The Sims Online / FreeSO / Sim Nation and the rest - Are you kiki?

[Demon Mist]

Is there any clue how long she has been doing this "angel" routine? It seems pretty baked-in at this point.

That... How has nobody ever asked that before??
I have no idea but I also want to know now.

 

[Dammit Mandrake!]

You made it onto the big board. Congrats!

Thought it had been removed for a moment when I didn't see it.

Anyway I love this Angel chick. She's got it all. I think I found the answer to my own question in her Discord server, kind of.


"Neither Angel or the real life person playing her (me) has..."

So she sees both herself and the Angel persona as separate entities. Or at least that is how she plays it. Very healthy.

 

[Dr. Arinsu]

I used to play FreeSO once getting into the MMO craze resurgence (I.E. CPPS, TTPS and SmallWorlds) my only experience was meeting someone I forgot the name of because of heckin long ago (It was a year ago) and they took me to a safe house (It was an AIRBNB In Game) where I was able to grind for money, this was the only positive upside to the game because I ended up going back to ToonTown, but however Smallworlds Private Servers are very interesting like the MiniWorlds variant afaik I heard the old Sims Online had a Mafia like underbelly.

 

[Stupid Sexy Flanders]

Very nice and detailed OP, my dude. As a long time Sims fan, I've never dared to touch those online games because I could sense the sheer autism from afar.

I'd assume that keeping an old online game running would take some massive autism in itself. I saw that Tapped Out (The Simpsons mobile phone game) got shut down and almost immediately there was autism afoot with players who started to set up servers (which I'm sure will work out well for them considering how non-litigious 20th Century / The Mouse are) and some minor squabbling. It's a bit where I can appreciate keeping games and old media alive, but...

Either way, I did try to play FreeSO back when it was new but unless you're missing a puzzle piece you end up realising why it was shut down in the first place.

 

[ComeOnDuder]

Amazing read and unique culture. Can hardly wait for further updates.

Gold standard thread.

 

[Demon Mist]

Glad to see you are enjoying the thread. Post three has been updated with a decent amount of information about three other TSO clients. And the hope is to have the next section in post two done over the weekend. And there are a couple other ideas in the works for more sections, but they will take some time to assemble into something reasonable. Until then, the bulk of the thread is hopefully going to be complete this weekend.

We're getting there!

There are also a few images in the running to be included, but there isn't really a good place for them. Are there enough pictures? Too many? Does it matter? More is better?

 

[Demon Mist]

Please excuse the double post, but this thread is at a level that can be considered complete. All three posts are filled to the brim with varied accounts and information about multiple games, individuals and events in the TSO extended universe. We have links and have archived everything. And on a personal note the result is pretty satisfying. PHEW! That took some work.



There are a few details and bits to add here and there and as new stuff comes out, the thread will be updated. And no doubt there will be typos. But everything that was laid out in the goals for each post has been satisfied. Thank you for your patience while we put this all together for you. Hope you enjoy it!

And if you notice any errors or end up with contributions of your own, please post them here in the thread and we can get working on including them.

 

[Dammit Mandrake!]

Holy crap you added a lot.

Cringe like this actually hurts. Seeing a guy pretend that he didn't get broken up with is the sort of pathetic that makes me angry.

 

[Demon Mist]

Moving forward, updates will be posted as new posts and then we'll get them added to the OP.

---

Some funny things happened with Sim Nation the other night. We wrote the third post with the headline: "Bem-vindo ao Brasil - Sem Reembolsos", which translates to "Welcome to Brazil - No Refunds." When you're right...

Bug Day!​

Combine the hype surrounding a much-anticipated update with cold hard cash and mix in a little homicidal rage and you've got yourself a recipe for Sim Nation. Basically what happened is that the new season of Sim Nation rolled out and a major aspect of that update involved treasure hunting and challenges. It was a cool idea and a refreshing splash of content for the game and people were understandably excited. Fast forward past the usual delays and excuses and the update launches on the second full week of 2025. Everyone celebrates and logs in and starts hunting for treasure.

​

Or not. Maybe treasure hunting was off the menu. Apparently as the event got into full swing, users began noticing that they could not join any of the lots. It was as if they were locked out of the game entirely. And in order to get the treasure, players needed to be able to get onto lots to complete tasks to get the gold. So what the heck happened here? Too many players for the server? Connection issues with the VPS? In reality the problem was a little simpler than that and for what it is worth, given the size of the community over the years, it was easy to overlook.

​

Fifty lots. That is the issue. The game was coded to limit the maximum number of open lots to fifty. And Salem isn't entirely out in space by suggesting that it never really came up before; the community is small and until this event and its specific design, the game worked just fine and nobody noticed a thing. Fair enough, just get in there and fix it. But by this point in time a large portion of the community have become exhausted with the constant stopping and starting with updates and features and one guy in particular completely loses it.

Click to enlarge.​

This is where an interesting point comes up. Homicide mentions that he is a paying player. How are the administrators going to respond to that? If you guessed "not very well", you would be correct.

​

And there you have it. No refunds, ladies and gentlemen. Pack it up and go home because you're not getting your money back, you're not owed anything for your monthly contributions and you're just going to have to wait longer. Clearly Homicide is acting a complete fool, but Salem isn't exactly helping out the cause. Opinions around the community were split, but there were several people in support of the administrators during this dust up.

​

Advising to exercise patience is probably good advice and they did end up fixing the game several hours later. But the idea that the game is free and therefore the admins don't need to tend to their players' wishes begins to strain credulity; especially when you consider that people are in fact paying large amounts of money to the developers of Sim Nation and are doing so on a monthly basis. Especially when you consider all the crap that the SN team throws toward the FSO team for being bad at their jobs. And then on the left side of the above image the one guy almost seems to be getting it and then blurts out that he was thinking of "giving them a couple bucks" and so much for any hope there was for this community. After things were fixed and tempers cooled down, the community largely returned to normal. Though Homicide's backer status is now in question.

​

---

Thanks for reading!

 

[Stupid Sexy Flanders]

I'm shocked that EA is putting up with these people monetizing their game.

Sure it's one thing if a select bunch of autists decide to keep playing on a private server, but I'm shocked they've yet to send out C&D orders at this point.

 

[Demon Mist]

Sure it's one thing if a select bunch of autists decide to keep playing on a private server, but I'm shocked they've yet to send out C&D orders at this point.

There are a few users that have been wondering the same thing as you. One in particular is a guy in a few places around the OP by the name of Erometal. He has talked monumental loads of shit about SN and as far as we can tell the rumors about secret Discord groups that are working on the SN angle originated from him across several Discord servers.

He's even caught some flack from other users that have grown tired of the constant complaining. A few people have tried to press him further about what he's been saying but he does not respond and becomes evasive. So it is probably all fake or impotent bluster. We're pretty sure he or someone related is the one that sent out those emails to EA and Nintendo, but that is pure hearsay at this point in time. Most of the lawsuit angle concerning SN was spurred on by this guy's constant complaining, which ended up being a pretty interesting rabbit hole.

As soon as this shoe drops you can bet there's going to be an update.

Some real time updates as well:

Chris here gets the gold star for thinking the issue through and landing on the right answer. How does this lot limit work if people can multi-sim? Furthermore, as the next person says when you go into some lots you'll see five or six sims being run by the same player. And then consider that each person can own two lots, so that means that 12 people with two sims each and a house for each sim could lock out the entire game for the rest of the players. How about that?

 

[Dammit Mandrake!]

How are the administrators going to respond to that? If you guessed "not very well", you would be correct.

​

And there you have it. No refunds, ladies and gentlemen. Pack it up and go home because you're not getting your money back, you're not owed anything for your monthly contributions and you're just going to have to wait longer.

YOU DIDN'T GIVE MONEY, YOU PAID FOR RARE ITEMS

AHHHHHHH HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH



Are these niggers serious? They sound worse than the FreeSO mods. Those guys at the least were not actually taking their money. Is Bobby Kotick running Sim Nation?

 

[IrishGuy088]

Are these niggers serious? They sound worse than the FreeSO mods.

Careful. These people are from Brazil.

Odds are good that they're going to roll up behind you on a dirt bike and shoot you in the back of the head with a rusty Taurus. You won't even see their face through the black visor on their helmet. And as you fade away into oblivion all you hear is: HHUEHUEHUEHUEHUEHE

 

[Demon Mist]

There will be a roundup of Angel Mist "podcasts" coming this weekend. Stay tuned for some church.

And there are a few more entries coming to the mixed nuts category.

Thank you all for the kind support.

 

[IrishGuy088]

@Demon Mist What has the community response been to this?

 

[Demon Mist]

@Demon Mist What has the community response been to this?

So far you wouldn't know much was happening from the public-facing Discords. They found out about the thread a little over a week ago and it has been spreading since. It hit critical mass a few days ago and this weekend it looks as if finger-pointing and witch hunts are on the menu.

 

[Dammit Mandrake!]

So far you wouldn't know much was happening from the public-facing Discords. They found out about the thread a little over a week ago and it has been spreading since. It hit critical mass a few days ago and this weekend it looks as if finger-pointing and witch hunts are on the menu.

This is always fun. Prayers for all the people caught up as collateral damage in the ensuing purges.

May they be greeted by 72 lighthouses in the afterlife. Inshallah.

 

[Demon Mist]

Since the community is now aware and slinging accusations all over the place, the TSO Tip Line is open for business!

​

Got an anonymous tip, a correction or something you think might be worth including in the OP? Let your friends at the TSO Tip Line know all about it and be sure to include as much information as possible. Attributions will not be made unless expressly requested to protect anonymity.

 

[Demon Mist]

Good morning and sorry about the double post. We're going to be doing another round of updates throughout the day and making some tweaks to the OP. As always, the content in these posts will be added to the appropriate post on page one.

First up!

---

Moron Communication and Updates​

As alluded to, the communication from the Sim Nation team is not so great. There is a lot of "hold on" and excuse making to paper over continued delays and server struggles. Compounding all of this is an update schedule that more than a few players have scratched their heads at. Complaints span multiple servers and friend groups, with a common thread between them being that the staff of SN don't really know how to deal with it.

​

Your game server has shut down and the players in your Discord are confused. Every time there is a big update, schedules begin to slide. Whenever a number or date can be twisted or made to have meant something else, it is. The first image is of the CoolSO Discord (keep an eye on this image and always remember that CoolSO is a Discord channel about aspiring to make a game, CoolSO is not a game) channel discussing what they thought was a server outage and the next screenshot after is from Sim Nation's own Discord channel. Backers, "super players" and some normal users are quick to jump in and remind you that there may be some issues understanding the language. But language issues every time? Each update running into a hiccup? Girl, please. Their response has become a bit of a running gag, made even funnier by another complaint that SN's team often get...

Click to enlarge.​

We have the same two servers once again, CoolSO (the server about thinking about making a game) and Sim Nation (the server about a game). Both are griping about the rate at which the SN Discord server likes to ping its users. And herein lies the paradox of the whole situation: while Sim Nation's team are unable to keep to schedules or even reliably communicate when their servers will be up or down, they still manage to over-communicate with their players to such a degree that it is a common annoyance across the base.

​

Just remember not to push the point too much, because once Henrique is done with an issue, he's done. You have got to marvel at user "adore on SN" prompting Jennifer even further before immediately collapsing into line behind Henrique and telling Jennifer to stop answering her own damn question. And adore on SN isn't even a backer, they're doing this for free. One other guy even jumps in to offer some support and a similar story, but again Henrique has deemed the issue closed. Thank you for your report. Shut the fuck up please. Besides there is a new update on the way you should be focused on that. How about a riddle? I'll give you a glitched houseplant that hard locks your lot if you get it right.

​

The update at the end of December was especially embarrassing for the Sim Nation team as it took several attempts to even get the update working properly, not to mention the patches that would have to come afterwards to fix the update. But now we're going to take the first issue which is a lack of concrete communication about server updates and combine that with the second issue which is an inconsistent update schedule. The big December update was on the way, we're getting it nice and early on the 12th... or... before Christmas, yeah! Wait. Right after Christmas? Or the 28th. Yeah! December 28th is the day. December 28th. Remember that screenshot to remember from up above? Let's zoom in on that one a little...

Enhance... enhance again...​

Prolific TSO player Lost (very sweet person and is in every server) appears to have been the first to notice, right away; The CoolSO Discord server research team took a couple weeks to catch on. Sim Nation, after all is said and done are pushing out their huge update on a Saturday night. They are pushing their update which will cause hours of downtime on a Saturday night, the biggest or second biggest night to play online games and get autistic. Everyone is home and ready to play. It may be later at night in Brazil, but for their American players Sim Nation are putting the server into detention at the moment their customers would most want to play; it is when they have a chance to be around the largest number of people, not multi-sims. Consider also that a huge amount of SN's funding comes from its English-speaking patrons; not only are they paying to be given sub-par service from irresponsible administrators, but they're paying money to have their game turned off on the best night to play. And one more thing about Sim Nation's update regimen...

Click to enlarge.​

Not to be outdone, Sim Nation's team have come out swinging in the year 2025. Just this past weekend SN's admins pushed out several blast updates, shut the server down once in the morning (according to schedule, for what it is worth) and then proceeded to spend over six hours on their two hour update that landed at 8:30PM EST on Saturday in one of the coldest months of the year for the Northern Hemisphere. Genius planning, people. Good hustle. Throw in a very small loan of §30,000 to bribe the masses even though the money isn't worth anything because the tuning on money objects is much too high and a secret special object! Perfect.

---

That will probably wrap up the saga on Sim Nation's updates and overall communication. If something stupid happens we'll add more on that.

Up next we'll be sharing the series of podcasts made by Angel Mist. Sit tight, they'll be around in a couple of hours and there are also a couple other additions. Plus we're going to be turning this coin over and taking a look at the other side of this fantasy. Are you kiki?

 

[Dammit Mandrake!]

podcasts made by Angel Mist

I am not prepared.

Great work with the flow of updates OP.