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Test Subject
#26 Old 14th Feb 2020 at 7:32 PM
It's already been said by multiple people in this thread, but yeah no, I'm not interested in multiplayer. Sure, if both options are available, but will they be able to make that work? TS4 was a disappointment to me so I'm not getting my hopes up.
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Mad Poster
#27 Old 14th Feb 2020 at 8:39 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Inge Jones
The way the Sims Online stopped things getting too out of hand was a) unlike SecondLife you couldn't just make your sim do any sort of crude thing - you only had the normal Sims 1 interaction menu to choose from. So no overt sex. There was ingame chat using chatbubbles in character, which wasn't censored at source, but there was a good reporting system for people who were being offensive. I can't remember if there was an age limit.


Age limit was 18. Also I remember there were lots built by people that were definitely geared towards adult conversations because they had lots of hot tubs. There was also the possibility to kick out of the lot players that were being rude or obnoxious and caused trouble.


Quote: Originally posted by DrowningFishy
Somethings I have concerns about the main game being online. 1. How will effect cheating, mods, and custom content. Those three things are big to sims and I doubt EA could make a game amusing enough that those things would not be needed. 2. Could EA actually make an online game with the bugs they are known for? and 3. How much is this a scheme for EA to eek out more money out of Sim players?
?



There was no cheating or mods that I know of but there was custom content like pictures and flower vases that people sold in their shops, for simoleons not real money. Some things were very expensive, I guess based on how rare they were.
I believe that an online game would be the easier option for them to build, but would it be attractive to people who play on a PC? I imagine there will be monthly access fee, then possibly they will charge for in game furniture and clothes and hairs that you want and can't wait to buy them until you earn all the required simoleons, and it will only be possible to control your own lot and your own sim. There will be no neighbourhood decoration, your sim's wife and children will be other sim players, and well some people are nice some are rude, sometimes they have to attend to real life issue and don't log into the game. Sometimes they ask to be housemates and they leave with your furniture. So if you want to basically chat to other players while your sim skills up (very slowly, I must say, in real life hours), and earning very little simoleons while doing so, then it might suit you. Personally, I feel that an offline single player game offers more game experience and more creative outlet than a MMO.
Top Secret Researcher
#28 Old 14th Feb 2020 at 8:57 PM
I may play an online sims if the EA people are online. Just so I could on line beat them up for making Sims 5 an online game.
If it was a free trial, I mean.
So then... Sims 6... what do you want to see in it? I'm thinking Sims 3 with some of the ideas of Sims 4, like Clubs, World creator, Back to the Future/Past etc.

Sims are better than us.
Theorist
#29 Old 14th Feb 2020 at 8:58 PM
I have zero interest in multiplayer. Would this be similar to Second Life or that sort of thing? Talk about glitchy.

It's the same for "premade" characters. I prefer all my own. I would love to see clean neighborhoods without yet another Landgrab or Goth walking around from the get go. I spent so much time deleting all these premades and their stories are not interesting to me. I would like them to take the game in a more international direction.

"If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went." Will Rogers
Top Secret Researcher
#30 Old 15th Feb 2020 at 2:52 AM
I don't really care. EA has lost my trust and therefore won't get my money for any Sims game (or really any game) anymore. But just to add to the list: Online Sims? Hell no.
Top Secret Researcher
#31 Old 15th Feb 2020 at 3:23 AM
An online sims game sounds like a nightmare. I can see EA pumping out weekly "challenge" events and offering reskinned prizes, in favor of actual content / substance.

Thanks but no thanks.

Not-so-daily TS2 downloads @ my simblr.
Top Secret Researcher
#32 Old 15th Feb 2020 at 4:53 AM
I just don't play multiplayer, including in some genres where it makes a lot more sense (Paradox grand strategy titles, for example).
Mad Poster
#33 Old 15th Feb 2020 at 5:20 AM Last edited by jje1000 : 15th Feb 2020 at 5:47 AM.
Let me throw in some forum bait- I think an online component *could* work in principle- like a neutral commons where you can bring your sims to interact with other sims and which stands apart from the main game. It's ripe for drama and storytelling, and could be an interesting place to be in- increasing the connectivity of the community (which up to this point still largely interacts via the forums and other off-game platforms (like Youtube, Tumblr). It could be like a quasi-Playstation Home, with events and other things to do.

Might not be what we want, but a community that stays in EA's borders may be desired in terms of a captive market.

However, there are some major hurdles to overcome:

1.) CC- This is the big one. The Sims's greater appeal revolves around CC, and compatibility between players will be a problem. Solutions? Either you a.) Limit all CC to an official marketplace (like in SL, but which brings up the 2nd & 3rd issues), b.) Enforce no CC except for EA/EA-Sanctioned CC (return of the store = $$$)- which will limit the appeal of the game, or c.) Limit the online component to groups who share CC, which I doubt is what EA has in mind.

2.) Game Rating- The Sims 3 tends to gravitate towards more mature settings. How will they balance the freedom that single-player offers with the more controlled 'safe' settings that a commons demands? People have already pointed out the mixed success of Sims Online, and even that ultimately fizzled away.

3.) Moddability- How much is EA willing to let the community dig around its engine? Online games tend to be closed gardens, and even sandboxes like SL enforce some use of their internal programs. How will EA avoid copyright issues in terms of conversions?
Forum Resident
#34 Old 15th Feb 2020 at 8:57 AM
EA is killing the sims series like Disney killed Star Wars.
Instructor
#35 Old 15th Feb 2020 at 9:19 AM
Quote: Originally posted by pianogrinder
like Disney killed Star Wars.


Uhh, EA played a role in that too. They're really good at murdering franchises.
Test Subject
#36 Old 15th Feb 2020 at 9:53 AM
I’m struggling with how this will work. Is every sim going to be controlled by a human player? If so does that mean you have to wait for them to login before you can play your family? Things have the potential to get creepy really quick and honestly what parent is going to allow their teen to play if this is the case? Also how will there be any children?! Who is going to play them?! If it’s anything like second life, I’m out.
One Minute Ninja'd
#37 Old 15th Feb 2020 at 10:19 AM
Quote: Originally posted by jje1000
Let me throw in some forum bait- I think an online component *could* work in principle- like a neutral commons where you can bring your sims to interact with other sims and which stands apart from the main game. It's ripe for drama and storytelling, and could be an interesting place to be in- increasing the connectivity of the community (which up to this point still largely interacts via the forums and other off-game platforms (like Youtube, Tumblr). It could be like a quasi-Playstation Home, with events and other things to do.

Might not be what we want, but a community that stays in EA's borders may be desired in terms of a captive market.

However, there are some major hurdles to overcome:

1.) CC- This is the big one. The Sims's greater appeal revolves around CC, and compatibility between players will be a problem. Solutions? Either you a.) Limit all CC to an official marketplace (like in SL, but which brings up the 2nd & 3rd issues), b.) Enforce no CC except for EA/EA-Sanctioned CC (return of the store = $$$)- which will limit the appeal of the game, or c.) Limit the online component to groups who share CC, which I doubt is what EA has in mind.

2.) Game Rating- The Sims 3 tends to gravitate towards more mature settings. How will they balance the freedom that single-player offers with the more controlled 'safe' settings that a commons demands? People have already pointed out the mixed success of Sims Online, and even that ultimately fizzled away.

3.) Moddability- How much is EA willing to let the community dig around its engine? Online games tend to be closed gardens, and even sandboxes like SL enforce some use of their internal programs. How will EA avoid copyright issues in terms of conversions?


The hurdles are why nothing short of a standalone Sims Online for people willing to tolerate those restrictions can be offered. I would view it as a spinoff of the Sims franchise, and not a core Sims game, it'll be no Sims 5. Maybe they'll do Sims Online, SO 2, SO3.................. But it won't be a Sims game in the manner of its predecessors
Forum Resident
#38 Old 15th Feb 2020 at 10:43 AM
Extraordinary they're even considering this. Literally every prior attempt to turn The Sims into a multiplayer game has ended badly (not counting the tacked on modes in the console games). The Sims Online bombed hard, The Sims Social barely got off of the ground, and Olympus never even made it to release.

They never learn anything, do they?
Mad Poster
#39 Old 15th Feb 2020 at 11:10 AM
Quote: Originally posted by Katyg1982
I’m struggling with how this will work. Is every sim going to be controlled by a human player? If so does that mean you have to wait for them to login before you can play your family? Things have the potential to get creepy really quick and honestly what parent is going to allow their teen to play if this is the case? Also how will there be any children?! Who is going to play them?! If it’s anything like second life, I’m out.


In Sims Online every player had one sim to control, you could log in anytime, but then the goal was to skill and earn simoleons and not to play family. Interactions with other sims had to be consensual, so if you wanted two sims to get married, both players had to agree to this and travel to the wedding arch. Other players could travel too to witness the wedding.
Test Subject
#40 Old 15th Feb 2020 at 11:31 AM
Quote: Originally posted by crocobaura
In Sims Online every player had one sim to control, you could log in anytime, but then the goal was to skill and earn simoleons and not to play family. Interactions with other sims had to be consensual, so if you wanted two sims to get married, both players had to agree to this and travel to the wedding arch. Other players could travel too to witness the wedding.


Then this game should be named Sims Online 2 and not Sims 5
One horse disagreer of the Apocalypse
#41 Old 15th Feb 2020 at 11:45 AM
Quote: Originally posted by Katyg1982
Then this game should be named Sims Online 2 and not Sims 5


Yes, there is room for both a TSO2 and a really good - and I mean really good (with the intensity and complexity of TS2) offline TS5 as well! But if they won't do the two games, then the compromise someone suggested above, mainly offline single player but with online community lots we could take our sims to when and if we wanted to meet other people. I have just thought of how to deal with CC and mods when it comes to the online lots. The game should have some extra outfit categories so you can choose from EA clothing and hair specially for when you are visiting an online lot. As far as mods go I'd guess you don't need gameplay changer mods for online. For CC that might be in your inventory, they should give you two inventories, one to keep in your home game and one to take travelling online, and you can only have EA basegame objects in your travelling one, so you can't start sharing EP objects with people who don't have the same EP! But I am all for being allowed to gift basegame items between players when they meet online.

"You can do refraction by raymarching through the depth buffer" (c. Reddeyfish 2017)
Mad Poster
#42 Old 15th Feb 2020 at 12:40 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Inge Jones
Yes, there is room for both a TSO2 and a really good - and I mean really good (with the intensity and complexity of TS2) offline TS5 as well! But if they won't do the two games, then the compromise someone suggested above, mainly offline single player but with online community lots we could take our sims to when and if we wanted to meet other people. I have just thought of how to deal with CC and mods when it comes to the online lots. The game should have some extra outfit categories so you can choose from EA clothing and hair specially for when you are visiting an online lot. As far as mods go I'd guess you don't need gameplay changer mods for online. For CC that might be in your inventory, they should give you two inventories, one to keep in your home game and one to take travelling online, and you can only have EA basegame objects in your travelling one, so you can't start sharing EP objects with people who don't have the same EP! But I am all for being allowed to gift basegame items between players when they meet online.



That setup with online community lots would feel a lot like the worlds in TS4, where we can only experience beach and swimming in Sulani and apartments and festivals in San Myshuno. Personally, I don't think it would work as a game, because the offline game will most certainly be devoid of gameplay features even more than TS4. They could probably disguise an online store inside an online world that people could access to get additional content for their game instead of Origin or the TS3 store and maybe create some parks, cafes or nightclubs for people who want to hang out and chat, but I think TSO2 and TS5 should definitely be separate games. They could use TSO2 much better, not just for chatting, but for the RPG element and scripted gameplay that they seem to like so much lately and that would definitely be well suited to single player/sim. They could create objects to be used in both games, so they don't spend so much on development, just the gameplay would be different.
Top Secret Researcher
#43 Old 15th Feb 2020 at 7:44 PM
Maxis can barely handle sims 4. There’s no way they’re going to make two separate games.

Not-so-daily TS2 downloads @ my simblr.
Scholar
#44 Old 16th Feb 2020 at 4:54 AM
Quote: Originally posted by siletka
An online sims game sounds like a nightmare. I can see EA pumping out weekly "challenge" events and offering reskinned prizes, in favor of actual content / substance.

Thanks but no thanks.


Game Performance would be a nightmare too, especially if they allowed CC, then the game with have to keep downloading and rendering possibily very high polygon counts in real time as much as possible, including sims/players you have no intention of talking too.
Smeg Head
#45 Old 16th Feb 2020 at 10:52 AM
I too would not mind experiencing an online Sims. The sheer fact you can switch autonomy off, and be at a venue where all other sims are controlled by people, and not likely to see any idiot, autonomous, repeat, get in, get out, stand up, sit down, pick up plate put it down, get out of hot tub and look at this thing on my mobile pone for the hundredth bloody time, nonsense. Could be quite refreshing. Certainly put an end to the half-arsed traits and cockamamie emotional systems. In that real people would be more true and consistent to the way they want their sim to be, not mean one minute, then friendly the next.

Though if free to go that way, it might suffer the problem old Star Wars Galaxies did, that eventually brought it to its knees. Most new players wanted to be Dark Side, (Let your hair down and be evil, no inhibitions, it's only a game.) so the unbalanced experience suffered in the end.

So if they counter this by limiting, or not even allowing true mean sims (mean human controllers), - so as not to upset snowflakes who may stumble into a room full of vipers, - then the experience may become too tepid before too long. I mean even if it is nothing more harsh than Crumplebottom whacking your sim with a handbag, that's still going to upset folks of the happy-jolly disposition if most others have turned to the Dark Side for shits and giggles and handbag-bashing is rife. Either that or it just becomes a slutty, whorefest woohoo city. Most parents would not like the idea of their children playing in these types of scenarios, so are we to have sperate online age avenues to separate the lambs from the wolves? Or just one docile, pleasant, polite, censored world for all, that EA can better monitor and maintain and not have to make up too many excuses to satisfy disgruntled parents?

Still, I would like to experience it. You never know how it might evolve. The idea of teaming up with likeminded sims (people) to do arty stuff, sciency stuff, in game together, has plenty of appeal and merit.

"Become a government informer. Betray your family and friends. Fabulous prizes to be won!" Red Dwarf - Back to Reality.

Find all my TS4 mods and lots here: Main Website - simsasylum.com My Section - coolspear's Mods & Lots
One Minute Ninja'd
#46 Old 16th Feb 2020 at 1:52 PM
Quote: Originally posted by coolspear1
I too would not mind experiencing an online Sims. The sheer fact you can switch autonomy off, and be at a venue where all other sims are controlled by people, and not likely to see any idiot, autonomous, repeat, get in, get out, stand up, sit down, pick up plate put it down, get out of hot tub and look at this thing on my mobile pone for the hundredth bloody time, nonsense. Could be quite refreshing. Certainly put an end to the half-arsed traits and cockamamie emotional systems. In that real people would be more true and consistent to the way they want their sim to be, not mean one minute, then friendly the next.

Though if free to go that way, it might suffer the problem old Star Wars Galaxies did, that eventually brought it to its knees. Most new players wanted to be Dark Side, (Let your hair down and be evil, no inhibitions, it's only a game.) so the unbalanced experience suffered in the end.

So if they counter this by limiting, or not even allowing true mean sims (mean human controllers), - so as not to upset snowflakes who may stumble into a room full of vipers, - then the experience may become too tepid before too long. I mean even if it is nothing more harsh than Crumplebottom whacking your sim with a handbag, that's still going to upset folks of the happy-jolly disposition if most others have turned to the Dark Side for shits and giggles and handbag-bashing is rife. Either that or it just becomes a slutty, whorefest woohoo city. Most parents would not like the idea of their children playing in these types of scenarios, so are we to have sperate online age avenues to separate the lambs from the wolves? Or just one docile, pleasant, polite, censored world for all, that EA can better monitor and maintain and not have to make up too many excuses to satisfy disgruntled parents?

Still, I would like to experience it. You never know how it might evolve. The idea of teaming up with likeminded sims (people) to do arty stuff, sciency stuff, in game together, has plenty of appeal and merit.


There are two ways to handle an online interaction between players. One, have the social "get to know" traditional "conversation". But if you really want to make it interactive between players, and not just a bunch of hand waving and repetitive Simlish (is it me, or is the TS4 vocabulary smaller then previous games, because it seems to repeat to the point of outright annoyance) you would need actual text boxes for the players to chat among themselves (or audio links). That opens up a real can of worms on what players can say to each other. You can't real time process and censor inappropriate conversations, and you've got a bunch of pissed off parents finding out what their kid is chatting about. As to setting an age requirement of 18, how can you enforce it, and more important for a game long associated with gameplay appropriate for tweens up, suddenly becoming adult only will be a giant red flag and kill off sales.

As a niche game I can see some potential, but bringing it into the world as the flagship Sims experience would cause more headaches and lower revenue than I can see EA do.

Oh wait, it is EA, so sure they could totally muck it up and think they're doing great.
Field Researcher
#47 Old 16th Feb 2020 at 2:15 PM
I cannot get away with online multiplayer. I tried, and it just wasn't for me at all. There are only two types of games I'll play with others: wrestling games and racing games. Outside of those, I'm single player all the way.

.:: B2SIMS.com ::.
Theorist
#48 Old 16th Feb 2020 at 6:59 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Inge Jones
But if they won't do the two games, then the compromise someone suggested above, mainly offline single player but with online community lots we could take our sims to when and if we wanted to meet other people. .


But wouldn't those lots be basically discord servers with Sims running about? What would be the point of them?

Avatar by MasterRed
Taking an extended break from Sims stuff. Might be around, might not.
Lab Assistant
#49 Old 17th Feb 2020 at 3:21 PM
Can't EA really learn of their own mistakes? They scrapped the online Sims game after they realised what a mistake they did with SimCity and we got this half-baked game that is still built upon the original online engine, which obviously is very limited. They basically killed SimCity with that online multiplayer game and send players of this genre to the hands of Colossal Order and Paradox Interactive's Cities Skylines, because games like SimCity don't mix well with MMO features and their limitations. Obviously, they want the same faith for The Sims franchise as well.
And there's one more thing on top of what others already pointed with the limitations to cheats, mods and CC in MMO. MMO games could be closed anytime and you lose anything you invested into them. Sims 4, while requiring online registration through Origin, is still an offline game and even if EA will one day cut off their online features, like gallery, you will still have the game in your Origin library and will be able to play it without those online features. However, if MMO's online features are closed, it means you can't play it anymore. And that's the biggest danger I am worried of with MMO games. The fact that all the money I've put in them will be wasted once the game's support will end.
And that's why I wouldn't support any multiplayer Sims game, even if it was just an optional feature, since it always means limitations and possible loss of money once the online features are cut off.
Mad Poster
#50 Old 17th Feb 2020 at 4:39 PM
^ When has EA ever learned from their mistakes? I think they're largely incapable of admitting they make mistakes in the first place....

I think EA just reeeeeeeeeeeeeeally want an online Sims game whatever it takes, and don't really understand all the possible problems they'll likely be causing for players, especially things like CC and game compatibility with possible expansions.
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