Exclusive! Interview with Luc Barthelet!
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Everyone has heard of The Sims . The international sensation that has spanned generations of players since 2000. You have the opportunity to "Be Somebody. Else." or just be yourself in a world created and built by the players. In 2002, The Sims Online ("TSO")was released and the Simnation as we know it was reborn into a phenomenon that has lasted - although at times it seemed it was on its last legs - with a steady and sturdy following.
The Sims Online used to be a "glorified chat room", where players would build homes and then gather in them to skill or share emotes with each other. There were job tracks to follow, new abilities to gain through friendship links or learned skills, and Top 100 lists to achieve. Over time, the title became a little stagnant in that there was only so much a person could do, and players soon became almost manic in their search for new ideas, new toys, and - as in all games of this type - their demand for custom content. |
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In March 2007, EA decided that they were not going to let this title that once enjoyed a huge player community to die a slow and rather quiet death. Many in the player base were wondering just when their 90-day notice was going to arrive, and cringed whenever a new email would hit their inbox. In fact, EA was looking at shutting it down in the first quarter of 2008. However, knowing that the title still had lots of potential and there was still a great community to help see the possibilities, The Sims Online was put "under the knife" for a total face lift and has re-emerged in EA Land , with a merger of all the cities (servers) that previously existed in TSO. Many new changes have occurred, and I have had the opportunity to sit down with the leader behind the project, Luc Barthelet, a/k/a EA-Luc:
Luc: I am Luc Barthelet, a Sr. Vice President of research with Electronic Arts. I have been with EA for 20 years (I'm not that old, I promise!), and have worked on The Sims, The Sims Online, among other great titles. Right now I am leading the EA-Land project.
AutumnKiss: I'm a long-time player (I was in beta, actually, way back when) of The Sims Online, and have recently returned to find EA-Land rather than my beloved city of Interhogan. What was the driving force behind this move?
Luc: I felt that the internet, user community, and players had evolved, and we had an opportunity to build a better game out of TSO.
AutumnKiss: Bugs, bugs, and more bugs... they are the bane of all MMOs. How large of a team do you have working on finding and fixing those annoying little bugs that crop up from time to time, and how do you prioritize them in terms of importance?
Luc: We like to redesign the software to make bugs impossible. For example: Object disappearance really should’ve never happened, and will be completely wiped out soon. The object disappearances, I mean, not the objects themselves.
AutumnKiss: Exploits are another serious issue - and EA Land is no exception. In the recent past, there was a very large one that garnered approximately $250m simoleans. Without giving details, can you tell us a bit about that and what steps were taken during the process towards fixing and blocking future attempts at this exploit?
Luc: Exploits come with bugs. We have a system in-game now where we can undo transactions. It is a roll-back of sorts. We’re also changing the architecture of the game to dramatically reduce the possibility of exploits.
AutumnKiss: Going forward, what safety measures are in place to minimize the use of exploits that can damage not only the economy, but the overall morale of EA-Land?
Luc: We’re changing the software to limit the risk of exploits. We also have monitoring that triggers alerts as soon as exploits are detected. This exploit was a great dress rehearsal for us! In the future, as soon as the exploit alerts go off, it will shut down the game.
AutumnKiss: Let's talk a bit about the economy, while we're there. We have seen many concerned citizens discussing it everywhere we go... what is EA's position on the State of the Simnation, and should we expect to see any drastic changes in the future?
Luc: Sims no longer exist in EA-Land! We are now avatars. :)
Once we’ve been more successful with the bots, we will be able to increase the payout average. The referral program should also play a large role in increasing the income of our players.
AutumnKiss: With all of the changes being planned and executed, how do you think the future of EA-Land will fare in comparison to past disappointments?
Luc: I hope we will be able to implement user content games and user content editors inside EA-Land in the next few months. This will have a huge impact on the overall game.
AutumnKiss: Editors? As in, true custom content?
Luc: Yes. Rather than using external 3D program, users will be able to create chairs, sofas, tables, etc within the game with shape editors and materials.
We’re incredibly excited about the amazing things the players have been able to do thus far with custom content.
One thing we’re close to releasing (it is still in internal testing) is that players can change how the picture on their bio looks! We’ve been working hard to make sure what we do is very user friendly. For example, for the bio pics, players can simply upload a picture, and once it is approved, they can drag it to their bio.
This is something Alex has been working on. Here are a couple of screenshots he’s taken of this new feature:
Luc: My avatar travels a lot, and visits as many properties as possible (usually in my pajamas or swimsuit). Because I’m smart, usually I turn on hyper skilling to feel the love as I visit houses and bounce around.
AutumnKiss: If there was one thing you could bring to EA-Land... if there were no obstacles to overcome... what would it be and why?
Luc: To enable the users to easily program the game because that would give the users the most important ability to impact the game.
AutumnKiss: Will we ever be able to be a pirate in EA-Land? I'm dying for a peg-leg and a parrot! Or how about a ninja? We could throw chickens instead of knives!
Luc: As soon as you can program it in, go for it! I will warn the team to duck if they see flying chickens.
Wow, Luc! That's some great information! Thank you so very much for taking time out of your busy day to chat with us, and we'll be watching for those flying chickens ourselves, knowing the creativity of your community! It'll be great to see what they come up with for the new avatar bio images!
By: Maggie "AutumnKiss" Olsen
Senior Editor, Zam Network