Free Accounts & Top Houses

[Guest]

Has anyone noticed the hours that the top stores have? Almost 322 hours??? I seen a store go from bottom of the list to the top 10 over night? They had 29/30 people all day yesterday. Most of course were their free accounts with 0 days as their age. I think we should do away with free accounts & also with the players with multiple accounts just using their sims to get to the top. It's just not stores either. But really, who stays in a store for 322 hours? Or even 15 hours for that matter. I just think if you have to cheat to get to the top... why play the game? I think the free accounts need to go. I also think that these top houses need to be looked at and to see exactly why the hours are so high.

 

[jackdoe]

Players need to get money any way they can now , so wanting to get your house into the top 10 for the extra cash is not a bad thing...

And do away with free players ?? well seeing as alot of the paying players are talking of quitting and going free, i guess its gonna be pretty empty soon....

 

[Monkeybear]

<blockquote><hr>

Players need to get money any way they can now , so wanting to get your house into the top 10 for the extra cash is not a bad thing...

And do away with free players ?? well seeing as alot of the paying players are talking of quitting and going free, i guess its gonna be pretty empty soon....

[/ QUOTE ]

There are no house bonuses

 

[jackdoe]

<blockquote><hr>

<blockquote><hr>

Players need to get money any way they can now , so wanting to get your house into the top 10 for the extra cash is not a bad thing...

And do away with free players ?? well seeing as alot of the paying players are talking of quitting and going free, i guess its gonna be pretty empty soon....

[/ QUOTE ]

There are no house bonuses

[/ QUOTE ]

Well then i guess there goes another way of making any cash in the game...

 

[Guest]

<blockquote><hr>

Has anyone noticed the hours that the top stores have? Almost 322 hours??? I seen a store go from bottom of the list to the top 10 over night? They had 29/30 people all day yesterday. Most of course were their free accounts with 0 days as their age.

[/ QUOTE ]

As if anyone who has been here a while didn't see that coming.

Free accounts aren't a bad thing overall, and might well encourage a number of people back into the game - however it's the abuse of them in the way that you're mentioning that is clearly now a problem.

 

[Guest]

Maybe no bonus BUT more traffic when they are cheating thier way to the top correct?

 

[Monkeybear]

How about making them so they don't contribute to hours.

 

[imported_MattelMichele]

I agree. I loathe those stores with multiple afk sitters! Not because they essentially cheat their way to the top, but because i can't order a darn thing when i visit.

I often visit the stores that i know will have someone there. Hell i'll even message them prior to visiting to make sure someone is there, and if not i just don't go there.

However, there are times when i don't need a live person &amp; just want to browse, then and only then will i visit those stores notorius for afking.

But what's up with more than 1 afker, this does need to be stopped.

 

[Guest]

<blockquote><hr>

How about making them so they don't contribute to hours.

[/ QUOTE ]

Good idea!

 

[Guest]

has it occured that maybe they are offering what people want? and at the time people are playing? Maybe that is why there are 30+ people in the house all the time.

Then again think about the expenses they have feeding all those 30+ people and repairing all the items that break due to use.

Being in the top 10 is actually costing them money, and saving you money

 

[Guest]

Well when you go into a store, and all of those people are "hiding". They aren't losing their green so they don't have to feed them or green them or anything. It's not costing them a thing.

 

[Guest]

ahhhh yes but that is a store... the title and discussion was "Top Houses" which would include all house such as skill and money.

And ifwe are going to just pick on the store lots, there is a quick remedy for this.... DON'T SHOP THERE!

 

[Guest]

<blockquote><hr>

has it occured that maybe they are offering what people want? and at the time people are playing? Maybe that is why there are 30+ people in the house all the time.

[/ QUOTE ]Not when those 30+ people are all zombie alts of the house owner cheating.

Let's look at this logically. In the old small cities, you are right it was often difficult to find any store open at odd hours - let alone a store that sold what you wanted. But now it's one big city, with loads of people online all the time, I can't honestly see any good reason for one store to cheat to stay open 24 hours (apart from greed and profit) when there are probably plenty of other stores that could be open, playing honestly, giving a personal service instead of an afk one.

 

[Guest]

offering me what i need by making multiple free account to steal visitor hours from stores that actually WORK to make it on the list????? You can't be serious?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

 

[Guest]

Keep in mind that free accounts cannot go to skill or money houses.

 

[Guest]

Of course we won't shop there but is that oing to help?? Heck NO! Cheaters getting rewarded makes no sense as all....... heck why don't we just give ALL scammers a reward, a black n white striped simmie perhaps??

 

[Guest]

If you read my statement it was about HOUSES... not stores, HOUSES... as in all of them... the topic is TOP HOUSES... not top stores.

and as i said before if you are upset about stores with afk sims, don't shop there

 

[Guest]

*waits for the botters comments to begin*

 

[nodgree]

There is "One" store in particular that I see this happening in. The funny thing is, all the free sims they have on the lot lag everything so much that it takes me nearly 3 minutes just to land there.

 

[NightFlyer]

TTL

As I stated in another thread all they need to do is disable hide and seek from store lots to combat this for the most part. Seems simple enough to me.

As for the other houses the only time I see hide and seek actually being used for anything is money lots when a team is green and waiting for everyone to finish.

BTW free accounts are being seen in skill lots as well as money lots now.

 

[imported_Qute Pi]

<blockquote><hr>

How about making them so they don't contribute to hours.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think thats a good idea for free accounts. Especially since additional accounts have been a point of controversy for many years. Not allowing free just makes it fair.

 

[Guest]

I personally have 2 accounts that I pay for monthy. Those hours should be allowed to count because we pay for them. Free Accounts? Should not be allowed to skill, make money (I was working at the bot factory on level 1 and had 5 free accounts there working with me), or count towards visitor hours. They are a non-paying account. There should be no benefits of them being on your lot.

 

[imported_Qute Pi]

I pay for more than one account also, but I never use them to gain visitor hours. Even so I'm not saying its right or wrong, but to me regardless its unfair. However I won't fight a losing battle.

I do believe tho, that free accounts should not help with visitor time.

Till you mentioned the robot factory I didn't think much of it. The devs mentioned free accounts being able to help but won't make money, which I thought was cool. But they didn't mention that if all the accounts are your own you could potentially make more money in a work day, because you can get through more robots.

I think no matter what the situation someone will figure out a way to take advantage of the system. I guess we have to pick and choose our battles...

 

[Paula777]

__________________________________________________________________
Most of course were their free accounts with 0 days as their age. I think we should do away with free accounts &amp; also with the players with multiple accounts just using their sims to get to the top.
__________________________________________________________________

If you also mean multiple subscribing accounts, I say they can put them wherever they like. If they put that much more in the game than others, they deserve top of the list.

 

[donnallg]

What reward are they getting? The Visitor hours mean nothing now that the bonuses are gone.

You don't always have to use the list to find houses.

I think the list should consist of only open houses myself for those that like to use the list in finding a house to go to.

Maybe someone could suggest this and we might see it later on in the game.

 

[imported_Qute Pi]

<blockquote><hr>

What reward are they getting? The Visitor hours mean nothing now that the bonuses are gone.

You don't always have to use the list to find houses.

I think the list should consist of only open houses myself for those that like to use the list in finding a house to go to.

Maybe someone could suggest this and we might see it later on in the game.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think any house in the top 9 of any category will have more traffic than the others.

 

[donnallg]

<blockquote><hr>

I personally have 2 accounts that I pay for monthy. Those hours should be allowed to count because we pay for them. Free Accounts? Should not be allowed to skill, make money (I was working at the bot factory on level 1 and had 5 free accounts there working with me), or count towards visitor hours. They are a non-paying account. There should be no benefits of them being on your lot.

[/ QUOTE ]

I thought that free accounts were not allow to make money at jobs? I was working with a girl that is a paying player but her time code was not processed yet. She said she was only there to help because she wasn't getting paid to work because of this, the game thinking she was a free player.

So I believe they are allow to go to the jobs just not earn money from them. As far as the skilling and money lots, I have no clue.

 

[Paula777]

Yes I tend to hop the list down, especially shopping...

 

[calvinscreeksim]

<blockquote><hr>

What reward are they getting? The Visitor hours mean nothing now that the bonuses are gone.

You don't always have to use the list to find houses.

I think the list should consist of only open houses myself for those that like to use the list in finding a house to go to.

Maybe someone could suggest this and we might see it later on in the game.


[/ QUOTE ]

I think the only reward they get is knowing that they can pwn all others in AFK status (when dealing with stores). Its nothing more than a personal greed per se of wanting to be #1, wanting to be a 'somebody', and wanting to show up others and the only way to do that is to take the easy route (free accounts) and just have them there umpteen hours of the day. They make money from their items so obviously the visitor bonus means nothing.

I do agree with a list of just open houses but my opinion on this is why not introduce a system that includes places in a list organized alphabetically or something other than hours open. I mean thats a rough sketch but possibly being able to search through a list of houses of any category so that there is no bias would be my opinion of a possible solution.

but going with the rest of the thread I definately think, IMO, if visitor hours are axed I don't see how it could create a problem since people could still AFK if they wanted to 'provide their service' and other places would be given equal opportunity to provide their homes for the public like the new players buying a lot.

 

[Caesar Weezer]

Here's a fun game.

When you go to a store, try and find all the people that are hiding. If you do, they loose their green and die.

 

[calvinscreeksim]

<blockquote><hr>

Here's a fun game.

When you go to a store, try and find all the people that are hiding. If you do, they loose their green and die.

[/ QUOTE ]

Heres a fun game as well, they hide in coded rooms so guess the 1-9 digit code they use...and if its not a coded leave and find one that does since you will not be able to get to those 25 hidden sims.

 

[Guest]

OMG that's a great idea. Plus, the longer they are dead, their skills will go away. That would teach them a thing or two... lol

 

[Paula777]

LOL they might just disappoint you guys by hiding behind a door that was set on special permissions...

 

[calvinscreeksim]

<blockquote><hr>

Heres a fun game as well, they hide in coded rooms so guess the 1-9 digit code they use...and if its not a coded leave and find one that does since you will not be able to get to those 25 hidden sims. <blockquote><hr>

LOL they might just disappoint you guys by hiding behind a door that was set on special permissions...

[/ QUOTE ]

[/ QUOTE ]

devaju

 

[Guest]

<blockquote><hr>

I think the only reward they get is knowing that they can pwn all others in AFK status (when dealing with stores). Its nothing more than a personal greed per se of wanting to be #1, wanting to be a 'somebody', and wanting to show up others and the only way to do that is to take the easy route (free accounts) and just have them there umpteen hours of the day. They make money from their items so obviously the visitor bonus means nothing.

[/ QUOTE ]If achieving something in a game by cheating is their idea of success, I feel sorry for them if their life is that pitiful.

 

[Paula777]

yep sry lol, didn't mean to copy.. didn't read them all
greetings

 

[Guest]

<blockquote><hr>

Players need to get money any way they can now , so wanting to get your house into the top 10 for the extra cash is not a bad thing...

And do away with free players ?? well seeing as alot of the paying players are talking of quitting and going free, i guess its gonna be pretty empty soon....

[/ QUOTE ]

I understand what you mean, but I understand where Purple is coming from too. Maybe a compromise of this could be that a player can't have more than ONE free account, and/or they can't have a free account and a premium account, since if they have a premium account they obviously are financially able to subscribe, or in the case of a store, maybe an owner or roomie should not be allowed to have more than one of their accounts on the lot at any given time, since there's really no need to legitimately, except for the purposes of restocking from another sim's inventory, especially now that you cannot skill or make money on any other lots besides skill and money houses. Whatever they can do to eliminate this blatant CHEATING and ABUSE of the system needs to be done because this is not what free accounts were meant to be used for. If a player wants to put 3 premium accounts on their lots only until they start getting guests since a house doesn't show up on the filter until it has 3 guests in it, then that's fine, but since that privilege is being abused to *this* extreme, then maybe it's necessary for even that to be done away with. I don't know.

Maybe I need to stop reading the boards for a week or so. The moral fiber that is shining through the last few days is enough to depress and turn even the most positive players to jaded and cynical, and I don't want to see that happen to myself again.....BTDT once, and hate that feeling *sigh*.

 

[Guest]

<blockquote><hr>

has it occured that maybe they are offering what people want? and at the time people are playing? Maybe that is why there are 30+ people in the house all the time.

Then again think about the expenses they have feeding all those 30+ people and repairing all the items that break due to use.

Being in the top 10 is actually costing them money, and saving you money

[/ QUOTE ]

If all 30 sims weren't hiding so that their needs didn't decay, and therefore no money was involved in feeding them, then you might be right.....but when its so obvious that they are cheating, that theory kinda goes right out the window

 

[Guest]

Went to a store yesterday and saw 10 sims all standing in a rectangle.
They had probably been under a table that someone had purchased or
they were simply "found". But all 10 were standing there figeting with little
clouds with toilets or food over their heads. Was very funny.

CC cant be hidden unders soooo . unless they have a locked door how hard
could it be to find these afkers?

Luckily they werent all standing around in their own pee. That would
have been kind of icky. It hadnt got that bad yet.

 

[Paula777]

Gosh, I thought I read that it was estimated 3-4 hours each time....wonder why the estimation went up so much. Guess the free players will be getting RL stuff done today or playing other games. Bet messengers are gonna be lit up like Christmas trees between them trying to keep in touch and have somebody to talk to if they don't post here. . I'd definitely rather see the estimate go up on the front end though, than to start seeing in 3-4 hours "Why isn't TC3 up yet, that's the only place I can play" type posts, though I am surprised a famous 'lockout' string of postings hasn't started yet. It's early in the day though, so maybe alot of people aren't up yet.

---

Maybe I need to stop reading the boards for a week or so. The moral fiber that is shining through the last few days is enough to depress and turn even the most positive players to jaded and cynical, and I don't want to see that happen to myself again.....BTDT once, and hate that feeling *sigh*.

 

[Guest]

<blockquote><hr>

I personally have 2 accounts that I pay for monthy. Those hours should be allowed to count because we pay for them. Free Accounts? Should not be allowed to skill, make money (I was working at the bot factory on level 1 and had 5 free accounts there working with me), or count towards visitor hours. They are a non-paying account. There should be no benefits of them being on your lot.

[/ QUOTE ]

For any other category than store, I disagree wholeheartedly. If this happened the 'get rid of free accounts, they are clogging up my house and not giving me anything!!!' posts would run rampant, unless you are suggesting that those free accounts also not count toward the 35 people that can fit into any given house, because if theoretically, an owner or roomie is in a house and all 34 people there are free, then nobody else can get in, the house isn't getting any hours AND they have to host all those sims until they get ready to leave, assuming that they are there legitimately and not just hiding for the purpose of boosting hours. Stores do not have the same level of expenses in feeding and providing repairs and such, so even *if* their house is full of free account sims that are legitimately shopping, they are not going to be hit as hard as a skill or money house would from what you are suggesting. I know this sounds like a good idea on the surface, but things like this need to be thought through before they are suggested, and possibly implemented which results in everybody getting screwed.

 

[imported_Qute Pi]

<blockquote><hr>

<blockquote><hr>

Here's a fun game.

When you go to a store, try and find all the people that are hiding. If you do, they loose their green and die.

[/ QUOTE ]

Heres a fun game as well, they hide in coded rooms so guess the 1-9 digit code they use...and if its not a coded leave and find one that does since you will not be able to get to those 25 hidden sims.

[/ QUOTE ]

Good thing I brought my clothing chests and police uniform to EA Land! I think I'm going top prop hopping sometime tonight...

 

[Guest]

This problem is only going to get worse. With all the cities merged into EA Land, there will be way more than 100 houses in any and all categories. There is only one way to get your lot on the list at this point in time, by having visitor hours. Most are doing what the top of the list places are doing now, because we have no choice unless we want to fall off the list. That is what needs to be changed. The list needs to accommodate for all open houses. It needs to be rid of #1 spots and rankings based on visitor time, to make it fair for all players in the game. I thought people wanted rid of the "walmart" stores yet that is what I see many places. Why not let us list our stores, any lots for that matter in more discriminatory categories, so that there are more lists in each of the main lists. Such as, if you have a pinata lot, you choose that as your money category, if you sell custom content, you choose that as your store category, etc, possibly being able to choose various things your lot specializes in. But no matter how many lists, they should not be given top billing just because they have the ability to stuff 20+ sims under the rug.

 

[Guest]

Ok so here's the plan. Non-AFKers... go to shops and find all the people hiding. Then we can screen shot and post in here ... so we can all enjoy a nice laugh at the AFKers... lol

 

[Paula777]

I don't see a difference if it's store category or any other.. don't matter what your opinion is...



Top 100 List for stores starts at 3+ hours... don't just blame top 10 lol ...
Everyone on the list is guilty.. I'm doin some research right now, and even # 98 has one hiding haha


I don't care much having 1 or 20 visitors hiding but I guess it's what they have to do...

 

[Guest]

You hit the nail on the head, it's what we have to do at this point to have any hope of getting on or staying on the list. It needs to be changed, and nothing else is going to help this situation until EA changes the way it works.

I wanted to add, I do hide the sims at the store, simply because there is nothing for them to do, so why bother having to green them if I don't need to. I am seldom afk for more than 5 or 10 minutes at a time, and I answer IM's when I get back to the computer. I am often working on a new project and forget to click and the store sim times out on me, I wish they would do away with the timeout completely, we had no time out feature in Betaville, why bother having it here. The ones who abuse the system are clearly using 3rd party programs to overide the time out feature anyways, so let us all have that plus in our game without needing to cheat.

 

[Guest]

<blockquote><hr>

Ok so here's the plan. Non-AFKers... go to shops and find all the people hiding. Then we can screen shot and post in here ... so we can all enjoy a nice laugh at the AFKers... lol

[/ QUOTE ]

That would work as long as no names are brought up, since it's against the RoC to name cheaters by name here, or scammers for that matter even with the intention of protecting other players from getting scammed,

, so definitely cheaters also. Might be comical just to laugh at the screen shots of the acts of 'unveiling' those hiding sims, with the sim names and lot names covered up to protect 'anonymity' skirting that RoC violation though

 

[Caesar Weezer]

<blockquote><hr>

LOL they might just disappoint you guys by hiding behind a door that was set on special permissions...

[/ QUOTE ]

Well darn.

 

[Guest]

<blockquote><hr>

I don't see a difference if it's store category or any other.. don't matter what your opinion is...



Top 100 List for stores starts at 3+ hours... don't just blame top 10 lol ...
Everyone on the list is guilty.. I'm doin some research right now, and even # 98 has one hiding haha


I don't care much having 1 or 20 visitors hiding but I guess it's what they have to do...

[/ QUOTE ]

Correction, its what they *feel* they have to do, because of how the system is flawed. Cheating is never a requirement *have to* situation. There are those of us that would rather just not have a house at all if the only current means of being successful is feeling like we *have* to cheat, thereby choosing not to cheat. It sucks that it's the way things are that those who steadfastly refuse to cheat either can't open their houses or have to put up with not having guests, or must sell their CC through PM instead of at a store, but I hate to see the *you have to cheat to get ahead in this game right now* myth to be propigated, too. Cheating only became a way of life in the old game because players became OK with it, if that's what it took to get ahead. We have a new start now, and things will end up in exactly the same boat unless the players make different choices, IMO, which will make starting from scratch a REAL waste of time and effort.....both ours and the devs. I for one don't want to see their, my, or anybody else's sacrifices mean nothing, so I'm not going to allow cheating to become 'OK' or 'the norm' again.

 

[donnallg]

<blockquote><hr>

Here's a fun game.

When you go to a store, try and find all the people that are hiding. If you do, they loose their green and die.

[/ QUOTE ]

Most hide behind locked doors.