honeywellsims4news:

DEVELOPING THE SIMS ISN’T EASY

“Fans mistakenly think that developing The Sims is easy. It is not.

To compare what Skyrim does to what Sims does shows a clear misunderstanding of what the technical demands of the two games are.” —Graham Nardone

I don’t think any fans think it’s easy.  I think it’s fairer to say that some fans just aren’t happy with the quality of The Sims games being released and the direction Maxis is taking series as a whole. 

It really is unfortunate that so far no other major studios have tried to provide the life simulation game dissatisfied Sims fans are looking for.  There’s a market for both and the competition would do Maxis a world of good.  And perhaps fans would recognize and appreciate more of what they have done right — which is quite a bit or you wouldn’t even be reading this right now.

Here’s to hoping they get more right with The Sims 4 than wrong.  *cheers*

Reference:  Bethesda’s The Sims 4

I can sympathize with both sides of the argument. On one hand, it must be incredibly frustrating to be slaving away at The Sims 4 and having to deal with fans who are already making demands about the game, despite knowing very, very little about the technical side of game development.

The lack of the Create a Style Tool, for example, is frustrating for me because I personally understand how the removal of the tool will improve the game, yet I still interact with thousands of fans who are now threatening not to buy The Sims 4 at all. While I’ve never been thrilled with EA, it is simply unfair to call them "lazy” for trying to “ruin” TS4 by not including buggy, clunky tools like Create a Style in the next iteration of The Sims. I think that Maxis has done a great job trying to make sure that TS4 is a stable game that will be accessible to many players with lower-end computers. While people complain about CAST not being in TS4, even more people complain about how buggy and unstable TS3 is, and how it only runs smoothly on expensive, high-end computers.

On the other hand, fans do have the right to voice their opinions about The Sims. Though it must be frustrating to hear criticism as a developer on the game, The Sims 4 team must realize that those who criticize the game care about it deeply.

The Sims 3, in my opinion, was a complete and utter failure in almost every conceivable way. I love to rant and rave about EA and the (again, in my opinion) awful direction that TS3 was taken in, but I only do so out of love. I complain about EA and The Sims franchise because I love it and I wanted The Sims 3 to be as great as TS1 and TS2 were.

I don’t think that it’s unfair for players to hold EA and Maxis to a certain standard of quality, especially when we are shelling out hundreds of dollars for the game and it’s expansions. The key is maintaining a basic understanding of how game development works, and trying to stay realistic. No, you should not get mad that EA is not considering a mental illness expansion pack. It is not reasonable to expect EA to add guns to the game, or Sims in wheelchairs, or photo-realistic graphics. We do, however, have the right to express our opinions. If you want gun-slinging, handi-capable Sims then fine, but don’t get mad when EA doesn’t produce it.

What do you guys think? Comment below or Tweet us your opinion!