The Sims had a livestream yesterday, so we have
a lot to talk about. I was planning on posting this video yesterday, but the stream was an
hour long and I was expecting it to be like, 30 minutes, and they were also like
15 minutes late, so I had to stream and I couldn't post the video, but
I'll break it down for you now. And by the way, all week this week I'm
raising money for AbleGamers on Twitch. AbleGamers is a charity that's working
to make video games more accessible, so if you want to drop by the streams,
I've got a lot of exciting plans, so I'm just saying. I'll link that down
below, but let's talk about The Sims. So yesterday was an Inside Maxis stream, and
they always post pre-the Inside Maxis stream, a little agenda like this one. and these
Inside Maxis streams are not necessarily like, news streams, these are more like
a community talk show kind of vibe, and they always have been. So the focus is not on
like, announcement, announcement, announcement, announcement, the focus is on like, let's talk
to the community and talk with people from the community and interview simmers, and then
at the end, they usually tease new content. And they told us that in advance. Like, to me, it
looks like the whole purpose of this stream was to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, and they had
this whole Latin American players make The Sims feature, the two SimGurus hosting kind of talked
about their background and where they're from, they talked about putting a piece of art
from a Latin American artist into the game and showed off the art piece. In the creator
chat, they had four creators on to come talk. And I loved this part, they were speaking in
Spanish and so they had English subtitles and just talking about their stories and like,
how they got started playing The Sims. The problem was the Twitch chat. I banned
10 people in my stream that I saw being so disrespectful and just blatantly rude in the
Twitch chat during this segment. And I don't mean just people being like, oh, this is boring,
because there was a lot of that. I mean like, flat out nasty, horrible comments. I had to close the
chat, like I found this so infuriating to see the people's reaction to this. And just in general,
everyone was being so disrespectful, like why are you acting surprised that they're doing this?
They told you in advance they were gonna do this, that was the whole point of the stream. I
understand you want new content, but like, this was never gonna be some big announcement
stream. Like, they didn't lead you to believe that, they never have been. I don't know, I was
just really frustrated by the reaction of the Twitch chat to what I thought was a really special
opportunity for a bunch of creators. I'm gonna link all four of these creators down below, they
are incredible. AndrewArcade is a dear friend of mine, and also MTsims is one of the best builders
in The Sims 4, just hands down flat out, like look at this from two days ago, like, hello? So
definitely a good follow, I will have them linked. Then after that, they had a SpecialEffect
special guest, which is kind of fun to say, but SpecialEffect is a charity in the UK, a lot like
AbleGamers that's working to make video games more accessible. They do similar things like consulting
with video game companies to build games that are more accessible, and like working on distributing
accessible controllers or like, other assistive technology to people who need it. So when I saw
that, I was kind of hoping that maybe there would be some acknowledgment of like, players' requests
to add disabilities to The Sims. That wasn't what it was. SpecialEffect recently had an art contest
to make like, posters for games. And a simmer won it! So they came on to talk about it. I love
Tazreen, I've been following her for a very long time, she makes amazing art. Also a really good
follow on Twitter if you like this kind of thing, but this is the poster she made. I loved this,
like I really enjoyed this stream. I love this kind of community stuff, I I'm sad that people
didn't seem to like it because I really did. And then we get into The Sims 411, where
they did some hot topics. In this segment they always like, answer some questions from
the community. Not like, live chat questions, like rehearsed, pre-planned answers to like,
make statements on things in the community. So they mentioned a few things: number one, they
did actually acknowledge the disabilities topic. They acknowledged they had seen a petition
that was going around and basically were like, we hear you, we understand, we're looking into
it. So basically, a few months ago there was a petition that went around to add pronoun selection
into the game. If you guys didn't know, right now you can make a trans sim or make a non-binary
sim, obviously, but there's a lot of gendered language in the game's text, so it'll keep
saying she, she, she, even if your sim is a he, or uses they/them pronouns, you can't change that.
The game will like, consistently misgender you, which is really frustrating, so there's a lot
of talk about wanting to make those texts more gender-neutral, and they acknowledged that again
today and talked about doing more research on it, and like, trying to implement it. So there's
not like a timeline for that, but it does sound like they're still actively working on it, and I
appreciate them addressing it. They also mentioned adding this toddler hair into the base game, and
they sort of mentioned why they keep adding pack hairs into the base game, and this one is a really
hot topic, like they do this a bunch it seems, where like they'll have a hair that came out a
few years ago, and then they'll just surprise push it to the base game. They did it with City
Living hairs, they did it with Parenthood hairs, they're doing it with this hair. And their
reasoning today was, we have heard feedback that there are hairs currently gated behind
DLC or a pack that offer more in representation than those included with the base game. We want
to make sure they're available for everybody. And I understand their intentions here, right,
because it's true. The base game is like, severely lacking when it comes to Black
hair, and they've been trying to add more. They've been doing, in my opinion, a good
job of adding some things to the base game, and like updating old base game ones, but
they've also been like, pulling from packs to make those base game as well. And a lot of
people argue, well, why don't you just make new ones instead of pulling them from the other packs?
Which I agree with. I would also appreciate more, and not just like, making the other ones available
for everybody, but I don't really see a problem with them making them base game either. Like, I
don't think that anybody is gonna buy a pack just for one hair. I think when it comes to CAS assets,
I don't really mind them pulling those base game. Like, this is not the same thing as
them making a hot tub base game after people spent money for the hot tub pack,
like Perfect Patio was a hot tub pack, you bought it just to have hot tubs, and they
made a base game hot tub years later. Like that, in my opinion, is annoying. I don't think
that the hairs are the same level as that, does that make sense? But I do see the argument
of like, you know, why don't you just make more? But I appreciate them making other ones
base game in the meantime to make up for it. Also, the Industrial Loft kit window! Oh boy. So. To catch you up to speed on this one: they
released promo images for the Industrial Loft kit with a window that kind of looks similar to
the Mosquito stuff window. This was the window in the promo art, and then this is the official
render, like the release art with the real window included. So, please note the difference
between these two windows, they are not the same. Well, this is the one that came in the pack. This
was the promo art, and this is the one that came in the pack. This window does not exist. So this
was like a whole thing when the pack first came out, and then they came on and said, hey, we will
give you that window in the promo art, just give us some time. And so this leads me to believe
that this was an accident. Like, that art that we're seeing, the first one, it's fake, I don't
think the window exists. Like, maybe that was the original plan was to make that window, and then
they changed their minds and made a different one, and somehow a memo was not gotten. Like, some
teams did not communicate and no one noticed? I don't know how this happened, I don't think it
was like, some intentional false marketing, like. The window we got's not bad, I think I like this
one better, it's just not the same as the promo. So what I mean is, I don't think that they
were like, trying to falsely advertise this one to trick us into buying the kit and then
get this one. I think it was an accident, but it's not a good accident. And so yesterday
they confirmed that they're gonna add that window at the end of November, but into
the base game, so everyone's gonna have that window. And I think that's a good call.
I think this was big enough drama that like, they should give the window to
everyone after what happened. I saw some talk on Twitter about the Industrial
Loft kit being made base game, and that's not true. Just the window that currently doesn't exist
will be base game, the whole kit won't be, just the new window. And there's not an official
date, just like, "end of November." They also talked about the Spa Day refresh,
basically they had on the stream like, a question would pop up and then they would talk
about it, and the question was like, will there be more pack refreshes? And so everybody in
chat was like, what are you gonna announce? And then they were like, we don't currently
have any news about this at this time. So. A lot of people seem to take that as them
being like, soon though. So maybe there will be more pack refreshes soon, they
didn't like, actually address it though. They just said that they don't have any
news, so do with that what you will. And then, this one was very weird. This was
like, really out of left field in my opinion. They brought up "Sims Delivery Express,"
SDX. And I guess the idea behind this, is that they want to be able to add new
assets into the game, like new hairs or a chair or whatever without having to have a
full base game update. What they said was a sim delivery could be a build mode asset or a
create a sim asset, it can be a clothing, a hair, an accessory, or a combination of those. It can be
something in build mode, or a couple of things in build mode. It could be tiny little fixes that
don't need a base game update to apply to your game. Something that's not complex, so that we
can potentially get them in your game that way. So the idea is that we could get some little
tidbits without having to do a full patch. By the way, SimsCommunity has
the livestream segments like, completely transcribed on their website, so
this is like, exactly what they said and only what they said. So if you need this,
I can link these articles for you to. But whenever sim deliveries are out, all you
need to do is launch your game per usual, and your game will check to see if
there's new content available. You won't need to do much to know what's
going on, if there's content available, you'll download it and restart your
game after the download is completed, it's seamless in that way. It'll work on PC,
Mac, PlayStation, and Xbox, and they'll have a full peek at that system in the next Inside
Maxis because it's not coming out for a while. Other interesting thing is
that it'll be for free content, and it will also not negatively impact mods or
CC, so it won't disable your mods when they do it. And I think I understand their purpose here,
like not everyone reads patch notes, or like, is as actively involved in this as we are. And
also, I think they're tied to like a really tight, strict schedule for when like, big base game
patches can come out. And "big" doesn't even mean like, big-big. Like I think that's
just like, the monthly patches are like, very specific, but if they wanted to drop things
sooner, they could do it like this? I don't know. Also, when you patch the game it
like, auto-disables your mods, then you have to go back in and re-enable
them, and that's like a whole ordeal, and a lot of people don't realize that and
they're like, oh my god, my mods are broken, and then I'm like, they're just turned off.
Don't worry. But it sounds like this will not do that, so they're probably trying to
minimize the like, complications of this. One thing they did say as a note for console
players, you'll need to link your console account to an EA account to be able to use SDX
when it comes available. I don't have a console, I don't know how hard that is to do, but they
did like, specifically mention doing that now, so that when the thing comes out, you've already
got it set up. They also said every sims delivery, either previously downloaded or not downloaded
by a player will be included in a future game update after, except when there's limited
content. We'll try to incorporate those in a future game update, so that if you
miss it, you'll eventually have it. So it sounds like, if you can't
download it with their SDX thing, you'll get it when like, the update
comes out. The like, bigger one comes out. So they're just trying to get us
stuff sooner, but what does limited content mean? I don't know. This is bizarre. So we'll
see. I don't really understand it either, so I can't answer your questions. We'll have to
wait for more information in the next live stream. And then, the other thing that was like,
so bizarre and I was not expecting. The Sims 4 is getting official in-game challenges
that they're calling scenarios, next week. In an update next week. So like, probably
on Tuesday. So here's what they showed, it's gonna launch in the free update with two
scenarios, and then it sounds like they're gonna be adding a bunch more and they like, already have
some more in the works. And so on the main menu, you'll be able to click new scenario underneath
the play button, and then you can start from an existing save or in a new save, and play through
one of these scenarios. The one they showed off on stream was the making money one, and so they've
basically made like, an official rags to riches challenge. Description. Step one: move to a new
place and start off without a single simoleon in your bank account. Step two: figure it out. And
then step three: become a millionaire. Household funds will be set to zero after moving into this
lot. So this one has no requirements, and the potential outcomes are that you have a million
simoleons. They didn't show off the other one, so I don't know what that's gonna look like. And
they also specifically mentioned that there's gonna be one where you have a bunch of toddlers
in your household, and probably more to come after that. They said too many toddlers and perfectly
well-rounded are two more that are coming, and there's also gonna be some limited time
scenarios in the game, which is interesting. So I have a lot of thoughts on this, but let
me tell you what other people are saying first. A lot of people are angry that this is like,
one of the big updates coming to The Sims soon because they were hoping for more like,
actual gameplay and they're seeing this as like, recycled gameplay that simmers already do.
Like, we all already play rags to riches, I already have a whole series on rags to riches,
you know? And they want to see more like, actual in-depth additions to gameplay as opposed to like,
what seems to be a big aspiration. And I get that, that makes sense. I would also like to see those
things, but I don't see this as a bad thing. Like to me, it looks like they're trying to give
official acknowledgment to the way that players already play The Sims 4. Like, they see us all
making these challenges and they're like, hey, how can I support you in this? How can I make
challenges official? How can I give you more, to a thing that you're already doing? To me it's kind of like Tiny Living, how they saw
us all building tiny homes and they were like, oh, you like that? Let me give you like, official
support for Tiny Homes and make it into a cool challenge with perks in the game. I feel like
that's what this is, except this is base game. And also, we've only seen two and like, the first
one seems like an integration of an official challenge, one that like everybody already does,
we all play rags to riches, but the finding love after a breakup seems different. Like, that --
that's not like, a standard challenge. And they talked a lot about like, different outcomes, and
they really hyped it up. So I'm curious to see what this is gonna end up being like, and I'm also
curious to see like, what else they add. Because could you imagine them like, making official
support for like, the black widow challenge. And you come in and it's like, requirements: have ten
spouses die. I just -- I think that's hilarious. I also see it as a way for them to like,
give people more ideas of how to play. Like, how many times have you tried to make a sims
save and been like, ugh, I don't have a storyline idea, like I don't know what to play. And then you
just build a house and then kind of stop playing. I think like the vast majority of sims players
like, pop in for a day, and then are like, meh. Or they like, play obsessively for a week
and then kind of put it down. I am that way with most games, although I have never put
down The Sims, so. I'm just built different. But I feel like,this is a good way for them to
give you like, some official support and like, more ideas. Like, hey, come try out this
challenge. Try out this new way of playing the game you maybe didn't think of before. And
I know a lot of us are like, super actively involved in The Sims community, and so we
like, know about these, you know? We do this. But a lot of people, in fact, the majority of
their player base, has probably never heard of the rags to riches challenge. And in my opinion, it's
a cool way to show it to them and give them like, a new idea of how to play. Because a lot
of them might have like, only ever played with money cheats, so trying to do this was
going to be a really different experience, and I just -- I like it. I think this is cute. It
also kind of reminds me of like, a career mode. I play this game called Planet Zoo, and Planet Zoo
is also a big sandbox game, but instead in it you run a zoo instead of controlling your sims' life
like god. And so you can play like, the sandbox type mode and just build your zoo freely, but they
also have a career mode, and in the career mode it gives you like, a bunch of different scenarios
to start out with, like, hey, in this zoo, you need to fix this thing. Or like, in this zoo, you
need to achieve like, x, y, and z tasks, and the goal is to like, complete all of the scenarios,
and in different packs they'll add new scenarios. And it's a good starting point, like almost
like a tutorial mode as well. If you're not familiar with Planet Zoo, you can like, play
those and figure out how the heck you do it. And also get some inspiration of like how to
build your zoo based on how they build theirs. And this seems similar, like get
some inspiration of how to play your game based on how they play theirs,
you know? So I like it. I think it's cool. And also, this is more of a question, but do you
think it'll be possible for modders to make new scenarios in The Sims? Because they'll give us
some, but like, would it be possible for there to be like, a Not so Berry mod? And it makes like,
the Not so Berry challenge rules like, officially integrated into the game? That challenge might
be a little bit too complicated, I would know, I wrote it. But like, do you think it would
be possible for modders to make additional options? I just -- I feel like there's a lot of
potential here. And I also don't think it's like, as much of a nothing update as people
seem to be making out to be. And again, obviously I would like to see more gameplay, like
new gameplay, but I'm not mad about this one. In general, this livestream was like, way
more info than I expected. I woulda been happy with like, one new hair concept art
or something. They've been known to like, leak things on these streams, by accident.
Like, we found out about the new hair color swatch update by one of these streams, but
I don't think they showed that on purpose because they didn't talk about it. They were
talking about something else. But I didn't really have like high hopes for big news, but
it seems like they talked about a lot of things. I do want to end with like, a small piece of
advice for the SimGurus on how I think they could do these in the future. Part of this stream
was pre-recorded, the interview segment was, but the rest was live, and they had a lot of
technical difficulties, which I imagine was very stressful. And also their closed captions
weren't working the whole time. I don't know if you can see this, but this little tiny CC
button, you can see it's not doing anything because it doesn't work. Closed captions are
not automatically built into Twitch livestreams, what they're doing to have that button is
they're using a special plug-in in their OBS, I know because I use the same one. And
these things can be kind of finicky, there isn't like a good solution for closed
captions on Twitch right now. And obviously when it's trying to live caption you, it's like
the YouTube auto-captions, it's gonna mess up. Something is better than nothing, so I appreciate
them trying, but my theory is that because these in particular, the Inside Maxis streams, are kind
of short and like, scripted, really rehearsed content, I think that these could be pre-recorded
and subtitled. Not only because a lot of people are hard of hearing and might need it, but
also because a lot of their audience is not English speaking. They might know some English,
but having the words on the screen would make it a lot easier to follow for a lot of people.
This one's like an hour long, so subtitling is not super easy to achieve, but it would make these
more accessible. Also, I would really like to see a little bit more moderation of the Twitch chat. I
don't mean that there's people like spamming slurs or putting like horrible things in the chat like
that. Because they have automod up really high, so people can't do that, but there are a lot
of really mean people in the Twitch chat, and I feel like they're trying to balance this like,
I don't want to delete people complaining about the game because they don't want to censor them,
that's fine, don't do that, but like, there were some things in this chat that I thought were vile.
Especially when they were talking to the creators. It wasn't like, specific attacks on individuals
or anything, but I just -- I wish that people weren't being so rude and like, dismissive.
And I would have liked to see a little bit more moderation in there. Also, small
shoutout to the SimGurus that did this stream. I feel bad for them, I always do,
and I think it's because I am a streamer. I see what they're trying to do and I know
that this would be so stressful for me, a person who streams every day. And these people
are not streamers, this is not their day job, they make video games. That is their day job. Salo
is a concept artist, he is not a livestreamer, and so I can imagine this is really hard to do and
really scary, like this is public speaking on a very large scale, and so I have a lot of respect
for them for doing it. So just want to send some love to Salo and Nadina because I think you guys
did a great job, and I have a lot of respect for you because I would not be brave enough to
do this stream, and I am a Sims streamer. Okay, my video is long enough already, I think
I've broken down the whole livestream. This video might as well be as long as the livestream, I'm
sorry! I will keep you posted about future updates and things like that, sounds like we'll have a
lot to talk about next week with the new scenarios dropping as well, so with that being said, I
will catch you all tomorrow. Bye everybody. Just by the way, I have been up at
6am to prepare to record this video, again. I recorded it yesterday,
and now I did it again. [ JAZZY OUTRO MUSIC ]
