This silent treatment is the worst

"Grynn;c-17419503" wrote:

"Camkat;c-17419222" wrote:
I get that they can't talk about what they are working on next though and this bothers me none. We shouldn't have a say in the next packs because really, what games do people ever get a say in? Once they get to beta or alpha testing, bugs get reported or game balance suggestions but the general public doesn't get to say things like "well you made this a shooter and I wanted to play a more hands on fight game, change this please". I know sims is a different style of game, all it's own really, but that doesn't mean we get to say what they develop next. Vote with your wallets. Buy the pack if you like it, or don't buy it. Which cycles back up to my other point of people just buying anything and everything.

What? most games with ongoing updates and DLC that I follow players get a say in.

To begin with almost every dev out there in 2020 keep dev logs where they showcase things at a very early concept stage for players to show feedback, it's not that hard and it really does wonders to help boost sales, nowadays when I discover a new game I always check to see if the devs have one to see if the game is still active, if it's in a final state (because let's be real, no game ever releases in a finished state nowadays) or if it has been "abandoned".

I've seen PLENTY of games change stuff due to player feedback, EA doesn't even bother to change minor Tunings that makes packs semi-unplayable like Realm of Magic, we instead have to rely on Zer0's mods to fix it.

The way developers act with The Sims is really the low of the low, it's amazing how the devs treat the community like thrash and players still buy DLCs.

Crusader Kings 2 was released in 2012 and it still sells to this day all because Paradox never let the game die with constant updates and engaging with the community, the difference between the two companies is so absurd.

I think that the reason why the devs pay less attention to what the players actually want and the complaints we have (and this is going to be harsh to hear for some people and probably reflects my own cynicism about some of society's views in general and views within the gaming industry in particular) is because the Sims series is is viewed as primarily a women's product. Traditionally, the voices of women and girls have been largely silenced and ignored in Western society, with the (mostly male) leaders of society instead imposing their own idea of what women's and girls' opinions, interests, feelings, and needs aught to be onto the female half of the population. If they call themselves "listening" to women's and girls' thoughts, opinions, or concerns, they are only really listening to the ladies whose words line up with what they think a normal female should be saying and thinking and either ignore the ladies whose words ring contrary to their presuppositions or twist those words so that they do line up with their view of the female mind.

Just look at the debate over air conditioning as an example. Women often complain that AC systems in public spaces like office buildings, school buildings, and movie theaters, are cranked up too high and leave them feeling uncomfortably cold. It's especially a problem in places where people are expected to be productive, because the more uncomfortable you are, the less productive you will be. Men generally ignore these complaints, saying that the temperature is fine and that women are just being control freaks or should just dress more warmly. But, when it's high summer and 95 degrees Fahrenheit (35 degrees Celsius) outside, and you have to wait outside in the heat for 20-30 minutes at a time for a bus because the city (where many office jobs are) is too dense to make driving at rush hour practical or you're a broke college student who commutes to school because they can't afford a car at the moment because all your money is going to paying for school, then wearing a thick sweater, long-johns, and gloves to work or having a space heater running under your desk because the indoor temperature at your school or place of work is set to Arctic because men (who already stay warmer because they, on average, have more muscle mass than women) insist on layering up in an undershirt, a button-down dress shirt, a tie, a blazer, and long pants all year long because of an outdated standard of "professional" dress that has had only minor updates since the 1800's and 72 Fahrenheit (22 Celsius) with virtually no humidity and constant air movement is way cooler than than the same raw temperature with mild humidity an little to no wind...Yeah, that's something worth complaining about. But when women complain about it and ask that the standard "comfortable" indoor temperature be bumped up from 72 degrees Fahrenheit (22 Celsius) to something just slightly warmer, like 75 degrees Fahrenheit (24 Celsius), men freak out like they're asking for the AC to be ripped out and tossed into the sun so that women can laugh at them sweating like pigs in the summer heat. Why should women just have to "dress warmer?" Why can't the men revise their definition of "professional" male dress and ditch some of the unnecessary layers during the warmer months so that interior temperatures don't have to be kept so low? Why, instead of expecting women to use space heaters at their desks, can't men bite the bullet and get those handheld mini-fans with the water spritzer (much cheaper than a space heater) to cool off at work? But, nope, the women are wrong, the men are right, and there is no actual problem because women's concerns don't matter and only men's comfort and concerns matter.

If this series was perceived as being more of a boy's or men's thing, then the feedback from the playerbase would be seen as more valid and worth listening to, considering, and using to improve the game. Because it is (or is perceived to be) mostly women's and girls' feedback coming in for this series, however, it's mostly ignored and/or disregarded because of this (largely unconscious) bias against the validity of the words and thoughts of women. Again, this whole thing is just my personal take on it, and probably reflects some of the cynicism I've developed over the years from my observations and personal experiences of how our society and the game industry have traditionally treated women and girls versus how they've treated men and boys. I acknowledge that I may be getting it wrong here...but I also might be frighteningly right.