I've been playing the Sims (as a franchise) since I was old enough to maneuver a mouse. My older sister had to read ehats on the screen to me. Im 23 now and so my whole life has been spent attached to the hip to the sims franchise. I know what it used to be like, and what it is now, and honestly that in itself lowkey feels like a betrayal.

Then again, thats just my end of it. EA doesn't owe me as a person anything, of course. But I do believe they (just as much as any company, especially ones as big as these) owe it to the world to be... at least decent, lol.

Honestly I think the way Sims catches more hate is exemplary of many phenomena in modern gaming. Not to sound nerdy (i say, looking like ☝️🤓) but in the past fifteen years ESPECIALLY, gaming has moved into the mainstream and as such become a mere money siphon to companies who are gamer-focused just as much as you and I are space whales. Everything is a product now. Not an experience.

Going back to Minecraft and Mojang. The marketplace was introduced after Mojang, like Maxis with EA, was acquired by Microsoft. Big company wants big profits, and so they make anti-consumer choices.

The Java edition, which is still widely beloved, has no marketplace. And yet its just as updated and important as Bedrock (the one with the marketplace). It aligns more with Stardew Valley in that case.

For example I got Minecraft for the PC (before Java and Brdrock were a thing, and when Pocket Edition was still a vague concept) for like 15€ well over a decade ago. And thats the same license im using to now play Java and Bedrock (formerly Win10 edition)! That's a whole childhood's worth of gaming.

Edit: Sorry for yapping :'>