Re: ECO Living; Sharing and Caring is extremely bad for this game.

by Player_jp5s5eav
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Original Post

ECO Living; Sharing and Caring is extremely bad for this game.

★★★★ Apprentice

I'm sure there's been plenty of threads like this and I'm a lazy so and so for not finding them, but I wanted to say my peace. The N.A.P sharing is caring is perhaps one of the worst design choice mechanics I've seen, to actually have it in this game and portrayed as something positive is something I find disgusting.  It's not sharing, it's stealing. Sharing is positive, being forced to comply with a regime that is negative and that you don't agree with is stealing. You can clearly see the ramifications and impacts of this if you check the voting board. With NPCs voting you can see that there are a couple voting against the NAP, you the player, hold sway and can change this. But even still, you can see how horrible it is when you look at it this way. You're forcing others to comply with this to create anarchy. Not bad -pun intended- if you're playing an evil character and want the whole community to be a horrible mess. This might even be 'fun' if it didn't mean that now every NPC is now stealing everything no matter where it is, completely breaking the 'personalities' of the premade sims that exist as they go on a rampage stealing counters, sinks and couches.

 

While I understand the wish for people to have different gameplay and wanting to have a community where sharing is indeed caring and is beneficial. The way it's done in here is something that's far from the thought. And looking at it from a real-life perspective is probably going too far because this is just a game, but you have to lean back and smell the trash fruit - right now it's just terrible, even more so with the many bugs attached to it - for which we're at the mercy of the patch gods.

 

But still, In every game that includes 'thievery,' there is a negative reaction to the theft, either be the enemies/NPCs spotting you and reacting in a negative manner. Most RPGs have this system. The most common one I can think of and is probably fresh in everyone's mind nearly every single Elder Scrolls game, and if we're thinking about Sims, then even Klepto's are punished if they're caught - teaching the player that stealing, and being caught is wrong, meaning that stealing is indeed wrong.

 

So why do we have something that is akin to stealing in the game where the player has to go out of their way to stop it in multiple communities so those households and community lots don't become empty and non-functional?

 

Why isn't 'Sharing is Caring' literally a N.A.P where NPCs and players gain influence by gifting crafted items? Or donating items to charities or something? Why is it straight up stealing and with no control on just what they're stealing?

 

Surely I'm not the only one who thinks this N.A.P is just ridiculous and needs a rework.

 

The fact I have to turn off NPC voting, then go to every single community and cheat in four N.A.Ps so sharing is caring isn't activated isn't my idea of fun. The only reason I'm not suffering from NPCs etc stealing my sinks and counters is that a kind soul in this community created a mod that fixes part of the problem with N.A.Ps from different communities being falsely given such traits (buffs). I can't imagine how the game is playing for those on consoles where they can't do this and are at the mercy of this horrible N.A.P.

 

Regardless, I really want to know the thought process of the Devs for putting this N.A.P in. This isn't me being cruel or sarcastic, I'm genuinely curious about why this was put in the way it was. 

 

P.S only Kleptomaniacs and Evil NPCs should be voting for this N.A.P.

 

Message 1 of 27 (9,972 Views)

Re: ECO Living; Sharing and Caring is extremely bad for this game.

EA DICE Team

Looks like your post got caught  in our spam filter it happens sometimes if you make really big post or edit it a lot. Standard smile @Ayanko 

 

All good now. 

 

/Atic 

Message 2 of 27 (9,958 Views)

Re: ECO Living; Sharing and Caring is extremely bad for this game.

★ Guide

     I like your thought in regards to an alternative route with "Sharing is Caring" being a plan where people gift crafted items. In regards to the online charities... I think it would be interesting if one could donate their "old" items as they slowly renovate their lots. It would be like giving to Goodwill. A thought I have on the matter is to change the "Sharing is Caring" to the case of actually sharing your things:

     Sims can come by, ask if they can use something of yours, but they cannot steal it. You can comply and if someone wants to use something on your lot, they can be it one of the new items in the pack like the recycler, juice fizzer and so forth to simply using your bathroom to freshen up, your kitchen to cook a meal, your computer to get something done. If you don't comply, you lose influence and of course have that guy who comes along and fines you for not following the N.A.P.

     My suggestion would certainly troublesome, but it strikes me as a bit more of a compromise with how "Sharing is Caring" works right now (which I think may have been meant to be troublesome to give a sort of challenge for Simmers) and the desire to not lose your things to anyone... though they may break one of your appliances and you'll have to fix it or hire a Repair Sim. Ideally it would be the case of an annoying neighbor or two stopping by every day to use something on your lot and actually leave when finished rather than dawdle - unless, of course, you make them stay by keeping up a conversation or something.

Message 3 of 27 (9,915 Views)

Re: ECO Living; Sharing and Caring is extremely bad for this game.

★★★★ Novice

Agreed.  I find the complaining about the game nitpicky sometimes, but this is a legit complaint. Some of them are mildly annoying, but until my 4 slots are full, I’ve had to use my Sim that has plenty of influence to spare to vote for better ones.  Someone stole my dining room table and chairs and A KITCHEN COUNTER.  Like...just took one counter, left the others surrounding it.

Message 4 of 27 (9,459 Views)

Re: ECO Living; Sharing and Caring is extremely bad for this game.

★ Apprentice

My problem is that I have businesses in which things (such as counters) are constantly being stolen. I cannot change the NAP because my sim does not live in that neighborhood. Not only did I lose a counter but an entire shelf of handmade knitted items that took AGES for my sims to make. 

Sharing is Caring is awful. But I think everyone agrees with that. It is set up to be a kind of sarcastic thing that any honest hardworking MORAL ethical person should be against. I could tolerate it remaining IF it allowed non-resident sims to remove that NAP. 

Even with the cheat to instantly change the NAP it does not work for businesses if the sim does not live in the neighborhood. 

Another way to solve this is to make it possible for sims to LIVE at their business. I'm very fond of building a back room for sims to live in while they run their store. 

However as things are, I am getting so frustrated with the Sharing Is Caring that I am considering getting a refund. I am not having happy gaming. And I think I might want my money back for this one. 

Message 5 of 27 (8,903 Views)

Re: ECO Living; Sharing and Caring is extremely bad for this game.

[ Edited ]
★★★ Expert

@ChristianOtaku To be honest, I'm not having much fun with that Sharing is Caring NAP either, though there are other NAPs that I do like very much. You can disable NPC voting for NAPs in your Game Options menu-- which means only your Sims will get to vote for NAPs. If you temporarily switch to playing a household in the same neighborhood as where your shop is located, you could use the cheats to clear all NAPs for that neighborhood, and then you can switch back to playing your regular household. The NAPs in your shop's neighborhood shouldn't ever change again because the NPCs who live there would no longer be able to vote, as you disabled that in your Game Options. I think this should work for you-- so far it has been working like this in my game. You can try all of this as a test & if you don't like how it worked out then you can just exit your game without saving and you haven't lost anything.

 

Anyhow, at least that is how it's working in my game. I'm playing a test save for Vampires and Spellcasters and since my Sims have never voted for any NAPs, and I have NPC voting disabled, there are no active NAPs in any neighborhood in the entire save. In my regular save I do use some NAPs but in this one I just want to focus on Vampires and Spellcasters for now. Though I do like many of the NAPs and the Eco Lifestyle EP over-all, I would definitely like to see some tweaks made to Sharing is Caring.

Message 6 of 27 (8,867 Views)

Re: ECO Living; Sharing and Caring is extremely bad for this game.

★★★★ Expert
@RandomBuzziness It's definitely bad. The fact that it's completely open to almost everything getting stolen and it's completely breaking commercial lots... it definitely needs "nerfing" quite a bit.
Message 7 of 27 (8,823 Views)

Re: ECO Living; Sharing and Caring is extremely bad for this game.

★★★★ Novice
@Ayanko Well said. This has made game play unfun. My college lots are now void of TV, couch, computers, etc. These are essential items. So silly.
Message 8 of 27 (8,740 Views)

Re: ECO Living; Sharing and Caring is extremely bad for this game.

★★★ Newbie

I found this so annoying as well! I kept having to rebuy so many counters, dining tables, and chairs because of Sharing is Caring. I found on another forum that you can use the testingcheats true and shift + click the mailbox so you can instant repeal the Sharing is Caring.

Message 9 of 27 (8,493 Views)

Re: ECO Living; Sharing and Caring is extremely bad for this game.

Champion

@Ayanko , @OhMyGodItsMegan , @Trecie , @RandomBuzziness , this should now be better since the most recent patch was just released that should lessen the amount of stealing.

CCP Champion Banner - Red.png

Message 10 of 27 (8,441 Views)