Premades and Precepts

Just another stream-of-consciousness post so my blog doesn’t go another month dormant (which it probably will, since the end-of-year exam period is coming up for me). I haven’t actually been playing TS3 lately, though I have a mod in the works that I’ve been experimenting with. Again, the lack of an EA hood editor (coming up on five months) doesn’t give me much motivation to play with premade templates, apart from making and testing stuff out. I say an EA one because it seems all but certain the community will come up with a solution before The Man does.

Not long ago, the Left 4 Dead 2 “boycott” amicably wound up (I hate to admit it, it seems like an instance where online petitions do work.) Now outrage is brewing and gamers are cracking out the signatures with the news that the PC version of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 will not support dedicated servers – the tried and true model of multiplayer FPS gaming. A brief but amusingly weary summary can be found here. Naturally, this sort of news would not be easy to accept for casual gaming communities, competitive clans, modders and their fans. The developer, Infinity Ward, already indirectly responded to this controversy, rebuking ‘the modders and the tuners’ who want to ‘bifurcate the community’ in favour of a solution that will satisfy the majority of their audience. But is it necessarily good to alienate your most ardent fans in this way? Sound familiar?

Now, neither of these are actually games I play. I rented Call of Duty 2 AGES ago if that counts for anything. It’s just interesting to see that video games will always arouse strong and passionate opinions, and there are circumstances where a game company simply has to make concessions for its own sake. Interesting sort of interaction.

Also interesting how apart from the SecuROM fiasco (for which The Sims was only one game affected) EA seems to be largely immune to its community opinion. Outside of their official forums, is there any meaningful interaction or contact to speak of? I believe this dynamic is no doubt driven by the ‘silent majority’ who help keep Sims games on the bestseller lists constantly. I wish they’d speak up more.

EA now typically spends two or three times as much on marketing and advertising as it does on developing a game. That’s because advertising is critical to getting a game in the top ten rankings. If you have a $10 million game, don’t be surprised if the the TV advertising costs drive the ad budget to $30 million. If a $60 game yields revenue of $35 for EA, then (according to my math) the company has to sell 1.1 million copies just to break even.

I’d sure like to know how much it cost to develop The Sims 3, and exactly how much of that budget was spent on flashy billboards and product placements.

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(Psst. Check out Lost EA Traits, my new page. Looks like a couple of my trait ideas were close to what EA had planned after all. Before they cut it for EP#X.)

I enjoyed TS3’s freedom from expansions while it lasted, but all good things come to an end. EA have announced the first TS3 expansion.

I am wholly, WHOLLY unimpressed with a single flaw in this game design.

From the press release:

"[Players will] discover new cities in China, France, and Egypt, and share new stories."

Why am I unimpressed?

Because using real countries is a freaking stupid idea.

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With TS3′s story progression and simultaneous aging would it be harder to create an integrated economy. That is, one where taxes and fees go out, and money is used in a meaningful way. Even with appropriate mods and hacks, every other family is left ‘chaotic’, freely squandering their family funds without any player control over where the money goes. Even if there was some kind of automatic deduction hack, it still might be limited by an inability to pay at the right time. Further yet, families will autonomously move house, presumable with more money from nowhere…will the madness stop?

While it’s a blessing for those of us who hate micro-managing everybody, it doesn’t help players who want to keep records, levy fines and stop money coming from nowhere. If you want the degree of control back, you have to return to the TS2 static model. Well, it’s not clear how aging and story progression will be tied together, but I presume you’d need both on, otherwise you’d end up with families full of kids (no aging) or Sims growing old and dying alone without your input (no SP).

I imagine there will need to be some creative hacking of the game, plus the capabilities to allow it, before there could be a truly integrated ‘autonomous economy’ in TS3. Otherwise, players who wish to ‘integrate’ will need to return to meticulous micromanagement of each Sim. Bit of a bummer really. I really hate the giant promotion bonuses and 20K handouts.

It seems overly philosophical, but if I were writing a Sims story, I would really try to evoke the sense that Sims live in a completely different universe, with different rules. If you think about the game in that way you don’t get hung up as much on the less realistic parts of their lives.

• Technology never changes.
• Sims have different physiologies. They are pregnant for a large chunk of their lives, they are all the same height, and they make blue pee (and they can ONLY pee.)
• No real-world references in general, especially branded stuff. I would probably go to pains to avoid using brand names, or even pixelate the stuff like a 90s hip-hip music video. Advertising truly bugs me when it gets subliminially inserted into Sims stories.
• There is no English in the Sims world, no real-life writing or signs.
• Sims are fully capable of driving, swimming, etc. without lessons.
• Sims are strictly non-religious except for the odd supernatural element (i.e. Grim Reaper).
• Sims are more relaxed about privacy – witness the TS2 telephone directory. Also, they’re generally more permissive with their children and teens (letting them go off on their own), even though they can NEVER be left at home alone.
• Education and professions work differently. There’s no such thing as professional qualifications: any entry-level bum can become a doctor or lawyer without a degree (despite TS2′s weird reference in the Paramedic description to ‘night school’). Uni was a bit of an aberration if you ask me.
• Llamas must pervade everything. (Hey, why haven’t there been actual, ownable llamas in The Sims yet? If you’re listening, EA, OWNABLE LLAMAS!!!!

A while ago, I received a family tree from a relative who asked us to help update it. Only problem was it was in an XLS spreadsheet – rather difficult to navigate, to put it finely. So I went looking for good, free family tree software. I learned about GEDCOM, tried out about half a dozen freeware solutions, and found out that 90% of genealogy software costs money and looks like it was written in 1998.

Nevertheless, I ended up with two excellent pieces of free software: GenealogyJ and GRAMPS.If you like keeping Sims family records, both are good free choices.I know that there are popular services like TribalPages but I specifically wanted software that could keep a local database, and perhaps export to a website or better yet, a graphical family tree.

Here’s a little comparison of GenealogyJ and GRAMPS.

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Calendars are iffy things. They’re pretty much critical for running ‘governed’ hoods and they add a nice sense of immersion – readers can sense the time passing. However, the real world doesn’t translate well into the Sims’ when it comes to the calendar.

I like to world-build from a Sim perspective. Sims only perceive life in days and weeks (due to weekdays/weekends). So, the easiest calendar is one that counts what are known as ‘Sim Days’ from day 1 onwards. I don’t find this terribly immersive, although it works.

In TS2 I decided that 20 days would equal a ‘year’ (a tropical year I guess) due to the 5 day seasons. Complicated. It obviously messed up the days of the week with respect to seasons, especially because I played 3 day periods Prosperity-style). I ended up having to chart out the seven year cycle with a spreadsheet. (more…)

I’ve always been enamoured with the integrated economy, but never had the commitment to put it into action. With TS2 I did draw out an elaborate city government, replete with judicial system (+ courthouse), integrated economy with businesses, farm system, tax system, the works. Then I realised it was all too much for me. The rules were too restrictive.

So I thought, the next time I do the whole hood-building thing, I’m going to cut back and chose to focus on the community. Small town dynamics and relationships, which is what The Sims is best at showing.

But what if the town had a say in its rules? I could start with a blank slate and let the ‘citizens’ choose what is best. Think about it – the sorts of rules that people play their hoods by are actually real-life political issues: immigration restrictions, taxes, criminal laws, corruption. What kinds of political opinion would exist in a Sim world?

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The rule of law is the principle that everyone, and every institution, everywhere, is subject to the law. (Copying out of my dictionary here.) Law is my area of specialty, so naturally I think about the implications of law in sandbox-like games in between the avoidance of study.

In my abortive TS2 integrated hood, I devised a city Court to adjudicate local disputes. My idea was that Sims should have common law. Whatever the judged ruled in cases would become part of the local law. For example, a Sim dies when he is electrocuted by a television. His next of kin sues the television company in the Court. Maybe the judge would decide that yes, the company is liable and has to pay damages. Then that would become a precedent and any manufacturer could be liable.

This ‘Case Law’ would contrast with what I call Sim Law, the inherent rules of the game. Examples – Sims can’t commit murder. Bills must be paid otherwise you get Repo Man’d. Same-sex marriage is legal.

I thought having a legal system like this would be a nifty way to introduce rules into the game and create drama and tension. Breaches of the law such as trespassing or theft (both obvious ones in Sims games) could have a bit more colour than simply deducting a fine from the family funds. Hypothetical scenario – a pesky neighbour is hauled before the judge for repeatedly stealing lawn ornaments. However, the accused has hardly any money to pay a fine, and it’s his first offence. The judge orders him to do community service! For a week, he has to clean his neighbour’s house.

I’m looking forward to seeing if any of this will work in game.

Back in my TS2 days I experimented with elections, using a program called OpenSTV to collect ballots and tally the votes. OpenSTV is based on the STV or preferential voting system, but can count votes in many other ways too. (You have to click “Show All Methods” in the Methods menu to access some of the others. Also, get Java.)

Here’s how my system worked: each household would have one candidate, typically the one with the most political interest. All single-Sim households get one candidate between them. I would look at each Adult/Elder Sims’ relationship and record their vote – ranking each candidate on relationship score with a few guidelines:

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