There's a lot of things that stood out to me about this show:
1. Why on earth is the Sims team emphasizing stories so much in this show? Sims 4 is just not built well for stories. Not only that, but they criticized *all* the storytellers. And that seemed to be the focus, really. How much time did we even get to look at the builds? Or at the character creations?
2. The judges did not seem to know what they wanted and didn't convey that to the participants. At one point Dave Miotke mentions that one of the teams didn't have a "climax" in their story. Like, really, Dave? Did any of the stories really have climax? Or a resolution? Or a three-act structure? How sharp was that dialogue? If you're wanting polished writing, then you need to allot time for polished writing. And if you're wanting something for sims players to jump into, then why would you want a climax or a resolution? The criticism was *so* superficial and the players put so much more effort into their builds than the judges did in judging.
3. The sims players were not that interested in competition. They wanted to do the challenge, sure, but not to do it better than anyone else. They just wanted to do it well period. Jesse's comment about being kind particularly stood out. These people are their friends - their real, genuine friends. They're not going to stab them in the back for a show.
4. Never more was the contrast between players and developers made clear. The developers seemed to just throw things out, like a meaningless story twist and needless complications and then expected dazzling results while the players scrambled to understand the challenge in general. The developers came across as very superficial and their desire for competition and drama came at odds with the contestants. Putting people under pressure for the presentation - many of whom have anxiety disorders they're still dealing with - felt callous and mean-spirited, especially since the storytellers do not tell their stories that way on Youtube.
5. The Sims as a game did not come out looking great. The builds and the CAS REALLY needed to be emphasized more than the story-telling. The developers/judges didn't come out looking great either. Weirdly enough, the people who came out looking great were the Game-changers, who seemed to be battling a company that needlessly belittled them. Team Gnome's decision to help the others made the reality TV facade come crashing down on the Sims' head.
6. The group project feel of this show needs to go. I like seeing different types of people work together, but Xmiramira and DrGluon are obviously not going to work well together and the idea that DrGluon's storytelling could knock Xmiramira out of the competition just does not feel right. The English Simmer, Simproved, and Plumbella all seemed to click and have chemistry. Imagine if Plumbella had to work with Dr. Gluon instead, and SimLicy worked with Steph0sims. The trailer for the next episode showed the teams will be locked together still. Why?
7. In conclusion, I'm definitely going to keep watching this show. Because the antagonist, loud and clear, is not the other players, but the Sims franchise itself. And *that* is a mesmerizing twist on the reality TV formula.
