Found the following in my RSS feed…Man, I can’t believe I missed the opportunity to play it yesterday – but according to many, it was full of many glitches and bugs. However, I’m sure Playfish will get around to resolving those.
The way the game is played has been altered to match the social aspects of Facebook. Much like how the retail versions of The Sims have AI-controlled neighbors, The Sims Social will have user-controlled ones. Friends and family who also play The Sims Social can be visited and interacted with by your own sim at their respective residences. Friendships, rivalries, and even relationships can then be had on a sim-to-sim level — all in the name of entertainment, of course.
One thing that bugs me…in the above it states that our neighbors aren’t controlled by AI and rather by users – but I’ve heard many say that when they visit their neighbors they are NPC’s and are AI controlled. Which is it?
I managed to play it yesterday, though I had no idea that it was just temporary. I’m a bit annoyed they included so much of the “ask a friend” things that slow me down in other Facebook games, but I liked some things a lot.
They had you able to make money by composing music, writing, gardening, or “catering”. You got quests on the side and could interact with Bella Goth to start. Some interactions cost energy. You could chain them too.
What it looks like the neighbor situation will be is like on Cafe World etc. where you can see other people’s houses and sims and they’ll learn about what you do with them, but when you visit it’s just AI. I hope they include more NPCs, ’cause I don’t want to be enemies or sleep with most of my friends.