The Sims 4 Gallery: How Does Maxis Determine Favs?

Looking to increase your chances of getting a “fav” on your latest Sims 4 Gallery creations? Well SimguruDrake has taken to the official forum with an inside look at the process behind selecting favorites on the official Maxis Gallery account.

Hello everyone!

I’ve been working with our team to get something together for all of you wonderful builders and Sims creators to know our process when providing a Maxis Fave.

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I want to first address that yes, we do check lots and Sims that we curate to make sure that they appear in game as they do in the screenshot. There are several things that we check for as we want all players to have the best experience with your creations.

I want to note that we do not enable MOO when checking any lots / rooms.

Households

• Does the household have a backstory? (Not a must have but we really do enjoy reading the stories you create and think that other players do as well.)
• Does the household have custom content? (If so it will automatically be rejected as it is not official Maxis created content.)
• Does the household have more than one look? –Nothing like downloading a Sim who only has their Everyday attire done and the rest were simply forgotten.

Rooms

• When placing the room does it appear as it does in the thumbnail?
• What panning around the room do you notice any flickering?
• When Sims enter the room can they view and use the objects within it?
• Does the room have any custom content? (If so it will automatically be rejected as it is not official Maxis created content.)

Lots
This is where things get tricky. We know a lot of you use the MOO cheat (and we LOVE the amazing things you create with it) but not all users are aware of this cheat. So when we check the lots we do so without enabling cheats.

• When placing the lot does it appear as it does in the thumbnail?
  • Are there any floating, missing, or resized objects?
• When panning around the lot do you notice any flickering?
• When going room by room do you notice if there are any objects flickering that used MOO to place them there?
• Can Sims get to every room in the lot?
• Can Sims get out of every room in the lot?
• If there is water can they easily swim in it and get out without issues?
• Can Sims view and use the objects within the lot?
• Does the lot have custom content? (If so it will automatically be rejected as it is not official Maxis created content.)

Additional Questions

• Are you looking to highlight new/unknown creators?
  • Absolutely! We like to keep it a mix of new/unknown creators and established creators.
• Do you like to find the unique/unusual or do you like things to be simple?
  • Actually we really love both. What we try to do is always keep it a mix, showcase the really crazy and unique ones you come up with and also highlight the more simple homes so that there is always a variety.
• Do you only choose things that would do well on social media/promotional videos?
  • The builds we showcase on social are pulled from those we have faved and passed our curation process. We like to do a mixture on there as well though sometimes we do have months where we have themes (example: Halloween for October, we wanted to highlight some of the really amazing spooky homes that were created but also highlight some non-Halloween themed things as well.) We also like to showcase a mixture of new and established builders there as well.
• Does there have to be a specific price range for a build?
  • Nope  If a higher priced build doesn’t get a fave it means they may have failed one or more of the criteria above.
• Does the build fitting into the landscape help?
  • Good question! Since players tend to choose where they want to place the lot and don’t always use the same one that you created it on it doesn’t play a huge factor. BUT what does help with landscaping is actually adding life around the build. Like flowers, bushes, trees, etc. to make it really feel like it’s lived in. It won’t hurt you if you don’t have those things but it really does help!
• Besides being nominated in the recommendations thread, what other method can creators go about in order to get Maxis’ eye on their lot? Does Maxis look at any of the showcase threads? Is it a good idea to try to reach out on social media (i.e. Twitter and Facebook)?
  • We check out lots that are shared with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr and even our SimGuru’s pass along lots that are shared with them. We do try to keep up with the showcase / challenge threads that are found throughout the forum.