Forum Discussion

jenbobbitt's avatar
jenbobbitt
Seasoned Newcomer
2 months ago

SimGuruNinja

Good Afternoon,

I just saw that SimGuruNinja had to deactivate his twitter account because of all the inappropriate messages he was receiving from people that do not like the latest expansion pack. I find this very upsetting to hear because SimGuruNinja has always been such a positive influence to the community and the team at EA. While I do not know him personally, I do know that he has been working for the company for a long time and has had a part of bringing several Sims products to life. I just want to say that I really appreciate the work that he and the rest of the team has done. Yes, there are issues at times but as a long time player (I played the original Sims in college!) I would like to express how much I have enjoyed the games. This is one of the few games that I play and it gives me the freedom to change my gameplay over time. I have so many different save files that I have created to play with my different moods. No other game has kept me engaged like the Sims do. This letter is just a letter of appreciation. Thank you for your hard work. 

Sincerely,

Jennifer

  • meeshwood's avatar
    meeshwood
    Seasoned Veteran

    I also get frustrated and upset when people harass/bully the sim Gurus. I didn't even really care about the theme of this pack but I bought it on release anyways because the Gurus seemed so excited.  I think the L&D pack is wonderful. I hope the community starts treating the Gurus with a little more empathy and respect in the future. 

  • The studio need a safe place where they could interact with the community and hear the feedback without violence, The Sims Discord might be more appropriate for this purpose.

    For example InZOI developers only use discord to talk with the community.

      • NoahLGP's avatar
        NoahLGP
        Seasoned Ace

        People are very aggressive everywhere including The Sims forums (for example threads about The Sims vs other life sim. games).

        It's very sad that people can't respect the opinion of the others without being mad.

        EP17 Life and Death has several outdoor festivals (including Clothing Optional) so cold temperature can be a problem and cause the death of many sims.

  • I don't follow the social medias that closely, but I've seen him many times on the forums. Earlier this year there was some toxicity directed at mod creators too. It seems to be a thing of the times... that we forget there are actual human beings behind the internet names and behave in inexcusable ways. 

    I echo your sentiment OP! Thank you Simguru Ninja (and others ofc!) for your hard work!

  • Thank you for not condemning the whole simming community over a few angry people on Twitter. 

    This is a much more tasteful approach in expressing your distaste in what happened on Twitter along with showing your appreciation towards the gurus and EA team.

     

  • prongskimmie's avatar
    prongskimmie
    Seasoned Newcomer

    I was horrified to read that one of the sims team members had to step away from Twitter bc of harassment. I hope he is or will be alright. 

    I agree with you. There's more to love about this game than not. The bugs are for the most part nothing more than quirks. 

  • I'm really sorry that happened. It seems that our society has become more inclined to be childish brats when they don't get what they want or their way. It is horrifying that people don't take the old addage, 'Do unto others as you would have done unto you' as a motto. I hope that SimGuruNinja knows how much appreciation there is for him too.

  • I have been playing The Sims for almost 20 years now. 

    That being said, I am quite familiar with all the controversies, etc. 

    However, in this case, I do not see what is the problem. Let me explain:

    I saw the original snow tweet and Ninja's response. In response to his tweet, most simmers, including myself expressed disappointment because when we bought seasons, it was said that new worlds will support that EP properly, which isn't the case anymore. 

    Most simmers in the replies simply pointed that out and that we feel disappointed because that is something that should be doable, or at least enabled/disabled in the settings, but at least give us the option to turn on snow. 

    Ninja's reasoning was just not something it made sense when it comes to 1000$ we spent on this game, and we should have the option to enable/disable certain features if we don't like them. 

    His DMs were closed, so he certainly didn't get any threats that way, and I have not seen in replies anyone mentioning to harm him or something like that, which leads me to my point: devs need to learn to accept valid feedback and criticism. Not everything they do is perfect, which is completely normal. But they can listen to feedback and try to improve features/content/DLCs that way.

    If I were in Ninja's place, I would tweet something like this:

    We are sorry, but we simply didn't get enough time to introduce snow in Ravenwood for release. This is something we are working on, and it will be available in one of the next few patches! 

    That's it. Don't give us some lazy excuse. 

    I know some simmers still won't agree with me, but those are the facts, because in the end of the day we are customers, and we deserve to get our money's value, while of course being respectful to developers.

     

    • NoahLGP's avatar
      NoahLGP
      Seasoned Ace
      milutinmujovic wrote:

      it made sense when it comes to 1000$ we spent on this game

      This way to think isn't always valid.

      1. Not everybody purchased all the packs
      2. Not everybody purchased Seasons EP
      3. Not everybody likes Snow 

       

      Maxis design the game the way that they want, EA is the owner of the IP. 

      That's why modders exist, the mods help the players to customize the game for free.

    • pvrescue1's avatar
      pvrescue1
      New Traveler

      Snow is terrible and fewer worlds should have it. Simple as.

    • justinb113's avatar
      justinb113
      Seasoned Hotshot

      They asked him what winter would look like in the new world and he said that they chose to do always autumn instead, then they said the sims team were lazy and that new worlds should have seasons.  

      That was the gist of it but I read someone threatened him, didn’t see that.  Just people complaining about it.

      • Redrogue60's avatar
        Redrogue60
        Seasoned Hotshot

        I see if they threatened him that is just beyond the pale

  • Anyone who would threaten someone over a video game needs to get a life or seek medical help! Good grief!