Does anyone else have this empty resort problem?

[blackbird]

I don't understand what I'm doing wrong, and I'm wondering if my game is broken.

I've built a lovely resort, but something seems very wrong.  The management panel says the resort is at full capacity... and although I've heard you will only ever see one or two guests wandering around -- why won't they do anything??  I have two VIP rooms -- they are never used by anyone.  The beds go untouched forever it seems.  They just sit there and the maintenance people sweep it sometimes.  There is a pool bar with no customers ever.  A food stand that might as well have a mannequin operating it, it's always empty.  The front desk fellow is cheerful despite never helping anyone.  The firewalk just sits there, the gym equipment just gathers dust.  The staff is just standing around waiting forever for people who never come.

They won't use a single thing.  Not one item of gym equipment, nor the pool bar, the firewalk, the pool slide, the food stand, the VIP rooms -- everything besides the buffet remains absolutely untouched every day and every night while the one or two sims eat buffet and lie on towels and nothing else.  Nothing else, ever.

My question is, what is the point of all this stuff if the sims don't have the will to use it?  My random reviews say "Oh the food stand is awesome" or "Glad you have a pool bar" or whatever, but no one uses them.  And the VIP rooms!!  Did I just build them to sit there and look pretty?  Why doesn't anyone ever actually go in and sleep there?  Not once!

I really hope this is just a problem with my game, and not the way this was actually designed to work.  If this is how it's supposed to be, and the only way this stuff gets used is if you send your own sim to use stuff, well that seems very lame to me, and it makes for nothing but a completely dead ghost-town resort all the time.

By the way, on a separate note, if there's anyone who doesn't really watch their resorts that much, I just thought I'd mention that I had a couple mermaids show up once or twice... and again, they did nothing... but the biggest problem with that was they dehydrated themselves over and over.  I had to keep fetching my own sim and splashing them, until enough was enough and I coaxed them back into the ocean. 

Perhaps another problem only I've had, I was just curious if anyone else has a similar resort where no one uses the stuff in it at all.  Or is it just me?

[grimsoul]

It's the same in my game also. The few townies that show up on the lot mostly just spend their time at the buffet tables.  I've seen them make 4 or 5 trips to the buffet tables just stuffing themselves.
Rarely I'll see one in the pool or hot tub but the other items at the resort just seems to be there for the invisible guest to give good reviews for the place.

[Wai]

I have actually seen one on a treadmill, once; one using an all-in-one bathroom, he broke it; several reading in the library; one checking in, once. 

I think this is pretty much the way it is, and it is rather disappointing.

[Caterina]

I converted the Lucky Simoleons Casino into a resort and, around 10:00pm, all of the guests came inside to gamble.  Overall, my resorts have not been as active as I would like.  I do tend to spend a lot of time there with my sims.  I build one that had three of the blueprint "suites".  The largest suite was being used by a family of sims.

I wonder if there were no buffets if the sims would do other things besides eat.

[blackbird]

. . .

I think this is pretty much the way it is, and it is rather disappointing.

Not only is it rather disappointing -- and I would say severely disappointing -- but it is also insanely baffling to me as to why they'd do this.  I mean if a sim at the pool bar can order a drink and the worker goes through all these intricate actions to mix together a glass to give the sim, if a sim can talk to the reception clerk and get a VIP room and sleep there...  if all these actions were created specifically for each unique resort feature, why would they put all this effort to waste??  Why would they have created all these intricate interactions and then NOT program the sims to use them?  It's like they built this spectacular fancy car with advanced gadgets and expensive features, and then decided not to put wheels on it.

[paulfstr]

Yeah, that's just how the game works. Reviews, revenues etc are generated with numbers alone and don't have anything to do with real sims.

But it's clear why it has to be like this. A resort with thousands of "real" occupants is going to significantly lag the game. That being said, I agree that they should just make more real sims visit because every resort looks like a ghost town.

[blackbird]

. . .
But it's clear why it has to be like this. A resort with thousands of "real" occupants is going to significantly lag the game. That being said, I agree that they should just make more real sims visit because every resort looks like a ghost town.

I absolutely understand they couldn't make 'thousands' of sims walk the grounds.  I just meant the few that are there.  They already use the buffet and lie in the sun.  It wouldn't drag the game to a halt to get them interacting, and I'm just glad I'm not the only one who thinks the ghost town idea was rather ridiculous.

I've only ever used a couple cheat codes for money or to change a sim's traits after they're born.  But I have heard some people develop add ons to the game that you can use to influence how the sims in your town behave.  Does anyone now if there's something out there that can make sims in town visit resorts AND use all the facilities on their own?  Is this even possible?  I would be willing to go through a learning process just to make that stuff work out.  If my resort isn't getting used, why did I bother leaving 'build mode'?

[MissTrips]

I think about the only things in my resort that are used on a regular basis besides the buffet is the pool, the bookshelves, and the wedding arch.   Not the pool bar, mind... just the pool. 

But most of my guests love my bookshelves for reading on the beach, and I have at least one wedding every two-three days.

I knocked down the VIP Room and threw the Wedding Arch out there.  Now at least the pier is used, and it's a nice bit of scenery for a Wedding.

[simchuff]

I have found that putting a wedding arch will get more people to the resort who will stick around and do things. My one resort always has a quite a few people walking around using the amenities (except the vip rooms) and i found that it's usually the people who came for the wedding, and just decided to stick around.

[Sherry]

My resorts (in IP and SSV) are usually have bunches of visitors. Not really fully like the number written on the resort financial maintenance, but quite a lot (tens or so). They usually have a go at the buffet, ordering drinks at the bar, using the hot tub or pools and sometimes use the gym.