It's Been A Minute - Dissertation To Follow
It's been awhile since I've last posted, and mainly because of an annoyance that I encountered in the forums. However, we back, and with some well marinated thoughts.
GAMEPLAY
One thing I've been ignoring in gameplay that I can no longer is, my actual sims showing up in randomized outfits. Considering we as players are given the option to create five looks per occasion, and we're allocated up to 80 sims (as a rec), it is quite annoying that when I decide to play one of my other households, sims from the others tend to show up in gameplay as NPCs whom haven't had a date with me in CAS. I've nineteen sims I've created, whether directly in CAS or byway of conception. And for each, I take the time to create five looks per occasion. Even when not actively playing a specific household, all my sims generally are utilized in gameplay as more than majority are kin to one another through blood and marriage.
I'm writing to inquire if this is a problem that can be resolved on the backend? While I know I can hold shift and change their outfits, it is for me time consuming to pause and do so.
Additionally, I've noticed that whenever I select the max number of guests to invite over to a lot or add to an event, only a hand full of the picked show up as soon as the event begins or soon after they've been invited over to hang. I've documented in the last two months that the stragglers whom show up later often show up literal seconds (50 minutes in sim time) before the events end, or after I've used the cellphone to invite them over to a lot more than a couple of times. Again, my issue is, if we're provided with a max number of invites, shouldn't the guest show up without much of an issue? Also, when guests do show up, they often linger in front of a build way longer than needed versus walking to enter to buildings immediately. If the event is timed and of a rewards setting, it truly takes away from the gathering.
Lastly regarding gameplay, I recently noticed my sims speech being cut off during interactions or echoed loudly when not directly selected or even in conversation with another sim. As in - it's like the voice of the little demon or angel on your shoulders lol. I've not had this occur until my last few gaming sessions. And to add on to this, I've noticed my sims aren't completing their actions immediately, If I select for them to complete an act or task, I've watched as they stand idle for literal minutes before moving to complete what interaction or act has been selected. I know often a stall has to do with conflicting interactions being loaded between multiple sims if in the same area or building, but this seems to be a new idle issue not related to cancelling a loaded interaction or task.
Beyond Gameplay - The Sims Discord
Just as I think it's worth actually PAYING individuals to monitor and help in the EA forums, their needs to be more discernment and discretion in selecting what "Server Gnomes" exist in The Sims discord. One might even suggest proper moderation. Beyond checking in for game updates, I've only ever participated in the server during the latest fashion week challenge ⸺ shoutout the team for the pack and expansion giveaways, truly⸺that was until this week. I posted a question in the referral-bot channel regarding the randomized outfits in hopes there was information available to be pulled from these very forums, and yesterday, I posted a question in the "anything-sims" channel seeking to know whether other people had been experiencing the same lag I mentioned above. Seven individuals ignored my question about the lag and hyper-fixated on my abbreviation of WW and BD mods. Mind you, they were only referenced to state I only use 4 mods total, each to which have consistently been up to date, and that my cache was cleared near daily, all to add context for the fact that there really shouldn't have been a reason for the lag I have been experiencing. Again, since the only lag known to my gameplay has consistently been during the loading screens when traveling, I found the new lag strange and simply sought to know if others were dealing with the same issue. Out of seven people nitpicking on my abbreviated mention of 18+ mods, one person stoped to actually answer my question. What was irritating about this interaction was, the mods weren't written out nor were they mentioned as to start a discussion based on their contents. They were briefly referenced to add context to my larger picture sharing there was nothing broken in my very basic gameplay despite what 4 mods I own. Beyond that, there were VARIOUS "Server Gnomes" behaving unlike the very service they're supposed to provide in being granted early access to their title and server features. So much so one accused my "long" response of being written by chatgpt because of my innate use of an em dash. Ultimately, he and another person proved the point of that very long message which called out what childish behavior was being displayed and for literally NO cause.
Today, I took a browse in the community challenge channel, and what did I find? Yet another Server Gnome, one of the seven the ignored my question to fixate on nonsense, had written "Couldn't you have made this in canva or something. The ai looks off" under someone's thoughtful presentation of their Vampire Dynasty challenge, and a note stating the official challenge can be found by searching the Vampire Dynasty term on tumblr, if they so wished. Foremost, considering these are the server and rules police, how was that comment following the rule to be kind? Secondly, this very individual prompted an entire discourse about ai's impact on the planet. And while the conversation is very relevant, it too is political and thus against the very rules they seem to be heckbent on enforcing. Someone who isn't of the peanut gallery called out exactly what I noticed after the one person made a false insinuation on my use of chatgpt, these "Server Gnomes" aren't acting in the manner to which they were selected to. She respectfully asked this person to be more intentional with how they engage as she'd noticed (and posted proof) of other instances to said Server Gnomes' rude and distasteful behavior. Her take went ignored, and instead people piled onto her for advocating for kindness.
My take after yesterday? I likely won't be using the server to share much because it lacks actual decorum, and those most active seem to lack the ability to read and interpret some things with the nuance they deserve. Considering one callout from the seven people I've mentioned was that the server is for 13+, I've made the assumption that it's very possible these folks haven't fully developed in the frontal lobe. And what happens when you give people of immaturity a platform and a cult like following? They tend to exist in their perspective only causing unnecessary discourse and harm. As I wrote in the discord yesterday, even if a topic of conversation is publicized, it does not mean EVERYBODY has to provide their input, especially if said input is counterproductive.
I know EA and Maxis might be enduring prolonged change, but I hope the proper teams are established to foster forums and servers that are actually kind, organized, and reflective of positive communities being built.
