Recent Discussions
New Sims Forum Feedback
Hi! This is for the team at EA who are hopefully picking up on feedback and looking to constantly improve these new forums. What I’d like to stress, and ask for from all us lovely Simmers, is that this isn’t a place for being overly negative, aggressive or angry towards the team or specific staff. I’ve seen quite a few reactions that are just that and if we want to improve things, while we don’t have to be overly positive either, we need to be constructive at least. Having been a member of the original Sims forums and the newer rendition in recent years, I think it’s fair to say what keeps the forums running is the sense of community. So a few things I think that would help this would be: customisation for profiles - avatars, signatures, adding social media links or blogs/websites so we can find each other elsewhere. Paying specific attention to each rendition of the game, the Sims 3 community is massive and has been around a lot longer. So please consider us when making changes! I can see the sims 4 forum/threads already have plenty more tags and options than ours do as well as sub forums that we haven’t been able to keep. We have a whole community of storytellers that benefitted from the stories and legacies subforum and whether the game is 15 years old or not it deserves to live on. Changes to the formatting of threads and replies. I’ve noticed it is already hiding multiple replies under a “show more” filter which limits conversation. Also nesting replies is confusing, the original board style was much easier to navigate and chat on, which is what these forums are all about. As already highlighted, changing the automatic filtering by likes to newest would make it feel more relevant and conversational as a quick fix in the mean time. I personally miss being able to bookmark threads, especially since the sims 3 forums have lost our sub forums and all the migrated ones are in the franchise discussion (please rectify this!). I can’t navigate to what I want to read and am losing track of what I’ve chatted on unless I get notified. Could we also have a list of the rankings just out of interest? I have no idea what a traveler is but apparently I am one 😂 As always, super grateful to the team for taking feedback on board and looking forward to improvements and developments as they come! Happy Simming! LizzieLizzielilyy3 months agoRising Ace1.7KViews23likes110CommentsOpinion on New Forums
It may just be unpopular opinion, but I find these new forums to be painstakingly difficult to read ,(text is tiny, and colors are blinding), follow thread, my hand hurts from scrolling through hundreds of post I already read since day one to get to current. Newest somehow works but requires a lot waiting of leg work too. Is it just me. Have I been put on a delay? It wont let me post to threads all the time for just no good reason. Notifications are not as clear and prompt as last forum. While I think it may need kinks worked out, I myself may have to take to another forum. I may check in periodically to see if they have improved it, but for now, I can't. Let me know is anyone if experiencing the same or if it's just me.leucosiax3 months agoSeasoned Hotshot2.6KViews73likes103Comments- Armika743 months agoSeasoned Vanguard958Views8likes58Comments
The new EA Sims Forum
I am a member of the soon to be Sims Forum. I have also raised my concern in the Forum and will repeat it here. Perhaps this debate has already started somewhere else, but forgive me for not seeing where. That is exactly the problem. I think everything new requires getting used to and I will probably spend some time getting to know the new EA Forum. However, there is one thing that immediately catches my eye and surprises me. How is it that almost everything is sorted by 'The most' such as Most Recent, Most Viewed, Most Replies, Most Likes. It is of course very nice for those who already have a lot of followers and likes, but for someone else it seems like a killer. On a forum like X, you're practically invisible and dead if you don't have a whole bunch of followers. I'm afraid the same thing is going to happen here. As I said, it may be because I can't find my way around yet, but I need to voice my concern out loud and hopefully become wiser. The best thing about the old Sims Forum is that it didn't try to look like a social media like any other social media where it's about scoring the highest rank and number of followers to get benefits. This applies in particular to the right to costume a personal avatar. I really hope the idea of earning enough rank to get a personal avatar is rethought. The existing Forum has been a sanctuary where you have been able to cultivate the special interest you have in the game with other Simmers regardless of their rank and general popularity. The entire structure of the forum has made it easy to navigate. I don't know how to navigate the EA Forum when it focuses on highlighting the most popular lore at the moment. This cultivation of elitism leaves me with a feeling of loneliness. For me it's a killer because I don't want to be in a Forum where I have to be confirmed daily that I'm invisible and therefore unimportant.MonaSolstraale3 months agoSeasoned Veteran1.1KViews35likes41CommentsNew Sims forum: worries about creative corner
The new forum shows many new features, but as someone who spends most of her time around the old "challenges, stories and legacies" section, I cannot help but worry about the applicability of the new layout to this typology of content. In particular, I'm worried about the removal of threads' pages in favour of a "load more" and of a "sort by..." feature. This new layout seems suited for short threads made of short and quick responses, where missing some posts isn't a tragedy and that always gives you something to read. In the creative corner section, instead, we thrive with very long threads, that take years to be completed, our update posts tend to be long and detailed (i.e. the kind of posts we don't want to see getting lost among the newer or more liked posts), and we need the post to be displayed in chronological order. Similar comments can probably be made about the thread where the users showcase their custom saves update by update, or for some very ambitious build/buy mode project. To be less vague, I'd like to make an example, using the "Aliens stole my alien parents" challenge posted by @myghtysprite (sorry if I'm using your story as an example, it is the first one I could think of where the updates were made directly on the forum and not on an external blog!) The story thread on the old forum is here -> https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/1003023/aliens-stole-my-alien-parents/p1 , while the same thread on the new forum is here -> Aliens Stole My Alien Parents | EA Forums - 377899 Now, I'd like you to try to find a specific update because it's the next one I want to read, let's say it's the one titled: "Act 2, Day 2" (hint: it's around the middle of the thread). With the old forum, you select page 5, scroll down a bit, and there you are. With the new forum instead, whether you choose to sort the posts by "Oldest first" or "Newest first", and whatever you know where the post is or not (more or less), you need to click on "load more" forever before finding the post you're looking for (and note that this is a quite short thread for that section!). Also, if you decide to sort by "Newest first" (for instance, because you're looking for a chapter close to the end), you must scroll through the most recent posts (which you haven't read yet), spoiling one or more chapters you haven't read yet. Summarising, stories and legacies are the kind of threads that users can access at any moment, even years after the posts were actually made. The posts have to be read in chronological order to make any sense, and the readers need an easy and quick way to navigate the thread in its whole length (for instance, when they return to the thread to read some other chapters another time). As a reminder, the old forum remembers the last posts you read, but I didn't notice the same feature in the new one (?) For the moment, the only two solutions I can think of to make stories and legacies easier to navigate (both not ideal) are: for the original poster, to make a very lengthy index with all the links to the chapters' posts in the opening comment of the thread (but the links can really be a lot. For instance, my current legacy has about 180 chapters for the moment. That's a lot of links!) for the reader, to save or copy somewhere the link of the last update they read, and use it as a "bookmark" to know where to continue from. I'm starting to worry about how this would affect this section of the forum, in its current form the navigation of long threads is way more tedious and I'm afraid it will push away both posters and readers. Is there some function I'm missing that could make the navigation easier? Is there some change that can be made to the forum to make it more SimLit-friendly? Is this forum just not meant for this kind of use? Any other thoughts on what I wrote? PS: I'd also like to point out that the creative corner section is being hit particularly hard by the issue with the migration of pictures' links, I guess that's quite evident. In addition, I think that other users from the creative corner have other perplexities about the new forum, so feel free to add your comments on the topic.HermioneSims3 months agoSeasoned Adventurer452Views20likes32CommentsFeedback on new Sims forum
I want to offer some feedback... I've tried. I really have, but I don't think I can use these forums. They are cluttered, from the "sidebar" that occupies almost a third of the screen to the "preview" text, to the choice of glaringly bright colors. With so much being shoved at me at once, it becomes physically painful for me to try to read or post. I'm getting headaches trying to use them forums. They do not appear to be designed to support discussion, but rather tech support style question-and-answer posts. The way replies are sorted, and nested, and the lack of "page numbers" in favor of "show more" all combine to make it extremely difficult to follow a chronological progression of comments in a thread. I genuinely feel that these forums are the wrong tool for the job... they're like using a hammer to cut wood. You can do it, but you shouldn't.luciusstorm3 months agoSeasoned Veteran598Views27likes26CommentsThe Sims Community is Different
Okay, I’m not going to post about the glitches, missing features, and other problems in the forum itself. We all know what those are. I would just like to amplify something that maybe needs to be taken more seriously by those who decide these things, and that is this: the Sims game is completely different from the others here, and so is the Sims gaming community. I took some time to look at the boards for the other EA games on the forum, and we simmers are definitely having the most difficulty with the switch. My perspective is that forum interaction and community is directly related to the way the game is played, and the Sims is not like the others. This type of forum is fine when gameplay and community are centered around gaining levels, adding in-game allies or friends, getting performance tips, or raising gameplay related questions. Those types of interactions are the basis of the community for those types of games, because the game has structure. There’s only so much to discuss. A sandbox game like The Sims doesn’t fit in that box. The game itself is open ended. It can be anything we want it to be, and one person’s game is not like anyone else’s. That kind of player directed, open ended game requires a community format that is also open ended and user directed. It needs a loose structure that allows players to share the wide range of possibilities the game gives us. This forum cannot do this. Big, continuous topics with multiple people sharing stories and screenshots are a staple of the Sims community, and after a matter of only weeks, this forum is breaking under the weight of those long threads. On the old forum, we had topics that were years old, still going strong. Conversational topics, idea threads, creative threads and social threads are being buried under long loads, “see more” scrolling and nested replies that don’t allow a natural flow of ideas and communication. My own “Blue Moon” thread is becoming difficult to maintain because I can’t even tell where the new responses are, in order to respond back. While this forum seems to suit games like Star Wars, it is not functional for a game like the Sims and the community that plays it. The Sims is not Star Wars, and it requires a community format that recognizes the difference.cyncie3 months agoSeasoned Veteran642Views30likes22CommentsCan't edit existing posts
Like the title said, when trying to edit existing posts, it won't update. I click on the right icon, is taken to the editing page, make my edits and press publish. Nothing happens! I've done this repeatedly with the same outcome. Others using the same method says it works fine for them. If I leave the edit page and return, it has saved my edits, I can see them there. I just can't publish them. I've also seen others with the same issue. What is wrong and when will it be addressed?JesLet403 months agoSeasoned Ace200Views3likes16CommentsBecoming a hero
So...I guess some of you guys know, I have multiple disabilities. Apparently this is because of something that happened to me when I was an infant, we discovered, that caused all of these ill effects in my life. So I have quite a bit of executive dysfunction that goes along with various disabilities, and the smallest things can be insurmountable and so, so stressful - and stress can exacerbate my disabilities so, that's not good. In any case. I read about how to be a hero, on the forums. I would love a personal profile picture, as everyone would! But honestly I do not have the ability mentally or emotionally to do what it takes to be a hero. In any sense, in real life or on the forums. Tbh I'm crying a bit lol. It really has highlighted my deficits. I'm not saying that the system should be changed for me. But I do think that maybe there are others with similar issues, and it's an accessibility issue. Because with certain disabilities, we do not have the ability to do the thing, we do not have access to the thing. So maybe certain things could be thought of in different terms as far as what can be available for everyone. I didn't really know where to post this. I hope it's ok.SolvedLaunchSneezes2 months agoSeasoned Veteran438Views7likes13CommentsCan we have an updates on the forum-feedback?
This forum has been live for a while now, and at least from the Sims-community, the forum has gotten som harsh, but fair and well deserved, feedback by users. So my question is if we could get some updates about where we stand on those issues and when we can expect some improvements? Primarily I'd like updates on the following: Forum performance. What is being done to address the massive performance issues on the site? Pages not loading correctly, or at all, loading being slow, images not displaying as they should, the constant log outs and difficulty logging in... where do we stand on those issues? (Seriously EA cannot possibly be content with the performance) Personal avatars for all users. One of the major wishes from the community was personal avatars, to express our personality and recognise each other. Where do we stand on this? Page loading vs. pages - is there anyway to get pages back instead of infinit loading more on larger threads? Customisable feed so the thread starts in a logical way, and ways for the forum to remember where I left off instead of me having to start over each time I get back into a thread. This needs to be prioritized, longer threads are more or less unreadable at the moment. Spoiler tags on comments so to simplify loading times.JesLet403 months agoSeasoned Ace330Views19likes13CommentsFixing the new forums images
Hi simmers. It is Melanie aka mcrudd here. I have joined the new forums and is looking around. I am very lost at the moment, I can see that a lot of my threads did manage to come over, although the only way I can find them is via my profile page, I am unable to locate them via the new menus. I also noted that all of my images are broken, I am not too bothered about the gameplay screenshots, but all my mods and baby clothes photo's are gone too. It does also not seem to be a clickable link for you guys to click on, so I have no idea how to fix all this. I am postop at home, had surgery 5 days ago so am a little loopy at the moment, but would love to fix and understand the new forums before the release of the new pack so that I can test all my mods and so forth for you guys like I used too. I would appreciate any input, help, advice you have for me on when and how to fix this, and what you guys have managed to figure out and so on. I am a new spectator that joined 16 years ago ;)Solvedmcrudd3 months agoSeasoned Adventurer230Views6likes13CommentsInternal Server Error
Hi, I can't get past this message. I have tried on 3 different computers, in 3 different locations, on 3 different browsers. I can get in on my phone, and that's what I'm using now, but it's not as easy as using my laptop. Is there anything that can be done to get past this error? I have followed all the instructions about refreshing page, cleaning caches deleting cookies etc , but nothing works.SolvedJayel-13 months agoSeasoned Ace140Views0likes12CommentsStart a Discussion Issue
Well, hopefully this works...lol! I tried to start a new discussion over in The Sims 4 Creative Corner area of the new forums to get a "You've exceeded the maximum number of posts you can publish. Try again later." pop-up. Tried each day since the new forums was live and received that message. Not sure what I am doing wrong, if I am doing anything wrong. Also screen capped it and added it as an attachment. :) Appreciate any help.SolvedLegacySims20173 months agoSeasoned Adventurer129Views0likes11CommentsSims forum feedback
Thanks for getting notifications back up! Here is my feedback: Please give us the ability to change our avatars. We need subsections in the Sims 3 subforum, like how the Sims 4 subforum is arranged. Can we default to chronological order instead of 'most liked'? I don't want to see most liked. I want to see what everyone said in chronological order. Or at least be able to change MY default? Please give us a way to view pages on our old threads with thousands of posts. I HATE TAGS. Never used them and never will. 😉 That's all... for now.ZeeGee13 months agoSeasoned Hotshot119Views9likes9CommentsNew forums don't work on Safari on Mac
I've just stumbled onto the new The Sims forums via the old forums. I use a Mac and the safari browser. The new forum briefly flashes in the browser window and then ends up with a blank white pages that just says "Application error: a clieant-side exception has occured" in the grey bar of the safari window. I'm writing this post on Chrome on my Mac. Safari is my default and preferred browser. I really hope these forums will support that as well.ImSands3 months agoRising Scout83Views0likes9CommentsProfile pictures not showing up on forum
Anyone else not seeing profile pictures here on the forums? All I see are silhouettes except for simgirl1010 . There's is the only picture that shows up for me. It may just me a me thing but I thought i'd check anyway.fruitsbasket10015 days agoRising Adventurer89Views1like8CommentsIncorrect redirect
Starting yesterday the link to my Community Builds post has been redirecting to a Sims 4 post instead. The link is copied correctly... but redirects incorrectly. My post (added in a space after https so you can see the actual text)... https ://forums.ea.com/discussions/the-sims-3-en/soocoolsims-showcase-%E2%9A%9C%EF%B8%8F/1568017/replies/1568019 goes here... Post the last screenshot you took in The Sims 4 | EA Forums - 831274109Views2likes8Comments