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Cutie96 · 03-31-2012 12:23 PM

Link: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/16...future.php

I read this article and was so disappointed with ea and this man. I'm one of the simmers that not really liking the social things ea has been adding. No i'm just gonna go out and say it i hate it so much! I'm on a mac and have had so many problems i wish ea would focus on making the game the have now and make it more workable keep what fundamental of games make like sims 2 but with more stuff like story progression and stuff like that. I don't want to flip out my phone at the mall and take a pic "BOOM" my sims are there thats just crazy!
I'd like to hear what my favorite simmers think about this article

Sunset Dreams · 03-31-2012 12:46 PM

That guy seems like a total pot head who doesn't understand The Sims at all...

"So as an example in this case, what I'll do is instead I'll give them the director. Instead of being able to direct the character themselves, I'll give them Martin Scorsese, who can. Now the trick becomes not getting the Sims characters to do what you want, but getting Martin to do what you want."

What the hell does this have to do with The Sims?

We're supposed to control and direct them being as the game is a life simulator where you are God, not some third entity mediator... Ugh, eventually when the reviews and sales grow more dismal (As they have been), EA will be forced to start the franchise over like what is happening with Sim City after Sim City Societies flopped. I guess we'll have to wait until then, before EA straightens out.

rian90 · 03-31-2012 12:58 PM

I read this article yesterday and posted an excerpt on the MTS Discussion forums. Not surprisingly, the folks there had the same reaction you did. Problem is, EA just wants to corner other markets...Ipad, Iphone, etc. rather than stick with their winning formula. I don't think they care all that much about the game or the customers. If you consider this along with the 'Worse Company" finalist position, you can see that our opinions matter little to big companies. They feel they drive the needs and desires of consumers rather than the consumers driving the products offered by companies. And honestly, when I see everyone jumping on every new technology whether they really need it or not, I am not sure this is not true. My husband and I got rid of all our smart phones, bought inexpensive cell phones with a low cost text/call plan and saved over $100 a month on our cell phone bill. $1200 a year! Best thing we ever did. We don't even miss them.

But I have friends, some of them my age, who are so connected to their fancy phones that it is as if they are not present when you are with them. Uggh.

***Jenba*** · 03-31-2012 01:37 PM

Oh man, when he was talking about how he designed the screenshots for the back of the Ferrari racing game BEFORE they even designed the game, that reminded me so much of all of the previews we've gotten for various Sims games in the past that end up looking nothing like the real game. It makes so much sense now. Remember the old screenshots for Sims 2 that had Sims in a hallway that looked a lot like a school? But there was no school. Or for a more recent example, before Showtime was released they shared a picture of a Sim singing in what looked like a coffeehouse. But as we know now, the coffeehouse venues in Showtime are just rabbitholes with performer stages outside of them. EA are really good at this kind of fakery and have been for years. It just makes me groan.

As for the rest of the interview, I don't think he was saying this is really the direction in which they'll go with the Sims franchise -- he was using the Sims as a hypothetical example to explain his whole "service-oriented design" approach to developing games. That said, I wouldn't be AT ALL surprised if this IS the direction they go -- they don't seem to understand their customers at all, and they see dollar signs in social gaming/phone apps.

Rian, I wish I could get rid of my smartphone and just go back to a low-cost plan...it boggles my mind how much I spend on my plan, just to be able to access the internet once in awhile. And with the phone I have there's no way to decrease my plan to just phone and text -- I HAVE to pay for the data plan. I'm locked into a contract right now, so I just have to deal with it, but I hate paying so much for something I use so rarely!

***WebbyMom*** · 03-31-2012 09:33 PM

I've not yet read through the link... but I've been meaning to tell you guys about the interesting Sims "Free"Play they have on the iPad.... methinks now is the time. Imma go make a post.

Logan · 03-31-2012 10:55 PM

God, yesterday cellphones were only used to call and text messages, now they pratically do everything, i bough a cellphone last year, but it bugged me about how much i had to pay for internet, but i didn't knew how to turn off the service and it kept "eating" money from me, but i finally understood how to deactivate the system, and then bing bang, no more lack of money on my cellphone.

Silly EA is destroying the sims franchise, if maxis worked on it, it would be so much different, and no social features (Still dreaming of the day i'll play the true TSO).

If someone could hack the website to make them see that costumers do matter, of if we had the capacity to go to the sims studios, EVERY single fan, to trash out that place... if we could just make something happen to make them open their eyes and follow the costumers opinions, shut down that crappy store and fix the game... i'd be really happy.

ATS Sandy · 03-31-2012 11:24 PM

Quote:what the dollhouser wants is not an application on their computer, but they want an application on their phone that I can go take a picture of that chair, and "get that chair in my game for $20"

Huh, hello! I don't even have a cell phone, so it's certainly not what I want! lol

Quote:That second group -- the virtual character owners, the people who want a relationship -- they want to be able to have a deeper emotional interaction with their characters. What I would give them is the ability to have video chat with their Sims.
[...]
And so for instance, imagine an application that when I went to Mount Rushmore with my Sims in my phone in my pocket, that it sent a note to all of my Facebook friends with a postcard of the Sims standing in front of Mount Rushmore

I so stick with the Sims 3. I really doubt I"ll ever buy an interest in the Sims 4 on that road!

PS: I moved this in General Chatter, as it's not about Sims 3.

***Deelightful*** · 03-31-2012 11:28 PM

Anyone else think this guy is a condescending douche?

ATS Sandy · 03-31-2012 11:33 PM

Absolutely!

rian90 · 03-31-2012 11:35 PM

(03-31-2012 11:28 PM)Deelightful Wrote: Anyone else think this guy is a condescending douche?

Yup! And you would be surprised how many people are like that in the game world. They really do think that they know better what the consumers want. Oddly enough, almost every game design book I have read warns developers against this mindset.

I once worked with a designer that was just terrible. He had great ideas, but he designed as if the player was the enemy, out to 'beat the system' every time. And I don't mean cheating, I mean just playing the game in order to advance their character or take advantage of the game play to do new and innovative things. His entire style was to put roadblocks in their way and watch them stumble over them. Fortunately, he got mad and left because we kept pushing him to make changes.

Designers would do a lot better if they would communicate with the people who actually play their games. Unfortunately, they are often locked up in an ivory tower and never allowed to touch the lower life forms.

That was mixing metaphors, huh? LOL