An open letter from Maxis

[scoed]

https://www.ea.com/games/the-sims/the-sims-4/amp/news/a-letter-from-the-sims-team?__twitter_impression=true

I just thought this was important enough to point out. I find it odd they are promising more communication about stuff during the release season of the of the pack they communicated the least about. I don't believe them. Actions speak louder then words. They have said this before. I don't know what do you all think?

[Highlander]

Sounds like a drunk who promises to quit drinking tomorrow.

In their defense, it can be pointless and exhausting to explain things to a playerbase. I play World of Warcraft a lot and they have the same problem. Developers are accused of not listening to players. At some point the dev team will reach out to players. A lot of discussions turn toxic. Then they use that as an excuse to crawl back in their shell.

The one thing I notice is that the skill set for being a game developer is not the same as what it takes to talk to the general public. I think the biggest mistake gaming companies make is that they don't hire someone specifically for the job. And that is probably because they don't value the communication.

[Nindigo]

I think this whole situation is miserable and out of hand. Personally, I don't need any promises from the developers in order to enjoy their game. Nor do I need to have any major say in their decision-making. If I were them, I'd take a big step back from the mass insanity currently at display on social media. People are taking their dissatisfaction to crazy inappropriate levels. Please, don't start a bashing of anyone here as well. Enough is enough.

[TomasGrizzly]

I play World of Warcraft a lot and they have the same problem. Developers are accused of not listening to players. At some point the dev team will reach out to players. A lot of discussions turn toxic. Then they use that as an excuse to crawl back in their shell.

The one thing I notice is that the skill set for being a game developer is not the same as what it takes to talk to the general public. I think the biggest mistake gaming companies make is that they don't hire someone specifically for the job. And that is probably because they don't value the communication.

Games with a long history (whether Sims or Warcraft) will fall into such trouble. Partially because there are many types of players with many different ideas of what they'd like the game to be.
World of Warcraft has it harder because there's the story (what's left of it, anyway) in addition to gameplay.
And yes, communication is very undervalued and the fact many companies rather spend millions of marketing instead is... ugh. It sucks a lot.
I wish they'd be more open about the most-requested features, at least. I understand that it may not be easy to know beforehand how hard might something be to do, but I think they should tell the players what's not possible with the current game engine, and what is unlikely for whatever reasons.

[scoed]

Sims did so with bunk beds and spiral staircases. Stating that there is issues in the game code making them hard to do right. They also stated they are aware simmers want them and are looking into how to do them. They never remotely promised them, just discussed the difficulty they involved and the understanding they are very much wanted. Still every pack not featuring them angers people. Communication with simmers just created anger. Honestly I feel game companies are darned if they so and darned if they don't.

The issues I have is when in one breath they promising to be more communicative about future packs, at the exact same time communicate less then ever about a pack they are about to release. A pack getting slammed more than any other pack ever. It says to me they aren't being honest with us. Still I think they are in a no win situation. I just just don't like the saying one thing and doing another.

That is what annoys me. They don't owe me anything but bug fixes, but if they are going to say they are going to do a thing like communicate, they really should do so.

[Nindigo]

They don't owe me anything but bug fixes, but if they are going to say they are going to do a thing like communicate, they really should do so.

They are - that letter is the beginning of something new. That is what it says. We should give them a chance to keep their word before jumping to conclusions. That is my opinion.

[scoed]

Well maybe Star Wars don't count then. They had a deep dive for stuff packs, yet a this game pack and no such communication. Not only that next to know tweets nothing. They put minimal effort in communicating the contents of the Star Wars pack. They have communicated less on this pack then any other game pack ever. Most stuff packs are better communicated in the contents of the packs. They promised more communication in the middle of giving the least amount of info ever.

[sdhoey]

Good evening folks,

I hope you all are having a good Sunday evening and are staying happy and safe this holiday weekend. Remember the Forum Rules  on posting in the forums.

If you have have a problem with the gameplay, take it to the official Forums please. We all know that not everyone is happy with Game Pack scheduled to come out this week, nor with other factors of the game. As stated in another thread, this forum is not the platform for those discussions, please take them to the Official forums.


Thank you and have a good day

Shannon