Discouraged with Woodworking Hobby

[blackbrit]

I am very discouraged with woodworking. It was my primary hobby, in part because my dad was always making stuff in the garage and I loved to watch. Add to that the bonuses and the easiness of leveling up, and it was a genius idea for a hobby. Now, it's just work. If you spend an hour (or a few) doing the hobby and never complete the grid, you feel like you've wasted your time. I still have a couple of sims who are doing this hobby, but it's not the same.

But I'm also discouraged about a lot of this update. Why can't the seniors use the woodworking bench, or fish, or do some of the old jobs? (And why can't the teens have internships?) The "have birthday" button is driving me insane and cost me a ton of LPs to recover lost time on goals and the quests. Why must the tasks for the quests be longer than we're given? What's with the long hobby times? It's bad enough that they have insulting stereotype (for lack of better term) seniors, but then to make their ONLY hobby one that puts their fragile persons out in the cold for so long? (Breathe, breathe...) When I had to put my senior on the day and half bird watching in the park, I cried, tears.
I would never do that to my grandparents, or to any elder. What is this teaching the young players? I was so heartbroken that I had one of my teens (the only sims in the game with a long enough task) "hang out" with the old fellow the whole time. They both seemed depressed. I almost quit the game right then and there. The entire bird feeding hobby feels just as heart breaking. Even if I get rid of my senior, there are still so many new negative elements with this update, and how EA is treating us as players, that I question whether its worth continuing.

One thing is for certain, I am no longer addicted to the game.

SIMazing, you highlight some things here that weren't as evident to me until you wrote them down. I, too, have an emotional attachment, in a sense, to the hobbies, woodworking in particular, in my case, also through my father. I am now more aware of the personal storyline for each of the hobbies that drew me in and made me really WANT to hobby at 4 minute intervals whenever possible. In each case, it was something personal.

And the elders are personal.

The genius of the game is we are invited to bring ourselves to the gameplay in the choices we make. It's a large part of the fun. EA and FM know this; this is how they are making money on the game. However, when we are then invited to treat the elders in disrespectful ways in order to play the game, or when we are invited to invest psychologically in the hobbies, and then EA renders hobbies virtually useless for gameplay - well, that creates a problem for players, doesn't it?

If the hobby never was fun, it wouldn't be a problem; I would not associated the woodworking hobby with my father. We would play the game, and think of the game differently as a result. The problem occurs when they remove previous "fun," or richer storyline content. I'm thinking of the elders here. I was excited about them, and created them as my town founders. Elder Sim Madame Eden, and her husband Abraham are looking askance at the game they were brought into.

[SheilaB]

where do i go to add my signature

Tap on user control panel, then profile and edit signature.

ucp.php?i=profile&mode=signature

[Itisjustme]

thanks I found it it took awhile to figure out

[SeekerDraconis]

SIMazing, you highlight some things here that weren't as evident to me until you wrote them down. I, too, have an emotional attachment, in a sense, to the hobbies, woodworking in particular, in my case, also through my father. I am now more aware of the personal storyline for each of the hobbies that drew me in and made me really WANT to hobby at 4 minute intervals whenever possible. In each case, it was something personal.

And the elders are personal.

The genius of the game is we are invited to bring ourselves to the gameplay in the choices we make. It's a large part of the fun. EA and FM know this; this is how they are making money on the game. However, when we are then invited to treat the elders in disrespectful ways in order to play the game, or when we are invited to invest psychologically in the hobbies, and then EA renders hobbies virtually useless for gameplay - well, that creates a problem for players, doesn't it?

If the hobby never was fun, it wouldn't be a problem; I would not associated the woodworking hobby with my father. We would play the game, and think of the game differently as a result. The problem occurs when they remove previous "fun," or richer storyline content. I'm thinking of the elders here. I was excited about them, and created them as my town founders. Elder Sim Madame Eden, and her husband Abraham are looking askance at the game they were brought into.

Thank you Blackbrit and SIMazing for putting into words how I have been feeling lately about the Sims FreePlay. Emotional and psychological attachment or the lack there of. This why I have been feeling so discouraged and frustrated with the game lately. To me SFP used to be the BEST game out there, I once loved this game.

My dad too used to do woodworking in our garage and I used to hang out there with him handing him the tools he needed. My grandfather was a carpenter. I mentioned in another post what a powerhouse my grandmother was. They are all gone now. So yes for me there is an emotional investment in this game because some of my Sims represent people from my life and therefore for this reason in the past I chose to spend a lot of money in this game. But I just don't feel that way anymore because I am no longer emotionally invested in this game. Actually I've been combing Google Play for another game that I can become obsessed about. I miss that...

[bloodcool]

SIMazing, you highlight some things here that weren't as evident to me until you wrote them down. I, too, have an emotional attachment, in a sense, to the hobbies, woodworking in particular, in my case, also through my father. I am now more aware of the personal storyline for each of the hobbies that drew me in and made me really WANT to hobby at 4 minute intervals whenever possible. In each case, it was something personal.

And the elders are personal.

The genius of the game is we are invited to bring ourselves to the gameplay in the choices we make. It's a large part of the fun. EA and FM know this; this is how they are making money on the game. However, when we are then invited to treat the elders in disrespectful ways in order to play the game, or when we are invited to invest psychologically in the hobbies, and then EA renders hobbies virtually useless for gameplay - well, that creates a problem for players, doesn't it?

If the hobby never was fun, it wouldn't be a problem; I would not associated the woodworking hobby with my father. We would play the game, and think of the game differently as a result. The problem occurs when they remove previous "fun," or richer storyline content. I'm thinking of the elders here. I was excited about them, and created them as my town founders. Elder Sim Madame Eden, and her husband Abraham are looking askance at the game they were brought into.

Thank you Blackbrit and SIMazing for putting into words how I have been feeling lately about the Sims FreePlay. Emotional and psychological attachment or the lack there of. This why I have been feeling so discouraged and frustrated with the game lately. To me SFP used to be the BEST game out there, I once loved this game.

My dad too used to do woodworking in our garage and I used to hang out there with him handing him the tools he needed. My grandfather was a carpenter. I mentioned in another post what a powerhouse my grandmother was. They are all gone now. So yes for me there is an emotional investment in this game because some of my Sims represent people from my life and therefore for this reason in the past I chose to spend a lot of money in this game. But I just don't feel that way anymore because I am no longer emotionally invested in this game. Actually I've been combing Google Play for another game that I can become obsessed about. I miss that...

i downloaded a game modern cmd, but damn its from EA too... so its still about in-app purchase...

[SeekerDraconis]

i downloaded a game modern cmd, but damn its from EA too... so its still about in-app purchase...

That's the frustration and challenge, finding a game that doesn't make you feel as if you are being forced to make in app purchases. I understand that the developers need to make a profit and I don't mind making in-app purchases but as a consumer I do not want to feel like I am being forced to do so. Don't developers understand that it sucks all the pleasure out of the game when they do that? And I thought I found that perfect game with the Sims FreePlay but unfortunately it no longer seems that way. So I am still looking for that elusive game that will keep me playing for hours and hours... and still hoping that SFP will go back to being the BEST app game out there again .... they did such a good job with the Christmas update. *sigh*

[hiser1974]

Blackbrit, SIMazing and SeekerDraconis, your posts sum up my feelings about SFP lately.

I think the problem with most mobile games nowadays is that they are all about in-app purchases and most off them are designed so that they basically force the player to pay. I tried many and SFP was the first where I didn't have that feeling. I could just play for hours without getting bored because I had to wait for something to finish.
And now it looks like that has changed.

I think that because SFP is a game people can get emotionally attached to, people are inclined to spend more money on it than other games where that isn't the case. So I think it is unnecessary to push in-app purchase as hard as they have being doing lately. People buy stuff for their sims because those sims mean something to them, not just to make progress.

I'm thinking of just letting FM keep their special quests and just play the game how I want it with my own challenges/goals.
So basically ignore FM and see if I focus on other things instead of letting me being pushed in the ratrace FM is making of this game if I can get as hooked as before.

[bloodcool]

i downloaded a game modern cmd, but damn its from EA too... so its still about in-app purchase...

That's the frustration and challenge, finding a game that doesn't make you feel as if you are being forced to make in app purchases. I understand that the developers need to make a profit and I don't mind making in-app purchases but as a consumer I do not want to feel like I am being forced to do so. Don't developers understand that it sucks all the pleasure out of the game when they do that? And I thought I found that perfect game with the Sims FreePlay but unfortunately it no longer seems that way. So I am still looking for that elusive game that will keep me playing for hours and hours... and still hoping that SFP will go back to being the BEST app game out there again .... they did such a good job with the Christmas update. *sigh*

I've resisted from buying any app or make any in-app purchase ever since switching to smartphone because I don't want to be tied down to a particular platform due to purchased app.

And I found that you can't progress much on most of the free games out there... I used to play contract killer and was able to afford one of the most powerful weapon using the in-game currency without spending real $$$, I got really far into the game but 1 update that introduced new way of game play (which is good) that, unless i have superb skills, compels me to either quit or spend real $ to get a better upgrade.

Then I found SFP, when it launched, though that buy R.C. boat for 50LP goal was one of the hardest one (and it unskipp-able), it was playable and I managed to hit max level (30 that time). A switch to Android compels to me to restart entirely which I was very reluctant to do, so i went into hiatus. Played several other games, but none of them get me hooked... So i eventually went back to download the Android version and restarted SFP totally...

Was quite fond of those time-limited quests because it gave me some form of purposes in pursuing the mission, nevermind that it does not reward free item after completion, at least it unlocked special item and remains in my game... Until the recent senior quest, where either to spend an hefty sum of LP to achieve it or mess up my body clock to attend to the game. Hello, I played the game, not the game played me.

Anyhow, the game is heading the direction in full force, whereby 1 day, its probably impossible to play on with the game without real $, especially for new players.

[mommacude]

I sure wish I'd started sooner. I don't mind paying ocassionally to help devrkoprrs, but shoukcbg have to do regularly.

[LucyBoots]

in app purchases are now showing up in most console games to...spend 60 on a game only to have to by iap or the game is limited...now that is not okay