I'm going to come out and say it: I think EA is getting a bum rap in regards to their most recent controversy with the game The Sims 4. Now about three days ago I never thought I would say those words. I was prepared to write a scathing piece on EA's business practices. Why remove pools and toddlers in The Sims 4?! On its face it seems valid criticism. Nothing riles up gamers more then companies removing content, only to sell it back to consumers at a later date. But if we step back and observe what we are truly getting worked up about, I think we may be getting worked up over nothing.

I am not a Sims fanatic by any stretch of the imagination. According to Origin, my playtime of The Sims 3 is hovering around nine hours. I did play both The Sims and The Sims 2, but that was so long ago I hardly have any recollection of them. I actually had to do quite a bit of reading in order to reacquaint myself with the series. While I think their fine games, I wouldn’t call myself a fan of them.

For those of you who may somehow be unfamiliar with The Sims series let me sum it up simply: the sims is a life simulator which consist of a base game ( The Sims 1, 2 and 3) and a series of expansion packs for each. These expansion packs tended to introduce similar themes to the game, for example all three had a “Pets” expansion. Each of the core games cycles last around four years, with The Sims 4 set to launch this September.

The current ire EA is facing is striping content from what is considered “vanilla Sims” or the base version of the game. The problem is that what constitutes “vanilla Sims”changes from person to person. It's a game about life, and as in life, people find different things to focus on. Some people think weather should be in “vanilla sims . Others think pets should be part of the basic game.To expect the base game to have everything is absurd. What Maxis has done in the past is release base versions of the game that change from iteration to iteration. The gameplay difference between the Sims 2 and the Sims 3 is pretty substantial. Even if you think The Sims 3 is a worse game than its predecessors, they are at very least showing some level of attempt at progress in the series. In a market where we criticize games for not taking risks, The Sims I think has struck a nice balance of keeping its core gameplay from previous iterations while introducing new systems that better simulate life. I'm actually really interested to see how the emotion system they are introducing into the Sims 4 works out. Sure it may turn out to be a huge pile of shit, but at least they are trying something new, not just updating graphics and sending it on its way. The problem with the criticism levied against the Sims 4 is not that it is being compared to the Sims 3, rather that it is being compared to The Sims 3plus all of it's expansions.

Now I know some people hate expansions, especially when games have dozens of them, but in the case of The Sims I think it's perfectly okay for them to do. Let's look at this another way. The Sims 3 was released in June of 2009. Its final expansion pack was released in October of 2013. That means EA support The Sims 3 with new content for well over three years. In an age of the yearly sequel this is really quite extraordinary. To think, we could be playing The Sims 2015 in a couple of months time. Now each of the content packs weren’t for everyone. But each of them did add a fair amount of content for the price, content we probably would not get if The Sims received a yearly sequel or went unsupported. Now I admit some of the stuff packs were a bit weak in terms of what they added, and the online store prices for items bordered on downright insane sometimes, but again all of it wasn’t necessary to own. If you wanted it you could add it to your game. And none of it was required to get full enjoyment of the game. The Sims 3 released as a completely playable game. The problem with a game like The Sims is the amount of possibilities it could have. Fans seem to latch on to them as things it should have.

That brings me back to the toddlers and pools. Are they really necessities in The Sims 4 the way fans seem to be responding to their absence. No. Are they things some people love? Absolutely. Are they things that were part of the “base game” in the Sims 3? Yes. But are they as big a deal as people are making out? Not really. I think if Maxis or EA had any good will left with fans this would be much less of a deal than it is now. But as their favor stands with fans, this announcement was bound to be met with cynicism and calls of greed. I admit I was among those in the “greed” camp at first as well. But to be fair there are other perfectly reasonable reasons for their omission. Take toddlers for example; The Sims 4 main design push was focused on emotion. Fitting toddlers into their emotion system is probably very difficult. They may be simply unready for release. That's not a company being evil, that's just a design choice that needs to be made sometimes. Content isn't ready for release sometimes. That happens all the time in the industry. Just because they were able to do it in a previous version of it in a previous game doesn’t mean that it works well enough with the current version. Overall it's two relatively minor things they are omitting. As long as other things are added there's really not much room to cause a fuss.

What EA does moving forward is what they should be judged on. If we see toddlers as a $15-$20 dollar add on a month from now that's one thing. If they're something that's bundled in with enough other content in an inevitable expansion pack I don't think that's too big of a deal. Same with pools. If we see pools on sale in the Sims store for $10 a pop that's absurd. But if they are released with a vacation or summer expansion fine. If they’re important to you, you can add them. If not, whatever. If you hate The Sims you don’t have to buy any of this shit in the first place. The Sims 4 was never going to meet all of our expectations. But its existence is a good thing for gaming. It's a giant franchise that people who don't play games regularly know about and experience and enjoy.

This is not to say EA should get a free pass if The Sims 4 releases and is unplayable. Or if it is lacking in changes whatsoever from previous iterations. I'm not a psychic. I have no idea what the final version of the game will be like. But I think both fans and the gaming community as a whole needs to take a huge deep breath. Let the game come out and then judge it on its merits. Don't be so quick to throw the toddler out with the pool water.

I literally had no idea about this, there's no way I'm buying The Sims 4 now. Thanks for alerting me!

Wait, the Sims 4 won't have toddlers or pools, let alone toddlers in pools or pools in the shape of toddlers?

Frankly, I don't see why anyone would want to buy this game now.

Do you work for EA? Because it really seems like you do.

I moved this to The Sims 4 forum and edited the title for clarity...please try to use more descriptive titles, remember that when you elect to publish a blog to the forums it becomes subject to the same rules as if it was a forum post itself.

Also, not buying Sims 4.

@mb: Cheers, thank you. I wasn't sure I was clicking on at the time.

@cdel: yeah that part isn't exactly clear, anyway it's sorted now. You can edit the title again if you want just make sure it's somewhat descriptive of what this actually is.

@49th: Fair point. I can totally see why you may think that, no post history and all. I was hoping I didn't come off sounding too positive. There are a lot of things I don't like about what EA has done with the Sims in the past. The towns they have released on their online store are horribly overpriced and I think they may prey to much on those who are unfamiliar with the industry. But I think the reaction to the toddlers and pool news was a bit of an overreaction and I tried to sum up why I thought that in the interest in conversation.

Honestly I'd rather them have less "stuff" in the game and more variety in interactions and situations. Sims 3 really fell apart after a few hours for me because it was so boring. All you do is grind out stats for hours, and then grind out a job for money, and then spam 2 conversation options that work over and over with someone until the meter is full. Its all pretty boring.

That being said, I'd really like to see the return of multiplayer to the series, it really doesn't make any sense to exclude it these days. Also a faster fast-forward would be great.

Haha, that's my thoughts exactly. It's a first post, and as far as I can tell there has hardly been any SIms 4 discussion at all on these boards, so posting this here seems really odd.

I will say one thing though: There's no way in hell I'm buying the Sims 4 after getting the Sims 3 near launch. The amount of items that were available in the online store at launch was absolutely nuts, and I'm REALLY not fond of them releasing dozens of expansions over four years. Expansions are good, but in moderation. Releasing a 30 dollar expansion every four to six months just stinks of greed. I think denying that they're removing content from the games to sell later as DLC and expansions is absolutely ridiculous - like I said, look at the Sims 3 when it first launched.

I really don't see the huge issue. I bet they'll patch in pools at a later date, they probably just want to get to shipping the final product, and some things have to go on the backburner. I honestly hated toddlers in the previous entry, so I could care less. They're an extension of babies, and can't really do anything on their own. Why would I want to play through that stage of life? Looking back at The Sims 3, there is so much content in that game it's completely staggering. I think that's what some people don't understand about The Sims. You don't have to buy all of the expansions, or the extra content. Buy the content that interests you, which is why they make so much of the damn stuff. A game like the Sims has such a diverse population of players that it's impossible to please everyone, so they try to cater to each group individually. Don't like farming? Then don't buy the cow DLC. Don't like werewolves? Then don't buy the Supernatural expansion. They're not forcing you to buy anything, you make the game into what you want it to be, they simply give you the options.

They're just going to introduce Sims 4: Pool Party as a $40 add on in a year. People are upset because the pattern has been to strip previously core features out of the main game and sell them to you piece by piece as over priced DLC. This seems like more of that.

I still think the game looks fun. I don't care about losing pools or toddlers really, but that does seem like an odd decision. Vanilla Sims would be a good band name.

@random45: Yeah the online store is the thing that bothers me with EA as well. Most of it is just re-skinned crap you can find at a number of places for free. But the with the expansions they at least seemed to try to add new content. It's hard for me to say because I came into the series so late and only got it when it was on sale so I'm not really sure what it was like at launch.

As to the point about me being an EA shill: yeah I really should have expected that. I haven't really used my Giantbomb account other than to watch premium content. I saw it had a blog function and I was messing around with it to see how it works and posted it to the forums without really thinking about what that meant. A mod moved it over here. The post above was something I wrote a few days ago for practice. I didn't really mean to have it out for discussion, but writing about games is something I have an interest in doing in my spare time so I figure I'll just roll with it and try to turn this into something I can learn from. My major concern with that piece was that I sounded to much like an EA employee which from the comments clearly I did. I was trying to express an opposing view point to the EA bashing that seems pretty prevalent on the internet but I think I was a bit to glowing in some of the things I said.

I was pretty bummed about the no pools thing, but I'm still really excited about the game. Also, kudos for the Simplicity pun.

I haven't played a Sims game since Sims 2. I really really loved The Sims on PS2, and I also really liked The Sims 2 on GameCube but not as much as the first.

I just did a google search and was surprised to find out that the Sims 3 did in fact release on consoles. I had no idea. I think I may actually pick up The Sims 3 now thanks to you. If you do work for EA, congrats on getting me interested in the series again.

@cdel: I appreciated the pun in the title, whether intended or not,

I will not be afraid to admit about the hundreds of hours I invested in the original The Sims in my younger years. I was a sucker for the expansion packs as well, and this also followed through with The Sims 2.

Around The Sims 3, though, and maybe 2-3 expansions in, I started to get especially fatigued at the "stripping content to base and repopulating via expansion packs" especially when they straight up threw random features/furniture sets in very specific DLC that did contribute much else than said feature/furniture. Maybe it was the newness of the expansion packs conceptually way back when I was first into the games, but I could've sworn they brought a lot more to the table in the 1 & 2 days than they did in 3.

That being said, just off of it inheriting the legacy of Maxis, I will pick up The Sims 4 and give it a chance. At the very least, it can't be any worse than what happened with the limited scalability of that poor reboot attempt that was SimCity. I hope I didn't just jinx it.

At the E3 press conference, they seemed to embrace players' sadistic Sim killing ways. Now they've taken out one of the more popular ways to off your Sim. What are they even doing?

I am just looking forward to be playing a regular Sims game without additions. The expansion packs in The Sims 3 became silly in the end. We'll see how this turns up when it's released.

You still aren't saying if you work for EA here only that you understand how it could look that way.

Are you a cop?

People really just want to drown toddlers in pools.

@spraynardtatum: This is why I shouldn't try to defend myself at one in the morning. No I do not work for EA. I could have probably made that a lot clearer. I would describe myself more as a wannabee journalist who needs some practice. My original goal with this piece was to write about the expectations fans have for unreleased games and how they may or may not be justified. I choose The Sims 4 controversies because it was recent and to someone not a fan of The Sims franchise seemed minor. What I ended up doing, and this is something I'm disappointed with, was focusing on what The Sims were doing wright, and not with what fans might be doing wrong. In the end it made for a much weaker post and I think my point was missed completely, which is on me as a writer. I would love a second shot at this piece (I'd probably call it Simplicity 2000 or something) but that's not really how it works. But I am very happy with what I have been able to learn from my mistakes which is nice.

And no I'm not a cop. I'd have to tell you if I was.

For me, I guess I'm not really so much caring how EA wants to sell The Sims. It's always been a big thing for Maxis to release exapansions and change things up and what not so I don't think that per say has ever been sinister. The Sims (at least at one time) was pretty huge with a certain group of people (i'm trying to refrain from labeling them "casual" gamers because that moniker is as unfair as the term "core" gamer and to this franchise actually the people who play The Sims are their "core" anyway). I've always disliked their online store- but I don't like how games tend to monetize sometimes in general and The Sims is just one game of many.

I liked the first Sims game. It was novel for the time and so, as such, it was huge. That seems to happen when you come up with a new game play mechanic or find ways to make games fresh. The Sims was that at one time. Now a days it's not as novel, and while I see the draw for some people who still enjoy it it's something I'd probably play casually just to check it out but not really pay much more attention to. I suppose Sims fans have a point in their complaints, and I wont knock it, but it's not something that bothers me much.

@cdel: Actually you don't have to tell someone if you're a cop: that's a myth. Maybe it's based on jurisdiction? I don't know the ins and outs.

Nice write up; I think you wrote it fairly well. People's reaction to it seems mainly because of your post count and the posts positivity. These days anything positive from an unknown source tends to feel like there's a sinister agenda. I think that's all people are reacting to: don't beat yourself up too much about how you wrote it.

I wonder if EA could do some sort of free to play sims thing. Like they release some sort of super stripped down basic core for free and have all those content dlc packs as what makes the money (pools for 2 bucks pets for 5 and stuff like that). This way people could spend $60 or whatevs on the stuff they want in the sims rather than bitch about what is or isnt included in the base game.

A pun?

This post is incredibly suspicious.

Except... pools have been in every "vanilla" Sims game since the beginning. That's not just some notion that changes from person to person. And toddlers were an amazing part of the last two games. Babies are just kind of annoying, and although I love the Sims and have poured hundreds of hours into all 3 games, I've never been too interested in character relationships. But watching my girlfriend teach our digital daughter how to walk and speak for the first time was a surprising and beautifully emotional experience. Now they're letting me spend $60 to not have that.

I agree that there are some unreasonable expectations for what should be included up front ("I can't sing simlish versions of Katy Perry songs?! Fuck this game!!"), but you just can't argue that players shouldn't expect there to be functionality that has always been part of the game. And sure, there might just be a practical reason for the exclusion, as you say.

Content isn't ready for release sometimes. That happens all the time in the industry. Just because they were able to do it in a previous version of it in a previous game doesn’t mean that it works well enough with the current version.

A perfectly good rational, but as someone expected to pay money for their product, honestly, I don't give a fuck. And no one should. If something isn't working in their game, they need to do what apparently every other studio is fine with doing this year, and delay it.

And I'm not just saying this as someone who wants to stick it to Maxis or EA. This kind of shit pisses me off because I like them. I love these games, and want them to succeed, but the devs and publishers seem almost determined to undermine any good will they've ever built.

Most people were cautiously optimistic about the newest SimCity because it looked pretty great, but aside from what came with its release, the horrible server crashes, and disregarding the unwieldy multiplayer necessities, they fucked up the one core thing that practically every SimCity fan wanted... to build a BIG city. Maxis and EA heard the pleas from their passionate fans, and blindly changed what people came to that franchise for. Taking risks, as you mentioned, is great. Stifling gameplay, in these games purely based around player creation, is absurd.

This Sims news just reeks of more of that ignorance. "You'll play how we want you to and you'll fucking like it.". Except no one did then. And they're just setting themselves up for a glorious repeat clusterfuck.

P.S.: Even if pools and toddlers are eventually included, my faith in their expansion packs has also dwindled down to zero. We bought the Pets expansion, as my GF and I love cats, only to find out it is horribly buggy with some (current, not even outdated) video cards, and Maxis has no fix for it and never will.

I have never played a Sims game. Well, that is probably not true I play the Sims as a demo some time in late 2000, but that doesn't count. So, coming in as newbie I can't say I care about toddlers or pools a lot. Pools sound neat an interactive object, but having no experiences with how they were used in past games dulls their lose considerably.

What does concern me is how quickly extra content will come out. I see that Sims 3 has tons of content, but I assume that came out over the last 3 years. When will be the first expansion do we think, 3 months? Six months?