EA, really??!? (Sims 4)
Feb. 29th, 2024 05:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
estiroseSo, hopefully this will soon be a non-issue, but EA can be greedy and stupid, so who knows?
Very long story short, for some insanely stupid reason EA decided that Sims 4 players weren't being advertised to enough (since the base game is now free-to-play) and decided to add a shopping cart icon to the game interface so you can buy packs in-game. This is despite the fact that their welcome screen for Sims 4 already contains advertising, and if you're launching the game from the EA app (whatever Origin has become) you get more ads. Also, as several people have pointed out, you have to pretty much close out your game anyways to install your new pack(s), thus defeating the purpose of buying in-game.
To make matters worse, this icon was pulsing fairly rapidly, which caused ADHD/non-Neurotypical people some issues due to distraction, and people who had to avoid flashing and similar such as epileptics. Apparently it was only supposed to flash every so often (which is still an issue for those with ADHD and similar health issues). They issued a patch to slow down the flashing and to fix another emergency issue (for some reason, Sims with really good singing skills couldn't interact with anybody/anything else).
The good news for people on PC who can install mods is that a heroic modder (SimMattically) has already created a mod to block the shopping cart icon - console players are not so lucky. I don't normally play the game with mods as updates happen on a fairly regular basis and break things, but I've got that mod installed, as well as three other mods to fix other irritating gameplay issues (for those who play Sims 4, the other ones prevent toilets from being pranked, allow you to toggle off creative burnout, and get rid of the fears that your sim sometimes develops).
There's a new pack coming out tomorrow that I think a lot of people were enthusiastic about including me, but I don't think it's going to do well based on the controversy this button is causing.
Very long story short, for some insanely stupid reason EA decided that Sims 4 players weren't being advertised to enough (since the base game is now free-to-play) and decided to add a shopping cart icon to the game interface so you can buy packs in-game. This is despite the fact that their welcome screen for Sims 4 already contains advertising, and if you're launching the game from the EA app (whatever Origin has become) you get more ads. Also, as several people have pointed out, you have to pretty much close out your game anyways to install your new pack(s), thus defeating the purpose of buying in-game.
To make matters worse, this icon was pulsing fairly rapidly, which caused ADHD/non-Neurotypical people some issues due to distraction, and people who had to avoid flashing and similar such as epileptics. Apparently it was only supposed to flash every so often (which is still an issue for those with ADHD and similar health issues). They issued a patch to slow down the flashing and to fix another emergency issue (for some reason, Sims with really good singing skills couldn't interact with anybody/anything else).
The good news for people on PC who can install mods is that a heroic modder (SimMattically) has already created a mod to block the shopping cart icon - console players are not so lucky. I don't normally play the game with mods as updates happen on a fairly regular basis and break things, but I've got that mod installed, as well as three other mods to fix other irritating gameplay issues (for those who play Sims 4, the other ones prevent toilets from being pranked, allow you to toggle off creative burnout, and get rid of the fears that your sim sometimes develops).
There's a new pack coming out tomorrow that I think a lot of people were enthusiastic about including me, but I don't think it's going to do well based on the controversy this button is causing.
