the sims online

The Sims Online? is the massively multiplayer version of the ever popular ?The Sims? series of PC games. Game makers aren?t stupid, and are quickly realizing the massive potential in massively multiplayer online games. These days they are not only dominating the market, but also provide a constant stream of long term profit. Single player games, like The Sims series, which are traditional, are purchased once then taken home and that?s the end of it. First the multiplayer online games have to be bought and then continuously subscribed with a monthly fee.

MMO games are better when seen from a business perspective I think its important to keep that fact in mind when reviewing MMO style games like The Sims Online; you?ve got to keep dishing out money to play and this is the reason why I bring all that up. While in the more traditional MMO games like ?Ever quest? players have some clear cut goals and objectives dangled just out of their reach at all times to keep them playing, The Sims Online seems to lack any such overall direction. In themselves The single player Sims games felt at times a little pointless; you could manage and mess around with different aspects of the world from a god like perspective and see how it affects the little digital people, but you were never really sure why you were doing anything you were doing.

In The Sims Online you can?t even do that; you have control only over one character. The single player Sims gave characters different chores and tasks that had to be completed, such as jobs or errands, but The Sims Online has a much looser set of objectives. You still can have jobs and you still get hungry, but you don?t really have to do anything by a certain time. The theory I suppose is that it frees up time for you to do what the game is designed for; interact with other players online. While it?s kind of fun to dawn a digital mask and interact with people in a way you probably never would in real life, it quickly begins to feel like some kind of graphical chat room. The few in game goals that there are, like making money or setting up a house, have severe restrictions and aren?t really all that rewarding due to an overall lack of depth to the in game economy, so really the only ?point? I found to keep playing was to meet people. Seeing how there are free chat rooms all over the place, I just don?t feel like The Sims Online is worth a monthly fee, and maybe it is not even the original purchase price.