GameGal: I know I wasn’t supposed to, but I snuck into the The Sims Online playtest.

Chris Trottier: Have you? Have you made much pizza?

G: Oh yeah, I’ve made so much pizza it’s ridiculous

CT: That’s our biggest challenge right now -- to give people a vision beyond the pizza.

G: I was wondering if you guys are going to fix it where people can’t make as much money on the pizza machines.

CT: We’re doing a lot of things. We’re tuning down the pizza payout. We’re also doing some new stuff with property categories as kind of an incentive to diversify.

So we’re going to give more visibility on the map to use to different kinds of properties. Right now we have two lists: the most visited properties and the best sites to make money. Then there will be the most entertaining… the most… You know how now it feels like there are some Wal-Mart properties where there are places that offer a little of everything. So it’s like, OK come on in — there’s a hot tub over here, there’s pool back here, a wedding chapel over there, and there’s no reason to leave the lot unless it gets too crowded or closes down.

We’re trying to push that out to be more geographical. So a property owners will define: I’m going to be money-making property, or I’m going be a skill-building property, I’m going to offer services, I’m going to be a shop or I’m going to be a games property or whatever. So when the player comes in, they can immediately pull up whatever list they are most interested in.

What we’ll eventually end up doing is tuning the gameplay to be a little more intense on the money-making and skill-building properties and less intense on the romantic or entertainment properties. So you can only buy one of the group job objects if you’re a money-making property. But, if as a player, you want to step away from that group and take a break—not have to take a shower every 20 minutes then there’s somewhere to go and relax.

G: My friends and I are starting a space age pad, kind of based on Space: 1999. We'll see how it goes.

CT: Do you have roommates?

G: Yes, I have a few friends in the industry who are my roommates.

CT: Any strangers?

G: No strangers yet.

CT: How far along are you?

G: We’re not very far. We don’t have much furniture right now.

CT: Maybe I’ll come visit you on Blazing Falls.

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