Freeday 23 November 2001

Pic of the day: The Sims now has a plethora of Non Player Characters. In town, Chaos Guy (left) was surprised to run into some guy that looked suspiciously like a younger version of himself (right).

Hot date

No, the hot date is not for me, but for my Sims. If you are a regular reader, you may have noticed that the game The Sims has a place in my life, as it have in countless other lives across the western world (and then some, probably). The game became a hit when it was released in the year 2000, because like few of its competitors it appealed equally to men and women, boys and girls. Some loved it for the ability to build homes in a variety of sizes, shapes and styles. Others were hooked on the complex social interactions among not only a family, but a whole neighborhood of small electronic people. All over the world, people created Sims in their image - and those of their family, friends and enemies.

Some months later, Maxis followed up with the expansion pack Livin' Large (also sold in Europe as Livin' it up), which added several new careers, a robot, and powerful items that could permanently change a Sim's personality. There were also new clothes, wallpapers, floor tiles and more. When it comes to these superficial changes, however, the expansion pack had to compete with dozens and eventually hundreds of fan-made decorations made available for free on the Internet. New faces, clothes, furniture ... the list goes on and on. A whole idealist industry was spawned.

The second expansion pack, House Party, was more focused on social interactions. It contained less groundbreaking news, but focused on items and non-player characters that assisted in making large parties feasible. With the new computers that were becoming widespread in 2001, a party of a dozen or more guests was no longer a challenge for the computer. But it was a challenge for the player. House Party tried to alleviate this, but was not really a must-buy except for the dedicated fans. It did not change the rules.

Hot Date, the third expansion pack, changes the rules. It goes into the very heart of the game, the relationship between the characters, and expands this realm enormously. Those who play The Sims for its relationship side, will find a wealth of new challenges and new possibilities.

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My first surprise came at the start of installation. The install program reasonably asked me to type in the serial number at the back of the CD case. Except there was no serial number on the back of the case. There were two fairly long numbers, but not that long, and they were not marked as serial numbers either. I thought that I had got a box without a serial number, and who would believe me when I called Electronic Arts and told them? Certainly there would be no playing Hot Date this weekend after all. And then my long-term memory gradually kicked in and vaguely remembered that the same happened with House Party, where I eventually found the serial number on the back of the instruction leaflet. I suspect this is only for the European or even Scandinavian market, because the CD case here has a special back cower half in English, half in Swedish. (Swedish for the Swedes, presumably, and English for the Norwegians, Danes, Finns and Icelanders?)

The install program started to whirr, and asked me to insert the CD, optionally change the path, and press a button to continue. I just pressed the button, since the CD was already in that drive. The machine insisted that I must insert the CD. Then I noticed that it asked for the House Party CD, not the Hot Date CD. I changed CDs and the installation progressed slowly but surely.

The burning question is of course: Did I get this question because I had already installed House Party, or will it require you to buy House Party before you can install Hot Date? I am almost certain that this question only comes up for those who already has House Party. It copied over only relatively few files. Probably those files that were left on the House Party CD so that it was required in the CD drive when you played the game. Now that you need to have Hot Date in your computer to start that game, you can't reasonably be asked to insert the previous expansion disk every time you start. You must however do it once, to keep your House Party features.

***

The game started with only minor changes. On the Neighborhood screen there is now a button to go to the Downtown. Each neighborhood has its own downtown, but you can use a prefab downtown that comes installed with the game, or import new malls from the Net, or design / redesign your own. Going to downtown without selecting a family first will put you in this build mode.

I selected a Sim family (Chaos Guy, a single based loosely on myself) and found that the saved game loaded with only the smallest glitch in continuity. (Chaos Guy showed up outside the house for some reason, but immediately walked to a more proper location.) The control panel was subtly re-designed to include two new choices: Interests and Inventory. The Sim's interests were always essential for their friendships, and tended to be based broadly on their base personality. Until now, you were stuck with those interests. Now, you can buy magazines and read up on topics that your friends value highly. That means you don't need to cross your arms and look insulted when they start to jabber about style and the weather. Sadly, interests can't just grow and grow, like skills. When you learn more of one type, you lose some of the old interest points in another. You can't just max all your interest slots. I guess that actually makes sense.

The inventory box allows you to drag things home from downtown. It is normally empty, as you unload it as soon as you come home. The afore mentioned magazines go here. You cannot read them in the shop. Aww! You can also drag home gifts purchased with a certain someone in mind, rather than the generic §20 gift in earlier versions of the game. Now you need to truly know someone to choose the right gift. It is not enough that your Sim knows them. This complicates or enhances gameplay, depending on your level of interest. I think the game now may become too challenging for some young children. But those are quick learners, I may be wrong.

Friendships are now expressed by two values: A short and a long term. If you consistently keep the short term value high, the long term will creep upward. If you ignore your friends, or worse, insult them ... you may try again some other day. But if you wait too long, it will be hard work to get the friendship back up.

The new tool to improve friendships (or find new ones) is of course the downtown, where you can invite your friend or loved one. Or you could go alone. I did, and found not only a broad range of non player character but also several of my friends from the neighborhood. Among them one I had considered inviting over, as the friendship was slowly sinking toward the breaking point. Now I had my Sim walk over to him while he was browsing at the florists, and they talked for a long time about their shared interests. (I find it vaguely disturbing that I originally wrote that "I" walked over and "we" talked about "our" shared interests. The game is certainly immersive.)

My Sim went downtown in the morning, and after spending all day there, he went home after midnight: Dog tired, hungry, and with a full bladder. (These needs may be taken care of in town, but it costs a lot more than it tastes.) He arrived home ... in the morning. Presumably the same morning as he left. So instead of going to work, he had to pee, eat, drink coffee, eat more, and sleep. Don't go downtown before work! Take a day off. On the flip side, I am sure you can exploit this feature somehow too. Who among us would not love for the time to stand still at home while we were in town? The day suddenly has more than 24 hours after all!

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In part 2 (God willing) Chaos & Super do downtown. Why are women always nagging, and things not to do in a dressing room ... Be sure to tune in for more amazing news from the Chaos Node!