Terrain Manipulation

Finally!!!!

During the first Maxis Monthly live stream, Gurus informed us there's a new neat career coming in the next patch.

A work from home career, Style Influencer, where you can makeover other Sims. The higher your relationship is with target Sim, the most likely it is for them to accept a make over. Get higher on the career, and successful makeovers may end up being trends around the neighborhood. Finally we'll be able to get those horribly dressed NPCs , look decent... or not (insert evil grin here)

And just before the live stream ended ,and while Kate started talking about the Game Changers program .... SimGuruRomeo stole all her limelight. I'll be honest here. I watched the live stream a few times, in none of which did I manage to get a gist of what Kate was talking about ... It was all blah blah blah .. I'm sorry Kate, but I bet NONE of us managed to pay attention to what you were saying , while SimGuruRomeo was sitting there playing with shiny brand new TERRAIN MANIPULATION tools.

It has been one of the most asked features since day one. A feature a lot of people had given up on because "the Sims 4 wasn't built to support it"... And yet SimGuruRomeo happily sits there and playing with it while Kate is casually blabbing away about game changers like nothing was a big deal, or as if she didn't notice, what was going on at the screen next to her.. Well my beloved SimGurus , you know how much I respect and love you , but I have to admit, this was the biggest troll and tease ever!

Chat went wild ..people sending hearts and hugs and asking for more info.... Well we will be getting a live stream on October 11th at 11am PDT/8pm CET/7pm BT hosted by SimGuruKate, SimGuruRomeo and SimGuruGhost

Game Changers

Who are they? What do they do? How does someone become a Game Changer? Why is Bella Goth a Game Changer and Goopy Gilsgarbo isn't? He has more and better content than her!

So many questions in the community! I see them everyday in the social media, and the forums. So here are a few answers. By a Game Changer that has too little content to show off. Me.

Hi, I'm Geminia (as you might have noticed) and I am a Game Changer. And proud of it. In fact , the moment I got that precious E-mail, I wanted to get out to the balcony, in the middle of the night and shout about it. I'm pretty sure the neighbors wouldn't be as happy about it, as I was, and wouldn't care at all anyway.

Why was I happy?? Free content you say? Nope! If that's what Game Changers is to you , you have definitely been misled. If you are thinking of becoming one, just for that, think again, cause you are missing the point here. I was happy because I love The Sims, been playing it for years. Being able to somehow be a part of something I love so much, and offer anything, even the littlest thing I could to make it better in any way, feels your soul with so much happiness, so much joy. It's a feeling I wouldn't change for all the packs in the world.

What are Game Changers?

''Game Changers is EA’s community partnership program that fuses content creators and expert players directly into the game development process enabling early collaborative feedback for improvements. We also empower innovative storytelling by granting creators early access to gameplay capture."

Source and More info

Like it or not, The Sims team is made out of human beings, that have very demanding jobs, real lives, families, and there are just a few of them. They can't be everywhere , anytime. The can't read ALL the comments, in every single post/thread/blog in the entire Internet. That's where Game Changers come in.

There are a lot of "types" of Game Changers. Youtubers, Streamers, Gallery and CC creators, Bloggers , Tumblr, there are even Game Changers that have made AHQ their second home, just to help our fellow simmers. The Sims team is reaching out to everyone. All different people, from different countries, and different content or even almost no content at all. All this different people have also a different audience. And this is the key here.

 What do the Game Changers do? Feedback. It's Feedback. Feedback both ways. (And no we are not kissing EA's butts.) So different audience, means broader audience. Awesome feedback flow. We are spread in different parts of the community, and we can get feedback from everywhere to the team and from the team to every part of the community. We do not sugar coat anything. If we don't like a feature in the new pack, we say it. It's called Constructive Criticism. And that's what the team wants to see. No blames, no insults, no rants. Again the main reason Game Changers exist, is to make the voice of the community heard, to bring the community and Dev team closer, and make the game better. Without honest feedback there's no need for Game Changers to exist. So any Game Changer not being honest or sugar coating, would instantly kill their purpose as a Game Changer. We all have one thing in common. We are simmers , so part of the community ourselves. We are your voice. We are some of you.

And yes, you , who is now reading this blog post can be a Game Changer too. How? Let's ask a more important question here first. Why?  Why do you want to be a Game Changer? Do you want to give to the game you love? Do you want to help and make it better?Do you want to somehow feel to be a part of it? Do you want your own part of the community's voice heard? Then you are in the right track.

SimGuruKate had an awesome twitter thread explaining a few things.

So no you don't need to be a Super YouTuber or streamer with thousands of followers. Nor your content need to be super perfect, like HD videos, with perfect sound. You need to be active in the community in any way. You need to be kind and respectful. And your content need to be T rated of course. Yes quality of content is considered, but not in the form of what your hardware can pull off, but in the form of your skill as a simmer. That's all you need. Just keep an eye on Twitter, as Sim Guru Kate often tweets when the program is open for new applications. Don't fret! If you think you have what it takes and for the right reasons , go ahead and apply!

You applied and didn't get in? It's OK. You can apply again. There are thousands of applications each time, and only a few can be selected each time. Don't give up!!! Try again and again. If you think you aren't good enough and your skill isn't enough , do what our Sims do! Skill up! Watch tutorials on YouTube, try different things with your builds for example. Just don't give up!!!

And for Sims sake, do not bash a fellow simmer who got in , and you didn't. Because this, my friend, is your ticket "out" . This is the kind of attitude the Sims team do not want to see in a Game Changer. Don't let jealousy take you over. Turn it around and try harder. What they did better than you? Work on it! And try again!

Anyone, and I mean it when I say anyone, can become a Game Changer if they have what it takes. If they want it enough, they can do it. Follow your heart and chase your dreams. It's your life, you can make it the way you want it to be! It's all in your hands to mold the shape you want it to be! Don't give up!