The Sims Online
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article may contain material discouraged by the guidelines for video game subjects, such as lists of minutiae or a detailed description of how to play a game. Please help by removing or rewriting content in an encyclopedic style. (April 2009) |
| The Sims Online | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Developer(s) | Maxis[1][2] |
| Publisher(s) | Electronic Arts |
| Series | The Sims |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows |
| Release date(s) | NA December 17, 2002 |
| Genre(s) | MMOG |
| Mode(s) | Multiplayer Online |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: T OFLC: E |
| Media | DVD, Digital Download |
| Input methods | Mouse/Keyboard |
EA-Land (formerly known as The Sims Online) was a massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) variation on Maxis' highly popular computer game The Sims. It was published by Electronic Arts and released on December 17, 2002 for Microsoft Windows. In March 2007, EA announced that the product would be re-branded as EA-Land and major enhancements would be made. About a year later, Electronic Arts announced the game would shut down all activity on August 1, 2008.[3]
Contents |
[edit] Name change and closure
When the product was re-branded as EA-Land, players were able to purchase properties and submit custom content, similar to Second Life. After stating that it would be rebranded and there would be many changes, it was then announced that it would be shut down weeks later. They referred to this day as the "EA Land Sunset." Maxis stated that the development team would be moving onto other projects. [3][4][5]
Since 2002, EA-Land / TSO has attracted a very special group of players and we certainly appreciate your participation in the community. The lifetime of the game has drawn to an end, and now we will be focusing on new ideas and other innovative concepts in the games arena. We would like to thank everyone who has taken part in this online community as a unique experience in the virtual world.|Electronic Arts|[5]}}
In March 2007, an Electronic Arts employee Luc Barthelet stopped by the official forums after years of ignoring the game. Luc had left The Sims Online production team after the game went live and hadn't contributed to the game environment until March 2007. After returning to development of The Sims Online, he assembled a team of seventeen people in order to continue development and updates to The Sims Online. Since the game has shut down, Luc has started his own company, and began developing a new MMO, codenamed TirNua. [6]
[edit] Gameplay
[edit] Cities
Before the production cities closed, there were thirteen cities in which players resided. These cities included: Mount Fuji, Calvin's Creek, Interhogan, East Jerome, Fancy Fields, Test Center, Blazing Falls, Alphaville, Dan's Grove, Jolly Pines, Dragon's Cove, Betaville, EA-Land, and Test Center 3.
Population sizes fluctuated, but for the most part Alphaville and Blazing Falls were the most populated towns with a big city feel. In contrast, cities such as Dan's Grove and Calvin's Creek had a more close-knit small-town feel. Mount Fuji was targeted at the Asian market, but it also had a small contingent of English-speaking citizens as well.
Four cities had special rules: Dragon's Cove was known as the "hardcore city," as there were a number of harder game objectives to consider when playing here. For example, a Sim would lose energy when traveling long distances, and the virtual costs for items were doubled. Betaville was a city that was created for the purpose of testing new features. A few of these features were the ability to create a family of up to four adult Sims, with adjustable free will levels; bills and a repo man; fires and firemen. Another was Test Center, where the player could never move out of the city. Test center sims also started with 3 times the start-up money of other cities.
Along with the announcement to rename The Sims Online to EA-Land came a city merge. At this point, all of the existing cities were merged into one megacity known as EA-Land. Test Center 3 became the city in which new items were tested before going live into EA-Land for the greater community.
[edit] Skills
Skills were an important aspect of gameplay. They were necessary for getting more money from paying objectives, doing well in the offered career tracks, and occasionally were needed for special interactions with other players, such as serenading. Skill could be increased at a faster rate when multiple Sims work on the same skill simultaneously.
The game had six core skills
- Mechanical
- Cooking
- Charisma
- Body
- Creativity
- Logic
A skill level for any of these skills was determined by how many skill "points" a Sim has. These points ranged in number from 0 to 20.99.
[edit] In-game employment
There were four official jobs available in The Sims Online:
- Restaurant
- Robot Factory
- DJ
- Dancing
The in-game jobs did not offer a large salary, causing many players to seek out other sources. Popular methods included opening item shops and offering services to users such as food and lodging.
While most Sims relied on group money objects for a living, there were still others who used non-interactive solo money objects. At many money houses in The Sims Online, owners of houses in the money category would offer an additional bonus paid by the owner or a roommate of the house for any player who completed a certain amount of these solo money objects. This bonus was offered as a way of deriving even more profit for players, as well as attracting good business for money category houses.
[edit] Custom content
A major update to the game was user custom content. Luc was also interested in any user-submitted ideas on how they could maintain a stable economy to negate the gains players made illegitimately through exploits.[7] Custom objects were enabled within TSO[when?], allowing players to upload .bmp and .jpg images as well as .iff files. The uploadable furniture was tiled tables, chairs, and single tiled sculptures or decorations, as part of the TSO-E project, led by Luc Barthelet.
[edit] Awards
- E3 2002 Game Critics Awards: Best Simulation Game
[edit] References
- ^ IGN: The Sims Online
- ^ The Sims Online for PC - The Sims Online PC Game - The Sims Online Computer Game
- ^ a b Terdiman, Daniel. "'EA Land' closing just weeks after debut". Crave. http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-9931757-1.html. Retrieved 2008-08-22.
- ^ Duncan Riley. "EA Turns The Sims Online Into Free EA-Land, Second Life Competitor". TechCrunch. http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/25/ea-turns-the-sims-online-into-free-ea-land-second-life-competitor/. Retrieved 2008-08-22.
- ^ a b Electronic Arts. "EA FAQ: What are the details of EA-Land's Sunset?". http://support.ea.com/cgi-bin/ea.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=19639. Retrieved 2008-08-22.
- ^ "TirNua developer bio for Luc Barthelet". Tirnua, Inc.. http://www.tirnua.com/site/team/luc.php. Retrieved 2008-09-19.
- ^ [1] Luc Barthelet message board post
[edit] External links
 |
Wikibooks has a book on the topic of |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
