Welcome back to another meeting of TSTO Anonymous. For once, I’m actually holding a meeting within a month of the last one (Jonesing for the Next Event). While I can’t promise this will frequently be the case, I think of the Sunday Open Threads as fill-in meetings when I can’t think of topics or life/game stuff is too busy to hold one. Jebus knows you Addicts like to congregate there and chat about all sorts of stuff. Anyhoo… it’s time to fire up the simulated coffee pot, prop the door open with a lucky red hat, and get this meeting started. Pull up a chair, grab a Wookiee cookie, and let’s get this show on the road.
Hi, I’m Joe “The Wookiee” Riot and I’m a TSTO Addict.
One of the things twelve step programs do in Anon programs is write letters to themselves or others to help with the recovery process. I know quite a few people who have worked or continue to work these programs and even once had an awkward conversation with an ex as she worked step nine. I imagine this process as beneficial and even once had a therapist suggest I write a letter regarding stuff I was figuring out. Considering the current event and a frustration I’m having, I thought it might be cathartic to write a letter to EA, our TSTO benefactor, regarding my chagrin. Considering I have a very realistic opinion about my own self importance as far as this game goes, I realize this is an exercise in just venting my feelings but who knows? Maybe they will see this and take action. If anyone has a small amount of power in the TSTOniverse, it’s all of us here. Not to brag, but we’re semi-successful and there is power in numbers.
Anyhoo… before we get started, I find it ironic that I wrote this post on Tuesday night, only to wake up on Wednesday to find what I had requested to be done already. Since I didn’t want to waste my efforts, I included the letter I wrote below in italics but feel free to skip it if you like. There’s an idea for all of us below it.
Dear EA,
First off, let me say how thrilled I am with the Superheroes Sequel. I am a big comic book nerd and loved the first event in Feb 2015 and was super excited to see a return of all that goodness plus more. When someone says superhero, I’m usually on board for the next thing so this event is really right up my alley. Thankfully my alley is less orphany or more of the cheetos-littered variety. Issue 1 and 2 have been bueno for me. I think the gameplay has been pretty fair although honestly I use my fiancé as a barometer for whether an event is achievable or not. She got everything in Issue 1 and that makes me happy. Lord knows she struggled during the Wild West one and it’s a good thing she’s not a completist.
Anyhoo… thanks for all the good stuff and even for the stuff we didn’t get that I know could have been awesome. There’s always room for another event like this somewhere down the road and if Marvel and DC have taught us anything, there can always be more. Before I start a riot (see what I did there?) with thoughts for a new event like The Serpent and Poison Lenny and the Crimson Cockatoo (or even better, the Dependables), let me just say thanks for continuing to come up with new stuff for my favorite game. You must be doing something right to keep me playing a mobile game consistently since October 2012.
I’ve played this game for a long time. Somewhere along the line I became addicted and although I still somehow don’t understand how it all happened, I find myself a contributor to a fairly poular blog about the game. I’ve spent enough money to not want to admit the amount to some of my friends and family. Arguably, it was part of my entertainment budget but when I play a game as regularly as I do, I want to be able to earn EVERYTHING. And there in lies the rub to quote someone old and British. What is the deal with the social prizes?
I’m no mathematician or expert on statistics but this particular aspect seems highly unfair. Past social prizes were set up much better and for this event, it seems like you truly made it practically impossible to earn all the social prizes. I don’t care about the felons unless you actually make them permanent characters in my game. I don’t care about bandaids or sciencewater. If I wanted those, I’d buy them in my own town. What I care about is that fracking movie studio you teased as the last prize. Did you want to flood the site I work for with pissed off people wondering just like me why they won’t be able to earn it? I guess I write this because I’m just hoping calling attention to this might bring about some change.
As I write, I still counsel myself with some of the same things I’ve been known to say to other Addicts like “wait and see”, “just keep tapping”, and “there’s precedent for EA to change things”. I guess what I’m saying is I hope Issue 3 fixes the social aspect. If you really want people to visit neighbors, it needs to be worth it to do so. You had the right idea with Friendship Prizes but those seem to have gone the way of every character ever voiced by Phil Hartman. Like the Lyle Lanley tease during the monorail event or an occassional visit by Gil, the final prize seems to be just something to remember or look at and never actually hold. I say that tongue in check since I realize pixels are not very tangible but I do hold my device so I guess you get what I’m saying.
I want to run off on a tangent about Lyle Lanley and Santa popping up only to disappear but I’ll restrain myself. This letter is long enough as it is. I know getting Lyle in the game probably won’t ever happen but please, please, please make it possible to earn all the social prizes for me and all my fellow Addicts who play regularly, as in ¾ of the event or so. I’m optimistic this will be the case but fully prepared to point out I said something early enough in the event to make a difference that didn’t do squat if I’m wrong. I love this game and hope for great things to continue. Heck, if you ever want ideas, just hit a fuzzball up. Jebus knows I know a thing or two about this game and the Best. Show. Ever.
In closing, thanks for the game but here’s hoping the social stuff can be fixed. I like to think we help offset the tech support aspect of the game with this silly, little blog. You’ll make a lot of tapaholics happy with just this simple fix. I know I might be alone, but I’d even be willing to spend a small amount of donuts, like 30 or so, to have the option for more neighbor battles. I’d prefer a free route obviously but I’m realistic that this is a money making business. Thanks for your time and thanks for the game. You know where to reach me but if you don’t… our e-mail for the blog is TSTOAddictsblog@gmail.com.
Respectfully,
The Wookiee (ripping arms out of sockets since 1977)
Phew… writing that letter felt good even if it ended up being an exercise in futility since I can’t claim that my writing process effected the world in any way, shape, or form. I find the coincidence to be delightful and mildly frustrating but the point is the catharsis of what I did and an idea for all of us here. This is where the Addicts meeting comes into play. I truly think it’s not absurd to imagine someone from EA or FOX or Gracie being aware of sites like ours. I got my chance to say something and it’s no different for you. If there’s something you’ve been wanting or think needs fixed, write your own cathartic letter in the comments. It can be about this event, past events, or just the game in general. If that’s not your bag, just commiserate or sound off with your opinion. The only guideline to it is to stay polite, kind, and professional, otherwise we won’t post it. Sort of like a venting post for all my favorite Addicts. Who knows if what you have to say could spark something with those in control of the game. I know I’m interested in your thoughts on this event, the game, or whatever. Hopefully, we can make some sort of difference. If not, at least we have each other.
I still want Lyle, Santa, and Gil permanently in the game, even if they’re just NPCs. I have no doubt you all want something and can be eloquent in your request. Even if we change nothing, I guess I could quote Theodore Roosevelt and point out “In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.”
I guess I’ll just end my thoughts one of my favorite anonymous quotes about friends and family which I think of as FRAMILY. “We may not have it all together but together we have it all.” Take care, happy vibes sent your way, and much love from the walking carpet. We finish this meeting as usual with the TSTO Anonymous Serenity Prayer.
“EA, grant me the serenity to accept the updates I cannot change, the courage to recommend the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”
TTFN… Wookiee out!
Allow boats and water items, docks etc on all water tiles
Yes. Like “rivers”, which can become ponds or lakes.
Dear EA –
First, let me say that you must be doing a lot right for me to be this addicted to a game for this long! And some of your recent changes have especially made it possible to keep playing…if you hadn’t added the Unemployment Office, for example, I don’t know that I could have continued to manually send 130ish characters on tasks…I probably would have given up and moved on to something else. (This was reinforced recently when I had to manually send everyone on tasks because of one of those yellow-task things that just about every task had, which prevented me from bein able to use the Unemployment Office…OMG – it took *forever* to send everyone on tasks!)
Here are some things I really wish for…
– Please, please, please, let us place roads/pavement/dirt/etc. starting at any square! I HATE the way we’re restricted on that…it often makes me have to waste so much land or not be able to put something where I want it. Of course roads would have to line up with each other if we want them to work, but that still shouldn’t be a problem…
– I want the Unemployment Office to offer all of the exiting time options. If only a few characters have, say, 2-hour tasks, then it will just send those characters on it (the same way that, for example, when I use the UO to send characters on 12-hour tasks, Stampy and Mr. Teeny get left behind to take care of manually or by selecting the 8-hour option in the UO). I would especially like to have the 2-hour option, but there’s no reason that they all couldn’t be included.
– As others have said, once you fulfill the number for a yellow-task thing, the remaining characters should be sendable on other timed tasks via the UO. Or, if the yellow task is, say, 4 hours long and I choose 4-hour tasks from the UO, then just send all of the ones with the yellow task on that yellow task…that would be fine! I do want the ability to send everyone on the same task from time to time…it can be fun watching practically the whole town pouring out of one building after tapping a sky-high stack of thumbs! 🙂
– Currently, buildings can only face East and South, making it harder to have realistic neighborhoods and limiting design. I wish we could orient them in any direction (all though I realize that would require creating a “back” for all of the buildings, which might be too much work for you). Of my suggestions here, this is probably the lowest priority for me, but I thought it was work mentioning.
– Finally, it would be SO helpful if you could adapt a 23-hour day, like FarmVille has, at very least for neighbor stuff. (22 hours might be even better.) “Timeslip” is a real problem in this game (at least for anyone who isn’t 100% focused on this game at all time)!
If you’re actually reading this, EA, I hope you’ll consider at least one or two of these ideas….it would really be great to see them come to fruition! 🙂
Dear EA,
I think you are doing a fantastic job. I only started playing this year but this has already become my favorite game and my most used app. I enjoy everything about it. Only things i would like to suggest:
1) Longer questlines. Most of the time i reach the end of my current quest and am waiting for the dialogue to continue only to go “That’s it??” The endings are so abrupt it never actually feels youve reached an ending or a resolution to that particular storyline.
2) Larger scale items. The scale is so off when you put items like cars next to buildings. Ive noticed that as time goes on the buildings in particular are getting smaller and smaller and while i get that space is an issue it looks totally unrealistic
3) Repeat using characters in new questlines. Most of my poor citizens only get attention when they first arrive in Springfield and after their questline is resolved they are forgotten =( please give them more storylines. The great thing bout this game is that unlike the show you are free to focus on non-Simpson characters more. Heck i wouldnt even mind if the app was called Springfield: Tapped Out. Using more Springfielders rather than just the Simpson family makes the game more dynamic.
Thats all i really had in my mind for now. Other than that i’d LOVE more Squidport, Heights and Krustyland items. They kind of fell to the wayside for me after I finished the quests.
I agree with you about the sometimes abrupt endings (though I don’t necessarily want longer questlines, unless they can use higher-level characters, instead of always needing the core ones) and I also would like to see more use of the non-core characters (something I worried they wouldn’t be able to do anymore when they did away with new levels, since people need to be able to participate in events, even when they’re only lower or mid-level players). But I totally disagree with you about larger-scale items…if anything, I don’t like how huge a lot of the buildings have been getting. Better to make the cars and such a tad sneaker than to give us more out-of-scale monstrosities. (I’d happily give you my Reneducation Center for free!)
Endings always seem abrupt. The best abrupt ending is the one that never ends, like Akira forever ignoring racism by pruning bonsai plants. EA can make all the abrupt endings if they all end in items or extra donuts (like, was it, Database?). Otherwise, yes, please.
Using our higher level chars would be awesome. I think it should work like with some of the buildings, where a higher level building will be used otherwise they’ll use the KEM.
My wants are mostly similar to others already mentioned with a few others odds and sods.
1. As said before, when enough yellow tasks are done, the top loading of this to other characters disappears, or at bare minimum, this does not affect you sending people on unemployment task list.
2. Sending all characters on longest indoor/ outdoor task they have. This or dual indoor and outdoor task options for all task lengths.
3. 8 hour tasks for Sophie Krustowski, Sherri and Terri (sans Bart) and all other unemployment ‘discrepancies’.
4. If there is a yellow task that loads of folk can do an option to ‘send all’ to the task. (Especially useful when earning certain event currencies etc)
5. Muddy roads and grass/mud land to better fit in with Cletus’ farm, Moes’s house, Crazy cat lady’s house etc etc.
6. Springfield Heights part 3.
7. Inventory system to be able to be sorted much more specifically. Previous event, search function, can be placed on beach, can be placed on Squidport, and other options.
8. Krustyland to appear above the Springfield Heights and each new major event to have a related ride or store for it.
9. Each new major event to have a monorail station for it available.
10. Re-release Father Sean and Boobarella (I think the only two characters I am missing)
11. Continue to release as many characters per major event as they have for superheroes part 2.
12. The ability to ‘confine’ characters to certain areas. E.g. Cletus to a redneck area, the Wild West folk to the Wild West area, Nessie and Chip to the casino, the funzos to a Xmas area etc etc.
13. Being blue to better line up fences, without h-the rotate and/or gap issue.
14. Day and night/ sun and rain modes. Sun blocker from WSMB can achieve the former.
15. A few more aspirational buildings, such as largest toilet.
16. More interaction with certain buildings and or decorations.
17. A new mini game per major event that sticks around. (Like the tortoise tapping/ where’s Maggie etc)
18. Continue adding a strip of land per event.
19. Re-release of Kumiko and Mr Costington too.
20. A clear list of who are playable characters and who are NPCs. And for this to be made clear when buying too!
21. A definite indication of everything you need to know when buying too (bonus multiplier etc)
22. A countdown to the next event so you know if/ when you can re-design your town.
Yes, yes, YES to number 22!!! I forgot about that one, which has been high on my wish list for ages!
Great post. I agree with most of the improvements here and would be delighted to see them happen. Especially the yellow-task-disappears-once-numbers-are-met one. For me though, being delightfully selfish, my most-coveted in-game improvement would be proving 2-hour and 10-hour options at the Unemployment Office. I have the Big Theatre and the Stonecutter Daycare with many skins so have a lot of characters with 2-hour tasks. I may start a very specific movement calling for these things (possibly with a 6-hour option asked for, for completeness).
Ha, I’ve been playing since August 2012!
Im surprised Bartman hasnt been made available yet to those who dont have him, considering he is featured on the main splash screen.
Since he’s on the splash, it’s pretty safe to assume he’ll become available.
I figured as much. I just meant I would have guessed it would have been released earlier in the event.
Maybe EA didn’t want to tick people off by having them buy it when they knew a free skin was going to be available in Issue 2? Now people will have one and the option to buy a second one.
Dear EA,
Thank you for the Best Game Ever. It’s fab.
There are a few things I would like if you feel like really outdoing yourselves.
1) Like Jack Anon I would really like it if when there was a task to send 5 Springfielders to do a task and you’ve sent them the yellow bar would come off everyone else.
2) I’d like the ability to choose the task AND the time it takes. So for example my favourite is Bart and Stampy together but I rarely see it because mainly I use 1,4 or 8 hour jobs to fit round real life commitments. If I could select the task and time that would be great.
3) I’ve also seen suggested on this wonderful site a day/night mode. Now I think that has some great possibilities.
4) Lastly to embrace the winner of the excellent TSTO Addicts most desired character and make it so.
Thank you.
Great letter Wookiee!
I love so many of the changes EA has made. There are a few things I’d still like changed/tweaked a little, so I guess I’ll take tot’s advice.
#1. See #4 on Jack Anonymous post.
#2. Allow a quantity to be entered when selling items from inventory.
#3. Please PLEASE (pretty), change the coding so that NPC’s cannot travel on dirt roads. I really love the look of the dirt roads, but am annoyed I cannot use them. I paid too much for the street cleaner to have it ALWAYS migrate to dirt from paved. I stored Nessie, & even though I have no dirt roads, probably won’t pull her back out. 😕
#4. More land for SH.
#5. Fences, borders, etc., fix the rotation/gap/corners… I know I can’t be the only one this bothers. (Especially the Lovely Fence, Biohazard Wall, Bramble Hedge)
#6. Stop making us guess what the bonus is (or isn’t), for crafted/earned prizes.
#7. Give us the ability to find out how many items we have in our game (out of storage).
#8. KL… please do something at least once a month to interest me in making changes there. Anything… it’s been so long.
I’m sure I could think of more, but those are really the only things I’d like to see at this point. Not having these done won’t stop my addiction 😂 (but I might have more time to beg for donut money😘)
Yes – I wish all fences took up only the space they’re visibly on, instead of needing “shadow space.” That would fix the corner problem, I think.
Might be off topic but I noticed today the Insanity mode mini game is awarding Springfield Heights pills again.
That’s odd… I’m still getting cash. My pharmaceutical building is already overstuffed with pills….I wonder whether that makes a difference (like, if it isn’t full, you’ll get pills, but, if it is, you won’t).
I’m glad they nerfed the social prize requirements. But as bad as the grind would have been, it’s still not as bad as the grind that is going on in another superhero related game… I think I’ve got event fatigue. It probably wouldn’t be so bad if TSTO was the only thing I was playing, but adding in 3 or 4 other town building games (that all time their events to compete with each other) and it gets a little daunting…
Great post Wookiee! I guess I’ll try my hand at a letter….
Dear EA,
I don’t have any complaints or grievances to air, but I do have a request. I’m a simple girl with simple needs. Simple, crustacean-related needs. Please bring me Mr. Pinchy. Whether a playable character or NPC, I long to have him in my game. Now onto my second wish…..wait, what do you mean that’s genies? Okay nevermind. Just the lobster. Thanks Santa….I mean EA 😉
I believe Mr. Pinchy was eaten with a large amount of butter!
I always read your posts, Wookiee, but rarely comment. The reason is, your posts are kinda deep, and it’s hard (very hard, sometimes) for people like me, whose first language is not English, to post something “on a par” with your post. Many times I have started typing a comment and then gave up due to the language obstacle. But then I read “venting my feelings” and “letter to EA”… Then I thought, well, I feel like venting after reading your post, and I like writing letters, so why not? But I’m sorry that I’ll do it in my language. I actually started typing the following text in English, but real venting only works in our native language. And I must say, I felt pretty good after I finished writing.
———————————————————————
Querida EA,
Assim como Wookiee, eu comecei a jogar esse jogo em outubro de 2012. Quando eu comecei a jogar, o jogo não era sequer disponível em minha língua. O jogo requer internet, e o meu sinal era vergonhosamente fraco – quando havia um – e muitas vezes deixei de ganhar prêmios de eventos por causa disso. Aliás, mais do que isso, havia muitos dias em que eu permanecia durante vários minutos, se não por horas, com o coração apertado vendo aquele pequeno donut girar na esperança que eu conseguisse entrar no jogo, nem que fosse por alguns segundos, para que eu conseguisse ao menos coletar um pouco de dinheiro e XP. Por muitas vezes persisti e obtive sofridos resultados, mas também por muitas vezes a única coisa que me restou foi a frustração.
Ah, a frustração…! Tenho mais experiências frustrantes nesse jogo do que eu gostaria de lembrar. A pior delas é que fui hackeada há alguns anos. Alguém deliberadamente entrou na minha conta e gastou 90 donuts e 9 milhões de dinheiro do jogo. Nisso numa época em que donuts definitivamente não vinham tão fácil e eu estava guardando eles há um bom tempo para comprar o Otto… Coração apertado, falta de força nas pernas, uma vontade enorme de gritar combinada com incapacidade de falar, incapacidade de acreditar, não, não, isso NÃO está acontecendo!! Demorou algum tempo para que eu conseguisse superar esse trauma. Alguma coisa dentro de mim falou para que eu continuasse. E olha que na época meu namorado não jogava (única pessoa na vida real que eu conheço que joga… mas ele definitivamente não é viciado), e também não conhecia o tstoaddicts. Meu ânimo, minha disposição, meu carinho com o jogo melhoraram muito graças a esse site. Tenho certeza de que vocês conhecem este lugar e não só reconhecem, mas como também valorizam, todo o trabalho e esforço que são agregados aqui.
Hoje são outros tempos. O jogo cresceu em proporções que eu com certeza jamais imaginei/imaginaria, e melhorou muito seu gameplay. Algumas melhorias incríveis foram adicionadas ao longo do tempo, e hoje não tenho a menor dúvida que mais virão. E o mais incrível de todos, eu ainda estou aqui. Eu sobrevivi. Gostaria de dizer que a minha permanência no jogo é devida ao meu caráter de não desistir das coisas que começo a fazer, mas isso seria apenas em parte verdade (e talvez até bem pequena). Eu fiquei no jogo porque vocês estão fazendo um excelente trabalho. As pessoas gostam de se sentir ouvidas e vocês mostraram, por inúmeras vezes, que ouvem os nossos clamores. Por tudo que vocês fizeram por nós, eu digo, por mim e por todos, MUITO OBRIGADA.
Agora, se me permite… Eu tenho um pedido para fazer. Apenas um. Eu gostaria muito que vocês lançassem o maior vaso sanitário do mundo.
https://vanessamy2542.files.wordpress.com/2016/07/800px-worlds_largest_toilet.png
Sei que muitas pessoas tentam deixar suas Springfields mais realistas possíveis não fazem tanta questão, mas na minha opinião, seria uma adição muito interessante para o jogo. Consigo até imaginar jogadores tirando screenshot de suas telas porque viram que o Barney está na task de ficar bêbado perto do vaso sanitário, ou então a Amber Simpson… Ou, quem sabe, vocês aproveitam para lançar também a task do Homer do pee dance?
https://vanessamy2542.files.wordpress.com/2016/07/homer_pee_pee_dance_task.png
Seria hilário. Assim como vocês tiveram a simples e fantástica ideia de fazer os criminosos da nossa cidade andarem como siris na questline dos Super-heróis. Agora, sei que é pedir demais, mas eu particularmente gostei muito da ideia do Totbox de dar upgrade no vaso sanitário, assim como a sequoia. Nós ganhamos um vaso sanitário pequenino e vamos dando upgrade, até que ela se transforma no maior vaso sanitário do mundo. Como seria todo o gameplay relacionado a essa ideia, isso eu deixo por conta de vocês, mas acredito que seria divertidíssimo termos a opção de poder trocar de skins para o nosso vaso sanitário.
Enfim, desculpe-me por tamanha delonga. Nunca me havia sido dada a oportunidade de realmente escrever sobre minhas experiências/desabafos/desejos sobre o jogo, então resolvei aproveitar essa deixa o máximo possível.
Atenciosamente,
Vanessa
You’re the only person I know that includes pictures when they rant. 😉
*cough* You should see how your text gets translated by Google. One part said you left to win awards events. Congrats! 😉 Or, you said like “major event” or something. I’m a cheating bastard so I’m reading the English translation then seeing if the words ring a bell in Portuguese too. I noticed jog[oa], which I knew was play/game in Spanish. “quando havia um” got translated as “when there was a”, which I assume should have been “when there was one”, which I guess means that Portuguese can use indefinite numeration, which of course is really what we’re doing in English, too, just that we’d never say “a” at the end. Oh, do you not have a different word for “donut”? Interesting.
Um, but to maybe know what you said (if Translate is right)… I sometimes get a spinning donut and nothing more but I didn’t start playing this game until I knew that my internet was sufficient to handle it, so thankfully I never really had to experience what you did. I don’t know why you’d purposely suffer through that without even having been a Simpsons fan.
I learned that “I” is “Eu”, but I don’t know how to pronounce that (or many of the words, naturally). It doesn’t sound like “You” does, it? heh. Why does Translate replace a word like “clamores” with “cries”? shouldn’t it go with “clamor”? (Thanks for saying thanks on my behalf. Y’all know that I rarely do…)
Um, did you want them to “cast” into the toilet? I’m pretty sure you didn’t say that…
“jogadores” sounds a bit cooler than “players”. Yes, I’m lazy, so: Is the J pronounced as an ‘H’ sound for your language? (How do you pronounce your G’s, while I’m here asking…?) (You probably already know, but in Spanish J sounds like an H, H sounds like nothing, and G sounds like…I’m not sure, it depends. lol)
I agree about the pee dance. Only worry is that whenever I see it I’ll then need to pee. lol. Don’t need that.
Is “do” a kind of possessive? I noticed it turned into “Homer’s” but it also got used after “idea” and before “Totbox”, so it sounds like it gave “idea” a possession. Quite interesting.
I don’t think toilets should be called “sanitary” anythings…. they’re icky. Definitely not my idea of sanitary. lol. Feel free to point out something in English that shouldn’t be called that.
I like the idea of upgrading the toilet, Vanessa. Thanks for sharing such a long piece written in Portuguese. It allowed me to see a few patterns and familiar words (both in English and in Spanish). I look forward to getting an earful on how wrong I was. 😉 Here, I’ll get you started (being angry): It’s “on par” not “on a par”.
Whoops, I don’t know where I got “rant” from. You said “vent”. Statement still applies.
Wow, I think I just came to 😂😂😂 My head is still spinning 😜😝😊
…I feel like I sounded crazy? Is that why your head is spinning? lol. It was sort of stream of thought style. Probably seems very uncalm to the reader.
I don’t include pictures in my ventings, I include pictures in my letters. 😉
I have just read the translated version of my text. I must say I’m surprised… It’s pretty well translated. Of course some things get lost here and there, but the overall translation is very good.
I meant that I didn’t win prizes of events because of my internet. I forgot to mention it’s a lot theif fault, too… The pace was definitely not easy.
We do have a word for “donut”, and that is “rosquinha”, but it sounds so silly to me… We have words for “gameplay”, “task” and “pee dance” as well, but they all sound better in English to me.
I’m a hero for still being playing this game! 😛 But now I’m curious: you’re saying you knew about the game but didn’t download it because of your internet at the time?
No, “eu” doesn’t sound like “you”. Its pronunciation is /eʊ/.
I don’t want EA to cast into the toilet, whatever that means… I said I wanted them to release the toilet. I didn’t know why “lançassem” (infinitive verb “lançar”) got translated to “cast”, but after looking it up (it = cast), I see. It got translated to “cast” because the verb “lançar” also means “to swing a fishing rod forwards so that the end of the line falls into the water” (by macmillandictionary.com). You’ll see that I said “lançar” for the pee dance task too, and it got translated to “launch” then… That’s because “lançar” can also mean “to launch”. Lol. There are other words for those two cases, just trying to explain how Translate worked here.
No, “j” is not pronounced at all like it does in Spanish. It sounds like “je” in French, the second “g” in “garage”, or “s” in “illusion”. Lol. Its phoneme is /ʒ/.
“Do” (de+o) is a preposition that can be a kind of possessive. Its variations are “da”, “dos” and “das”. If I say “ideia do Totbox”, it means “Totbox’s idea”, but if I say, for example, “dentro do carro”, it means “in the car”. “Do”, in this case, is just a linking word.
You took “sanitary” from my text in Portuguese, right? Because the translated version doesn’t say “sanitary” in any moment (at least it doesn’t for me). It got properly translated to “toilet”… Because “vaso sanitário” means “toilet”. I wouldn’t call toilets “sanitary” things, either… hah.
Are you sure the correct form is really “on par”? Because I actually looked that one up before I submitted my post, and according to Macmillan Dictionary, is “on a par with”: http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/on-a-par-with After reading this part of your reply, I double checked and looked it up on my “physical” dictionary, that also says “on a par with” (sorry for the bad photograph):
https://vanessamy2542.files.wordpress.com/2016/07/image.jpeg
Lastly, thanks for showing an interest in what I wrote. Now, fingers crossed that someone at EA translated my text as well! 😛
I knew not about the game, I instead ignored the whole scene until I had access to better internet. Then I happen to find the game and thought “I should play this” or some similar statement.
Looks like “on a par” is British. Sorry, I’m American. That’s what I know.
“On par with” or “on a par with” is most certainly used in the U.S.
Thanks for all the explanations and word opinions.
Hah, apparently… um, here’s a link:
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/rosca#Portuguese
Whereas rosquinha is the diminuative. But, does it sounds silly because of the third definition, the slang one?
I kinda like that little phoneme, /ʒ/. It’s one of my silly sounds that I do for fun.
That’s what I thought…that I still wouldn’t understand how to pronounce /eʊ/…. (I’m bad at vowels. Better at consonants.)
I think “cast into the toilet” would be like “banish to the toilet”, similar to casting off. I knew it had to be a mistranslation so I didn’t give it much thought, but that’s what I think now.
“vaso sanitário” breaks down to sanitary vessel (or container?), right? So, when you say it in your native language, doesn’t it come out sounding like that? That’s why I remarked about it as if you said the word “sanitary”, because didn’t you?
We have some words like that, like “bathroom”, which sometimes doesn’t have a bath to go with the room, and when you say “I need to use the bathroom” you’re probably not going to take a bath (heck, probably a shower instead if you were). I say “restroom” when there’s no bath in the room, but even then…it’s often not a very restful room. lol. Some people call that room “the toilet”, which is the most honest name for it, but that’s slang. (Etymologically toilet means “small cloth”…which is not as honest. It’s a euphemistic term to avoid saying “the sh*tter”, which is what it really should be called, right? Water closet wouldn’t be so bad, but I’m not British… 😉 )
Your dictionary image makes it seem like “on a par” is wrong… The other idioms are “below par”, “par for course”, et al, none of which has an “a” intruding in on the phrase. Maybe it got shoved in there with a phrase like “a par 5 course”, which has nothing to do with par and more to do with creating a phrase in English. If I said “a TSTO-style game” it would not mean that the correct phrase would be “a TSTO”… Sadly, I’m not a linguistics expert, more just a pattern matcher. Maybe some other patterns exist that refute this.
Hah, I don’t think I’ve ever heard the word being used in the third definition… Just when people say “queima-rosca”, but not the word by itself. And while “donut” can be translated to “rosca”, most people here call it “rosquinha”. That’s how the game translates it… It sounds weird if someone says “Eu comi uma rosca”… Not sure why, but if someone says “rosca” out of nowhere, I think about the first definition of your link. And “rosquinha” sounds silly because it is, indeed, the diminutive form. But not that donuts over here are small. I’m sure “donut” is originally “rosca” in Portuguese, but for some reason it became more accepted as “rosquinha”.
I never gave much thought to how “vaso sanitário” sounded to me, because it’s not something I say much. Lol. And even when I say, I often say “privada”, but that’s kinda slang.
My dictionary image shows that “on a par” is the RIGHT form. The other idioms don’t matter; I just wanted to show you the first definition, that’s why I underlined it… Guess it wasn’t highlighted enough. But yeah, both Macmillan Dictionary and my physical dictionary (Longman) are British. Looking up on Merriam-Webster, an American dictionary, I find that “a” is in parentheses: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/on%20(a)%20par%20with What I mean is, I wasn’t wrong when I said “on a par”. Neither were you. Well, maybe a little. 😛
Wiktionary says “burn the donut”. lmao! Wait, I shouldn’t have said “ass”. lol.
Anyways, thanks for getting to the “bottom” of that word mystery. *chuckle* I don’t know why “screw thread” is such a common thing there. I had to look it up just to make sure I understood the right definition. I did.
You might know the BBT quote: “What would you be if you were attached to another object by an inclined plane, wrapped helically around an axis?” So, maybe I do know why that would sound silly to think of your donuts that way.
Yes, thanks, your actual word would be “privada”. I knew you had a little shame in you. 😉
Okay, this “par” business is a little confusing. There’s two definitions, one about comparative quality (the one I’m subscribing to) and one about equality level. My issue with the equality level is just that I’d like to know if there are any other words that function in this way. So, to replace the phrase it would be “on an equal level with”, which would then make the “a” make sense. But what other words are like that? Not even the word “equal” is like that, nor any variant of that word that I can think of. When you’re on a plane (the geographical one) you’re on the same level, by definition, yet you wouldn’t say “on a plane with you”, but you might say “on the same plane as you”. (“On an airplaine with you”? hmm) It’s okay (I guess). Unique words exist and I suppose you can be just as right as I am. 😉 😛
When Bart (as Stretch Dude) just said “ass” in the game, one of my first thought was, “well, I guess that settles whether we should be allowed to say that on the Addicts site,” lol!
I don’t think I got that far, but I am on the second questline of Stretch Dude. Is that how this works? I thought it was still up to Alissa. I mean, Booberella is in the game… I just looked at her dialogue and there’s very few direct uses of that word, more like boob tube style. Anyways, I’ll hopefully see what Bart says there and how he says it. Apparently you’re allowed to say it as I’m looking at it now. I’m looking at your “ass” right now, is what I’m saying, Sandra. 😉
Lol! I’m afraid if you were really looking at mine, it would be in upper case these days. 😉
That’s the second upper case joke around here. Nice.
Really? What did it say? I don’t remember that one…
Lol, it was from me. Safi said he was going to answer in all caps, but all he said was NO. I said “he needs more caps” (meaning, like “NOOOOO” or something to emphasize the disapproval he and I meant, or some sort of super caps).
I don’t think screw thread is a “common” thing here… I just said *I* would think about screw thread even someone said “rosca” out of nowhere. Lol. Really, don’t know why. Maybe I learned that definition when I was kid and it got stored in my subconscious or something. 😛
That TBBT quote SO TOTALLY MAKES SENSE NOW! Thanks! Hahahah it’s one of those puns I unfortunately don’t get because of my medium knowledge of the English language.
And stop trying to find patterns! 😛 Answer me this: How come “daughter” and “laughter” have so similar spellings, and yet so different pronunciations? Why in Portuguese we write “obsessão” (obsession), but “obcecado” (obsessed)? (UGLY, I know… And I know that, between us, I’m the one who should supposedly answer this, but I’m not looking for an answer. It’s just because I always thought “obcecado” was ugly, and it loks just SO wrong.)
Glad this had the end result of helping you better understand TBBT. That’s all that matters, obviously. 😀
Laughter: Old English: hleahtor.
Daughter: Old English: dohtor.
Looks like the vowels were closer to their pronunciation. Though, really, they probably had many different vowel pronunciations, just like a lot of our words will have a few different vowel forms (that usually are not recognized by dictionaries but are nonetheless used). Really, your question is about the “gh”, right? I think it’s some form of “sound dropping”, where it can be literally dropped like with “daughter” or it can be “softly dropped” like “laughter”. The original sound should be more like an “xh” (if that means anything to you). So pick any of the easier consonants and you’ve got an ‘F’ or an ‘H’ to choose from. Try saying “laughter” with an h-sound and you’ll see that it’s pretty much gone, or that it starts to turn into an f-sound.
I used no linguistical terms because I don’t know them… but just try these things out and you’ll see that’s pretty much how it must have gone. My question is: Why did Germans keep their raspy G? Maybe it was English being influenced by other languages that didn’t particularly care for those sounds therefore simply substituted them. (I don’t have a historical answer beyond the etymological aspect I noted.)
About your Portuguese words…well, you said you had to answer those, but we do have words like that in English, and I agree, if only because it trips up my ability to spell correctedly.
I don’t know what “raspy G” means but I guess you’re referring to “g” coming in the end of the word in German, when it’s pronounced as a /k/? Well, I obviously don’t know the answer to your question anyway…
I don’t think I understood your first paragraph very well. And I don’t wanna brag, nor upset you or anything, but I think I would have understood better if you knew linguistical terms. 😛 For instance, “xh” doesn’t mean anything to me. Do you its phoneme? Is it voiced or voiceless?
Well, I would have to look them up, so does that count as “knowing them”? 😉 I meant like in German, Scottish and even Spanish. It’s just not a sound we have in English. I don’t know if you have it in Portuguese.
Fine, I’ll look it up. When I said “xh” I just meant “x”, as in /x/ (is that right?). (I think I meant to write “kh” but let’s just leave that behind as to not to reconfuse.) Okay, we do have that sound in English, in the word “ugh” (depending on your pronunciation of it).
The Wikipedia IPA page for Portuguese:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_Portuguese
doesn’t seem to show that sound for your language. It does show the sound on the English IPA page.
Here’s the page for x:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiceless_velar_fricative
which does seems to show that maybe Portuguese has the sound depending on speaker.
Okay, before I say something stupid, just give me an example of a German word with this “raspy G”, please.
…I dun wanna. 😛 I gave you an English word with a “raspy G”. I don’t know German. I think I’ll have (already) said something stupid… Sorry. 🙁
No, no… Now I see. When “g” comes in the end of a word in German, it’s pronounced as a /k/. But, if it’s part of the suffix -ig (not sure if it’s a suffix, to be honest), it’s pronounced as -ich. I don’t think I knew that. I’m glad I looked it up first, ’cause otherwise I would, indeed, have said something stupid: http://joycep.myweb.port.ac.uk/pronounce/consong.html
It would be much easier for me if you said “pronounced as a ‘ch'” than “raspy G”… And I don’t think I ever said “ugh” out loud, so I’m not really sure how I would pronounce it. lol.
I’m glad you learned the truth about German (well, that truth *sneaky eyes*).
I couldn’t say “pronounced as a ‘ch'” because we say /tʃ/ (and sometimes other sounds, this being English), which is nowhere close to /x/ nor /k/. Unless you mean the “ch” that is in loch or Chanukkah (also “Hanukkah”)…but those seem very much like foreign words still. Ugh, yech, and blecch seem much more English.
But, “ugh” may or may not be pronounced with the /x/ sound, otherwise it’s just /g/ or nothing at all. Sorry, we don’t have many words like that in English. We’re too civilized to pronounce our words like that unless we are full of disgust. 😛
I didn’t even think about “ch” as /tʃ/… I was referring to “ch” like in “Bach”, and yes, “Chanukah”. 😉
Your “privada” sound like the slang word “privvy” in English.
Walking carpet!! LOL! My cheeks hurt so bad😆
I know it may be silly, but I really REALLY want a crab walking criminal in my town. Everytime I see them I wait a minute before tapping, they make me giggle Teeheehee!
I’m pretty sure we will have the chance to purchase one with donuts, just had to say it!
Because I’m lazy I will just say thanks to you here, Wookiee, for explaining why Orphan Alley was called that, because of Batman. I guess I’m just dense but, not having given it too much though, I didn’t figure it out. 🙂
It seems like they did a pretty effective hotfix or something, as I’m getting much more stable (but not perfect) game performance, and Friend crashes are less frequent.
It’s still a little sticky for me, but that might be peanut butter.
Very well said my hairy friend
Well the social battles were sorted but the time it takes visiting neighbours towns is just getting worse, between crashing and slow loading I am lucky to be able to visit a quarter of my neighbours daily now. And I’m playing on a new iPad with heaps of memory so it’s not device related. I know we shouldn’t mention the competition but FGQFS neighbour town visits are quick and painless. Can’t you do something to make the social aspect of the game fun again and not the grind it’s become.
I don’t visit (on any regular basis) unless it’s worth it. Especially when we weren’t getting donuts I just stopped. Now I stop a little after getting the last crafting card (but before depleting all the soilant red). If it was quick and painless, who knows, I might keep going.
I’m still getting donuts for neighbor visits, it just seems they’re a little more spread out.
Yeah, they’re back. No donuts was last event.
I want to thank Wookiee, Alissa and Bunny on just having this site for us gamers to have the opportunity to voice our thoughts and opinions, in comments. I am also grateful for being able to make Posts regarding what I’d like to see (via the Throwbacks). What gets me irked though is when I see great opportunity for conversations and other readers opinions on what they desire etc; and the failure by the majority (from even the Regulars).
I know that Game-Play seems to be the hotter topic out of wishing for more content (or any other topic) but it’s the Rants about missing characters and events that I’d think would get EA’s gears moving. I am very serious that this frustrates me, to the point I might need to seek professional help. There is apparently Social Media Anxieties; I don’t care about “Likes” but comments and feedback I do (not just for my posts but for others), because without feedback how can anyone learn how to improve/modify/pander the next time around.
*deep breath* it is good to get things off one’s chest sometimes, like going to confession or a Festivus celebration. :p
Like!
Do you want us to pine for characters like Lanley? You want us to rant about it? Did it read that right?
If you want Lanley more than anything, YES, I want to hear someone mention him every chance they get, if that’s what they want.
Some readers and admin can vouche for the fact that I used to unbearably whine about Maggie not being in the game, like every time we got new game content, every Wookiee post. After we got Maggie I set my sights on Raphael, again, I probably annoyed alot of people. I am pretty contented at this point, I still shout out things about “God” needing to be in the game now and then but when it comes to his Character I don’t want people to think I’m bible-thumping so, I’ll probably low key until we get him and after that I think I’m going to get Crazy for Itchy and Scratchy or someone/thing else.
If EA is rumored to check out this site, they are likely to see comments, if they see the same repetitive comment on various posts it might eventually sink in.
The more people to do that sort of thing, the better. Sure it’ll annoy other readers, sure it might annoy the admin but sometimes you can get people so sick about things that they end up on your side just to shut you up :p
Alright. Instead of just complaining over over a glitch or overpriced deal we should complain more positively to get good things. Makes sense!
I’d probably hit up the EA forums half the time, partially lay off annoying those here.
I don’t know who I want. I might be easier than I sound. But I’ll try to figure out someone. I guess I’ll “rah rah” whoever wins Safi’s challenge.
Safi already has the most desired bracket challenge going, but it would be interesting to have a poll on people’s top three wanted characters. Safi, great job! I’m enjoying voting every week. Mine would be Kumiko, Pinchy and Mary Spuckler. I really didn’t become a Simpsons fan until I started playing this game, so haven’t seen all the episodes. I’m sure more devoted fans have different favorite characters. I just recently got Frink as I’m mostly freemium and try and get limited time items first. I just finished donut farming to get Washington and Lincoln. I’ve been playing for a little over three years and finally feel like I have enough in-game money. My multiplier is close to 300% thanks to tennis courts and wailing walls. I still have my house farms to keep the money coming in. Being freemium, I still haven’t purchased all the land as I only buy more as needed. Thanks for your posts and comments, Totbox. My two cents worth.
I was planning on getting all of the social prizes before and now it will just be easier. I realize not everyone has the time to commit that I do but it is my cup of tea. Springfield Heights complete! Wild West Complete! The last thing I missed was Halloween 2015 and that was due to my 2nd gen iPad not being able to load the game!
Woohoo! Congrats on completing Springfield Heights. I myself just finished completing my SH ten minutes ago. For the longest time, I had only upgraded 1 of my Exclusive Resorts, with the other 9 Exclusive Resorts stuck at Level 1.
Now all 33 of my Deluxe Condos, all 10 Classic Mansions, all 10 Modern Mansions, all 12 Business Centers, all 10 Valet Parking, all 3 Private Islands, and all 10 Exclusive Resorts are finally all at Level 5.
My Real Estate Value is now at $1,728,475,000, without a single donut spent on SH. Well I do have some of the premium characters that help in SH, but I got them on sale and not strictly to help for SH.
No more grinding needed. Now just to restock all the commodities to 200 in preparation for a potential third wave of SH.
Congrats. I read Monolith’s comment as “got billionaire haven”, which is what I got. My next goal is what you did, all buildings upgraded.
Congrats!
I guess I’m doing as well as you having gotten all those things. And similarly, my current device isn’t always able to play the game so I’m missing some of this event. I don’t think I’ll miss out on anything since I usually play to finish with nearly a week or a few days of buffer so I’ll probably just finish much closer to the end.
One of my friends knocked me out of first place on the leaderboard so I HAD to level every single building up all the way. I have even made it a point to have Cookie on the 8 hour Heights task to keep the money rolling. I do not have all inventories at 200 but I do have most of the premium builders so it does not take that long to grind. I have climbed to the top of the social battles leaderboard as well. I was number one in firing elves – I like my ‘universe’ to know dedicated I am!
Add me on friends mikeknights22
You’ll have more success putting your name here.
http://tstoaddicts.com/2016/06/14/add-friends-for-super-fun/
Thanks Wookiee. You know, more than anything, what I’d like to say to EA is a big, fat THANK YOU for all of the wonderful enhancements we have seen over the last few months. The ability to move multiple things at once is a massive help. The employment centre, I was sceptical at first but if you now try to take it off me I’ll chop yer hands off 😉 Same with the IRS.
Then there’s the generosity with donuts, which began back with the monorail and carried on with Maggie. Maggie! MAGGIE 🙆🙏😀
Really, you’ve been amazing, thank you so much.
My only gripe lately is Springfield Heights. It’s bad enough that it’s a crappy part of the game but what makes it worse is you can’t even store the buildings, so it keeps interfering with normal play. Without the Unemployment Centre I’d have probably screamed louder and sooner or stopped playing altogether. But you just love those tasks where we have to send 3 Springfielders on a 12hr task, or some such nonsense. I’m sure you do it to remind us what a great job you did allowing us to send lots of people at the same time. Well, it does, but it’s also a very painful reminder of the Springfield Heights Institute of Technology. Let us store the buildings please! We’ll put up with the SH rubbish when we have to but don’t make us suffer constantly, I beg you.
Imploringly yours,
Swiss Wavey
Swiss – I’m trying to understand the connection you’re drawing between Springfield Heights buildings and the “send 3 characters on a 12-hour task” thing. Can you explain how those two are related? (I’m not saying they’re not – I’m just not getting what you’re saying.)
Take a deep breath Wookiee. 😉
All is well.
Goosfraba! I’m good.
You are just so funny! Lucky fiancee!! I agree with every aspect of your letter to EA. Thanks for saying it for us. Cheers!
Hip hip, hooray! … Hip hip, HOORAY! … HIP HIP, HOORAY!!
I can’t not read that as “hip HOP hooray”. Hop in the second spot. It’s from a song. It goes “hip hop hooray! ho! hey!” etc.
My “want” is Shari Bobbins! I couldn’t get her after spending many donuts on the stupid “wheel” in a Christmas event a few years back. I felt so ripped off I quit playing for a few months. I love the game though, I couldn’t stay away.
There are so many buildings and things and characters we could get. Our family is always pointing them out as we watch old episodes.
Great letter! I totally agree with your criticism of the social battles. I do my 3 battles per day every day, and it seems like it will be impossible to complete the social prizes in time.
It’s much easier now.
EA, please consider the following:
1. Update character sayings and make a few more outdoor tasks for characters. I mute my volume now when I play because it’s monotonous hearing the same things out of the characters 100 times per day. Not a big deal though, just an idea.
2. Better item storage categories (hard to find things when you have 10,000 items) or let us store things manually in a special area of items we’ll never use to remove them from other categories
3. A “collect all” button option for a portion of the cash same as the “send all” button
4. When there is a task to send 5 Springfielders to do a job, cancel out the option for the rest of the town once 5 have been sent so we can send all characters to do something else instead of being unavailable to send because they have a golden task available.
5. Do another Clash of Clones event please (and at some point bring back the Ghost Pirate Ship and the Reindeer)
6. Allow us to select and move even larger areas
7. An “animate all” button would be cool to turn everything on or off… Not sure if that would take too much space or data…
8. Get rid of Mr. Burns golden tasks pertaining to money mountain.
9. Store all Springfield Heights task bar tasks.
Just a few ideas for now. Thanks 🙂
Really want #4!
Item #2 has been on my wish list very quickly after I started playing two years ago. I know I want a specific item from a specific event but need to scroll, scroll scroll to find it. During the even all these items were in a category when I purchased them, why can’t that “event” still show up as an icon file? And I LOVE the idea of a deep storage for items I can’t believe I would ever want again (most of the Springfield Heights building.
Items #8 and #9 are the other two that would bring new life to how I feel about this game. Mostly an addiction rather than pure pleasure. I can’t believe I just bought more donuts so I could get Teddy Roosevelt!!
Nice list. I don’t agree with it all (unless we’re just talking about opening up options for everything).
Collect all might be nice. Sometimes I’m in a rush and I can’t send everyone back on a job until I’ve cleared their tasks which I might not have time for, ironically.
Definitely agree with number 4!!!
Why hasn’t #4 been implemented yet!?!
Well said ( and they said in the background Hear, Hear )
My largest frustration is the problem with the the game crashing when I visit my neighbors. I would be cursing here, but that is like p—— in the wind . Sometimes it crashes on the first neighbor, sometimes I get to visit 3 or 4 neighbors BUT most times I get to visit 2 neighbors and it crashes. So you log back into the game and head over to your neighbors only to do this until you reach the end of your visits for the 24 hour period.
Now before you say , tell EA, I have twice with no results .
It seems strange that no one else experiences this to the degree that I do. Oh well …..
Bruce … I, too, have the same problem. I play on a Kindle Fire and seldom turn my Kindle off all the way. I bring it to “home” and let it go to sleep on its own. But, through trial and error (uninstalling and reinstalling, and more), I have found an easy solution to the crashing-while-visiting-neighbors problem that works for me every time. I simply turn my Kindle off completely, wait a minute or so and turn it back on. Voila! I hope this works for you … I really do!
I have the same problem with friend visits. I don’t visit that much anymore as I simply don’t have the time to keep restarting my game. I’m on a fairly new iPad with tons of memory, so it’s not my device. But, I usually can only do 2-3 visits before my game crashes completely. It seems like this just happened during the past year or so too. I restart my tablet every day also, but it doesn’t seem to help much. My game also crashes fairly frequently during regular play too – at least a couple times a day when playing TSTO. None of my other games or apps crash like this. It would be SO nice if this was fixed somehow. RachelS
Such a good post and I LOVED reading this! Keep doing what you do 😁 Thanks so much!