RL University vs Sims University
lewisb40:
I think the question may be misleading? The way I look at it, this is a game. Fantasy. Nothing about the game and it's EP's remotely favors "IRL".
Speaking of the frat/sorority system, it is all for networking and future "contacts" when you get to the top. Which in turn, once on top, you pull your brothers/sisters up with you. It's a flawed system, but once you grow up, in your future employment, you will see it's the American way!
My family (females) have a big name in the sorority circles, I always bucked the system. It did hurt me a little in my employment, but later I got back what was taken from me, jobwise. LOL! It was to teach me a lesson for going against the system.
abaris:
Quote from: beosboxboy;1002452
MaryH, one can only imagine the American mind that can call something completely unlike a thing by the name of a thing... calling the University EP the University EP is like preparng a roasted dog and calling it turkey and dressing
You have to take a look at the target audience of the game. It's not you or me, assuming we're both adults. It's the kiddies. In Europe the game hast a rating of 12+, probably because of the woohoo option. Otherwise it would be even lower. So you can't expect any realism. If it were for adults, the game wouldn't sell enough copies for the company to survive. But on the other hand we probably wouldn't see Sims break down in tears over a cockroach or a lost fight.
BeosBoxBoy:
abaris, I don't disagree with you about the manufacturer's target demographic, but I seriously doubt that the target demographic is solely what plays the games. The target demographic is 14-16 year old girls. An unknown quantity of housewives, men, college students, etc also buy and play these games, and EA/Maxis won't even admit these people exist in the customer base.
I have spent quite a considerable amount of time on the forums and BBS and it does seem that the teens stick out because they post excessively, but the adults are in the mix, so EA/Maxis really has no excuse for being so jejune in its content development.
It would behoove them to add more realism to the games to expand the target demographic, that would be business savvy... but we are discussing EA, so I guess we can count that out.
abaris:
Quote from: beosboxboy;1003739
It would behoove them to add more realism to the games to expand the target demographic, that would be business savvy... but we are discussing EA, so I guess we can count that out.
But they - and by they I mean most every game company - will never get that. They have their highly payed makebelieve experts telling them to get them as young as they come. And by the laws of many countries that means leaving out real life as much as possible. No violence, no nudity and I'm highly surprised, that they made gay relationships possible without getting into too much trouble with certain influencial US lobbies.
Molyneux made the same mistake with his movies. And it cost him dearly. His game flopped - and rightly so. He tried a hybrid between a tycoon game and a movie maker without taking into consideration, that he was aiming for totally different audiences without being able to satisfy even one of them. The outcome was childish in both aspects of the game. And to top things Activision has imposed a modding ban, thereby ruining every chance of making the game better.
The Sims on the other hand find their audience. For once there are the modders, who have been able to change the game experience into something entirely different. Even into an adult game if you so will.
But on the other hand, total realism would be dull to the extreme. I mean, what would you do, if you had to put your Sim through a realistic uni? Attending class and being as bored as most of us were IRL? They have to make certain concessions, but I could certainly do without the childish emotions. Sims could be a wee bit tougher, even more so, since I tend to play rather mean characters.
Benji82:
I don’t know. Would the actual university experience make for a good game? My experience was mostly a pattern of consume coffee, go to class, study, write, repeat. I had some fun too, certainly. In fact, I loved college, but studying was a lot of what I did, and watching your Sims study for 12 hours every day probably gets old pretty quick.
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