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6 years ago
"lisamwitt;c-17155380" wrote:"Ivyeyed;c-17154815" wrote:"lisamwitt;c-17153254" wrote:"Ivyeyed;c-17150989" wrote:
ETA: I think the problem with most approaches to Sims as a multiplayer game is they assume sims are player characters instead of assets/another tool in the sandbox. If you approach multiplayer with a mode of "the sims represent the player", you're already messing it up.
But... that's the whole point. To play AS the Sim you are controlling. Turning them into sheep to be messed with or controlled by whomever is playing would be like stepping backwards into SimCity.
I mean this as a mechanical distinction, not a philosophical one. You make choices for them, but they are not a direct representation of the player or a character for the player to inhabit, because it isn't a first/third-person shooter or RPG or even traditional sandbox game. You can choose to play in a role-playing fashion or in a mad god-king one by choice, but mechanically the sims are kind of sheep to be messed with. That's why you can play as more than one of them at a time, jumping between them at will, abandoning them for an entirely different household, forcing them to do awesome or awful things at your discretion.
In Sims Mobile and other multiplayer iterations, it takes too much of a "this is Your Sim who is an Avatar For You" approach, which is always going to be a bit wonky because that's only one way to play the game, and leaving out the mechanics for the other ways to approach the game ultimately stifles the experience.
I want sims to remain a storytelling/life-sim experience. I don't want it to go all lemmings/sim-city. But what sets it apart from every other game that might call itself a life-sim (Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons/Animal Crossing/BitLife/Etc) is that there's no one "character" in the game who is meant to be the player. The player plays from an omniscient third-person perspective. Every multiplayer attempt I've seen eliminates that player perspective, or at least whittles it down. And it is mechanically removed enough, for me, to no longer feel like the experience I want from a Sims game.
If done right, Sims multiplayer could be amazing, but it would take incredible care to do right. I want it, because it could recreate the fun of Minecraft but in a completely different genre of sandbox, but I have no faith in EA to understand it or deliver it.
Ok, I see where you are coming from. I personally don't want anything to do with multiplayer. I never even tried using any of the online features that came with Showtime except the gift giving. But, properly implemented, and with a toggle to have the option off or on, I can see how it could add to the game for those that want it.
Oh for SURE. I would want the default experience to be single player. I would absolutely never want the game to be mandatory online play or even default multiplayer with an option to turn that off. Default should be single player all the way. It’d just be nice if hosting your game for your friends to hop in with you was an option.
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