It's no less creepy that they do it now, staring at me with their soulless, dead, cartoony eyes. It's not the realism of the Sim which makes that situation creepy; it's that the Sim seems to acknowledge your presence, the fact you're directing their actions, and they're unhappy with what you've just directed them to do. Like I said, for me, it's kinda creepy now...

I really don't even get the "uncanny valley" argument. You watch TV and movies, right? How is watching real people depicting characters any different from watching realistic pixel creations depicting characters? It's all fake.

I think its because the actors are impersonating characters and the pixels impersonating humans (they act, look and move like humans but they're not) are two completely different things.

Like I said, it's not that they're realistic looking; it's that they're breaking the fourth wall acknowledging my existence...

Back in my TS2 days (I haven't had this happen in 3...) I had a family where most of them would be off somewhere else in the house while I was focused on mom and dad or the baby. I'd hear voices in the other part of the house and spin the camera around to see what all the commotion was about. When I'd get there, they'd all be staring at the camera, as if to say, "What the heck do YOU want?"

They did it to me quite often. It almost seemed as if they were plotting against me or something...

Now, I know they weren't doing that, that they were programmed to do that by some twisted programmer who thought it would be funny to freak out the customer. It was freaky when they looked more like silly cartoons than they do now.

Are the Chuckie movies scary because they're about an ax-wielding homicidal maniac, or because the ax-wielding homicidal maniac is a doll? I'd submit it's because he's a doll.

Yes, an unhuman looking horror character. I bet if he looked like a real little boy he wouldn't be as scary, you'd be thinking poor little kid who abused him so badly he has to behave like this now? Same with the sims who turn and look at you - it's their huge stary unrealistic eyes that freaks you out. If they had nice natural faces and spoke in English saying "Hi player!" it wouldn't be freaky.

Well in my opinion, the reason for liking Sims being more on the cartoony side:

-I can do what I want without feeling too bad about it. If it's cartoon, it makes it less "real" if a Sim dies a horrible death.
-Much of the game is exaggerated, it would look weird if they used a realistic style. I know they could make it differently but that's not what the series is. Even from Sims 1 there was ridiculous situations and interactions, I still play the games from time to time, there's so much silliness.
-I think of Sims as beings rather than humans. I think of them as being part of another world.
-Realistic would break the escapism for me. I don't want to play real life.

I feel there should be more companies that make Sims type games, to cater to different audiences... As it's clear there's many gaps in the market (realistic, medieval, etc.). Some of us view it as a toy, others take it more seriously.

I'd be okay with them being a little more cartoony but that doesn't mean that the level of customization can't be there. While I like the realistic look, it wouldn't bother me if there looked more cartoonish either. I just want options.

Oh don't get me wrong. I would still love for my Sims to look realistic. I hate the cartoony look. I'd be happy with Sims that looked like they came from Gears of War or The Last of Us. But the difference is that those characters still had a video game feel. They still looked synthetic to me, you know, like Japanese androids. My line is not knowing the difference between synthetic and real, like when you look at a painting and think it's a photograph because of the level of detail. I think it has a lot to do with the interactivity compared to watching a movie. I tend to develop a fondness for the characters I create and the fondness grows with the level of involvement in their lives. But with movies, there's always a certain detachment from the characters mostly because I have no hand in their story. I can laugh and cry with them but lack of control/influence over their lives keeps my emotions at a distance. Another difference would be that characters in movies have a natural fluidity to their movements whereas video game characters generally do not. Even in Beyond, Jodie's movements were slightly mechanical during actual gameplay. And that tends to make photorealism all the creepier in my book.

Yepp, axes aren't scary, especially when they're wielded by whatever. I like to snuggle with my axe, especially when it's sharped.

Seriously, Chucky and other horror movies use shocking-effects, music, fake-blood and such to thrill the watcher. That's what a horror movie is about and a real child looking as evil as Chucky might be even more scary because it would be a child but a game even children can play isn't meant to frighten the player. Actually I find it rather cute when my Sim looks at me like "Ok, you really want it that way? Very funny... very, very funny... Help!"

Of course there is a difference between playing with a virtual character in a computergame- which hopefully has soulless eyes- and playing with real persons. In real life it happens all the time, e.g. be nice to someone who is "usefull", betray, even cheat, lie and so on. In real life such things usually have consequences we have to deal with and even worse, the other one has to deal with the consequences, too. In worst cases consequences of e.g. mobbing can end up in suicide just because someone wanted to have some fun or was pissed off and couldn't just talk about. Things like that will never happen in a Sims-game and programmers didn't want to freak out customers because programmers want to have a job and earn money.

In a game we just don't have to save if something went wrong and start again. So to me it doesn't matter how realistic a character in a computer game looks like (though I prefer realism) because I know they are nothing but virtual little characters I can like or not- which depends on their role in the game. Even better when I can decide what kind of role they have when playing a life simulation- and believe it or not, I prefer to let them be nice to each other as it's more fun to me this way. Playing RPGs I have to do it the "brave good hero-way" because an evil character (played by me) wouldn't care about rescuing others... so far there wasn't an option like "I don't care if you all die, not my problem- End of game"

Yes this was a bit off topic but it's easy to forget that the things happening during a game are nothing but a computer-program running on your [system] when it's so well displayed that you buy that tale. So the different figures become characters, even personalities. This shouldn't be freaky because that's the point. That's why playing the game for weeks/months makes fun.



That's why I prefer the realistic look- death isn't cute or funny so why should it look like? That's rather cruel to me than a kill in a RPG with blood everywhere and kill by beheading. Though for children a cartoony death is easier to deal with and yepp, different point of views can easily be satisfied with the right mods.


Disagree, the Sims are toys in dollhouses played with lots of fantasy and ideas. The difference is the individual gameplay. Some like to have their dolls as realisitc as possible, others like them cartoony but all of us know it's just a life simulation which cannot replace reallife.

I'm one of the people who prefer the cartoony look for games. I've never been all that into controlling an avatar that looks real, it creeps me out too much when bad things happen to them.

I'm one of the people who can go for either look, but either way, just because it's cartoony doesn't mean we should have less customization options. How's the cartoony look stopping us from having hair length customization, odd eyes, eyelashes length, etc? Some of those, like the odd eyes, don't even need extra animations, so what's the excuse? It's just EA being lazy and not keeping the game up to date with current games because, who cares, it's not like the Sims have any competition so you'll buy it anyways. Screw you, EA wants to be able to sell simple hair variations at the store instead of just giving length and curl sliders.

"Oh wah wah, takes too long, costs too much, wah wah" says the defenders and the apologists. So what? This franchise has made millions and you have no competition. They could take the extra time, money and effort to make a truly good game. Make one or two more EPs for Sims 3 and some store sets in the meantime. But nope, that'd cut into their profits, so they'll never do it. Why bother?

And I'm not usually an MMO person, but I'm so gonna upgrade the hell out of my computer just to play Black Desert. I may not even get out of the character customization, but I will have fun, that's for sure.

Am i the only heartless person that is not at all freak out just because they are "creepy".. ? i wonder what do you do when watching a movie.. you die?. I want options too. they better not take out things just because of their new style..

and that game some posts ago.... good lord!.. i would love it. the world seams huge from gameplays i've seen so far.

Btw, its funny that making sims higher or smaller is that diffcult... if they are tall then knee a little, more toller, knee a little more... mmmm well, then it's just me.

When I'm watching a movie, I'm not controlling the characters. I can yell at the screen all I want and it's not going to stop a character from doing something deadly stupid and yeah, I do cover my eyes and watch through my fingers if it starts getting gory.

It's not lazyness, it's because they intend to make money out of the store. But, honestly? I think the lazyness comes later, in the store content itself. Have you seen all that stuff they -sell-? Where's the quality? Because I can't find it.

I mean, most custom content makers can make amazing content that will be better than the store items. So if at least what they made for the store had better quality and more use in the game, then maybe people would buy it. But it's also so expensive. So we stay with CC creators. But many people don't so they keep doing it, and we end up with half finished games that lack in content because they will sell everything else in the store.

That Black Desert character creation looks really nice by the way. Way better than the FFXIV one which was... well, there. xD Was not amazing or anything at all, just bleh.

So you'd be all thrilled to have Damien Thorn come over for a play date with your kids? I mean, he looks like a nice, well mannered boy.



And despite all the control we have, why do our sims keep burning down the freaking kitchen every time they make waffles because we ran out for a refill of our drink? And they weren't even hungry. Screaming at my sims is one of my most precious moments in game play.

Where's the quality in some of the stuff packs? The hair from some of them is embarrassing and atrocious. I'm looking at you Fast-Lane Stuff, with your square/triangle "curls" and chunky hair.

Haha yes! The overall quality of their base game and EP/SP content is really low. They should be ashamed, CC makers are so good at it yet many of them lack professional training for it, and they are working for a company yet can't make hair look like... well... hair.

People complain about TS4 hair and cartoonish looks. But I'll take them anyday instead of TS3 looks and hair xD Just an opinion. Everything looks more tidy and less crappy. For now.

It would be nice to get customization options and 3D rendering similar to games like Black Desert.

But why would EA offer us that? Why stress over creating us such quality and risk alienating fans with lower-end computers when you can make millions with sub-par work?

Like other people on this thread makes you wonder why a larger gaming publisher has not taken on this market or genre? after all it is a profitable market, and competition would make EA lift there game, "keep the Bast@&d's honest" as we say

If Sims 4 can run on Windows XP, I'm going to be really annoyed considering the fact that even Microsoft is "out with the old, in with the new" on that one.

As for a competition game, it would be awesome if the members of the Sims community could pull together and make a suitable game but that requires a lot of knowledge and time. We have some talented members of the community, but whether we have enough talent to make an entire game from scratch I do not know.

Okay, so Black Desert is still in closed beta testing and I already know more about that game after just finding out about it today than I do about TS4. And I am IMPRESSED, unlike how I feel about TS4. . .

Edit: I just watched another video about Black Desert, and I am going GAGA! I've not been this excited about a game for a long time, and I'm someone who would not play on-line games, and if this comes to the US, I might have to play it. Freaking AWESOME!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EljAdiTXpk

Holy damn. It's like you're in my brain. This, all of it, is EXACTLY what I've suspected ever since I learned that this game was originally intended to be an online experience. Suspicion turned into realization when I did a check-in here a few days ago after being away for so long to find... NO NEWS. NONE. The ambient occlusion thing... that not only doesn't count as news, but uhm, thinking about them even trying to pass it off as news makes me indescribably angry. It's ok... I'm ok. So yeah, your theory is my fear and suspicion as well - that EA never intended for this game to be a proper or full sequel and that they are now scrambling to turn it into one; all the while, attempting to keep up this illusion, with feigned confidence and excitement, that things are going totes awesome! I mean, still not even one single image of any other life-stage? That just screams, DID NOT EXPECT NEGATIVE REACTION! DID NOT PLAN TO HAVE TO IMPROVE! SCRAMBLE! SCRAMBLE! I don't even know what to expect anymore. Even if they....... whoa..... I..... wow....... I just thought about that ambient occlusion thing again and slipped into white-hot rage so intense that... that I went blind, deaf, and dumb for a little bit there. I didn't know where I was. I... I need to lie down for sec, guys...

What was the ambient occlusion thing? I must have missed news on that.



Considering it seems to have promises of no loading screens, a lot of NPCs who have better AI than the Sims 3 sims, a vast open world, weather in the base game, insanely cool customization tools, and other things... if this was a life simulator and not an MMO, I'd be like "EA who? Sims what?"

I'm honestly looking for a game that will replace the Sims franchise on my harddrive.

And I agree... I know more about this game in less than 24 hours than I do about Sims 4 currently.

^ Because EA's trying to sell you your own imagination of what the game will be like.

"Well, I loved 2, but 3 could have been better. 4 has a nice art style, so I'll give it a chance. I haven't seen much, I think it'll be great. I'll pre order now!"



*shudders*

Electronic Arts never fix this problem. Cross Eyed Problems. I hope this problem won't happen again on The Sims 4.



Picture: Jane's brother Jake...

We're always asking for physical disabilities and imperfections in the game. I love it when one of my sims ends up looking like something is wrong with them - for example someone who ages up but doesn't get the right body size. I let them stay in the game and adapt the story around them.