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Buyers Beware! This is an incomplete game

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 14 / 17
Date: January 28, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Do not fall for the hype. This is an incomplete game that was released way too early. Its deceptively advertised to look like its
more than it really is.

The user creative world consists of skill centers, dance clubs/discos, and occasional wedding chapel. There is no real economy, the players who were there from the beginning are the wealthiest. The only goals of the game are who can be the most popular and get the most wealth by exploiting all the job ojects and taking advantage of the new/novice players.

Its not only boring, but what little gameplay is monotonous.

Sim's skills and needs constantly wear out so you have to replenish them constantly by doing the same activities over and over and over.

All in all, this is basically an animated chatroom with a few inside games so it can be called a game.

And the roleplay consists of not only kids, but adults engaging in obnoxious, extremely childish behavior.

The game developers have promised more playable content will be added but in 5 weeks, little has changed.

And the band object you see on the box isn't even in the game.

If you are looking for a game that is fun and creative you won't find that with The Sims Online.

If you're more of a chatter than a gamer and can afford to pay for what is essentially a animated chat, then this game is for you.

I Gave it My Beta Time Plus 3 Months

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 14 / 17
Date: March 28, 2003
Author: Amazon User

If you enjoy computer games with quests and missions, perhaps a sense of purpose for playing a game (perhaps a story line or some history), even if you just wanna wander around a vast 3-D world---DO NOT BUY THIS GAME!!!!
The only game going on with The Sims Online is that there is no game here, and when you do find your place in role-playing in this game someone will inevitably report you to the gestapo I mean Maxis and you will have your account suspended for not playing the (non)game their way.
Oh I agree it sure looks cool on the box, be who you want to be right? Ask one person who organized a large group of people and formed a role playing Sim Mafia. He was asked to cease and desist his group because more or less the majority of people in this game are playing real life, and that is too much for them to deal with in a game.
I myself had started a fight club thinking there may be some pvp action to be had....NOT you must physically accept all interactions initiated by another player or it just rejects the actions.
If you really enjoy people chatting about what is going on in there life while they build a skill for no reason other than more interactions this is for you.
I play many games and beta test alot of new games so when I experienced massive lag issues in this Sims game after release with only 12 people on a property with its poor graphics from the early 90's I tend to wonder why when i beta tested shadowbane with 2500 peeps on one server with 100 people on screen at one time in a guild conflict with intense graphics i get no lag at all? Also this bloated pig of a game will bring down your computers resources faster than 20 viruses at once I got 768 megs of RAM and would run out of mem while playing.

Subscription Chat Service

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 14 / 17
Date: April 22, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Why pay for something that is free ??

THIS IS NOT A GAME.

It's an interactive screensaver with chat attached to it.

Genuine waste of money.

Not very Sim-ish

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 8 / 8
Date: September 13, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I believe "The Sims" taps into our control freak nature. Most of the fun of the game is being able to control the little Sims, build their houses, have them interact with others, etc.

The fun of the online version is completely dependent on other players. The money your Sim (and only one Sim) makes gets sucked up immediately. The "spend money to earn money" philosophy of the single-player version is abandoned. You can't build much of anything, much less furnish a place, and the buildings you find resemble HP -- party after party with no home life interaction like sitting down to dinner with spouse and kids.

As the others say, it is a glorified chatroom. The majority of relationships in TSO were formed early in beta-testing and to get in on a relationship, a house, etc. at this point will be very difficult. In other words, there's no fun to be had.

If you want a new Sims adventure, the only way to go is Sims2.

Waste of time and money

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 16 / 24
Date: February 23, 2003
Author: Amazon User

If you enjoy doing tedious tasks after installing a huge application, that lags horribly and sucks up a large amount of system resources, then by all means, this game is for you. Please do not waste your time and money with this game.
If you want to know the specs of the computers I played it on, in case you think my boxes were slow, well here they are:

note: All boxes were tweaked to give the best performance, and each experienced great slow downs when there were more then 13 people in a house.

box #1
Windows XP
p4 2.8ghz
60gig 72000 rpm hd with a 2meg cache (ata 133)
radeon 7500
T3 internet connection with bandwidth priority

box #2
Windows 2000
duron 1.2ghz
40gig 7200 rpm hd with a 2meg cache udma 66
gainward geforce4 ti 4400 overclocked to be faster then a 4600
cable modem

box #3 (laptop)
Windows XP
800mhz p3
30gig 5400 rpm hd
on board 11meg video card

Sims Addict

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 31 / 60
Date: January 25, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I LOVE this freaking game. It is ridiculous. People who are looking for pre-made downtown areas and jobs and cookie cutter people are just not seeing the point! It is a totally user created world! Every other Sim out there is a real person, so you may not like them all, thats part of building the social network! As far as jobs, yes there are the sometimes mundane job objects. . . but the best way to make money is to build a creative property and entice people to visit and interact there. As the game grows, downtown areas will be built naturally where there are masses of established properties. And, these established properties will "hire" other sims to entertain and perform services. Do you really want your sim to just dissapear to a job where you don't know where he is and can't control what he's doing like in the regular sims? No, we are building a mini-economy here and jobs surface in situations according to need just like the real world!

If you like a challenge, are creative and like to think outside the box, you will LOVE The Sims Online!

Poor direction...

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: January 18, 2003
Author: Amazon User

It is just an add on for the great game to generate some more money for the company. The add on itself has lost its charm as a game... Not worth the expence...

I'm a Sim Freak!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 10 / 21
Date: February 17, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I'm not your typical gamer. I'm 30 something, married and with a toddler but I love the Sim PC games and play them with a passion.

So when the Sims Online team back in Aug '02 asked me to help Beta test for free, I jumped at the chance. Luckily I have Cable Internet because I don't know how the dial-up people do it.

I love playing the game, I love to interact with people all over the world and have made several friends too. It's amazing how many married women with children I have met playing TSO!

But unfortunately, as with any game you become bored with it. And that's where I am now. My character is a Millionairess, and I don't see the point of sitting there reading and working out for hours on end to gain skills which in the end help you earn money. Been there, done that already.

So I have created my own games within the games. Like Hide and Seek and the Amazing Sim Race which mirrors the Amazing Race on CBS but you play in Singles vs Pairs. But mostly I just visit my friends and help them in their houses by keeping up the conversations, clean, water the plants, etc.

I bought the Charter addition because you get 90 days free.... So if you are going to play the game for 3 months, why not get the extra benefits with the Charter? Then you can decide if you want to cancel before they start charging the [monthly] fee.
I don't see how anyone can judge the game in just one month.

What else is great is that Maxis is constantly improving the game by adding features and objects. So I will hang around a little while longer to see what else they have coming out.

not worth it

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: May 13, 2003
Author: Amazon User

If you get this game all your going to do is pay a monthly fee to chat! Objects are priced way to high and to get any skills to make money will take you weeks of game play. I played this game for over two weeks strait and it was the same thing over and over. You never get any place and it gets boring real fast. If your really into online chat and want to pay for it then get this game but if you want to play The Sims stick with PS2 or the regular PC game.

I'm a Sim, you're a Sim, he's a Sim, she's a Sim...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 20
Date: January 03, 2003
Author: Amazon User

...Wouldn't you like to be a Sim too?

For those who have enjoyed the Sims throughout each expansion pack, Sims Online offers a great way to take advantage of all our favorite activities, find new ones, and meet fellow Simfreaks while we're at it! Some compare this to a glorified chatroom, and there is that ability, but how many chatrooms let you host a dancing party where everyone dresses in togas and silly hats, and where you can get skill points for riding a mechanical bull? And where you can make money by making pizza or bashing pinatas? When was the last time you entered a chatroom to share a four-person bubble "bong", fart, belch, weave drunkenly around the room, perform some smooth moves for the hottie in the corner, and chat in real-time during the whole thing? Yeah, exactly. And that's only a fraction of what Sims Online offers.

This game almost forces you to be social, unless you want to spend the next few months building up a solitary empire. It takes a considerable amount of time to build up high skill levels in each skill, which is both an advantage (you won't have played the game out in a weekend) and a disadvantage (it takes literally all day to max out on a skill! Plus you have to maintain each skill against decay). While you're spending time looking for the busiest place to build your creativity or your mechanical prowess, you still take care of the regular stuff: eating, sleeping, bathing, going to the bathroom. Meanwhile, the quickest way to success is through sharing a property with roommates. Having roommates enables you to pool your money with up to 7 other people, allowing you to build the latest and greatest features into your property. This, naturally, results in visitors, which means money for each roommate. The more roommates you have, the more you can build and the more you can potentially earn.

It's great to visit new places and see how each person has set up shop. Most property-owners are conscientious about providing all the necessities for "greening up", and most visitors are careful to show their appreciation through cleaning up after themselves, or leaving a tip in the tip jar. Every property is more interesting and more creative than the last, and Maxis continues to add new objects and capabilities to the game, leaving plenty of opportunity for continued interest. Currently, each account is limited to three Sims, any of which can be retired at any time, but each of which must inhabit different cities--you have your choice, but can't put two Sims in the same city. (Not for long, though--roads between cities are rumored to be on the way.) Even so, each city is full of inhabitants who are all busy building and planning, so there's plenty of opportunity to get to know your neighbor, find a roommate, or just work on making some Simoleans.

So, in short--is Sims Online the groundbreaking game that will bring all and sundry? No; if you're not fond of the daily life involved in The Sims, you won't like Sims Online, because that's what it's about. But if you love The Sims and want an opportunity to take it to the next level and learn to build, run a business, and play an *active* part not only in all the hilarious Sim actions, but also with real people in real time, then this is the game for you!

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