Theory: Challenges are temporary because they are tools to collect gameplay data

It's very possible.

Or it could also be data collecting to see how many people actually freak out and do the timed challenges within the time frame so they can gauge how successful future timed events would/could be in TS5 if they are thinking about making it online and having more mobile game aspects.

Because a lot of people suffer from FOMO syndrome (Fear of Missing Out) and that's what game studios bank on when they put out those limited time only events that have "special content" offered to those that complete the event within the time limit.

But typically in those types of events, completing it is almost impossible to accomplish unless you upgrade this or that (which costs real life money to upgrade or is a seriously annoying grind fest, so people end up just spending the money to upgrade). So they are making money from the people who upgraded because they're worried about missing out on some little exclusive trinket.

That's my theory. Timed events in an offline game doesn't make any sense to me.

I dunno, though. I don't doubt that they collect some data from the thing, but I do doubt they'd want to rely on something that would provide inaccurate data compared to the player base as a whole. For example, unless there was a way to hit "Like" or "Dislike" buttons or something, they can't really tell if anyone actually does like the challenges they're offering. Simple curiosity about them will only go so far as a draw. They won't get any meaningful data at all from anyone who doesn't play some or all of the challenges, because there's currently no means of collecting reasons why a player hasn't played any or all of them.

Maybe some players haven't got to some of the challenges yet, maybe some ran out of time on one or more of the limited-time ones, and maybe some simply have zero interest in doing any of them, ever. The latter group would be unlikely to catered to, as they would probably offer the least possibility of extra income either now or in the future. Yet it's still valuable data for a company to collect if they're truly interested in a making a game that will draw as many players as possible.

In addition, many players play offline at least some of the time (I know I do), so that would hinder or prevent accurate data collection in another way. A company can't just pretend offline players don't exist, even if they're too quiet to be as easily apparent as vocal fans or disgruntled players on various social media outlets (including here on the official forums).

If it were true that they're doing this just to collect data, I'd have to say they need a much better system than that.

The thing is, as long as you start it before the challenge window ends, you can complete it at any time. I have a dedicated save for challenges. I did the finding love after a break up one to test out challenges because it seemed faster than the get 1000000 simoleans one, and then I've set up households for both too many toddlers and perfectly well balanced, but I haven't actually played through them yet, and the only reason I plan to play through the holiday one is because I have a story idea that will work with it.

In part, I'm "acid testing" how long the scenarios can be "on hold" for, but because they can be on hold, there isn't actually that much pressure to play through a challenge, so I don't think they're collecting data on that. or at least that's not the focus of their data collection.

"VeeDub;c-18015210" wrote:
I dunno, though. I don't doubt that they collect some data from the thing, but I do doubt they'd want to rely on something that would provide inaccurate data compared to the player base as a whole. For example, unless there was a way to hit "Like" or "Dislike" buttons or something, they can't really tell if anyone actually does like the challenges they're offering. Simple curiosity about them will only go so far as a draw. They won't get any meaningful data at all from anyone who doesn't play some or all of the challenges, because there's currently no means of collecting reasons why a player hasn't played any or all of them.

Maybe some players haven't got to some of the challenges yet, maybe some ran out of time on one or more of the limited-time ones, and maybe some simply have zero interest in doing any of them, ever. The latter group would be unlikely to catered to, as they would probably offer the least possibility of extra income either now or in the future. Yet it's still valuable data for a company to collect if they're truly interested in a making a game that will draw as many players as possible.

In addition, many players play offline at least some of the time (I know I do), so that would hinder or prevent accurate data collection in another way. A company can't just pretend offline players don't exist, even if they're too quiet to be as easily apparent as vocal fans or disgruntled players on various social media outlets (including here on the official forums).

If it were true that they're doing this just to collect data, I'd have to say they need a much better system than that.

That never stopped them before (bolded comment) because they said their telemetry showed TS3 players never played with toddlers (Rachel Franklin) as much as people thought. They never considered all of us who never play while connected to the internet. They only depended on those who play while connected and allow Maxis to collect every thing they do in the game. The woohoo challenge in TS4 showed them there are plenty of people who are willing to play timed challenges in a single player, life simulator changing it to a mobile genre to say the least.

Saying they need a better collecting system isn't true in my opinion, their systems can collect every app, every process, every thing a person does on their pc. They can use that for many things and to sell that info to their 'third party partners) and for many other reasons. Their systems have told them for years and years (even back in TS2 days) what was started, ended, opened, written, viewed, played, shared, when the pc was turned off, on, asleep, what emails were opened, who the contacts of the players are (and who their contacts are, too) where the person lives, how old they are by the MS account, etc. etc. What they buy, what sites they visit, who they talk to, how they use their phone with their pc, what other equipment is connected and the last time they left the desk. They know a lot about you already. EA and MS have made the song ' I always feel like somebody is watching me' a reality.

"kayt45;c-18018084" wrote:
They’re probably looking at whether or not scenarios bring some players back into the active category.

personally its been putting me in inactive category ever since they started these scenarios cause meanwhile i used to play daily i simply don't have that type of energy with this grindy challenge playstyle even if i wanted to see what its about

And yeah, time limited scenarios are absolutely a way to trigger FOMO and drive people to play the game.

and adding to FOMO would only drive me to drop the whole game like it never existed

plenty mobile games i used to play were dropped for that one reason and i never went back

dear watcher if i wanted time limited FOMO nonsense i would be playing sims mobile or something

don't do that to sims 4

I tried two of the scenarios just to see if I would enjoy game play that was narrowly dictated. I got bored. I guess I just like to play my way and not be told how to play. One scenario I never finished. One I cheated to finish, so I could see the promised reward. It was a non-factor. Not even worth cheating to get.

Also, as soon as I saw "timed" I tuned out. I play on my schedule, and that includes putting down the game to do other activities like reading, other games, real life pursuits, etc. Sometimes I play for hours and hours nonstop. Sometimes I skip a day or two. "Timed" doesn't fit into how I play.

I don't know about other people, but I have had my fill of online games that start out fun, but then progressively get more and more "challenging" to the point they are a grind. And more expensive to play, as time goes on, so that you finally realize you have invested way more in the game than you are comfortable investing. Only to have the developer decide they want to call it quits, sending their loyal players a notice that urges them to "use up all your coins/gems/etc by such and such a date, because the servers will be turned off." Or maybe they just decided not to update when a new iOS came out, so the game was toast. After that happened a couple of times, I became very resistant to spending any money on an online game.

In fact, one reason I decided to buy Sims 4 with all the added content, was because I finally stopped playing mobile online games, altogether. I wanted a new game to fill the void. I checked to see what mods were available to change game play into something approximating Sims 3, and found out the mods I needed were available, so I invested in Sims 4. (That and the lure of bunnies/llamas, which I did not have in Sims 3.)

If the next rendition of the game is only online, I won't even look at it. The franchise will have ended for me.

But since I have only had Sims 4 for a few months, I will be entertained for years to come, even if they never add horses or faeries/baby dragons. Because I still have those in Sims 3.

Actually, when it comes right down to it, other than the temptation of a larger all inclusive open sandbox world that has improved graphics, I cannot think of a good reason to buy a different simulation game. I'm content with Sims 3/Sims 4.

I always thought the point of them was more in line with what @Chicklet453681 posted: creating a sense of FOMO and community.

If they want to try a subscription based model for Sims 5 or are even just considering it, it would be good for them to know how many users they can encourage to open the game each month with little events.

"Chicklet453681;c-18015204" wrote:
That's my theory. Timed events in an offline game doesn't make any sense to me.

The value in timed events in singleplayer/offline games is in keeping people engaged and playing so they'll be more likely to buy DLC or other value-add-type content. Every time someone opens up their game, that home screen is aggressively selling them something. More "impressions" on ads means more "conversions", and that's what the home screen is, the ultimate targeted ad.

They are already collecting data from how people are playing, simgurus have shared in the past that they are collecting how many sims people play with in a household and things like that, so I don't think there is anything specific that they are collecting with challenges.

Like some people have mentioned, I think the main purpose with challenges is to increase player activity, this is why they are timed. Challenges helps them with having daily, weekly and monthly players.

I definitely think it's mostly about keeping player numbers artificially high without having to add any actual new content, especially since we won't be seeing any new content outside of kits for a while. Keep the shareholders happy by being able to show them that player numbers are still staying strong for the rest of the fiscal year (I think it ends in March?). I don't think it has anything to do with collecting data for like, bug testing or whatever.

And being paired with the SDX, I'm very nervous that we might really be getting into FOMO if they start tying unlockable items behind these timed events. I know that once you start an event you can play past the expiration date, but what about people who miss the deadline to start? Or people who don't want to play scenarios but want the items? If they don't implement it for TS4, I won't be surprised if they're just testing it for TS5. It's also weird that currently all you get for completing them are satisfaction points. Kinda just feels like a placeholder, because what's the point? Satisfaction points are incredibly easy to attain as it is.

I don't know. All I know is I'm not interested in scenarios at all, especially in the way they're currently implemented where you can't use them with existing sims. Another feature they've put in half baked and are promising us they'll expand in the future.