What is the appeal of The Sims?

[Kuciwalker]

SimAnt

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Skanky Burns


Strangely, my daughter isn't the only female in Australia.

Evidently somebody didnt read the post above about your NIECE. Maybe now if he'd played the Sims, he would learn about such subtle distinctions.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Skanky Burns


Strangely, my daughter isn't the only female in Australia.

Evidently somebody didnt read the post above about your NIECE. Maybe now if he'd played the Sims, he would learn about such subtle distinctions.

[DrSpike]

Hehe, only in a Sims thread could LotM attempt to troll me.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by DrSpike
No one has really nailed it.

The popularity of the Sims comes from (and has reinforced) the widening of the customer base.

The new entrants to the market don't want games where skill affects the outcome, they don't want to achieve difficult goals and they most definitely don't want to lose. Where's the fun in that?

Instead they play in their sandpit going "look Edward he's cleaning the kitchen!!"

It's perfectly clear.

LOTM: Why did you design a family with 2 adults and 5 kids, in a small house? You never have enough money, whoever is sleeping in the living room is always being disturbed, you dont have room for stuff you need. Wouldnt it be better to wait till you know the game better? Why now?
POTM: For the challenge.

[Wiglaf]

You can't "lose", even in that situation, unless you're an idiot. It will just take longer to get the big house and the big items, not make it any harder.

[Adagio]

The challenge is to keep them happy

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Wiglaf


You can't lose, even in that situation, unless you're an idiot. It will just take longer to get the big house and the big items, not make it any harder.

One thing puzzles me, wiggy. You seem to make authoritative statements about the winnability of the Sims under a wide range of starting conditions. Either youve played it under all those starting conditions, or youve modeled it in sufficient depth to make such a statement without playing them all.

Either would show a considerable dedication to the game.

[Wiglaf]

The Sims cannot be lost unless, I guess, you get all the Sims killed. Which is completely impossible if you have a working brain.

Here's what you need to do-
Get the Sims jobs until you have food.
Then get them equipment/friends (aka family members) to get them promoted.
Then get more money.
Then buy stuff.

[Wiglaf]

Either youve played it under all those starting conditions, or youve modeled it in sufficient depth to make such a statement without playing them all.

Either would show a considerable dedication to the game.

Er, no. It's such a retarded girlish game that it takes about an hour to "model in sufficient depth" all the wonderful "strategic" BS options it gives you.

[Adagio]

Originally posted by Wiglaf
The Sims cannot be lost unless, I guess, you get all the Sims killed. Which is completely impossible if you have a working brain.

But getting all the sims killed is half the fun

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Wiglaf


You can't "lose", even in that situation, unless you're an idiot. It will just take longer to get the big house and the big items, not make it any harder.

One of the problems with this game, as with Simcity2000, and, some other sandbox games, is that costs and benefits of things are fixed throughout the game. IE I start with 20,000 simoleons, and a low salary, (or low tax revenue) and its either too hard for me (if im in idiot, or in Simcity, if play on hard which gives me less starting money), in which case I lose, or I get over the hump, and then the money flows in and it gets easy.

Now you can make your own challenge (I want to build arcologies within 100 years, I want to build a city that looks like Brooklyn, I want a Sim family that has a giant house, 5 kids, but only 1 bathroom, and no TV) but some folks want a set challenge. In Simcity they did that with scenarios (rebuild after the oakland fire, make Flint Michigan a fun city, whatever) My impression is that Sim Stories tries this, am I wrong? Is that more about the Sims on rails, rather than a scenario for challenge? I dont think designing a scenario for challenge would be all that difficult.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Wiglaf


Er, no. It's such a retarded girlish game that it takes about an hour to "model in sufficient depth" all the wonderful "strategic" BS options it gives you.

I dont even know the number of friends you need to get promoted at the higher levels in all the career paths, and how you have to allocate your time to maintain that number of friendships.

You clearly DO know the above, so you've clearly played far more than I have. Or perhaps youve learned these things on the Sims message boards, which I havent even visited.

[Wiglaf]

I dont even know the number of friends you need to get promoted at the higher levels in all the career paths, and how you have to allocate your time to maintain that number of friendships

It takes less than an hour to figure this out while playing. WTF is wrong with you?

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Wiglaf


It takes less than an hour to figure this out while playing. WTF is wrong with you?

You got to the top of a career ladder while playing for an hour?

Lets see, at one hour = one minute, assuming 8 hours working and eight hours sleeping, it takes 8 minutes to get through one day (of course if you have multiple familty members who keep different schedules, it can take up to 24 minutes to play one day). At 8 minutes per day, you couldnt have played 8 game days in one real world hour. I thought there were like 10 levels per career path, but even if there were only four, say, youd have to get a promotion every two work days, which I think is unlikely if not impossible even if you have met all requirements and have maximum mood.

And of course it took me some time playing jus to get used to the interface, figure out the effect of various actions, etc.

Based on the above, Im sorry but I must express doubt as to the truthfulness of your claims.