But, I’m really upset with this pack. They left out an Active Music career, which should definitely be included with a pack about Fame. They made a big world/neighborhood with very little playable space and no apartments, or beach lots. They copied the Vampire and GTW gameplay. ‘

Yeah, I call bollocks on that claim. I’ve had a Sim openly cheating in front of a partner in a public place, and no one cares, not even the other partner. That’s a HUGE 180 from Sims 3 where I had a Sim’s reputation spiral out of control because he kept trying to hook up with other women while married and the rumor mill did a number on him (which led to some amusing things like women who didn’t like him asking him out on dates). That was a fun story. Felt like there were consequences for his actions.

Now? I’ve got a guy just wandering around romancing every woman he sees, right in front of each other, and no one cares.

Sure, I totally agree on that. I was just trying to make a point that at the end of the day, what do we really need? What really matters in the end? What we think about something ourselves; not the least bit unimportant in decision making.

Yes, that’s how sponsorship deals work. You’re paid to advertise, or recommend, or praise, or whatever, a product. What exactly you’re supposed to say about it or how to bring it, what you can and cannot say, etc. the exact terms of the deal of course depend on the specific case or contract. The Game Changers, they can criticize the game. Sure, they may not go all out with their critique, for whatever reason (maybe because they really can’t, just think they can’t, or are afraid to, or for whatever other reason. We can only speculate about that as we don’t know the exact terms of their agreement). But one thing is for sure; these people are creating content on a game/franchise they really love and care about, are passionate about. They are players just like us, many even long time players that have been with the franchise for a long time. They care about the game, and love creating content for it, and that shows through in their videos. So in that vein, I really appreciate you saying you don’t hold anything against them on a personal level, as people.

True that. It’s a thing with TS4, that EPs always feel too empty for their price tag. People wouldn’t judge them quite so harshly, I think, if they were priced more appropriately.

I love LGR’s reviews, too.

Oh yes, tons of reviews are good!!! Everyone thinks differently, so it makes sense that different people would have different opinions that would resonate with different people. There’s value in that. Having 50 people show the same chair is redundant.

It’s the nature of things that if you are being given free stuff by a company that you like, then you’re going to be extra careful about what you say about it. No matter how honest you are, you’d still keep that in mind and therefore keep your critique in check or fluff it with tons of positives. I find it naive to think they’d do anything different than that. TS4 would probably suddenly be the best game ever totally if EA decided to give me every pack free. My complaint is not against the game-changers themselves but against the system that manipulates them so. It forcefully changes public opinion of the game regardless of wether it deserves it or not.

Expansions don’t have a lot to them, so I find that streams generally show me everything. It kinda sucks, acutally, since then when I play the pack I’m less interested about it since nothing surprises me. That’s of the reasons I gravitate to LGR’s reviews more than ‘overviews’, since they’re shorter, honest, and still leave stuff for me to find on my own.

Just like we wouldn’t need dozens of people’s reviews on something.

No, according to everyone, they’re not there to review, because their NDA supposedly does not allow them to point out any flaws or have a negative opinion on anything in the game or a pack. Which is total BS. Not only do quite a few GCs in fact point out stuff they don’t like and give constructive criticism, but also nothing happens to them because of it. Those that don’t do any criticizing or say anything negative about anything, are wrongly afraid to.

Well, that’s sponsorship for you. A lot of people obviously don’t like sponsorship, that’s fine.

But with everything that’s been said on this topic by either side, the conclusion is still the same. If you’re looking for an actual review, GCs are just not the people to turn to.

If you just want to know/see what’s in a pack, then great, they are your people. They also go into things that the Gurus don’t touch too deeply upon in their streams.

they’re unnecessary. We already have the streams that the devs do to ‘show off’ the content (and there’s not that much, so we don’t need dozens of people doing it. It’s overkill). The only useful thing they can provide that the devs can’t in the streams is their opinion, which they’re not allowed to do, I guess? Since according to you they’re not there to review the pack.

No, the only reason we have the game-changers are to hype up the game and make it seem as better than it is. It’s all about PR and that’s all. They’re sell outs.