Discussion about new ideas for economy

[Guest]

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but if you're going to be making stores much more valuable by making it a real job.. could you please take away the catalog from all other categories? make it so that only people that own stores have access to the catalog.. i think that's what will make it quite important, as well.

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No I don't think so, what is a house owner supposed to do if he needs something and not a single store is open (as has happened HOW many times that we've heard about on the boards) or there are stores open but the people running them are all AFK and either circumventing the timeout feature or just plain not paying attention to what the hell is going on? If it were set up where store owners could not hold their stores open afk, then maybe....until then I for one do not want to be forced to have to hand my simoleans over to someone who isn't even there to receive/earn them.

[/ QUOTE ]

this is why i think we need a merge. it would a whole new game. merge all the cities, only give the store owner's access to the catalog.. sounds perfect to me.

[/ QUOTE ]

Making it all one city would not help at this point during the US non-peak hours with the numbers as low as they are. Maybe if they were where they were 18 months ago, but not now. And that still does not take care of the afk store-owner problem. The one solution I can think of to that would be if the whole system was more interactive, so that the owner/roomies actually had to WAIT on customers, rather than being able to set out a lot full of merchandise and walk away or daydream while raking in the simoleans.

 

[Guest]

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but if you're going to be making stores much more valuable by making it a real job.. could you please take away the catalog from all other categories? make it so that only people that own stores have access to the catalog.. i think that's what will make it quite important, as well.

[/ QUOTE ]

No I don't think so, what is a house owner supposed to do if he needs something and not a single store is open (as has happened HOW many times that we've heard about on the boards) or there are stores open but the people running them are all AFK and either circumventing the timeout feature or just plain not paying attention to what the hell is going on? If it were set up where store owners could not hold their stores open afk, then maybe....until then I for one do not want to be forced to have to hand my simoleans over to someone who isn't even there to receive/earn them.

[/ QUOTE ]

Did you read Luc's blog yet?

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So there will be a lot of changes in this new city. The Maxis price of objects will vary daily, and the stores will be much more valuable than they are now. Being a store owner will be a real job, and some will become rich (or not).


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Sounds to me like he has plenty of ideas for a fresh change, maybe its best to keep an open mind and not base everything on how things currently work - in a brave new world, they may just work a little differently

Polly

 

[Guest]

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Obviously we will not be able to move there with what we have other places or the exploit money will corrupt that plan too.

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As far as that goes money trading would still make it possible for the exploit money to get into the city, just like the free 500k crafting money that was given to sims in TC got traded out into other cities even though you can't move a sim out of that city.

 

[MaxCTSO]

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Obviously we will not be able to move there with what we have other places or the exploit money will corrupt that plan too.

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As far as that goes money trading would still make it possible for the exploit money to get into the city, just like the free 500k crafting money that was given to sims in TC got traded out into other cities even though you can't move a sim out of that city.

[/ QUOTE ]
I'm confused on how that works ... No money from other cities will be able to get into a new city if no one can move into it.

 

[Guest]

The discussion here is great, but don't forget to register and post comments to Luc's blog !

 

[MaxCTSO]

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The discussion here is great, but don't forget to register and post comments to Luc's blog !

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Already tried that. My password was never sent to my email

 

[Guest]

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The discussion here is great, but don't forget to register and post comments to Luc's blog !

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Already tried that. My password was never sent to my email

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I'm glad to see I'm not the only one that's had a problem getting a password. It manages to send me a link to reset but the password itself never arrives.

 

[MaxCTSO]

Maybe he has to approve us first? I know he is done for the night so maybe he has to ok us before we can get our password?

 

[Guest]

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Maybe he has to approve us first? I know he is done for the night so maybe he has to ok us before we can get our password?

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I got my password e-mailed to me right away (about a half hour ago). Maybe depending on what type of mail service you use, there is a bit of a delay in mail delivery????

 

[MaxCTSO]

Yea maybe .. I use yahoo but usually when it tells me to check my email its there

 

[imported_TheCookieFamily]

Luc is it really YOU? If it is, it must be true that you are going to make some changes....I like the ideas that you've implemented into your blog. Will TSO see a revival soon? You think?

Oh and I know I said I wasn't going to post anymore but this was TOO awesome to pass up

 

[NightFlyer]

I got a password and logged in but can't leave a comment... go figure?

 

[Guest]

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I got a password and logged in but can't leave a comment... go figure?

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It seems to be either moderated, or a delay in the comment displaying. I've experienced the same thing.

I also got my password straight away, and that was about an hour ago.

 

[Guest]

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I got a password and logged in but can't leave a comment... go figure?

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I was actually just going to ask if it takes a while for comments to get posted. I thought I posted a couple but they haven't showed up. Maybe the comments are moderated?

edited to add: pffft....Milton answered my question before it was asked. Thanks!

 

[NightFlyer]

Thanks both.. I'll be patient and check back on it later. This new development is very exciting.

I, for one, will be looking forward to checking things out as they progress. Maybe TSO is on the upswing now? Time will tell.

 

[Guest]

Ok, it's not that I'm putting brakes on anything... here would be my questions regarding new cities.

1) What are your intentions of ridding the game of third party programs?

Surely you are aware that although the exploit did contribute to the problem with the economy it certainly is not a major part.

2) Will we be able to move our sims in and out of this city?
If so how will you keep the economy level in this city, if not, what do you plan on doing for older sims. So what would be my motivation as a player to have to reskill my sim with only 10 skill locks. Will I get my anniversary gifts when I'm in that city, my simmy the things I've worked for?

3) What would lead you to believe that the new city would be any different from former new cities such as BV and DC?

This is more for discussion... but yeah...

 

[Guest]

Cool, nice to see someone doing this.

Hmm...

While I'd certainly like to see some new stuff in the game, I don't nececcesarily think that new content will "save" the game.

I think your graphic about the chairs and the showers says it all: There's already a lot of content in the game, but no one wants to use it. They only want what they perceive as the best, and they define best by whatever gets you green the quickest. This is why most folks love the mystic trees, but despise a fun "just play with it" object like the campfires.

A dynamic economy will not solve this player mentality. Whatever work-around someone comes up with (such as the chair-out-front strategy in Dragon's Cove), or creative new idea someone dreams up (like whomever was the very first person to dream up paint poker), it's only a matter of time before everyone's copying everyone, and all the lots once again have the standard uniformity that this game has become notorious for.

Still, I think a dynamic economy would be an interesting gameplay feature to play around with.

On faucets and drains: Hmmm, don't forget that some of us are still in that 12% bracket of not having even 100k at our disposal. (Note to the "but you just won five mill" folks: That's not in AV, and I'm speaking as someone who only recently got such a huge amount who remebers what it was like before that). If you add too many new drains, you're going to wash away some players completely. You will loose the casual gamers in your customer base. Can you afford to do this?

Of course, I understand that you can't be all things to everyone (for when this is tried, one often winds up being nothing to no one, if you'll pardon the double negative), and must choose which segments of your customer base to focus on. Let's just say that I'm still disappointed after all these years that I maxed out a pizza skill with body 10, only to have you folks move the bar to 20. O.K., that's not a money drain...but it's still a time drain on those who chose to get to 20.

*sigh* I do not envy your task. Keep the game too simple, folks loose interest and call it boring. Make the game too difficult, and folks throw up their hands, say "this is too hard", and go play something else.

Personally, what I'D like to see out of the game...honestly, I can't tell you at this point. I think it's somehow lost its "Gee Wiz" appeal (and perhaps that is indeed due to lack of freshness and should be cured with new content). When it came out, TSO was one of only a few MMORPG's, and certainly about the only one that focused more on playing around with a bunch of avatars as opposed to a background environment for a combat-based game. Plus it was those wildy popular Sims...ONLINE!

Nothing, not even Will Wright jumping out of a cake, is gonna bring back the thrill of TSO when it was new. That's just human nature.

O.K., time-out for a five year anniversary object idea: The Magic Cake, which once a day has someone jump out of it, usually just a purple gorilla, but every now and then you might get Britney, Drew Cary, or even Will Wright. Depending on the star appeal of whomever jumps out, you get either an instant green, or all the way up to a free skill point.

Sorry, that last part was off on a tangent, but I had to get that down on paper while the thought was still fresh in my head.

 

[MaxCTSO]

Ok well I'm done with my yahoo email address The new Beta thing sucks anyways I made a hotmail account and got my password for the blog

 

[Guest]

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Ok, it's not that I'm putting brakes on anything... here would be my questions regarding new cities.

1) What are your intentions of ridding the game of third party programs?

Surely you are aware that although the exploit did contribute to the problem with the economy it certainly is not a major part.

2) Will we be able to move our sims in and out of this city?
If so how will you keep the economy level in this city, if not, what do you plan on doing for older sims. So what would be my motivation as a player to have to reskill my sim with only 10 skill locks. Will I get my anniversary gifts when I'm in that city, my simmy the things I've worked for?

3) What would lead you to believe that the new city would be any different from former new cities such as BV and DC?

This is more for discussion... but yeah...

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You should post them on the blog!

 

[Guest]

LOL it literally took me like an hour to post that... I'm still at work, 13 hours later, and multitasking ... I was like "Oh what am I doing in stratics" and hten remembered.

I'm sure people will bring up good points.

 

[Bryan-BF]

This is still a bit confusing. Why would we create a new city to start off with. I mean shouldn't we learn from the mistakes that happened with DC. I think if there was a new city we should be able to move our sims but have a cash limit of say 100k. Cause I think if there was not a sim move some then some people wouldn't even want to recreate by having to delete an older sim. Another thing, why all of a sudden does someone from Maxis come outta hiding and decided for a change and what sparked the idea of it. It all just seems a little werid and I'm a bit confused. heh.

 

[oXTheSicknessXo]

Why does Luc have to look up himself on Google to find himself his pic?

If this is really is luc, I will be the happiest player of TSO. We do not need another city. Another city means a big waste of time worked on. We need new items, animations, etc. Not cities! Something different also! Theres a hole lot of stuff you could do with this game. Its just Maxis/EA isnt digging hard enough!

Also, Why keep TSO only in the USA and Canada?! Stop being so lazy and ship out copies of tso to europa, asia, AUSTRAILIA, South america! Holllyyy... You know how much people that would get you ? Thats how other games like WoW and Habbo Hotel get so damn popular! I'm sorry if im being hard on EA/Maxis/Luc but its the truth!

 

[MaxCTSO]

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I'm taking Parizad and Milton's word for it that he is real.

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We checked with Payroll.

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Well Milton and Parizad checked so it should be him .. And we are getting a new city because they cant use the ones with exploit money in them .. And they will test stuff here that can later be used to help the other cities

 

[Guest]

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And we are getting a new city because they cant use the ones with exploit money in them ..

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Yes, that is one major reason for using a new city.

My guess is also that it is easier to use another completely different server for an experimental city. It sounds like the differences will be much bigger than those between DC and the regular cities. The key word here is "experimental" as in TSO-Experimental.

 

[Monkeybear]

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Why does Luc have to look up himself on Google to find himself his pic?

If this is really is luc, I will be the happiest player of TSO. We do not need another city. Another city means a big waste of time worked on. We need new items, animations, etc. Not cities! Something different also! Theres a hole lot of stuff you could do with this game. Its just Maxis/EA isnt digging hard enough!

Also, Why keep TSO only in the USA and Canada?! Stop being so lazy and ship out copies of tso to europa, asia, AUSTRAILIA, South america! Holllyyy... You know how much people that would get you ? Thats how other games like WoW and Habbo Hotel get so damn popular! I'm sorry if im being hard on EA/Maxis/Luc but its the truth!

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Habbo isn't a game you buy it's free and uses the internet browser, you can log onto in from anywhere. [ I used to play it a lot ]

 

[oXTheSicknessXo]

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Why does Luc have to look up himself on Google to find himself his pic?

If this is really is luc, I will be the happiest player of TSO. We do not need another city. Another city means a big waste of time worked on. We need new items, animations, etc. Not cities! Something different also! Theres a hole lot of stuff you could do with this game. Its just Maxis/EA isnt digging hard enough!

Also, Why keep TSO only in the USA and Canada?! Stop being so lazy and ship out copies of tso to europa, asia, AUSTRAILIA, South america! Holllyyy... You know how much people that would get you ? Thats how other games like WoW and Habbo Hotel get so damn popular! I'm sorry if im being hard on EA/Maxis/Luc but its the truth!

[/ QUOTE ]

Habbo isn't a game you buy it's free and uses the internet browser, you can log onto in from anywhere. [ I used to play it a lot ]

[/ QUOTE ]

okay everquest then.

 

[trevor57]

im starting to think this is all fake, and parizad + the mods are just in on it to keep people paying and maybe get some people to register again. i don't knwo if i really believe this is a dev for maxis...

sorry if i'm wrong.

 

[imported_Gracie Nito]

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And we are getting a new city because they cant use the ones with exploit money in them ..

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Yes, that is one major reason for using a new city.

My guess is also that it is easier to use another completely different server for an experimental city. It sounds like the differences will be much bigger than those between DC and the regular cities. The key word here is "experimental" as in TSO-Experimental.

[/ QUOTE ]

Betaville was an experimental city. I'm not quite sure what Dragon's Cove was but it turned into a failed experiment as well. Why can't they just use Test Center? Isn't that what it was created for? Testing and experimenting?

 

[Guest]

Maybe because there is exploit money in Test Center too.

I think for the kind of changes he is talking they need every sim there to start fresh. I hope if that's the case they give us a new slot. I would hate to have to delete a four year old sim to try it.

 

[oXTheSicknessXo]

whats this whole exploit thing going around about?

 

[trevor57]

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Maybe because there is exploit money in Test Center too.

I think for the kind of changes he is talking they need every sim there to start fresh. I hope if that's the case they give us a new slot. I would hate to have to delete a four year old sim to try it.

[/ QUOTE ]

they should wipe it then. they always said residents of TC should not make it a permanent home and should be prepared for frequent wipes + other experiments. doesn't it say that when you make a sim there?

 

[Monkeybear]

It was a money exploit that gave you cash. It's fixed now though. It can still be done in BV thought

 

[Bryan-BF]

Yeah I agree with Trevor. I just don't get this it's a bit confusing. I just won't believe it til I see it in stone. Just a new city wouldn't bring the population back that much. Maybe just the people here and by word but by taking TSO off the shelves limits the new people coming in. If EA/Maxis would do some updates, some advertisment mentioning a free trial and release it Global it would be a big hit. I see it all going back down hill once everyone gets burnt out on the new city. It's hard to stay into a online game without new content and the only Simmers left are the ones that are here due to close friendships. So I think this is something to really think on.

 

[Guest]

HaHaHaHaHaHaHaHA!!!

And WHEN was the last time you were in TC?

For the ...5 of you who play TC regurly, you'd noticed it has been, and, always will be, clean. I bought a Cannon ( Lot reasons) For 1 MIL! The highest price for cakes is 500k, Tables are &gt;1 Mil and I just sent a in-game PM to him, asking him, BEGGING HIM (and thanking him) to use Tc, it's clean, nice people, and my forever home (well, R.I.P. T-man [Don't ask]) and the'll need to kill me before TC is Deleted!

 

[Guest]

What would be the point of that, you can't move anything out of there?

j/w

 

[trevor57]

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What would be the point of that, you can't move anything out of there?

j/w

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i mean if they're wanting to test something in there. like completely from scratch or something. they shouldn't have to make a new test center wehn we have a test center that we can use..

 

[Guest]

But I think this is a something separate. If they totally wipe TC to test it there they would have to totally wipe the other cities to bring it to them after the testing.

 

[trevor57]

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But I think this is a something separate. If they totally wipe TC to test it there they would have to totally wipe the other cities to bring it to them after the testing.

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well, tc's economy has always been different.. sicne they got like the 500k that one time and just other stuff... starting funds are more, etc.

 

[mike1977]

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Maybe because there is exploit money in Test Center too.

I think for the kind of changes he is talking they need every sim there to start fresh. I hope if that's the case they give us a new slot. I would hate to have to delete a four year old sim to try it.

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Yeah, I wish they had put in a special slot for Dragon's Cove.

 

[Bryan-BF]

Well, if it is going to be as big as they say it will be why would you wanna move out? I mean if the city is packed and such a great city why move out?

 

[Bunny Rabbit]

I'm just excited to know there is a real life actual developer working on the game. For me, whatever comes of it will be better than the Nothing EA has been doing for the past year (respectfully omitting Parizad from that phrase--its apparent she works hard for us).
I'm looking forward to a new city because it would bring about a best of both worlds senario for those that wish a wipe, and those who do not. No one need get all their hard work wiped out -- and, those who want the fresh new, exploit free atmosphere get that, too. I don't think it can be any other way--the other way would be some kind of wipe where everyone must compromise and neither is really happy about it.

 

[Guest]

I could be wrong here, but until I see a VIP shield (or one close) then this is a hoax.


If anyone working at Maxis/EA was posting, they would have a shield. He doesn't have one. Anyone can register the name, and start a thread like this. So....post with some proof, and I'm all for you.


I think we're all going for this guy because we've been pulling at straws here the last 10 months of horrible communication, and virtually no updates.

 

[Guest]

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I could be wrong here, but until I see a VIP shield (or one close) then this is a hoax.


If anyone working at Maxis/EA was posting, they would have a shield. He doesn't have one. Anyone can register the name, and start a thread like this. So....post with some proof, and I'm all for you.


I think we're all going for this guy because we've been pulling at straws here the last 10 months of horrible communication, and virtually no updates.

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If this were a hoax, do you think Parizad would have said "OMG, it's really him."??

If he were impersonating an EA employee, don't you think this thread would have been removed by now??

 

[Guest]

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I'm taking Parizad and Milton's word for it that he is real.

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We checked with Payroll.

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Well Milton and Parizad checked so it should be him ..

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Actually, Gilly checked him out before I did. I was stuck in the basement and didn't hear what was going on until someone brought their trash down to the dumpster.
While I was at Payroll asking about my paycheck (again!), I asked about Luc.

*Everyone knows I don't actually have access to EA's Payroll Department, right?*

 

[imported_DutchAmerica]

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I could be wrong here, but until I see a VIP shield (or one close) then this is a hoax.


If anyone working at Maxis/EA was posting, they would have a shield. He doesn't have one. Anyone can register the name, and start a thread like this. So....post with some proof, and I'm all for you.


I think we're all going for this guy because we've been pulling at straws here the last 10 months of horrible communication, and virtually no updates.

[/ QUOTE ]

If this were a hoax, do you think Parizad would have said "OMG, it's really him."??

If he were impersonating an EA employee, don't you think this thread would have been removed by now??

[/ QUOTE ]

I have to admit I raised my eyebrows and shook my head when he came running into our crowded cooking house last night saying who he was and about his website. He also stated something about a new city coming. A new site.

SCAMMER came to mind when he started talking about a new website and how they already had our 'codes or whatever' and all we needed to do was go sign in. The house was way to busy and laggy, there wasn't any way I could report him though I really wanted to.

I'm thinking to myself....well, he didn't directly ask us for our passwords but now we go to their website, try to log in and BAM they got our passwords.

Now if this is a true EA Rep. acting in an EA approved method there should be something on his sim page that denotes that. Instead of a founder flag, he should have a tso or ea icon there so that we know he isn't a scammer.

Even here as pointed out, he has no official seal so this could still be the hoax/scam of the century.

HELP!! How do we know for certain that he is who he says he is.

 

[Purple Tigerlily]

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I could be wrong here, but until I see a VIP shield (or one close) then this is a hoax.


If anyone working at Maxis/EA was posting, they would have a shield. He doesn't have one. Anyone can register the name, and start a thread like this. So....post with some proof, and I'm all for you.


[/ QUOTE ]

We're working on a shield. He is who he says he is. Ever think he might not want a shield? He's said that he wants to keep all this discussion on the TSO blog. You are all much more likely to get a response from him there than you are here.

If I were him, I wouldn't want to have to drudge through all this chatter and questioning and rudeness to find anything noteworthy. (That's Parizad's job.) I'd want it all on a blog that I controlled so I could weed out the people who weren't serious about wanting to share their thoughts.

He's legit. Please go sign up for his blog at

http://www.tso-e.com/blog/ and tell him your thoughts!

Come on guys, really. We finally have someone who's trying to do something for us and he's only asking that we keep all the information where it's easily accessible to him. Can't you just humor him at least?

 

[imported_DutchAmerica]

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Come on guys, really. We finally have someone who's trying to do something for us and he's only asking that we keep all the information where it's easily accessible to him. Can't you just humor him at least?

[/ QUOTE ]

Ok but be fair to those of us who have seen scammers &amp; con artists come and go.

A stranger that comes running in your house, spouting off a bunch of spam doesn't necessarily create a ton of confidence to the general public.

I have gone and signed up for his blog thing.

Now I only hope one thing though. I hope that he doesn't pull posters from here so that we end up deserted on these forums.

Another thing. IF they were to created a new city for the purpose of 'draining' the economy. The only way I could see it being successful is if EA promised to keep it updated. I would not voluntarily uproot my sims just to have to start my friend webs, jobs and such over just to have the same old sofas and crap there that we have now.

 

[Elizabeth Z]

Personally your comments are the reason I think alot don't post anymore. Why don't we have the right to question him? I don't know him. I certainly never really played in AV and until yesterday I'd never heard of him. So I don't think its rude of people to be skeptical. It's a thought process I had myself reading this thread. Only I've kept quiet and chose to just read and see what comes of it.

Oh and guess what I'm STILL skeptical. And not to be rude but "Show me the money baby!" Meaning show me you ARE going to do something to make changes and then I'll be a believer .

Liz.

 

[Purple Tigerlily]

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Ok but be fair to those of us who have seen scammers &amp; con artists come and go.

A stranger that comes running in your house, spouting off a bunch of spam doesn't necessarily create a ton of confidence to the general public.


[/ QUOTE ]

I know. I've been around and seen more than my share of scammers. But the TSO Official Forum Staff are all telling you, as well as an official EA employee, that this guy is who he says he is.

So, all of you can rest assured now that we have that part cleared up, and we can go to http://www.tso-e.com/blog/ and tell him what we think!

 

[Purple Tigerlily]

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Personally your comments are the reason I think alot don't post anymore. Why don't we have the right to question him? I don't know him. I certainly never really played in AV and until yesterday I'd never heard of him. So I don't think its rude of people to be skeptical. It's a thought process I had myself reading this thread. Only I've kept quiet and chose to just read and see what comes of it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Who'd a thunk that my comments ran people off?

I never said you don't have a right to question him. Everyone's questioned him, we've verified who he is and we're telling you YES! This is Luc! And he CARES about TSO!

I'm a long time player. Like... nearly 4 years. Honestly, I'm not sitting here holding my breath waiting for miracles that TSO is somehow going to magically be fixed in a few short months. No game is ever "fixed." But to have someone here in an official capacity who has developed and created TSO from it's infancy and is now back on the team, I'm hopeful! If nothing else, we know we haven't been forgotten.

I understand where you all are coming from, I really do. I'm just telling you that Luc is who he says he is. If you can't trust me, trust Parizad.

Edited to add: Brekkee will be giving him a shield and a fancy title. I'm guessing that's she's still asleep (if she's lucky) and will get to it as soon as she can. Until then, the man's getting a shield today. Everyone can relax now.