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I don't consider it unreasonable to expect my sim to be able to work, make money, and not spend it all hosting a party, buying prizes to give out (I have an entertainment house) and well, live. I spend a good portion of game nowadays pretty much ... working. And that's it. I've hosted all of one party since CC merged, which sucks. The rest of my time is spent either skilling to keep my decay at bay, and trying to pizza to "earn my fair share" as someone put it.
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It may be that the prizes you are shooting for are out of reach in today's economy....instead of the high end prizes, maybe you could give different kinds of prizes....simolean prizes ranging from 50-500 depending on your tastes.....CC that displays "#1 Blue Ribbon prize winner at XXXX Contest" whatever the contest name is...flamingos.....certain items of the custom craftables if you can afford it like the computers (I sell those for $2500 which is very good for a prize object nowadays), or everfull pet feeders, everybody who has a pet needs one of those. The base idea is great you just have to scale the prizes based on what you can afford at this time.
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With this most recent lowering of payouts, I really feel that the devs are asking us to use ATMs more. I feel like I'm being backed into a corner. I work, skill, work some more. The last party I threw has almost done my sim in. I have enough probably for one more party at some point, and the rest of my sim life is spent skilling and working? Seriously, come on. I'm not saying payouts need to be what they were pre-merge. I AM saying payouts should be so that skilling is worthwhile, having a skillhouse is worth the time and effort skill house owners put into having one and keeping it open (without needing to BEG for tips, tyvm), and that I should have the option of NOT working if I so choose. I'm a paying customer, I should be given the option, hello.
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This is a life simulation game. People who choose not to work in RL have to live on charity and/or welfare, which in game terms would be tips, and as skinflint as most sims are with tips I can't see that lasting long, so you are going to HAVE to find some kind of sim work that you enjoy. With 4 job tracks, 3 group objects and half a dozen single job objects, there's alot to choose from right there....you just can't choose not to work AND not to go to the ATM at the same time.....it's either or.
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Seems though, that instead of trying to suck out cash from those of us who ARE here, there could be changes being made to attract more players. For example, CC is nice but uh ... what's with the crappy graphics from 1990? That change alone could turn some more people on to playing this game more, bring in more players and make more money for this company.
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Upgrading the graphics to TS2 style is on the horizon, though I have not heard a tentative target date for that. I do know they've already done some of the back end stuff to path the way for it. If you log into TC3-test instead of TC3 you see some really neat stuff, IMO. Not 'up-to-date' but alot nicer than just the basic 2d that we have now.
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Please guys, this is a GAME. Not WORK. I work 8+ hours a day in RL then come home to chase my kids around the house till their bed time. When I come to play Sims, it's to have fun. Not log on to work again. I can't even play around with my house layout any more because I can't afford to buy floor tiles. That's just wrong.
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I've never played a single game, offline or online that didn't involve some kind of character development and certain tasks to make money, and some things are always more fun than others. So until your character becomes 'established' it will seem more like drudgery than fun, but once you get your feet underneath you you'll be able to kick back and have those high class high value prize parties again. Most people are having to start over in varying degrees, and nobody considers it fun.....you just have to find the task that will allow you to make the most fun possible under the circumstances. More than anything all this revolves around attitude. If I wanted to find something to complain about, I could in probably 30 seconds, but doing so just puts me in a negative frame of mind and basically screws up my whole day of playing, so I've just decided to actively not focus on the negative and just make the best out of a difficult situation.