Make-yourself-simulator vs dollhouse simulator

They've been doing that for a while, and it came out in full force starting with their hideous rebranding.

Yeah, it seemed to all change about a year into TS4. It's more about representation these days, rather than me playing Sims I get the feeling I'm supposed to be playing me, and that's not my cup of tea. We started seeing a lot more Simself posts and Simself stuff on tumblr, twitter and FB. A higher push for more representation in the name of diversity and a lot less understanding of what this game was in the past.
A lot more talk from devs and spokesmen about playing self and or self, self, self. A lot more push back from those we never met before on any forums with low post numbers about self, and representation. More and more about safe spaces ads and how the series had saved them from dispair and or helped with a bad life. Even commercials advertising this game is about safe spaces and self saving from bad lives. It's all gone weird because dang I thought The Sims was about entertainment all these years. I didn't know it was about safe spaces and myself or even supposed to represent me or anyone else. I thought it was a series about my unlimited imagination. Obvivously, I have been wrong.

Thing is, I never really thought of Sims games as a "Dollhouse Simulator" to begin with. I always thought of these games as more of a "God Simulator"/"Story Generator." You create digital people, you give them a place to live, you throw both good and terrible things at them, you smite them or bless them at your whim, you guide and watch over them while dragging them along in your divine grand plan (which can be as awesome as building a utopia of glitter and unicorns or as mundane as just making everyone in town be descended from one original sim through prolific breeding and marrying people off to their second cousins *insert banjo riff here*). You know, basic deity/author stuff.

Not that "making yourself" or "playing dollhouse" (which I see as the less smitey and puppet-masterish version of "playing God") haven't also been legitimate playstyles since the inception of the franchise. It's just that "playing God"/"playing the author" is the way that I've always approached and enjoyed these games. My first ever save in TS2 was just me recreating my OC's in a custom world where characters from different universes (and, yes, my imagination landscape is a multiverse, it's that crazy active) would cross paths, become friends or rivals, and get into all sorts of trouble in this digital world they've suddenly been dropped into because their creator is a sick, sick woman. From there, I've orchestrated elaborate plans for sims from birth involving who they will marry, what they will do for a living, what sort of supernatural weirdness with plague or bless them, how many kids they'll have, and who their kids will eventually become. That's why I've never been fond of heavy story progression. It's like someone else going behind my back and messing with my elaborate plans without my permission...and I'm big on keeping creative control over my creations.

Honestly, I think that both the "Dollhouse" approach and the "Fantasy Life" approach to marketing this franchise are totally missing one of the best angles of these games. Control the World. Be the Puppet Master. Bless and Smite. Build and Destroy. Pamper and Torment. Play Matchmaker or Home Wrecker. It's Your World, The Sims Are Just Living In It.

...Man, they should be paying me to make their marketing campaigns instead of some suits who only know how to market games through controversy or glitter-bombs...

"thesimmer14;d-974098" wrote:
Has anyone noticed the shift in marketing? It seems as if they're catering to a very specific kind of escapism.

Actually it's back to the Sims 2 and 3 (and early Sims 4) marketing. The Dollhouse Simulator ads has actually always been in the minority for the Sim games.

@SimsLovinLycan absolutely the same. I came to Sims 1 from the other Sim games and I have always labeled them as a God simulator.

"NorthDakotaGamer;c-17447063" wrote:
I noticed they are taking away more of the sandbox mode in terms of gameplay. When I need to mod the game to play my sim world as I have in previous iterations that us very telling.

I have not noticed this at all. Please explain what you mean?

This new type of advertising is strange to me. I don't want to play as myself, my real life is kind of boring lol. I want to make weird and interesting sims, and have wild and crazy plots for my sims to take part in, almost like a play. Have my sims fight, fall in love, get jealous, have affairs, burn down their houses, loose their jobs. I hate that there's no drama or consequences in the Sims anymore.

Now, the game is just wish fulfillment for having a "perfect" life. Yawn!!

I have never once made myself and given myself the life I wished for in this game. At most my Sims will share the same first name and similar hair and beard styles, but other than that I've never really made a Sim that was anything like me. I'll never knock anyone playing Sims for wish fulfillment, except I will say that nothing creeps me out when someone, man or woman, makes a Simself and then marries the Sim that looks exactly like their real world crush...That's where I draw the line IMO.

"NorthDakotaGamer;c-17447660" wrote:

"Beardedgeek;c-17447447" wrote:

"NorthDakotaGamer;c-17447063" wrote:
I noticed they are taking away more of the sandbox mode in terms of gameplay. When I need to mod the game to play my sim world as I have in previous iterations that us very telling.

I have not noticed this at all. Please explain what you mean?

The forced in the pocket cell phone as soon as the toddler pops out if the bassinet is an example. Also, the sims gravitating more toward electronics for fun. I enjoy setting my game to play in a past era, you know where there is no cell phone or even computers were common place. There is furniture to fit the aesthetics of the past eras, from victorian style to 1950's style as examples. But, the gameplay for a majority of careers and the way the devs set up the phone needed for many tasks and travel. It makes it impossible to play the way I prefer without heavily modding. In other iterations, it was not as difficult to play the way I desire. If it takes me 200+ hours just to set up a game file to be somewhat playable, that is a very telling. My guess is you don't mind the sims with constant tech addiction, as it fits your playstyle.

We have had this discussion. I simply does not consider this a valid complaint for reasons I have already stated. Again, Sims 4 takes place in the modern world. The fact that you still can use the mailbox for as much things as you can is actually becoming unrealistic already.

I know the US is behind Europe (not being obnoxious, I have an American wife and have spent a lot of time in the US) like actually paying people by check still (!!!), something that stopped in Sweden around 1982 (not exaggerating). After that it was automatic bank transfers only. But even taking that in consideration... For me, as a Swede, not having a smart phone I guess is like for an American to not have a car. Virtually unheard of.

"NorthDakotaGamer;c-17447971" wrote:

"Beardedgeek;c-17447914" wrote:

"NorthDakotaGamer;c-17447660" wrote:

"Beardedgeek;c-17447447" wrote:

"NorthDakotaGamer;c-17447063" wrote:
I noticed they are taking away more of the sandbox mode in terms of gameplay. When I need to mod the game to play my sim world as I have in previous iterations that us very telling.

I have not noticed this at all. Please explain what you mean?

The forced in the pocket cell phone as soon as the toddler pops out if the bassinet is an example. Also, the sims gravitating more toward electronics for fun. I enjoy setting my game to play in a past era, you know where there is no cell phone or even computers were common place. There is furniture to fit the aesthetics of the past eras, from victorian style to 1950's style as examples. But, the gameplay for a majority of careers and the way the devs set up the phone needed for many tasks and travel. It makes it impossible to play the way I prefer without heavily modding. In other iterations, it was not as difficult to play the way I desire. If it takes me 200+ hours just to set up a game file to be somewhat playable, that is a very telling. My guess is you don't mind the sims with constant tech addiction, as it fits your playstyle.

We have had this discussion. I simply does not consider this a valid complaint for reasons I have already stated. Again, Sims 4 takes place in the modern world. The fact that you still can use the mailbox for as much things as you can is actually becoming unrealistic already.

I know the US is behind Europe (not being obnoxious, I have an American wife and have spent a lot of time in the US) like actually paying people by check still (!!!), something that stopped in Sweden around 1982 (not exaggerating). After that it was automatic bank transfers only. But even taking that in consideration... For me, as a Swede, not having a smart phone I guess is like for an American to not have a car. Virtually unheard of.

It is a valid complaint. The game has the requirement of sims using the phone or computer for everything as the main weakness and flaw.

As for your other comments, would you be surprised that some people do not even own any credit cards? I have not written a check in almost 20 years, but I also refuse to do electronic payments for almost everything. Many places add a "convenience fee" to use an electronic payment and I REFUSE to pay that. Personally I use cash or a cashier's check (printed by the bank) for most things. My debit card hardly even gets used unless I have to. There are many like me, I know even in Europe there are people like me.

I agree, I am European and don't have a credit card either and don't like how they try to force electronic payment on everyone. A year ago or so, there was even some talking about getting rid of physical money completely in the favor of electronic payment, which I just don't feel comfortable with at all. I just prefer real money instead of digital one. I also dislike things like e-books, they're just not the same as holding a real book imo. I am not even that old, I am only 19 and have friends around the same age who think the same. Then again, countries like Sweden generally have a different attitude towards these things, with things like electronic payment being much more normalized over there than in the USA or Germany.

As for the actual topic of the thread, I party agree. I also noticed a shift in the way the game has been advertised more as a create-yourself-game than a virtual dollhouse, but I feel like this already started at the very beginning of TS4. I already said it in another thread, but I feel like it's their way of catering to a bigger audience than before. Many people would say The Sims is a "girl game" because of the dollhouse aspect. I could imagine they changed their advertising to attract players of all ages and genders. There were probably many men or older people who felt like they couldn't play the game because they didn't see themselves as the intended target audience. That's just a theory though.

As for the criticism of the game being too "modern" for certain playstyles, I definitely get the complaint, and even though it doesn't really bother me, I can understand why people are upset. However, I am afraid it's too late for TS4 to catch up to those players. Even if they'll ever decide to remove the phone and give players the option to buy one manually, this wouldn't change the fact that many of the worlds and their backdrops look too modern to play in any era before the 20th century. I'd just advise those players to get TS3. It has many medieval looking custom worlds for example, which are perfect for gameplay like this. It also has more options for old-school alternatives, like newspapers, landlines etc. Let's face it, TS4 isn't made for this kind of gameplay.

I think they can have a nicer balance. If we have more careers that don't require electronics.Like warehouse worker, store manager, delivery guy, and so on.Also fee more active careers.Also just more objects that are not modern