you then have to make sure that it doesnt break everything in other expansions, and with the number of expansions we have, that is an undertaking on par with greating the base game itself.
the reasons we have alot of the bugs that occur is because of minor changes to the engine, which are feasble, which creates conflicts in the coding that are not always foreseeable. do a massive rewrite, as would be required of the engines ability to render the world itself. the small changes adds bugs, huge changes would break the game.
there is a HUGE difference between adding a code to open up the oceans for swimming, and adding a few new animations for it, and making the oceans a livable enviorment.
I really think the "How Would Mermaids Work?" thread makes Mersims very practical. It has many ideas from everyone across the entire thread. I can see an issue with the "Underwater World" idea on the thread, we have discussed that although it would be awesome, it is not actually neccessary and would maybe or most likely cause problems. So, we discussed making an underwater rabbithole. But if you saw any other ideas that you thought were not practical Please, Please let me know I would like to review them and discuss them. Your side of feedback is also neccessary http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/570320.page
And there are plenty things a Mersim could do out of water with the ideas on the thread.
There are also some ideas on the thread that would make Mersims more edgy instead of them just saw as girly, such as, Hydrokinesis, Electrokinesis, Cryokinesis, Singing(Siren Enchantment), and Death by NPC Mermaid
Also, I think if EA thought Mermaids were impossible and didn't have a general idea for how they would work in game, I don't think they would have had them in a Potential EP Survey.
I think if the gurus didn't know how tomake mersims work, they should hire you as an advisor, 3DJ4! The ideas on the 'How Would Mermaids Work' thread are very practical and would definitely work with the engine.
I think if the gurus didn't know how tomake mersims work, they should hire you as an advisor, 3DJ4! The ideas on the 'How Would Mermaids Work' thread are very practical and would definitely work with the engine.
Lol Thank You Cinderellimouse I would happily accept the job! I would give us a real treat with them
Comments
I'm hoping you confused SimsVIP with some other website maybe?
Also, I don't think that Education Campus is the title. More than likely it's just code reference to the different campuses, which are probably subhoods.
This is fake lol. Sorry.
Harry,
Lol, suppose I should have read the whole thread before commenting. Ah well, I guess the OP is just another annoying troll.
It would still be cool to have a special campus for Magic Sims, though EA is not in the habit of creating content that requires a separate EP to use.
Creatures, occults from TS1 in general where not playable.
TS2 introduced playable creatures.
But mummies, imaginary friends, genies and fairies are not new.
We have all of them in TS1.
Unicorn is new.
This
Ad-Block their avatar if you can.
Trolls have no faces in my forum world.
I can! Dragons, weresims, centaurs, gargoyles, satyrs and a bunch more! They really haven't added any pet creatures since the pets EP and there's so many they could do! A big rideable, trainable, fire-breathing & Ice-breathing dragons. Then smaller lap sized fire & ice-breathing dragons. They would be the best pet in the game for sniffing out the best gems and sims should be able to tell them to find a specific kind of metal or gem and they'll bring it back to you.
You should be able to adopt one or find a dragon egg somehow that will allow you to care for it and hatch it. Sims should have to care for it for 3 days until it hatches. The type of egg you find is the kind of dragon you'll hatch. Bigger eggs for the bigger dragons and smaller eggs for the smaller dragons.
Then, from there they could make gryphons, Phoenix's, sphinx, real spectral pets for witches and a bunch of other mythical beasts I'm sure I'm forgetting.
Anyways! If these rumors are true, I will be getting the mersims that I've been waiting for since TS1!!!! YAY!!!!
My 3 favorite creatures are dragons genies and mermaids/merfolk. I've already got my genies! I'm just waiting on my dragons and mersims! Come on EA and make a girl giddy! Dragons and mersims! Bring 'Em Onnnnn!!!!
thefoxsims.weebly.com/
Seriously? Ppl post misinformation here all the time. There's no rules or ToS that state that your information has to be accurate. That'd be why it hasn't been removed.
Reporting it is petty and a waste of time. There's no confirmation that we're getting Uni anyway and yes, I know about Origin and the hint in the recent chat, but that's not exactly official confirmation.
Instead of wasting the mods times with unnecessary reports just point out to believers that it is as far as anybody knows inaccurate information. Yeesh.
those are some really great ideas about the dragons
Freaking cool! :thumbup:
Sad to see they're not gonna bring back the Greco-Roman theme.
One more thing, Mermaids dont do the traditional woohoo, I want their woo hoo to be similar how fishes breed.
But given that the idea is they can crossbreed...
I need some brain bleach. Does anyone have some I can borrow?
thats alot bigger than doing what EP's do, and making additions to the engine that allow them to do things such as pets, seasons, and tombs; it doesn't rewrite how the enviorment works. it just adds to it.
the problem is, again, water is not coded to be accesable in the way you would need it for mermaids.
unless mermaids exist purely on the surface of the water (which would kinda defeat the creature), its not feasble. allowing a sim to swim in the ocean is a far easier thing than to create a way for a sim to live in the water itself, which is vastly more complex, and again, the engine would have to be rewritten on a scale we have never seen from an expansion.
also, given that mermaids require being in water, it means that most of the world is inaccessable.
You and everyone else involved are all making this out to be more complex than it needs to be.
Changing legs to fins? Easy; swimming in water? They're coding that for oceans. Changing how the mechanics of the game work? That's been done consistently since WA and Seasons is just changing something else. Mermaids underwater? Rabbithole with some adaptation of the same coding for work rabbitholes.
There. Simple.
actually it is not simple. They add to the game mechanics, but they have never done anything that dramatically requires a large scale recoding of the game engine itself. I don't think the people who are demanding mermaids understand the difference between adding to the game engine, and recoding it completely to allow things that are impossible. So far, they have not added anything to the game that was impossible. the games engine confines what the game can be, hence why every 4-6 years we get a completely new base game, because they cant simply break down the game engine to add things in for expansions everytime they want.
You dont seem to know much about how game engines work. they run the very basic core of the game, and constrain it. adding things like new plants or new creatures is easy, because it doesnt actually change the game's engine that drives the game. but mermaids are not like any other creature. Their gameplay is dependent upon things that the game engine doesnt support (unless they, again, as I pointed out, live purely on the surface of the water, like a swimmer in pools or ocean).
the games engine would have to be rewritten in part to make bodies of water truly accessable, and thats not an easy feat, because it changes how the world is rendered (seasons doesnt change it at the core, it applies textures, puddles, leave piles, and snow, all of which are overlaid effects placed on the world, not technically part of the world itself.
the reason they dont dramatically rewrite the game engine is because it creates a massive logistical challange, as you then have to make sure that it doesnt break everything in other expansions, and with the number of expansions we have, that is an undertaking on par with greating the base game itself.
the reasons we have alot of the bugs that occur is because of minor changes to the engine, which are feasble, which creates conflicts in the coding that are not always foreseeable. do a massive rewrite, as would be required of the engines ability to render the world itself. the small changes adds bugs, huge changes would break the game.
there is a HUGE difference between adding a code to open up the oceans for swimming, and adding a few new animations for it, and making the oceans a livable enviorment.
The part I bolded in your statement proves to me that you did not even read my post, but instead skimmed it and replied to what you thought I said. Here's what I actually said on the idea of anything underwater:
Yep. I said a rabbithole. Do me a favor and actually read what I say and reply to what I say.
And the rest of your post that I didn't quote? Completely irrelevant; nothing I suggested is anything outside of mechanics which already exist in the game and are part of the engine.
Edit: After looking, part of that came across as more hostile than intended. It's been removed.
I dunno if it ever really was on SimsVIP, but if it was, the fact that they took it down would pretty much mean it is confirmed as fake.
Also, even if this had been true, I just see it as backing up what I've been saying all along. Unless you want the sea to become a massive rabbithole, mermaids would just be Sims with tails that swim like any other. And since swimming in the ocean comes with the Seasons patch, the only different thing about them would be the tails.
See how your water is all blue beyond the beach (or grey, in Bridgeport)? That's an effect that's programmed into CAW (both our and the dev's version). Water under a certain depth gets "blued" out, otherwise you'd be able to see right through to the ocean floor. And, not only would that make the size of the worlds much greater (they'd have to paint all underwater terrain), but it would look pretty stupid and unrealistic (and I don't mean unrealistic as in fantasy unrealistic, I mean... well, it's hard to describe :P ). So the only way they could have Mersims swim into the depths would be to turn that blue area into a rabbithole.
ETA: knew this would come in handy some day :P
Here's one of my worlds with the blue effect on and off (you can't actually turn it off properly, only in CAW for seeing under the water)
Fog on
Fog off
http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/570320.page
And there are plenty things a Mersim could do out of water with the ideas on the thread.
There are also some ideas on the thread that would make Mersims more edgy instead of them just saw as girly, such as, Hydrokinesis, Electrokinesis, Cryokinesis, Singing(Siren Enchantment), and Death by NPC Mermaid
Also, I think if EA thought Mermaids were impossible and didn't have a general idea for how they would work in game, I don't think they would have had them in a Potential EP Survey.