Curiosity about how it all works :)

Hey G4TW creators and members!

I've been a member for quite a while now and I had a few questions about the downloads and would love it if I understood a bit more:

1) Why are most of the available downloads older games and there aren't as many new ones?

2) Is it more difficult to get downloads for the newer games?

3) I have a lot of free time and am available to help out in any way that I can if you wouldn't mind telling me what I could do 

Thanks a lot! 

amxlia21 wrote:Hey G4TW creators and members!

I've been a member for quite a while now and I had a few questions about the downloads and would love it if I understood a bit more:

1) Why are most of the available downloads older games and there aren't as many new ones?

2) Is it more difficult to get downloads for the newer games?

3) I have a lot of free time and am available to help out in any way that I can if you wouldn't mind telling me what I could do 

Thanks a lot! 

Hello again and thanks for bringing up these interesting points @amxlia21,


I saw you requested a re-seed, I will get back to it later.   As for the main issue, I myself have been a member since 2012 "only", so I myself am not so sure about some of the things that happened prior to me joining. Maybe @Ɛɗιη can give additional insights as well on this later.

When this Forum was started in early 2010, things were new. Everybody was eager to see what was going on, and there were lots of people joining and discussing. Support was given through the Forum, e-mail and live support software by @Adwomin and some of the older Moderators like @Narong30, @m4dm4n or @Michael Myers.

A lot of the games you see on the download list stem from this initial phase in the early 2010s. After that things got busier, and the focus was shifted more toward TS3 and its DLC. There was an endless amount of posts back then about TS3, and during this phase G4TW garnered its reputation for being trustworthy and reliable. Eventually support was extended for some time to Twitter and Facebook, the latter of which is still active today.

Fast forward a bit more, and things became even busier. More people were joining, and the demand became bigger. Up to the extent that resources of all were stretched. At some point, releases of new games became more rare. 

You have to take into account that for "more new games", it would also mean to give more support on them as well, and since we are a non-profit organization, we depend on volunteer-Helpers. And nowadays it has become very difficult to find (good) volunteers for the Forum. I guess part of the reason is that certain aspects in the Forum work have become more challenging these days. TS4 for example is tricky to deal with. Compare TS3 back then, which was easier. In those days, it was easier for people to get involved, in the Forum work. I'm not saying you have to be a computer expert or previous Forum Administrator/Moderator to do these things as we do (I myself have no "computer background" whatsoever). But still.

At some point, people became less interested in interacting with the community. Possible reasons could be:

- people don't like posting on Forums these days, due to their typically rigid regiment of formalities and rules. They rather flock to Facebook-groups, Twitter, Tumblr, Reddit, and so forth.

- the increasingly negative news about "piracy" (c.f. the takedown of The Piratebay back then) could play a role in it, so people are on the one hand eager to get cracked stuff but beyond that "don't want to get too involved with a piracy community".

- unrealistic expectations about staff positions also play a role. People often expect a very high status on the Forum and/or being paid. A less obvious "evil": people like posting their Facebook/Twitter/Pinterest/Skype-details in the Forum profile, but we generally discourage this thing for team members not only for safety reasons of that team member, but also for the safety of us all. 

- and finally, an audience that is getting younger and younger will typically have quickly-changing interests. For the Forum Staff we are generally looking for people with a longer-term interest. And yes, contrary to popular opinion, younger users tend to be more "difficult" than adult users. Not always, but very often.

- we are planning to work on more non-Sims games.   Another reason we are releasing fewer new games is because of (re-)seeding difficulties. But there will be new stuff.


If you are interested in joining the team in the capactiy of "Helper", I'd suggest try sticking around "regularly". Not every day, but somewhat regularly. Contribute to discussions, try helping out some users, etc. Briefly: try getting used to submitting messages on a somewhat regular basis.   Depending on how we evaluate you, we may invite you to the team. 

A longer post, but that should do for now. If I forgot anything, I will add it later on.

Thank you so much for a perfectly detailed response! :D I would love to help out that way 

Thanks for that! Yes, I was thinking that it must be more difficult with digital games! 

I'm rather familiar with Wineskin/Wine/Winebottler for Mac since it's the only way I get to play my games and I had to do HOURS-DAYS of research to understand it all! (I currently am able to play TS3, TS4, Mafia II, and some of the Assassin's Creed franchise) So I'll definitely be on the look out for those Mac users needing help!

amxlia21 wrote:Thanks for that! Yes, I was thinking that it must be more difficult with digital games! 

I'm rather familiar with Wineskin/Wine/Winebottler for Mac since it's the only way I get to play my games and I had to do HOURS-DAYS of research to understand it all! (I currently am able to play TS3, TS4, Mafia II, and some of the Assassin's Creed franchise) So I'll definitely be on the look out for those Mac users needing help!

Cool!   Have a cup of tea now: