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| Seventh Sims Online House of Commons, January 29th, 2003 |
Valeria - Welcome to the The Sims Online 7th House of Commons Chat!
Valeria - This chat will be in a moderated format. Our question takers tonight are: [QT]Antarion, [QT]Draconius, and [QT]Rhayde. They are easily recognizable by the [QT] in front of their names.
Valeria - To ask a question of the Maxis Staff, type /msg or /query and the name of one of our [QT] or simply double click on one of the [QT] bring up a messaging window. The [QT] will then present the questions to the Maxis development/community/programming team here with us this evening.
Valeria - I will be your moderator today. I will post your question into the House of Commons chat channel and the team will answer those that they can.
Valeria - Please remember that the question you submit may have been asked previously or may not be able to be answered in a public forum. Please do not message or query myself or anyone from Maxis as these questions will be ignored.
Valeria - While we are waiting for questions, let's give our guests a chance to briefly introduce themselves.
MaxisGordon - I'm Gordon Walton, Exec Producer for The Sims Online
MaxisKyle - I'm Kyle Brink, online community manager for TSO.
MaxisShankel - Jason Shankel, object engineer
MaxisTigger - Hello, Diane Migliaccio, SR Online Community Rep
MaxisCindy - Hi, I am Cindy Cox, a lead engineer for TSO.
MaxisChris - Chris Trottier... designer, and increasingly "design hub" for all the good ideas from other team members and the community.
MaxisJerome - I'm Jerome Despret, Developer and Database Lead for The Sims Online.
MaxisBlazej - Blazej Stompel - client/server engineer, features, UI
MaxisWren - Chris Wren producer on upcoming objects etc.
MaxisTigger - Hiya everyone, before we start this moderated chat I would like to give you some information on the Band Object
MaxisTigger - This is an add-on memory game you play together as a team. On each turn, teammates decide whether to cash out or continue playing.
MaxisTigger - The sequence is played first, then the team tries to reproduce it. Each player is responsible for two of the notes in the sequence (those notes will light up on their screen).
MaxisTigger - If the wrong sequence is entered, or the next note added is the "BUZZ" note, your team will not make any money and will start over with a new tune.
MaxisTigger - Payouts are determined by the length of the winning sequence and the skill levels of the teammates on the position that they sign up for.
MaxisTigger - With that being said I am sure the next question is when? You will see this on the next release to Test Center very soon.
Valeria - ·cjc84· When will we see casino objects?
MaxisWren - we have 4 initial casino objects: Roulette, Slot machines (3 of em), Blackjack table, and Video Poker machines. you can Expect the casinos to start showing up around the middle of February.
Valeria - *Shade-Alphaville* I have heard rumours about the relase date for Europe has been pushed forward to March, is this a fact ?
MaxisGordon - The European release date has been pushed up and is currently set for sometime in March. The final date is not set, and we will extend the current European testers to match this when we know it.
MaxisGordon - We will do this before their time runs out.
Valeria - *Pendari* question: will there be something done to keep Solo Job objects from being so profitable to non-money lots. It seems uneven and defeating to the seperate categories.
MaxisChris - At the moment, non skill and money lots are still at a huge disadvantage when it comes to attracting visitors... So we want to fix that problem *first* before putting them at an even greater disadvantage.
MaxisChris - My guess is that the game lots will be the next happy category when casino objects get released.
MaxisChris - With stores behind them.
Valeria - Reminder - Please do not message or query any of the Maxis staff as these questions will be ignored
Valeria - ·IceHouse· Question -- I run a 18+ older house... We are getting swamped with 13 and under kids that wnat to participate in adult themes.... will Maxis come up with a way that a owner/roommate can verify age? Too many 'kids' are getting on.
MaxisChris - If we get to the point where roleplaying lots are very hefty and healthy, we can look at making solo job payouts (particularly extra payouts for parallel play) a skill-lot-only feature.
Valeria - *SassyBree* Are the neighborhoods finished, they seem VERY incomplete. I was hoping if there is more can you tell us about what will be coming.
MaxisKyle - Regarding age: Any system that allows one player to verify the age of another inherently violates the privacy of the target player. We believe the best solution to the age question is to put the power in the hands of the child's parents.
* phonie698 has joined #simsonlinehoc *
MaxisKyle - We have a parental controls system in place to give parents the ability to keep their children from interacting with anyone other than approved users. These parentally controlled users are clearly marked, so you can remove them from your lot as you see fit.
Valeria - *SassyBree* Are the neighborhoods finished, they seem VERY incomplete. I was hoping if there is more can you tell us about what will be coming.
MaxisKyle - Also, please report any player you see who claims to be under 13. Use the ? button to let us know.
Valeria - *Rarika* Question: Will the band object allow sims to perform concerts, or is it just intended to make money?
MaxisShankel - Right now, there's no way to perform concerts in the band object. It is a four-person job object, like pizza, where the players cooperate in a 'Simon'-like memory game. Of course, you can always roleplay, but there is no musical performance interface.
Valeria - MaxisChris will answer Sassy's question :)
Valeria - Just as soon as her computer likes her again
Valeria - *JumpnJackFlash* How does Maxis decide when an object is ready to be put on Test Center? I've heard they're already put in the .far files, so why aren't they all published right away?
MaxisCindy - Some objects are available in FAR files that aren't available in the game.
MaxisCindy - We put things on TC once the designed and stability of an object is a good fit.
MaxisCindy - Trying to keep updates reasonable size, we don't want to keep changing design
MaxisCindy - with changes before it is "ready." A much bigger issue though is just stability.
MaxisCindy - Executing an object that is broken can crash the game. But like any computer program, the presence of the logic alone won't cause performace issues.
MaxisCindy - We hold back things until we know the experience is most likely to be positive for the player. It's a compromise of course between getting as much and as fast out as soon as possible and potentially making things more painful than good.
MaxisCindy - Since those objects are present though, you can enjojy a smaller update size after they have been touched up for use.
Valeria - *SassyBree* Are the neighborhoods finished, they seem VERY incomplete. I was hoping if there is more can you tell us about what will be coming.
MaxisChris - Neighborhoods are not remotely "done." In fact, that feels like one of the areas that will get deeper and deeper as we go. That said, we wanted to get the simplest possible execution of neighborhoods to the community right away so that they could start grouping in interesting ways.
MaxisChris - In the short term, watch for some usability fixes and the addition of a small page so neighborhoods can have a description.
MaxisChris - (I imagine a lot of people will use that to point to a web page.)
MaxisChris - After that, I suspect we'll be adding: voting, better group communication such as group messaging or BBS...
MaxisChris - for people within the group. We also definitely know that we'll want to add interest-based clubs that individual Sims belong to, rather than households.
MaxisChris - There's very interesting ground to explore too around roles that neighborhood leaders can take and what rules they'll be able to set or enforce.
MaxisChris - But I think the true direction will be shaped by a combination of our ideas and getting feedback from the community and seeing how they're using the feature.
MaxisChris - One more thing: soon, people will be able to move their properties. So don't fret if you're living in one place and wish you lived somewhere else. It's not too late.
Valeria - If you'd like to ask the Maxis staff a question, just message or query one of the [QT]ers you see in the room.
Valeria - ·Echo· I've noticed that several of the updates happen on the weekends. Do you guys REALLY have people there 24/7 working on this? Doesn't that get really stressful?
MaxisGordon - MOMI is always watching.
MaxisTigger - Yes we do have people around the clock working :)
MaxisJerome - But more importantly most of us are very dedicated and we wake in the middle of the night to fix something if needed.
MaxisJerome - Yes it's stressfull, but like most of you we want this game to become something great, and if we have to work hard to move things in the right direction ,we are happy to do so.
Valeria - *Klaatu* Regarding the band object: What will others in the house see and hear?
Maxis_Shankel - When sims are playing band, other sims on the lot will be able to hear them tuning up. When the band players successfully complete a game, they will play a victory song that everyone will be able to hear. However, the rest of the lot does *not* have to listen to the 'Simon' notes being played.
Valeria - ·RapMonkey· Custom content is a big factor to making every house unique. When are you looking at implementing custom content? It is greatly needed because lately people seem to be getting tired of the same things in every house
MaxisGordon - Custom Content is a big priority for us. But it is also a huge system and we need to do it well. It will take a while for us to do, but it's getting a lot of priority.
Valeria - *MooseWare* When will clothing racks and custom content be implemented, and will this be at the same time?
MaxisChris - Clothing racks will likely be in the game before custom content.
MaxisChris - So you will be able to change your skin into something else that was on the CD.
MaxisChris - As Gordon mentions, getting custom content into the game is a *huge* priority for this. We're all chomping at the bit for that one. :)
Valeria - ·JumpnJackFlash· When is Maxis planning on getting rid of the properties and Sims of those Founders who didn't buy the Retail Game?
MaxisGordon - Well, the properties will be returned to inventory a bit more than 30 days after their accounts went unentitled.
MaxisGordon - The first wave of this may take an extra week or so, but it will be before we put in the house move option.
MaxisGordon - Sims are not retired until the accoun has been unentitled for 90 days.
Valeria - *Finesse* I sent this directly to Valeria before the message came to send to QTs.... I'm wondering about serving food. When I put a plate in front of someone they have to stand up, pick up the plate, put it down, then start eating. If I give it to them, they have to put it down, pick it up, put it down... And we can't serve coffee in my cafe! Are these actions going to be worked on and developed further?
MaxisChris - Ah, yes. That old routine. You mean you don't find it charming?
MaxisChris - As I mentioned earlier, one of our big goals right now is to deliver satisfying gameplay in each property type.
MaxisChris - "Services" can certainly use its own brand of help. Among the usability issues you mention, we will likely consider tuning some of the motive satisfaction even further in those property's favor.
Valeria - *sean8102* Would a mac port be possible since all the other sims have been to the mac platform?
MaxisGordon - We have no plans to port The Sims Online to Macintosh at this time, sorry!
Valeria - If you'd like to ask the Maxis staff a question, just message or query one of the [QT]ers you see in the room.
Valeria - *rosie|iaw* Will Sims Online keep raising their skill speed?
Maxis_Shankel - When sims are playing band, other sims on the lot will be able to hear them tuning up. When the band players successfully complete a game, they will play a victory song that everyone will be able to hear. However, the rest of the lot does *not* have to listen to the 'Simon' notes being played.
Maxis_Shankel - We're currently gathing ideas for cool interactive ways for Sims to increase their skill, such as skill teaching and multi-player skill objects. We hope these features will make skill building a more enjoyable experience.
Maxis_Shankel - (oops)
Valeria - *edward* Will transferable ownership of objects be available soon? If so, how is this going to work and how will you control transfer abuse?
MaxisJerome - This should be available in the coming weeks, but as you said we need to control abuse.
MaxisJerome - That is why we take our time, without the detail of teh controls, I can say that we will be able to trace any trades.
Valeria - ·LinDaLin· i have a question,.. i would like to know why skill catagory homes have money objects and vise verse ..
MaxisChris - This is kind of a tricky line to walk. We could either be extremely rigid about what's allowed where (which, as you know, we do do in some cases)...
MaxisChris - or we can tune the objects so that it's just much more *efficient* to do it in one place over another.
MaxisChris - tuning aggressively toward that still. Please do post feedback on the boards. It helps.
Valeria - *JC_Soprano* Theres a lot of debate on the boards.. maybe this can clear it up. Is cross-city trading against ToS?
MaxisKyle - The purpose of the starting money for Sims was to give new characters a leg up in the world. Using it to make "cross-city trades" is not the intended use of the feature.
MaxisKyle - We considered approaching this from the enforcement angle, and asked the players on the message boards about it. It became very clear that enforcement is not the right solution.
MaxisKyle - Our time was clearly better spent on improving the game versus policing this behavior.
MaxisKyle - We are working on limiting the deletion of new Sims so that this sort of thing becomes less frequent and less effective. But the bottom line is, it's not intended behavior and will soon not be effective.
Valeria - ·sean8102· can you give any details of how it will work if you add sickness?
MaxisChris - Sure, I'd be happy to give a quick summary.
MaxisChris - But the best information you're going to get is already on the design boards.
MaxisChris - So check it out there and give us feedback.
MaxisChris - (And keep your motives up so you'll stay well...) ;)
Valeria - *JumpnJackFlash* My island lot and the 2 others on the same island as me are part of a neighborhood. However, we cannot get a fourth lot to join because the tiles around the lot are water. Is Maxis planning on making exceptions for the four lot rule for instances like this?
MaxisBlazej - Currently there is not much you can do about your small neighborhood. Soon, with property move feature you will be able to move somewhere else on the map where you can start a bigger neighborhood.
MaxisBlazej - That is said - we don't plan to make special "island" exceptions :)
Valeria - And now I'm going to turn the floor over to the Maxis folks for their closing comments and possibly a few surprises
MaxisGordon - We will all say what we worked on today first. :)
Maxis_Shankel - Well, what I worked on today is still technically a secret...let's just say I wish everyone a happy Valentine's Day
* Valeria wonders if it has anything to do with hearts.... *
MaxisGordon - I worked on a design to make the job objects have some random, but fun surprises when you use them.
MaxisChris - I worked on fleshing out design for: fire, floods, marriage, divorce... watch for updates to the design boards. I'm long overdue for new stuff up there. :)
MaxisWren - We played roulette for a while today, it was lots of fun.
MaxisKyle - Today I worked on the coming house move and old-property clearance features. We really think this will be one of the biggest events to hit the game in a while. Tons of new neighborhoods will form and give the cities variety and spice.
MaxisJerome - Today , I finished the server code for the "move lot" feature and reviewd the "clothing rack" code. Also worked on pushing the cleaning of old beta tester's lots.
MaxisJerome - Not bad for a day :)
MaxisBlazej - continued working on Property Move feature...
MaxisTigger - hoboy, long list... my day today was monitoring test center closely to see if any issues came up with the new patch, worked on getting more information for old bugs.. hunted down members of our TSO team to attend this chat and so much more... my day isnt done for about 7 more hours :)
MaxisCindy - Today (and for awhile :-) I worked on stores lots and trading. Shop lot residence can get discounts on objects and be a retailer to other players. This will open up a brand new role for players. New money making and new competition too. (Who has the best shop? The best prices?) It's looking cool, and I've really been enjoying the technical implementation as well as discovery of new details for the design.
MaxisBob - I spent the day working on the animation for a feature that has been asked for quite frequently in the past
Valeria - Thanks to everyone for taking the time to join us for tonight's HOC! A very special thank you to everyone from Maxis for taking the time out of their incredibly busy schedules to be here. We are very grateful :)
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