What do players mean by "gameplay"?

@Scobre Yes, I think the crux lies in balance here. In general, but indeed also concerning the emotions. Emotions could actually mean great gameplay, if only they would have been based on other sims, events, actions and also one emotion leading to the other.

It’s just playing the game and anything and everything related to it.

"SimmerSuper6464;c-16266096" wrote:
It’s just playing the game and anything and everything related to it.

Not exactly. Gameplay is what makes games different from watching a movie, a TV show or a sports events. When you are just watching then there is no gameplay.

Even a movie could have a tiny bit of gameplay though if it became interactive such that you had to make a few choices while you are watching it to decide the direction of the rest of the movie. But the movie still wouldn’t be a real game anyway because a game needs much more gameplay than this.

So when people say that TS4 is lacking in gameplay it means that too much in TS4 is just about watching instead of making interactions with the game and having plans for the life of our sims. The reason of course is that EA changed the game a little in the direction of a show where we just are watching our sims making autonomous interactions on their own. So TS4 has become more of a show and less of a game than the earlier big Sims games were.

So gameplay is what makes it a game and not just a piece of work/hobby/watching. Building houses is a grey area because building real houses is work and not a game. Building models of houses is hobby but still not a game and it doesn’t become a game just because the models are built on a computer. But building houses in SimCity is of course gaming. So what if people mainly only use TS4 to build houses? Then we are in a grey area because if they never play with sims in the houses but only make them and upload them then people are using TS4 as a tool for a building hobby and not as a game at all. But if they move sims into the houses and also play with the sims and build the houses with this purpose then building the houses of course becomes part of the gameplay.

"TheGoodOldGamer;c-16264707" wrote:
Well I'm primarily a builder so for me, the gameplay is focused on build mode (and buy mode, placing furniture n such).

But apparently "click animation selection from menu around Sim, then watch Sim play out said animation" that has existed since Sims 1 is a big thing for others, and it's only real gameplay if you click it twice, or maybe three times. :p The gameplay has been the same in all the series in live-mode. The only things that change are the timers/percentages that happen behind the scenes for fires/raises in careers/alien abductions/etc.

Sims 1 was excrutiating to play out legit without money cheats and/or need-filling modded objects. Years later, Sims 4 actually gives you time to do things outside of (or instead of) a job. But regardless, I use 'live mode' for the same thing. Build testing and how Sims use it. The only thing I miss about older gameplay is having Sims approve of or hate various things around homes when they move in. :D

I strongly disagree. :) If the AI is not good then there would not be a reason to build a new series. We would all be saying been there, done it, let's find another game series to play. The AI is the most important feature and must adhere to what a player thinks should happen. Short cuts sometimes are fine, but leaving out big chunks of simulation is the reason many think TS3 or TS4 have not lived up to the legend of The Sims.

"Cinebar;c-16268920" wrote:


I strongly disagree. :) If the AI is not good then there would not be a reason to build a new series. We would all be saying been there, done it, let's find another game series to play. The AI is the most important feature and must adhere to what a player thinks should happen. Short cuts sometimes are fine, but leaving out big chunks of simulation is the reason many think TS3 or TS4 have not lived up to the legend of The Sims.

Exactly, that is when the Sims starts to lose the Sim aspect of the simulation. I mean it is supposed to be a life simulator game, not only a pretty picture to look at so needs a good AI system to make the simulation work well. If I wanted that I would buy art from the merch shop to look at. No need to buy a game at that point. "Life simulation games are about "maintaining and growing a manageable population of organisms", where players are given the power to control the lives of autonomous people or creatures." When it becomes not about that anymore then that is when people question whether the Sims 4 is even a Sims game anymore because it is less about the simulation aspect and falling more into other game genre types that focus purely on looks over gameplay.