The Sims Online Charter Edition

by Electronic Arts

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00006LS9E
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: December 17, 2002
• Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #43,880 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

From the Developer

The Sims Online is a virtual world built from the imaginations of thousands of players like you--an unpredictable, living, alternate online reality where you are both spectator and participant.

In this world, you have your own plot of land to do with as you please. Create a house, coffee bar, dance club, museum, or whatever else you can imagine. Explore the neighborhoods around you and meet scores of Sims along the way. Build a network of friends from around the world to enhance your power, wealth, reputation, and social standing. Be a peacemaker or pest, casanova or matchmaker, recluse or party animal. In this open-ended online world, you choose your role, your attitude, and your destiny.

• Get real... ridiculous: Create and customize your Sim to be just like you, or someone else.
• Speak for yourself: Meet, flirt with, and get to know other Sims through chat, instant messages, and over 60 new expressive gestures.
• Build a home and a livelihood: Build your dream home, the trendiest boutique, or the hottest neighborhood hangout around.
• Be roommates and colleagues: Develop a network of friends, go into business with your housemates, improve the neighborhood, or open a hoppin' club.
• Live life online to the fullest: Select from over 500 new items and skins, designed for online play. And choose from almost all items and skins from the other Sims games.
• Life is what you make of it: Let your imagination run wild. Choose your online role and play your way in this unpredictable, infinite, online world.

This limited Charter Edition includes:

• 3 free months of play time, a $20 value (regular edition has 1 free month of play time)
• Sims face magnet: 25 Sims faces and a small frame that says "Today I am..."
• Sims music CD
• Sims twisty block key chain (contains four Sims in 3 segments each)
• 4-color manual with development team signatures
• Charter Member certificate

Product Description

The Sims Online is a virtual world built from the imaginations of thousands of players like you--an unpredictable, living, alternate online reality where you are both spectator and participant.

In this world, you have your own plot of land to do with as you please. Create a house, coffee bar, dance club, museum, or whatever else you can imagine. Explore the neighborhoods around you and meet scores of Sims along the way. Build a network of friends from around the world to enhance your power, wealth, reputation, and social standing. Be a peacemaker or pest, casanova or matchmaker, recluse or party animal. In this open-ended online world, you choose your role, your attitude, and your destiny.

• Get real... ridiculous: Create and customize your Sim to be just like you, or someone else.
• Speak for yourself: Meet, flirt with, and get to know other Sims through chat, instant messages, and over 60 new expressive gestures.
• Build a home and a livelihood: Build your dream home, the trendiest boutique, or the hottest neighborhood hangout around.
• Be roommates and colleagues: Develop a network of friends, go into business with your housemates, improve the neighborhood, or open a hoppin' club.
• Live life online to the fullest: Select from over 500 new items and skins, designed for online play. And choose from almost all items and skins from the other Sims games.
• Life is what you make of it: Let your imagination run wild. Choose your online role and play your way in this unpredictable, infinite, online world.

This limited Charter Edition includes:

• 3 free months of play time, a $20 value (regular edition has 1 free month of play time)
• Sims face magnet: 25 Sims faces and a small frame that says "Today I am..."
• Sims music CD
• Sims twisty block key chain (contains four Sims in 3 segments each)
• 4-color manual with development team signatures
• Charter Member certificate

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A $75.00 chatroom with very little game elements., December 21, 2002

By 

Lorna_M (the USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Sims Online Charter Edition (CD-ROM)

What a con. I bought a copy for myself and as a gift for my sister as I thought it would be a neat way to keep in touch.

I can begin to convey my disappointment after playing this for the last two days.
There is very little game content and the design is no better than some of the 3D Chat places that are available for free online.

I was expecting to see downtown areas. The advertising made it sound as if there were actual jobs and business and places of exploration.
This place is either geared for the under 21 set or for uncreative types because what I saw people do was childish and just plain crass.
I am disappointed that the developers of The Sims could release such a shallow, half hearted online version.

I should have tried the playtest because if I had, I wouldn't have made such a costly mistake. I just feel fortunate I was able to return my sister's.

This is a huge disappointment. How this can be considered an actual game is beyond me.
Maxis should have just developed an multiplayer version of The Sims where people could play with their friends and family.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Its not worth the big expense, January 3, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Sims Online Charter Edition (CD-ROM)

This isn't a real multiplayer online game.

After playing this game for far too many hour in order to try to progress somewhere with it, I have finally given up. I paid money to play an actual game and not just chat.

A multiplayer online game is supposed to have a balance of socialization and actual gameplay with real objectives along with chatting.

This is nothing but a shallow chatroom where you struggle to keep your Sims needs up, playing silly game objects, and teleport from place to place as there are no real downtown places to explore and you don't even have a real neighborhood to walk around in.

If you must see for yourself, by the less expensive one. Don't invest in this one unless you are absolutely ready to do it.

29 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars TSO - Not the best MMORPG, January 28, 2003

By 

"geekgirl101" (Cheshire, England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Sims Online Charter Edition (CD-ROM)

TSO (The Sims Online) is a collection of cities which you choose from to create your alter-ego - a 3D avatar of yourself - and live out your life as a sim. Instead of being taken to work, you choose from a number of money lots scattered around the city and do real time work there, whilst at the same time chatting to the people in that lot.

You can also visit other types of lots to build up skills to earn more money, play a few games, and get involved in a little hanky panky in one of the romance lots. If you are feeling creative enough and have plenty of simoleans left over, you can even create your own dream home or commercial lot for other people to come round and visit.

Sadly this game evolves mostly around building up skills and finding the lots with the most people in them to earn more money. There's very little imagination put into the objects and it won't be long before repeating the same process over and over gets old. What's more the game is still under development and is missing half the interactions and items mentioned in the manual.

Overall this game has much potential once the beta testing period is over and becomes as advertised with all the interactions and items. At the moment it's nothing more than a 3D chat room with most of the players away from their computer. Users with less than DSL speeds will also find it difficult to play the game smoothly and will be faced with frequent updates that could take hours to install.