"Party Time!", Skill Speeds Raised

It’s only midday Saturday and there has already been two periods of increased skilling so far this weekend. In addition to skilling, payouts were raised significantly yesterday.

What is the cause of all this? Some speculate that this is some sort of minor compensation for the extended downtimes users have been experiencing lately. There is another promised timeframe for “Hyper skilling” later tonight with the possibility of more tomorrow. Be ready and keep an ear open as the sun goes down for another chance at increasing your skills at record speeds.

Scammed, Stolen, Trashed, Gone: The Bradleys

Many of you many already know of the Bradley's. We had an interview with them earlier this month titled "Famously Infamous". If you're new to the game, the Bradley's ran a scam house titled Free Money For Newbies that dared newbies into doing ridiculous acts for a promise of large sums of money that was never given. The well known family recently had a run in with EA staff. Their past incidents finally caught up with them when the EA staff took actions to make sure the Bradleys left the game forever.

One of the most recent attack the Bradley's orchestrated was against a roomie at the "Tonight-Show with ED" lot. The roomie, who has now left the lot for security reasons, will be known in this article as Anon. About 2 years ago, the Bradley's downloaded a keystroke program onto Anon's computer to steal the email account information. Yesterday, we learned that the Bradley's kept Anon's email account and just recently logged into the email to request the member name and password from ea-land.com. After requesting the information, the Bradley's deleted the email so Anon wouldn't see it. The Bradley's then logged onto one of Anon's accounts and completely destroyed and trashed the lot.

After a few minutes of investigation, Anon logged into another account and then caught someone else on the account she just got off of. Anon confronted them, but they logged off and then Ophelia IMed Anon. Anon then realized the situation and contacted EA staff. But it isnt the first time Anon contacted EA about the Bradleys.

Prior to the whole trashing and stealing situation Anon and a few other anonymous sims contacted EA devs about the Bradleys. The complaints ranged from being scammed to being harassed. Sources report that the EA devs have been collecting enough complaints against the Bradleys to justify a permanent termination of their accounts.

Along with the termination of the Bradleys, the Vontrells were also terminated for very similar reasons. Major scammers have finally been taken care of thanks to the players of EAL, Anon, and the EA devs.

A New Beginning

Not long ago Ace Reporter, Hook, interviewed Jack Whiterstien about the prospects of there being a government formed. After the article was posted it seemed as if there was a spark that ignited a new beginning to the United Sims Government. Jack Whiterstien, now United Sims Government Interim President, and Jason McKinley, USG Interim Vice President, have led the charge of a new government focused on helping the sims of EA Land.

I was honored to be chosen as one of the select few to attend the meeting and help set up the USG's foundation and structure. The chosen "delegates" conversed about the future of USG and it's sole mission in EAL. They also decided on the Interim President, who later chose his Interim Vice President, to lead the set up the government.

(USG Interim President Jack Whiterstien with USG Interim VP Jason McKinley)

Because of the USG's potential to become one of the largest organizations in EAL, we decided to cover any news and happenings within the USG that may affect the sims of EA Land. We will make sure to keep everyone in the loop as we always do.

If you havn't already, make sure you voice your vote in our weekly poll.

Sim Government Possibility in EAL

With the opening of EA-Land has come an influx of new and old players returning to the game. This revitalization has many sims looking for something to do within the game world. Skilling and money objects don’t seem worth it for the time investment required to get anything out of them. To be successful with custom content you must be creative and have some know-how involving graphic design. So what is a sim to do? Start a government, that’s what!

Sims have been known for their love of drama filled, disorganized, and often times crooked governments. What causes the fascination involved with governments though? Is it the role playing, the feeling of power over others, or is it just the entertainment of ridiculous “wars” and conflicts with the mob?

No one may have better insight into this than EA-Land’s own Jack Whiterstien a veteran of the Test Center, Jolly Pines, and Alphaville Governments.

EALH: Greetings Mr. Whiterstien and thank you for allowing us time for an interview.

Jack Whiterstien: You’re very welcome. Thank you for allowing me to be here.

EALH: Where and how did you get your start in sim government?

Jack Whiterstien: Well, that would be in Test Center. I joined their army as a Ranger.

EALH: And how did you progress from there?

Jack Whiterstien: Well, I stayed with them for a few months until it started to go downhill. I started up another sim in MF and joined their government as Secretary of Defense.

EALH: Do you know what drew you to these organizations?

Jack Whiterstien: Hmm, in my earlier days in TC I had seen a house trashed. I can’t remember if it was by a mafia or not but knew that it was something that I would like to help prevent.

EALH: Do you think this feeling of public service and help is what generally brings people into a government in TSO?

Jack Whiterstien: I would say a few, but most would probably join just out of curiosity for it.

EALH: Have you tried to contact any previously involved high ranking government members to see what interest they might have?

Jack Whiterstien: I’ve spoken with a few from my time in the Jolly Pines Republic. One had sent me a message when I got on today.

EALH: What would be your intentions or goals for a government in EA-Land? Would it be for entertainment or would its purpose be a more noble endeavor?

Jack Whiterstien: I would like to see something that people can get behind and unify EA-Land. I hope for participation from every city in EA-Land. I would like it to be something people can have fun in but at the same time can have a serious role in helping others.

EALH: Thank you for your time Mr. Whiterstien and the EA Land Herald would like to wish you the best in your endeavors.

Jack Whiterstien: Thank you for this opportunity

TSO Gets its Second Wind

We’re all used to our old, deteriorating, production cities; they were always slow, lacking people, places to visit, and fun a lot of the time. Now, we’re overwhelmed! The population seems to be exploding in this five-year-old game and not from returning players but from new ones. It’s a blessing and a curse. A younger and more robust user base brings more activity and innovation but also server overloads and the dreaded rude newbies. New players require education and tolerance from older sims. Our TSO community has always been known for its reception of newbies. For the most part we’re kind, friendly, and extremely helpful, but we have never needed to be this way so often!

With many news sites such as Kotaku and Gamespot reporting the recent change from paying subscription only TSO to free play EA Land, new users are signing up left and right. The learning curve for the game isn’t all that steep even if you have been on Mars, in a cave, under a rock, with your fingers in your ears missing the best selling PC game ever, The Sims. Regardless, newbies still have plenty of questions they want answered and some sims are feeling the pressure. It seems every lot has turned into a welcome one with new comers wanting to learn the ropes and many aren’t happy about it.

Putting up with goofy behavior and the repetitiveness of their questions is not worth it, especially in the absence of visitor bonus. Many contend it should be Maxis’ job to provide a 24 hour welcome house that could provide tutorials for most game play aspects. However, some people enjoy helping newbs. They say it’s very similar to real life. There are people who are only concerned with themselves and their money and those that enjoy public service and volunteering.

In either case, after the buzz dies down from all this change, the amount of new players joining should drop into a more manageable region. But for the time being, we are experiencing exponential growth.