Amanda Drake (SimGuruDrake), Community Manager to The Sims 4, has announced that she is leaving Maxis next week. She took to the forums with a statement.
So this is probably one of the hardest posts that I’ve ever had to write in my career.
I never thought that I’d actually get the opportunity to work on one of my favorite video game franchises, with one of my favorite studios, and with the most amazing development team that I’ve had the pleasure of working with. Now, almost three years later, I’m getting ready to say good bye to all of my amazing co-workers and to this amazing community. I’ve been having to prepare for this day for over a month now, which is a large part of why I’ve slowly been removing myself from engaging with you all, and there have definitely been good days (jokes and smiles) and bad days (lots of crying) leading up to when things will be coming to an end.
Next week will be my last week as your Global Community Manager and with EA.
I wanted to spend sometime in this post talking about all of you. We’ve all shared some ups and downs together, it was definitely a bumpy road when I joined and I inherited a lot of anger with regards to content that was missing from the game. In that time a lot of you talked to me, either publicly or privately, about stuff you wished to see and suggestions for how to build better transparency with all of you. Out of that came the Quarterly Teasers, more relaxed communication with the SimGurus, and The Sims 4 Laundry Day Stuff Pack (one of my absolutely favorite projects to work on).
There is a lot to be said about your dedication to this franchise that most folks who don’t play The Sims just won’t understand (trust me, try explaining to someone who does not play about why not having Toddlers in the game was a big deal) but you continue to show your love and creativity with us every single day. You continue to provide us with feedback, let us know when we miss the mark and when we get it right, and you are all always so open with sharing your ideas for what you would like to see in the game (and others have gone a step further and created that content themselves for all of you to enjoy through Mods and CC.) You are a one of a kind community whose passion I could always relate too, even if I didn’t play the way you did you were always so open with talking to me about what you feel would be great things to add to make your play style more enjoyable.
We all share a love for this franchise and studio that withstands it all and while I will be sad to not be here to be your voice I am looking to just being a fan once more.
To those I’ve had the pleasure of meeting in person: Thank you. Thank you for taking the time to chat with me about things you want to see in the game, sharing your creativity and passion, and for all of the wonderful conversations we’ve had and the memories we’ve shared.
To everyone in these forums: Thank you. We’ve had our ups and downs, but you’ve all continued to be dedicated and open to sharing your thoughts / opinions and continuing to welcome more new folks to this space. Please be kind and understanding to whomever steps into my shoes, they will be taking on a lot but having you all as guides will make their jobs so much more fulfilling. Be open to sharing your play styles, your stories, your creations, and your passion with them and others.
To the wider community: Please remember that you are all part of this amazing and wonderful community, whether you are engaging only on Twitter, writing blogs on Tumblr, running fan sites, making guides, helping other players with troubleshooting, or creating content on YouTube / Twitch. You are ALL part of the community and ALL of your voices matter. Please continue to share your feedback and creations with the SimGurus, they love sharing your stuff with the entire team.
I have a new journey that will take me outside of California and while I am sad to be leaving you all I am excited for things to come.
