strategy

I LOVE this freaking game. It is ridiculous. People who are looking for pre-made downtown areas and jobs and cookie cutter people are just not seeing the point! It is a totally user created world! Every other Sim out there is a real person, so you may not like them all, thats part of building the social network! As far as jobs, yes there are the sometimes mundane job objects. . . but the best way to make money is to build a creative property and entice people to visit and interact there. As the game grows, downtown areas will be built naturally where there are masses of established properties. And, these established properties will "hire" other sims to entertain and perform services. Do you really want your sim to just dissapear to a job where you don't know where he is and can't control what he's doing like in the regular sims? No, we are building a mini-economy here and jobs surface in situations according to need just like the real world!

If you like a challenge, are creative and like to think outside the box, you will LOVE The Sims Online!

First let me assure you that things like skill decay, not getting into your own house and other complaints issued on this page have been dealt with.

I have been a beta tester for over 2 months and the game has come a long way. It is the Sims with the added value of having real people instead of just artificial Intelligence. You make of the game what you want, one review stated that. That is probably the most truthful statement I have heard so far. Go for the money, the stuff you can buy, to be the most skillfull or have the most friends. Truthfully I play for the friends. Many of the Sims you will play with will become real friends!

I'm not your typical gamer. I'm 30 something, married and with a toddler but I love the Sim PC games and play them with a passion.

So when the Sims Online team back in Aug '02 asked me to help Beta test for free, I jumped at the chance. Luckily I have Cable Internet because I don't know how the dial-up people do it.

I love playing the game, I love to interact with people all over the world and have made several friends too. It's amazing how many married women with children I have met playing TSO!

But unfortunately, as with any game you become bored with it. And that's where I am now. My character is a Millionairess, and I don't see the point of sitting there reading and working out for hours on end to gain skills which in the end help you earn money. Been there, done that already.

So I have created my own games within the games. Like Hide and Seek and the Amazing Sim Race which mirrors the Amazing Race on CBS but you play in Singles vs Pairs. But mostly I just visit my friends and help them in their houses by keeping up the conversations, clean, water the plants, etc.

I bought the Charter addition because you get 90 days free.... So if you are going to play the game for 3 months, why not get the extra benefits with the Charter? Then you can decide if you want to cancel before they start charging the [monthly] fee.
I don't see how anyone can judge the game in just one month.

What else is great is that Maxis is constantly improving the game by adding features and objects. So I will hang around a little while longer to see what else they have coming out.