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| The Sims Online Stratics - 7/7/07 Official SIMS Chat |
Brekkee - Good evening and welcome to another great Stratics House of Commons chat, tonight our guests are the developers of
The Sims Online!
Brekkee - Please send your questions to [QT]Sims - to do so type /query [QT]Sims and type in the window that pops up.
Questions sent to me or the developers will not make it into the lineup. Full logs of the chat will be up on
http://sims.stratics.com shortly after the chat.
Brekkee - We'll start with a brief introduction from the developers, now would be a good time to send those questions.
Parizad - Happy Saturday everyone! Thank you for joining us!
MaxisLuc - Hello everyone!
Brekkee - *PJ* will all paying accounts be able to access the tc3? for example if I start a new acct will that new account be
able to create a sim in that city? I don't want to delete my old sims
MaxisLuc - Yes new account can and will be able to build in tc3
MaxisLuc - in the future we might limit tc3 to paying accounts though
MaxisLuc - one big change coming soon is that the free accounts will get no starting funds
MaxisLuc - so that the economy is not unbalanced by the free accounts
Brekkee - *briteblueyes* Hello! In TC3, Why does it take 3 Visitors on a property in order for it to show up on the map? Will
this be changing?
MaxisLuc - next?
MaxisLuc - there is no expected difference between tc3 and the other cities on that point.
MaxisLuc - could be a bug or a lag problem. I suspect that data is sent slowly to the client in the first place
MaxisLuc - next
Brekkee - *Percila* HellO!... Is it true TS3 will be wiped a few times 'understand test center' but then does this mean all the
skills and money our sims have will also be lost?
MaxisLuc - liek for the other cities, we will try to not wipe anything.
MaxisLuc - if we wipe something it could be the money, so that we start with a clean amount, but I hope it does not come to that
MaxisLuc - The only way you would loose skills, is if we wipe avatars. that would only happen
MaxisLuc - if we run into a really bad bug
MaxisLuc - next
Brekkee - *Gracie* Second Life, There and Sony's new Home are considered "virtual worlds" where as TSO has always been
considered a "MMORPG". Can you clarify the direction you are heading? Will TSO become a virtual world or will you be
retaining the MMORPG aspects of TSO?
MaxisLuc - great question. the answer is both.
MaxisLuc - I hope we make ghost a new feature that enables some users to play as a virtual world
MaxisLuc - ghost would see themselves as living
MaxisLuc - which means opaque
MaxisLuc - so the virtual world players would see the RPG players as ghost
MaxisLuc - and vice versa
MaxisLuc - the virtual world players would have limitations, as they would not be able to skill and would not have access to
all the sim moves
MaxisLuc - I hope the users help us develop that concept on the wiki
MaxisLuc - next?
Brekkee - *Jenifer* Why did you cancel sim move in all cities, and when will we be getting it back up?
MaxisLuc - it is back up
MaxisLuc - what happened is that there were so many move request to tc3 that the queue filled up
MaxisLuc - as you know we are not letting users move to tc3
MaxisLuc - but unfortunately the UI lets you choose that.
MaxisLuc - the hundreds or move requests triggered an unknown bug in the process.
MaxisLuc - Randy fixed that thursday night. and friday the queues were empty
MaxisLuc - next
Brekkee - *deadtoaster2* When can we expect to see some actual game changes come to TC3?
MaxisLuc - I hope we are just 1 or 2 week away from that.
MaxisLuc - next week we will patch tc3, but with no code change. if that works we will bring in the first change
MaxisLuc - which should be house secure trading
MaxisLuc - next
Brekkee - *Thunder\* You mentioned towards the end of the last discussion about youtube videos in game. Is it possible that
we'll be able to add working links, and possibly youtube videos or images into our bios (house/sim)?
MaxisLuc - yes. but more likely in 2008 than 2007
MaxisLuc - next
Brekkee - *MonkeyPantz* Hello, When do you plan to make The Sims Online go 3d? Im excited about this!
MaxisLuc - the current plan is to keep the current view always available
MaxisLuc - but to also add 3D camera free houses
MaxisLuc - this will happen in 2008 also
MaxisLuc - the new houses will look like Sims 2
MaxisLuc - next
Brekkee - *NikiKing* After reading the post about blueprints on tso-e, I would like to know which of the wiki designs could be
implemented, which you are most interested in and if when you are reviewing them, does the team read the discussion pages as
well?
MaxisLuc - yes the team reads everything on the wiki site.
MaxisLuc - a lot of the designs can be implemented.
MaxisLuc - since we have a limited team, we are focusing on what systems we need to enable
MaxisLuc - to let you make the designs you want.
MaxisLuc - for example the custom content will enable a lot of things quickly
MaxisLuc - our goal is to make the code and data accessible so you can write the game elements
MaxisLuc - next
SarahF - and to help you have an impact on features that we're actually implementing NOW (versus wish list ideas for the future)
Brekkee - *darksim* Has there been any thought about closing betevile and using the space for test center 3 ? So people can
test without having to use a regular sim spot.
SarahF - the team will be posting and writing wiki articles about work they are doing
Parizad - That's a 2 part answer. The first one is that you don't need an extra spot to play in Betaville
SarahF - for example, I'll be looking for your help to get economy fixes and improvements in
Parizad - The question that remains is whether we'll allow sims to participate in TC3 without losing a sim
MaxisLuc - Yes, we would like to add a new button for TC3
MaxisLuc - this would need to be a new feature we push to all cities.
MaxisLuc - it might take a few more weeks to happen. sorry about that
MaxisLuc - next
Brekkee - *Broken* my question is this ... if there is enough support would the team consider finishing what sims started in
Betaville after their done in the new test center
Parizad - When BV was in internal testing, we had said that if the players liked it, we would bring it to all the cities.
Parizad - However, the community was split
Parizad - So to appease both sides, we said that we would keep Betaville (not wipe it), but there would be no further
production on it.
MaxisLuc - free will is good
MaxisLuc - but on TC3 and the new city, we are trying to enable a lot of new things not directly compatible with free will.
MaxisLuc - it will be a while before we enable free will in those cities. maybe 2009?
MaxisLuc - next
Brekkee - *dazlee4* How much freedom will we have with custom content, will it be just modify existing objects adding walls and
floors or will there be the potential to create brand new object or objects which look 100% different?
MaxisLuc - the current order is:
MaxisLuc - 1- bitmaps
MaxisLuc - 2- walls and floors
MaxisLuc - 3 any object graphic from sims1
MaxisLuc - 4 new tools to enbable new objects as discussed on the blog a few month ago.
MaxisLuc - next
Brekkee - *Gracie* Luc, you mentioned on the blog a brief idea about "groupings" for the wiki site. Can you elaborate further
on "groupings" and how you plan to integrate "groupings" into the game itself?
MaxisLuc - sarah?
SarahF - Gracie, there's lots of ways to think of this...
SarahF - there's an excellent article on the wiki with cool images taking this idea towards badges
SarahF - on the wiki itself having you self organize into groups
SarahF - like programmers or graphic designers
SarahF - etc
SarahF - lets us figure out some more interested things that we could let you work on or 'open source' to
SarahF - giving you ways to work on UI might be one such thing
MaxisLuc - next?
Brekkee - *Brian* Hello....my idea is i think you guys should limit to like 2 sims per ISP so no one can cheat and let like 4
sims ran by the same person and have them hide them on the lot to get hrs
MaxisLuc - no one like cheaters.
MaxisLuc - I think I'd rather let anyone have more sims, but not reward lots just because they have sims in there.
Parizad - There are some giant ISPs out there, such as AOL... Because a lot of people would share the same IPs and such, that
would mean only 2 honest players from AOL (and other similar ISPs) could play. That wouldn't be fair to them...
MaxisLuc - and maybe restricted lots should not show up in the top 100
MaxisLuc - I am curious to know how everyone feels about hiding? should we remove that feature?
SarahF - Me too!
MaxisLuc - the current bonus system will be replaced by a new one for the economy to work.
MaxisLuc - the current cheating schemes will not work anymore.
MaxisLuc - next
Brekkee - *CBrewton5* are our sims in the production cities in jeopardy of being wiped clean or will they carry over into the
new system when it is implemented? I want to know if it's worth it to invest time in the production cities at this time
SarahF - you won't ever be able to move a sim from a production city to TC3 or the New City because that would ruin the economy
for one.. "nuff said"
MaxisLuc - For sure we will not let you move the money
SarahF - ok, yes, that's the main point
MaxisLuc - wheter or not we let Sims move with their skill, age and objects is still possible.
MaxisLuc - I am wondering how much name collisions there are between cities though
MaxisLuc - some might need to get a new name
SarahF - Are people really interested in this? Let us know on the wiki, please.
MaxisLuc - we want to reward the long time players in the new city
SarahF - Perhaps a page on 'how to reward long time players' then?
SarahF - It would be great to get your ideas on that
MaxisLuc - the main way might be to recognize the number of susbcribing days there
MaxisLuc - so if you have been subscribing for 1000 days you would get immediately 50 skill locks in the new city.
MaxisLuc - would that work?
MaxisLuc - next
Brekkee - *Karah* Do you have any plans to market the game anymore with advertising?
MaxisLuc - not really. I would rather spend the money on new features
MaxisLuc - I count on you to advertize the game
MaxisLuc - as soon as we have the no starting money for the free accounts, and a way for users to buy money, we will make the
download available everywhere
MaxisLuc - that will bring a lot of new users
MaxisLuc - next
Brekkee - *Milton* Has the Visual Studio 2005 based code been applied to TC3 yet?
SarahF - We'll be sure to let you know when it has! Luc mentioned above that we're a few weeks away from getting our first real
changes in
SarahF - a lot of work has gone into just being able to publish tc3 the old way
SarahF - and now we are on the track of figuring out how to do it better
SarahF - when we get to the VS 2005 code we'll all be much happier and more productive!
MaxisLuc - next?
Brekkee - *dodge* I have been with TSO since Aug 2002 am Dodge in MF Moving maint to the afternoon killed the city. Any chance
to get it back to the AM. Taking it down in prime time hurts us. We are trying hard to bring the city back to where it once
was.
MaxisLuc - the maintenance has been moved to the PST afternoon so that it would be in the morning in Asia.
MaxisLuc - the goal was to have one city to attract Asian customers.
MaxisLuc - I don't think it works.
MaxisLuc - I will look at the PSU#'s on MF and if it makes sense I will move the maintenance hour.
MaxisLuc - good point
MaxisLuc - Luc
MaxisLuc - next
Brekkee - *Milton* Have you been monitoring the TC3 economy so far? Have you seen trends that need to be tweaked such as too
much cooking or pizza?
MaxisLuc - too many burned pizza for sure!
SarahF - Milton, you'll get me in trouble with Luc! He's dying for me to start monitoring the economy well and while I don't
have interesting stats and graphs to show the world yet (we will make these public)
MaxisLuc - hehe
Parizad - Mmmm yummy burnt pizza!
SarahF - (anyone that's seen the tso team try to pizza we definitely have noticed that!) I have been working on things in the
background to get me the information I'll need to find out that stuff
MaxisLuc - to accelerate things the first reports will be published in text format so you wizard website makers will be able to
generate cool reports
SarahF - great question
MaxisLuc - As soon as we have reports working, we will start changing object prices
MaxisLuc - it might be worth it to start collecting those morrocan chairs!
MaxisLuc - next
Brekkee - *Karah* What will become of the normal cities? Will they recieve any more updates?
SarahF - For me (and you should listen to Luc, not me), that's not what TSO-E is about
MaxisLuc - probably not, but not impossible.
MaxisLuc - updating the existing cities is taking valuable time away from the new features
SarahF - we're trying new things in TC3 and a new city
MaxisLuc - next
Brekkee - *Zara* Do you have a view on the comments recently made on the blog that the Top 100 list is corrupt and a Yellow
Pages of sorts should be implemented instead? Will this change in the future?
MaxisLuc - Yes!
MaxisLuc - As mentioned above, we need to fix the top 100 system and enable new search capabilities (including advertizing)
MaxisLuc - hopefully the economy reports will provide us with new data
MaxisLuc - to make things better
MaxisLuc - next?
Brekkee - *Giah* Are they working on skill locks, they seem to be stuck, I should have had 100 locks 4 days ago
Parizad - This is the last question, everyone.
MaxisLuc - 100*21 days
MaxisLuc - you must be a founder!
MaxisLuc - Randy is checking that to make sure we don't have a limit at 99
MaxisLuc - I bet we do!
MaxisLuc - we will fix that.
MaxisLuc - I guess we also need to add higher skill levels now.
SarahF - Nice way to end it! Congratulations on that, Giah!
MaxisLuc - one more!
Brekkee - *IndigoSpin* One of the plans mentioned for the game was a switch from TS1-style graphics to TS2-style graphics. How
exactly will this be done without creating a brand new game engine? It seems rather infeasible with TSO's present
construction.
Parizad - One more after this.
Parizad - :)
MaxisLuc - As soon as we are under Directx 9, which is what Uri si working on, it should be easy.
MaxisLuc - as long as we do not mix the 2 modes. there will be ts1 houses and ts2 houses
MaxisLuc - next
Brekkee - *MegenStar* will the servers be updated to handle everyone in the new city plus the older cities?
Parizad - Okay, okay, one more after this! (I wonder how long I can keep doing this!)
MaxisLuc - the new city will have enough servers to handle everyone (famous last words...)
MaxisLuc - next?
SarahF - I hope we get to a point were we NEED to do this!
Brekkee - *Guest12* Is there a way to have more sims in one place? like a Hall or Park, for Holidays and Weddings?
SarahF - I think that features that encourage and enable greater 'community' are great and we need more. We need to connect
our players more.
MaxisLuc - I want to be able to have 50+ sims per house
SarahF - that will be fun!
MaxisLuc - the easiest way is to use more powerful servers
Parizad - 50+ sims! I can just smell the burnt pizzas now...
MaxisLuc - we will start to do in a couple of month when we bring up the house servers under windows
MaxisLuc - it will also require some code changes to make the house load less laggy on everyone else.
MaxisLuc - that's it!
MaxisLuc - thank you everyone
Brekkee - That will wrap it up for today. I’d like to thank the folks from The Sims Online for coming! The log for today’s chat
will be up shortly on http://sims.stratics.com. Thank you all for joining us! You can join #Sims-Online to chat more about
the game.
MaxisLuc - sarah has a few more things to say
MaxisLuc - I need to go
MaxisLuc - remember that the wiki will be down for maintenance tomorrow
Parizad - thank you all so very, very much for joining us!
MaxisLuc - Bye
Parizad - It was great fun being with you on this Saturday morning. :)
Parizad - Have a wonderful weekend!
SarahF - Bye all. See you on tso-e.com and the game-blueprints wiki
* Parizad waves *
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