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TSO September's update
Although it's just a monthly update, it gives more than 5 SimDays combined: the TSO update on its official site. For instance, there's a bit about the play test again:
"We expect to start selecting people for our play test within a few weeks, so make sure you have had your friends signed up for this newsletter, as it puts them in the pool of people we will invite to our play test. All the information on our playtest was in last month's update and can be found here."
So sign up to the newsletter if you haven't already done so! Visit this page for that full (but small) article.

Also, there's an article on the control you have over your sim:
"Do you think that if everyone would just do what you wanted them to do, the world would be a better place? Do you get a twisted pleasure from being able to tell your Sim exactly what to do and have them do it? If so, The Sims Online will be your own personal paradise. Because your Sim will do exactly what you tell them to do -- nothing more and nothing less. Quite simply: You are your Sim and your Sim is you!"
It gives some examples and also compares The Sims with The Sims Online on that aspect. It also says what chaos could be created with all human beings controlling all the Sims, without a computer really taking any actions. Read all about it in "Control Freaks Rejoice?". Another article tells us on how we can make sure other Sims (/human beings) behave as they should. Don't like the things someone says, or are they using dirty language? Do they just annoy you? Just mute them, kick them off your lot - for good, or even complain about them at Maxis using MOMI. All the details are right here. "Your lot is your castle", as the title reads...

Another of - again - 5 articles is called "The rhythm of the game" and is written by Will Wright himself:
"We decided that Sim motives would fall much slower in general (about 1/3 as fast), to give players more time to interact with each other. Many of the repetitive actions (skill, money) are centered on group activities on the assumption that coordinating with the other Sims will keep you plenty busy. The few remaining lengthy, solitary interactions (such as sleep) have been drastically shortened (to about a couple of minutes for a full recharge) to keep the player in action as much as possible."
In other words: no more of that intensive mood-checking and making sure your sims feel alright all the time anymore. Instead, more social interaction and other fun activities will take place. You'll simply have more fun with those things in TSO, quite unlike The Sims. Want to know more? read this page.

The fourth article gives more details about queueing up actions. Again, no actions are decided by the AI of the game, so all actions come from you or they are social interactions that other people in the game tried out. So if someone wants to talk to your sim, then it'll show up in your action queue. Get all the details right here in "What's Queued Up?". The last, rather short, article is about how faces of the Sims are being designed. It starts with a sketch, goes into a 3d model, then they paste a texture over it and then it's ready. Sounds very simple, but some more detailed information could be nice. As it comes with a few nice examples, it's still worth checking out that article too. Simply have a look at "The art of creating The Sims Online" to read more.

It isn't very long until the release of the game anymore. The game is supposed to be released in November, which means only one or two more updates before the release of the game. If the same date goes for Europeans, is yet unknown. The price is set at $44,95 and can be ordered from EB-Games and other online shops.
Written at 01:02 on Saturday, 7 September 2002 by ChEeTaH.


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