The Sims multiplayer explained: Developer Lyndsay Pearson on our podcast
It's "not multiplayer in the big, scary 'jump in a world full of strangers' kind of way".
This week’s guest on our One More Life gaming podcast is Lyndsay Pearson, the vice president of franchise creative on The Sims 4 and its upcoming sequel, codenamed Project Rene.
Of course, we couldn't resist the opportunity to ask Pearson about the addition of new multiplayer experiences that have been promised.
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Pearson’s life with gaming has taken her on the kind of journey that most fans can only dream of — she started out as an avid player of The Sims, and now she’s become one of its main creative talents behind the scenes.
In this chat, Pearson discusses all the unusual things that people do with their Sims, and she shares her own memories of growing up as a gamer with a very cool grandma.
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For fans, though, her generous insights about The Sims' future are sure to be the headline attraction here.
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"We definitely want to introduce multiplayer," Pearson said on the podcast. "And not multiplayer in the big, scary 'jump in a world full of strangers' kind of way. But literally, how do you and your friends want to do some play together?
"And there's a lot of different flavours that could take, so we're exploring a lot of different spaces there.
"Because playing together can look like so many different things, right? Even our chat now, we've talked about, like, trivia games to fighting games to racing games, playing together and social can mean so many things.
"And so we're having a lot of fun exploring all those different opportunities, particularly within the context of The Sims, because it is still about these little characters, their little lives, and you helping guide them.
"So, what does that mean if you and I do that together? And how do we figure out how to make a little bit of that chaos, a little bit of that fun and a little bit of that positivity all come together in a way that feels Sims-y?"
Pearson also revealed that The Sims developers "talk about Animal Crossing all the time, because it is such a good example of my little space, my little island, but I can invite you over".
"And we've seen throughout the last few years of Animal Crossing, people inventing ways to play together that the game doesn't specifically support, but they've made up scavenger hunts or whatever, which is amazing.
"Or people who hosted talk shows on Animal Crossing, I think is incredible, right?"
She added: "We actually look at a lot of games that are doing multiplayer in clever ways, like Among Us even, which is this sort of mystery thing, but you have to talk about it and solve it."
To our suggestion that you could make a Sims-themed multiplayer horror game when one person is torturing their Sims and the other player is trying to rescue them, Pearson said: "I like your example of this horror game. But what is the Sims-y version of that?
"What is the reason that, like, I could be trying to do something, I could be trying to get my Sim ready for a specific thing, and then you might be able to come in and mess it up somehow, or help somehow, right?
"I think that's exactly the kind of feeling that will feel right for me playing with, like, my close friends."
Hear the full conversation on our One More Life podcast, and don't forget to subscribe to our free newsletter and follow us on Twitter for all the latest gaming intel.
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