Stuff Pack Concepts and Product Placements? Earlier today, a Sims 2 stuff survey appeared today briefly on the official site asking for feedback from Sims 2 fans regarding Family Fun Stuff and other aspects of the Stuff Packs. Much of the survey focused on basic demographics as well as inquiring on the thoughts of Family Fun Stuff, like the objects provided, the best things about it, and the worst things about it. There was also portions of the survey inquiring the feedback of thoughts on the stuff packs themselves, inquiring whether they were indeed valuable towards gameplay for Simmers. Buried within the survey included a product placement questionaire asking how well people would respond to selective product placement. Potential advertisers/sponsors on the survey included: -Toyota -Target -Thomas O'Brian -MTV -Real World -Abercrombie and Fitch -Gap -Mossimo -Micahel Graves -H&M -Sex & The City -Ikea -Diesel -Issac Mizrahi Another interesting part of the questionaire included potential concepts towards themed stuff packs, though in my opinion, some of these concepts could well make inroads to full blown expansion packs.. Proposed concepts include: -Items from a horror movie, including creepy costumes, scary decorations, and gothic furniture -Items for entertaining including weddings, fiestas, birthdays, anniversary or cocktail parties. -Items range from recreational outdoor sports to safari to country life -Items focusing on traditional Europe including France, UK, Germany, Spain, Italy, and more -Items to throw a party for a birthday, wedding, anniversary or holiday Items from all around the globe including Asia, Africa, Europe and modern America -Items to keep your Sims warm and cozy all winter long Items from the best times of the last century roaring 20s, happy 50s, crazy 60s -Items focused on Asia including India, China, Japan, Indonesia and beyond Items to makeover hair, accessories, and attire -Items to deck out the outside of your Sims house including landscaping and patio dcor Items from the southwest US, both past & present, Native American dcor and items for ranch living -Items to create a tropical hideaway for your Sims Items to throw a costume party, including outrageous outfits from throughout history and entertainment Much of the items listed on above hint at a vacation styled stuff pack, or possible expansion pack with experiences from the Europe, Asia and North America. Time will only tell. Are you excited about the proposed theme concepts? What are your thoughts of having advertisement playing a more prominent role in the game? Discuss this development.
I remember airing an idea a while back concerning the concept of persuading companies like Ikea and rag-trade designers to make meshes and skins of some of their designs as a promotional idea. The idea was flawed but now it seems that Stuff Packs resurrects the idea as a way of selling the advertising. I actually hate the idea. If I am going to have a Toyota in my game or an Ikea sofa then I want it there because the registered design owner thinks that giving away a cheaply made download is an excellent form of advertising that is targeted very specifically at a demographic with an unusually well developed taste in style and an under-developed brand loyalty in relation to domestic lifestyle products. Such a demographic may be relatively short on the means to invest in the dreams sold by many of those companies in the list cited by Josh so it seems, to me, to be a cynical exploitation of this fact that such companies are willing to seek to sell their advertising to their future consumers in the furtherance of the enrichment of EA. In my opinion, Stuff Packs should be concerned with proving a modest number of new objects (meaning items with new interactions), clothing and hair meshes. If Toyota want players' sims driving around in Toyotas then let them encourage players to visit their website to get a free download. Heck maybe they could consider the idea of giving away a CD stuffed with goodness for players who take a test-drive (or bring a parent for one ) I love advertising, and even product placement has a limited sort of merit ... but selling registered designs in Stuff Packs isn't within that limited scope.
Hmmm okay.... I completed the survey, and was painfully honest. I said that they should do QUALITY CONTROL and test more rigorously than they have with FF, and I also said that they should stop churning them out so frequently, unless they drop the price for fans. I was very disappointed with FF - the objects were not to my taste, there were too many decorative items (my downloaded ones are better), the loading music changed from OFB to FF and i preferred OFB music, the clothes were mostly uninteresting to me, there were not enough objects and the game ran much more slowly for me (resolved when I uninstalled it ). The ONLY thing that I liked about the FF pack was the red patterned clothing (Hawaiian style? ). I am not prepared to pay that much for so few items and for that type of quality. My downloads folder has over 6000 items which are of superior quality to Maxis' items, and cost not much more to subscribe to than what it cost me to buy FF. The FF pack also had significant bugs/glitches /whatever lol. OK, the new ideas stuff - I ticked neutral for all the branded themes/advertisements. Not really sure how I feel about those yet. My gut feeling is to not want them in the game, as I think that the younger sims players already see enough advertising, and a personal pet hate of mine is the way that advertising dominates kids and encourages them to think 'branding' all the time. They already are targetted through cereals, clothing, tinned foods (think Barbie pasta and Bob the Builder beans, or w/e). Kids are growing up thinking that they must have xxx brand of this and that, and I loathe TV advertisements with a passion (they always turn up the volume like twice as loud for adverts). So for the younger players and teenagers, maybe I would rather not see the branded stuff in there, but I guess that if their designs were integrated into the game, eg Gap, then it might make for some interesting items. Ok, the new ideas - my chosen 3 were: -Items range from recreational outdoor sports to safari to country life -Items to deck out the outside of your Sims house including landscaping and patio dcor -Items to makeover hair, accessories, and attire I didn't choose any of the travel themes as I thought that they would be included anyway at some point in the future, and I wanted to request the other ideas above. I would hope that the vacation-style theme would be made into an EP. Actually, I would prefer EPs only, with GOOD quality control and thorough testing, with no stuff packs at all. My 2 cents' worth.
There's no point in a set of items for winter if we don't have weather. Wouldn't you feel a bit silly having your sims walk out of the house in scarves, gloves, and snow coats if it's sunny and green outside?
I agree with 123. And what I'd like to see, thru an EP or these packs, is a neighborhood terrain for snow. We have desert, grass, cement and dirt now. How about snow? Then we could have a Siberian landscape and neighborhood, with houses built of ice or buried in snow. Cool! I've used the snow ground cover that people have created and it's OK, but doesn't look too great for an entire neighborhood, especially because of areas you can't reach--areas where you can't put a lot. I'd like crooked walls and ruined walls, too. Sometimes you just need a good pile of ruins.
Oooh, ruins would be so great. Advertising is blechy. I hate it. I hope it's not a serious idea. The only good thing that could come out of it is maybe Maxis could afford to TEST things before foisting them on us? I can't take the survey, it's full. I wish I could. I love this game, as you all know, but I think sometimes its creators get a little sloppy. I'm afraid to buy the glamour pack, since FFS and Holiday are both such busts. It's obvious they just slap those things together. I'm not saying I could do better. It's just obvious to me that the "real" EPs are given a lot more loving care. I can understand when bugs occur as a result of those, there's all sorts of new features. But new furniture and clothing packs should not cause the problems they do. Most of the downloads I have have caused me no problems. You'd think the game's creators could match the abilities of a third-party person who just does it for fun. And whoever thought of peein' claus should have his wrist slapped. Hard. By me. My game's falling apart right now. I'm not sure it could take all of the features you mentioned, Josh, but some of them do sound fun. If they're done right.
Just to add another 2 cents-- I also agree that the idea of brand names and advertising is yucky. There's such a big world out there to explore and include in our sim neighborhoods. I'd rather have a good animated horse for my sims to ride than a Toyota to drive. I got the Holiday pack and used it a little without problems (although I'm probably the only one here who didn't) but I have no interest whatsoever in Christmas wallpaper and carpeting. Snow on the windows was nice. I have no interest in, and will not buy, either the family fun pack or the glamour stuff. Too much better stuff is available for download free. Oh, and I really, REALLY want snow. And weather, like snow falling. (I'm so American -- awash in a sea of wants.)
Sims2 Themepark Expansion Pack Do me a favor... Check out Director James Cameron, who created films such as; *Titanic 1997 *Terminator 1984, The first film he did in 1973 is called "Westworld." I want to place emphasis of how creepy it is to show up at one of the three areas. The first one is a Pioneer Town set in the turn the century 1890's, Second one is Camelot Castle inspired, and last area is Roman Iron Age. A recent survey that's been placed on www.worldsims.org, combine ideas from Sims1 expansion packs. In my personal gaming satisfaction - I loved dueling on Makin' Magick. Have NPC's who look like Robotic Cyborg Gunslingers who challenge gameplayers to some type of confrontation. Kick it up a notch further, have Were-Creature NPC's. The Roman Iron Age - with contestants who get immortality by replacing a Pantheon Character. This idea would help the more Outdoor / Adventure Sim player. The Outdoor / Adventure Sim - tends to enjoy interactions with Animals and Pets. "Themepark" would have property that the Users can change. Players can decide to make any of these locations appear "Foreign" or as "Familiar" as one's neighboorhoods. If I wanted to get the Sims to learn more interaction skills - have NPC's suggest Bartering / Selling / or Other.
Suggest holding a contest for Expansion Pack Release. Ever seen such Television shows - where a few Landscape and Interior Decorator Freelance Students wanted to show why "their" idea will get folks to buy the next Sims2 expansion pack ? * How well organized does the Portfolio have to be to get someone to consider the idea. ( If Comic-Com Conventions were held twice a year, to get Editors & Publishers to say yes / no / need more practice... ) You would never expect to see something simular to the Television Series, "Just Shoot Me" Which you try to get a Magazine Owner to ask a sim to do a mock up article / photograph / interview. Perhaps an Expansion Pack - that makes a mockery over Sims Characters, simular to Superstar. A Tabloid that has nothing sweet to say, and NPC's that could be sued in a courtroom. A Sims Expansion Pack that pokes fun at it's own Social Subculture.
What I have found so entertaining about the Sims is that it already pokes fun at RL. Even the "What's this?" Sometimes, the fact that sims drop everything they're doing to go look at an object is annoying, but other times it cracks me up, because it's so human. Think about it a little and you'll realize it's true. We all go examine whatever new thing has arrived in our environment. And that's just one example. So I don't think any more poking fun is necessary. And I think the grim and the sinister (like Westworld) are well covered in the game world already.
I'm with you, Lynet. I'd leave free will on if there was a slightly lower incidence of what's this-ing and more of the spontaneous familial affection such as parents going upstairs to admire/tuck in children. All the same I agree that even the frustrating silly stuff is based in reality. In real life far too many people melt down into pointless panic at the first sign of danger. In that sense sims' reaction to fire is a metaphor for all the hazards and dangers that are not included for whatever reason. The only pity is that Maxis did not allow for a small percentage of level-headed sims. There are only one or two, but I know people who would definitely be an advantage to have around in a disaster area. But out of all my sims there isn't a single one. That can't be right, can it?
OH OH OH!!!! I tried that asylum challenge the other day. You're not allowed to have smoke detectors/sprinklers or burglar alarms in the game. In a household of 8 where you're only allowed to control one of the sims EVER, a fire it bound to happen. Well the first couple of times it happened my sim was home so I had him call the fire department while the other 7 freaked out. Then my simmy went to work and sure enough...fire. My thoughts...oh crap, now the entire house it going to burn down and kill all the other 7 and my sim just left for work an hour ago! Much to my surprise, one of the female sims I wasn't allowed to control whipped out a fire extinguisher and put out the flames! The next time there was a fire one of the male sims did this! I was so impressed! So it is in there somewhere, it's almost as if they needed to watch the fireman do it a couple of times to figure it out first.
