[Monstermind]

"Blood on the virtual carpet: tempers flare as 'editor' is thrown out of online town with 80,000 inhabitants"


http://news.independent.co.uk/digita...p?story=481707

"Professor Ludlow's expulsion was only the beginning of a fascinating new phase in the game. Electronic Arts, through its online game controller, Maxis, has been cracking down on bad behaviour to clean up Alphaville and, one assumes, try and boost its audience which is stuck at a 80,000 (EA had hoped for a million by now). "

Gives a whole new meaning to "EA: It's in the game".

These clowns want to crack a million? Release a Mac version; we can engage in virtual prostitution as well as anyone...

[Myrkridia]

I'd like to know how the whole thing works. I've played the Sims all the way up to Hot Date, but what is the difference between the home version and online version(though they could both be played at home), besides having the ability to cyber, and throw curse words at your fellow user.

Are there new items, areas, interactions? Someone please fill in this ignorant newbie.

[Minty Fresh]

Originally posted by Myrkridia:
I'd like to know how the whole thing works. I've played the Sims all the way up to Hot Date, but what is the difference between the home version and online version(though they could both be played at home), besides having the ability to cyber, and throw curse words at your fellow user.

Are there new items, areas, interactions? Someone please fill in this ignorant newbie.

"The basic needs are still present in the game. Players still get hungry and sleepy and dirty and you have to find the time to eat and sleep and shower. But this time, instead of directing the lives of all of your Sims, you'll only be in charge of the actions of one. The other Sims you'll meet are all human players as well so the range of interactions broadens somewhat but is, by design, less scripted.

That's a new dynamic for The Sims Online. Rather than having you reach certain prerequisites to achieve particular job levels, The Sims Online lets you practice your skills on new job objects. In the logic area, you can earn money by solving equations on a blackboard. Charismatic sims can earn cash by using a new telemarketer's phone. The cash and skill rewards for performing these actions are highest when you're doing them with a group of other people. The landscape of The Sims Online therefore primarily consists of houses where people have set up food, bed and showers next to a whole group of these job objects. And since the owners of the house get a little kickback for your sales, they want to keep you happy.

The Sims has been described as a game without a clear "point," the online version seems even less conflict oriented and more susceptible to aimlessness. Spinning the three plates of a healthy social life with a clean and happy home and a profitable profession was endlessly fascinating for fans of the original game. This time around, your social network, which was previously a prerequisite for better jobs, is merely the subjective product of your own interaction with people. Likewise your "job" is now a casual affair that you can pick up and drop as you like.

Now that earning wages and maintaining friendships aren't as tightly tied to the element of time, the game is much more open-ended. No longer do you have to worry about getting to bed in time to get up for work the next morning. No longer do you have to worry about missing out on much-needed social interaction because you're cooking dinner. Remove the need to go to work and maintain relationships from The Sims and you've got a game that's almost too easy to play.

If you do get tired of bumming around and crashing at other people's houses you can try to create your own pad. Maxis have done a good thing by limiting your funds to 10,000 simoleans, effectively forcing players to take roommates if they want to build the types of houses that will attract other players and thereby bring in revenue for the household.

Even though the economic momentum behind the game is sound, The Sims Online has yet to implement a player-run market of commodities and items. How much more compelling would the game be if the players could act as vendors for more of the items in the game? It certainly would be preferable to the faceless market that currently buys up the fruits of your labor."

Some info from an online review...

[Eriamjh]

Face it. Online "clean" living is as boring as real life. People want their sims to do and have things they can't. Mafias and sex will abound. It becomes an interesting social excercise.

I think one thing that's keeping people away is the cost. Isn't it like $10-$20 a month? A Mac version would bring in another 3% I betcha.