sandyfl's Full Review: The Sims Online for Windows
The Sims and all of it's expansion packs has become an icon, a level to which many programmers have yet to aspire, a true giant in the pc game industry. The demand has become so great as to inspire release on the Xbox and Playstation 2 systems as well.
The Result: TSO had alot to live up to.
The Problem: For the most part, It didn't.
Before continuing, I should point out that as a beta tester, my information on the game is about 4 1/2 months old, and drastic changes could have taken place since it's release. However, I still stay in contact with one of my former "roommates", and the last word from her was that the promised (by the programmers) changes in the game had not been made.
Over the course of my 2 months as a play tester for The Sims Online, here are a few of my experiences and discoveries, as well as game spec's:
If you are a fan of past Sims products, you have a basic idea of how characters, items and houses look and what kinds of graphics, interfaces & sounds you can expect. All of these are unchanged in TSO. But once you step into the world of the human-controlled Sim Universe, you notice a number of differences, including the fact that you are no longer in control of what happens during gameplay. I think this is one very big reason people have taken the leap into this game. Otherwise, why not just play The Sims? The social interactions and possibilities are probably the reasons you may be drawn to the game. If so, you should know what to expect, and should skip down to the "Character Creation" section.
If you've never experienced a Sims game before, let me give you a little briefing before reading the rest of my review. The original Sims, and it's expansion packs: Livin' Large, House Party, Hot Date, Vacation, Unleashed, & the upcoming Superstar, have spawned a huge following. And it's no wonder. They've broken the mold for simulation games, with vivid, life-like graphics, realistic sounds, and open-ended, continuous gameplay. The characters have finely detailed bodies, faces, and clothes, with some fan sites even featuring custom-made celebrity skins (See http://www.celebritysims.com/). When I say life-like, I mean that the characters look just like REAL people, with the muscles, hair fibers, shadowing, eyebrows, etc. true to life. Objects are intricately crafted to look like the real thing as well, and everything from eating to snoring to flushing the toilet sounds real. There are several stereos/radios to choose from, playing a selection of 4 types of music: Rock, Country, Classical & Latin. But if you have mp3's on your computer, you can substitute their generic files with your own music. In all of the Sims games, you create, control and command whole neighborhoods of sims, making families or bachelors/bachelorettes that eat, sleep, use the restroom, read, pro-create, get jobs, go to school, pay their bills, and order pizza, just to name a few things they can do. Sims, like us, have basic needs to fulfill: Hunger, Bladder, Fun, Social, Room (Environment), Comfort, Hygiene, & Energy. Once you've chosen from a large selection of outfits, heads, skin colors, and body types, you can pick a personality, name and description for your characters, then move them in to the lot of your choosing. Then, in Build mode, you can choose from a wide range of architectural themes, paint & floor patterns, and other accessories to create the perfect home for your sims. In Buy mode, you can furnish your sim home with Furniture, Decorations, Electronics, Skill-building items, bathroom necessities, and kitchen appliances that fit your theme and suit your tastes. Of course, you need simoleans (sim currency) to do all of this with, and these are either earned the old-fashioned way, by finding a job for your sim, or by using cheat codes (I'm a weakling - I love rosebud!). Basically, the fun of the game is that the sims you control have a mind of their own - they eat endlessly if you let them, wait till the last minute to run the bathroom, leave messes everywhere, and fall asleep on the ground once all their energy runs out. So, if you let them, sims will let their own lives go to ruin. But, if you want to be the proud owner of successful sims, you make them clean up after themselves (and their kids) or hire a maid, study for school or work (different career paths demand different skills), take a shower when they start to stink, and call up their friends on the phone when they're lonely. The neighbors (if you create some for them) like to drop by to welcome your sims to the neighborhood, and friendships can ensue...or something more. Your sims can fall in love, get married, move in together, pro-create (your little sim is a screaming little bundle in a bassinet object for 3 sim days then, if they're rocked, fed and sung too, *presto!* they become a child!), get jealous, have affairs, fight, and even kill each other. Yes, that's right - there are even a number of ways in which your characters can die. Everything from electrocution to starvation to alien abduction. You've never experienced anything like it - so order your copy and you won't be disappointed!
For more Info on the original game, The Sims, and expansion packs, check out http://thesims.ea.com/us/index.html .
Character Creation
You are given the opportunity to create 3 different characters, in 3 different cities. The choices in skins and textures are similar to the ones in the Sims, with, of course, plenty of new and unusual ones. Some are downright bizarre, like the animal-like head with horns, the robot (like Servo), Polar & Grizzly bears, and aliens. The really crazy thing about these is, when they change for swimming or sleeping, their bodies look like normal sims. Very unrealistic. It's important to choose carefully, because (as of the time of release anyway) you can't permanently change clothes once you've chosen your skin. There are temporary changes available, though, through the use of costume trunks & closets, but these change as soon as your sim showers, bathes, sleeps, or swims. You can also write a description of your avatar for everyone to see, anything from a personal ad to a thorough revealing of your character. Before you make these choices, though, the game asks you to choose a city to live in. Interhogan was my favorite, although it may have changed quite a bit by now. The fun of "Being Someone Else" is that you can keep all the secrets you want. I decided to conduct an experiment of my own, and chose to be a guy in TSO (As my primary character - my other 2 were female).
Settling Into Interhogan
As D'Artagnan, a dashing, dark-haired Frenchman, I entered Interhogan shortly after it's inception (about 10 minutes), and bought a property in a conspicuous section of the map. Each city's map features thousands of dark specks, which represent neighborhoods. Each neighborhood contains hundreds (if not thousands) of properties, developed lots falling under one of the property categories, including: Offbeat, Skills, Money, Welcome, Romance, Entertainment. I chose Skills for my property (once the categories were implemented, which wasn't till later), and the title for my lot was "Interhogan University". I was also able to write a description for my property, in which I advertised for roommates. It is possible to play the game entirely without owning property, or having roommates, but it diminishes your sim's potential in my opinion. Anyway, you are able to have up to 7 roommates (8 people total), all of whom must be invited by the property leader. I ended up with a full house - 7 roomies - both times I built it. In the Sims, your characters can learn new skills by using the skill items, then can apply them to their careers. In TSO, using the skill objects has the same result, but the more people studying a particular skill on the same property, the faster they learn it. (99% speed is the fastest) Once you've gained a skill point, you can make more money at job objects, as well as gaining new social interactions. So, my choice for a University was centered around the fact that most TSO players are desperate for a fast learning environment, so they can then make money faster. Which brings me to the whole point of TSO: making money. Almost everyone strives to be the most successful, rich, famous sims with tons of expensive items and furnishings, and lots of visitors to their property (which translates into alot of money in visitor's bonuses - a max of 1,000 simoleans a day).
Build & Buy
These modes are pretty much the same as in The Sims, except that when you're outside of your own property or homeless, the build mode is not available, and buy mode just shows whatever items you are carrying in your inventory. You are allowed to buy a maximum of 500 objects (a ridiculous limit for most players). When on your own property, you're allowed to buy and sell your own objects, but cannot sell anything your roomies acquire in buy mode. You are, however, able to erase or sell anything your roomies have done in build mode, which is one of the problems with choosing roommates - you'd better know you can trust them, because they can delete all of the walls, floors, plants, swimming pools, ponds, staircases & elevators, and fireplaces you've slaved over and paid for. This has happened to a number of players. One of the bugs in the game was that 2 roomies accessing the game's build or buy modes simultaneously could cause the house to "crash", kicking out everyone there. (This may have been fixed now, check http://www.stacei.com for updates). Prices for objects are, in some cases, drastically different from The Sims, and are supposedly regulated by demand, similar to real-life inflation. (Many players will disagree with the fairness of them, though). Apparently now the option exists to exchange used items with other players for simoleans or objects of equal value through buy mode.
The Money Game
Primarily, money in TSO is made through the use of group money objects, including Pizza, Maze, Band, and, my favorite, Core Business Unit. Elaborate charts and cheats already exist for many of these items. Individual money objects, including easel, canning station, and workbench, and new for TSO, chalkboard, pinata, and typewriter, also make a decent amount of simoleans based on how much skill the user has. Now there even exist sites that charge for cheat programs, automated user programs, and insider tips on making money. The downfall of this game is this reflection of the real world - who wants to play a game where an exact replica of their real life is played out day after day - money is the focus of almost every event, reward, distinction, and object offered in TSO. Reflecting this are some TSO features like the 100 richest sims list (one for each city) and the money reward for being on the most liked sim list. The properties that receive most of the visitors feature virtually every kind of money making and skill item available - with enough of each one to speed up skill building sessions and have everyone on the lot making money or studying at once. (With up to 25 - I think - visitors at a time, those are alot of items). So, people who've come up with unique, interesting ideas for their property have trouble getting anyone to visit, unless they compromise their theme by adding all the money makers & skill builders they can afford. There is, however, the intention to fix this problem with the addition of property category restrictions, allowing certain kinds of objects to only appear on properties slotted for that type of activity. A way to get around this, though, is that you don't have to choose a category to own a property - you can just be unlisted.
Friendships & Social Life
This is my favorite part of TSO. All you have to do is start typing, and your words appear in a bubble near your head. If, however, someone's talking to you from a different area of the property, their words appear in bubbles in the bottom corner of your screen. You can also have up to 3 personal chat boxes open, with 3 different sims, for instant messaging both inside the same property, and from different ones (both of you must be in the same city, though). You can also send and receive offline messages (like email) that can be retrieved any time during gameplay. Generally, though, my favorite part of social interaction is the things the sims can do. Click on yourself, and a whole myriad of options are available, from burping to acrobatics to break dancing. You can be a show-off or stand-offish. And with different skills come new possibilities, for instance, high logic allows you to tango. Clicking on another sim can provide you with much needed social motive, as well as alot of fun. For sims with high body skill, interactions can include lifting someone above your head & bench pressing them, or power-driving someone in a wrestling match. Dancing is a favorite way to show your stuff: add a dance floor to your home or club, and a menu comes up allowing you to choreograph a whole dance routine by choosing different steps in whatever sequence you choose. As far as friendships go, the more the better, just like in real life, and for numerous reasons. For one, the addition of sickness to TSO, planned for sometime in the future, will allow for friends to heal each other, and the longer the friendship, the faster they heal. You're only allowed a few friends, then you must have one new friend to acquire another, meaning if you have 8 outgoing friends, you must have 9 incoming friends to choose another one. Once you make someone your friend, you give them a red balloon, and then their pic shows up in your friendship web, which is accessible from your in-game user interface. Friendships also allow for new interactions to appear, so the more friends you have, the more awesome things you can do. And, if you really try hard, you may get on the "100 Most Liked Sims" list for your city.
Tools For A Better Experience
One tool that's useful for social interactions is the search tool. It allows you to, upon entering a city, find any sim or property by name, bring up their sim page, and send them a message. All of your roommates and friends become bookmarked as well, allowing you to access their sim page easily by bringing up your bookmark list. Another helpful feature is the map filter which shows you some of the properties you've visited recently. This can be very helpful when bugs in the game make searching ineffective for finding your favorite hot spots. Searching for one tiny black dot on the city maps, then scrolling through countless properties can be very daunting, so the map filters allow you to skip to your favorites and your types of places. The categories filter lets you look under each category at the most popular properties and choose something you might like.
The Website
One of the most widely used TSO features during the play test was the official web site (mostly because down times and server wipes made it impossible to play at times, so us addicts would flock to the site for the latest news). The site includes updates on patches, bugs, fixes, and other news, ideas for objects or interactions that are still on the drawing board or in production, and links to all kinds of fan sites. But the real hub is the message boards - a whole set for each city. There are personal ads, business ads, want ads, idea boards, bug list boards, special events, and a chance to be an active member in your community, neighborhood, or town hall. Developers expect an emergence of self-governing "counties" and communities. You can get a ton of visitors to your property just by advertising on the site. I recommend to anyone who buys this game to also form or join a fan site, even a very simple web page, if possible. It can help draw people to your home or business, and if you partner up with a few real life companies as an affiliate, you might even make some real $$$$ from the web traffic you get.
Why I didn't buy the game
Ok, I said in my title that the game's concept was poorly executed. This is why:
1)The majority of players will tell you that after a few weeks, despite all the game has to offer, it just gets boring. For one, because you can't speed up the process like you can in the original sims, you are forced to watch as your sim eats, sleeps, studies, uses the bathroom, etc., with the same slow deliberation we use in real life. Alot of people leave their screens for 10 - 15 min. at a time, come back to keep their game online, then leave again, defeating the whole purpose of playing a game. I don't know how they could fix that, but it really is a drag.
2)Another problem is extreme lag. Sometimes, with a full house (and since my property was overall pretty successful, I had alot of those), you can wait 5 minutes for your sim to take a step. This is especially irritating when you're playing a money game or something similar which requires group participation and concentration. The game tends to lag most predictably when someone enters the lot you're on. Switching from build or buy mode to live mode can cause a long delay as well.
3)Another problem: server down time. It doesn't take long for you to choose a favorite city and character to play, and can be very frustrating when your city always seems to be down right when you have some free time.
4)The rate at which your motives decay can be another big drag, as character interactions can be short-lived and frustrating if all you can do is a couple of dances before you have to go shower again. They are proposing a few fixes for this, though.
5)But the biggest reason by far is, again, the focus on money. Everything's about the simoleans. And for those of us who enjoy the social side of things the most, the money-hungry sims who interrupt that enjoyment can be very irritating. Properties do allow for "invitation only" guest lists, excluding the general public, but few people actually do that. You're also able to ban guests you don't want, and ignore other sims as well, but the fact that nearly every major property owns at least one group money game still makes socializing a difficult endeavor. You see, all of the group money games require the players to communicate with each other. And, although maze can be successfully played through instant messaging, the other 3 games require more than 2 players and thus must be done through chat. So, while you're trying to talk to your date or a hot tub full of friends, 4 people in another room are typing things like "LT sc ss" (for the pizza game), or "AAB" (for Maze), over and over again. If the economy in the game was tailored more to the players, with the objects made by the players themselves instead of being auto-made by the game, and if other players could run successful stores selling these products, hang out with friends after a couple of sim days of work, and enjoy everything else this game could offer, I believe alot more people would enjoy TSO and find it in their pockets to pay the monthly subscription required to play. And I would be one of them.
Some web sites to check out:
(MY TSO PAGE:) http://www.geocities.com/crazedsimfan/TSOpage.html
http://www.stacei.com
http://www.simbuzz.com http://www.eagames.com/official/thesimsonline/fans-m/fans_index.jsp
http://www.thedailysim.vze.com
http://www.strategyplanet.com/thesims/tso/tso.shtml
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