8 Want - Unique Objectives For Multiplayer
Multiplayer in The Sims franchise isn't a new thing, there have been several attempts at it in the past, like with the Facebook game The Sims Social and the MMO The Sims Online. The Sims Online worked pretty similarly to The Sims, you created a Sim and placed them in a town to live, usually in a household with roommates since it was expensive to buy a house. The expectation for The Sims Online was that you could party and enjoy fun activities with other Simmers, but in reality, it was a little more like a virtual job simulator where you built up skills to make money and decorate your house.
In single-player, goals like that are worthwhile but can be boring in multiplayer. A Sims game with multiplayer should include new interactive objectives and activities to keep players interested. Maybe create challenges for players to work together, like running a hospital or creating a restaurant.
7 Don't Want - Microtransactions
The Sims franchise does have a history of using microtransactions for content that can be used in their games. From The Sims 3 Store to The Sims Social and, more recently, The Sims Mobile, players could use real money to purchase in-game currency that could be used to buy items.
The Sims already requires players to buy additional content with its tradition of releasing Stuff, Game and Expansion packs. Having to spend even more money to get additional exclusive content (like with several towns, worlds, and items in The Sims 3), isn't something most players want to experience, again.
6 Want - Ability To Split Or Join Funds
Without using money cheats, in The Sims 4, households start with 20,000 Simoleans, with an additional 2000 for each additional Sim. After buying or building a house and furnishing it that money goes fast, making it crucial for players to have their Sim earn money through a career or a profitable skill.
We would hope that any multiplayer mode would give players the option to have separate or combined household funds. Possibly model it after Stardew Valley's ability to split or join funds. In Stardew the host can choose to do this when they create a new game or change it using the "Town Ledger".
5 Don't Want - Losing Autonomy Of Sims
Part of the appeal of The Sims is the ability to completely control the Sims you create. You can control many aspects of their lives, even with Full Autonomy on, it's easy to step in and make your Sims do what you want. Any multiplayer experience that comes to the franchise has to ensure that players won't lose that control. For example, The Sims Mobile has Sims created by other users populating and walking around other player's towns.
Players are completely free to interact with them and even romance and have children with these Sims, all without the knowledge of the Sim's creator. The only time a creator has a say in how other sims interact with their Sim is when it comes to marriage, which they can accept or deny. Any multiplayer function would have to ensure that players got to keep full autonomy of all their Sims.
4 Want - A Shared Build/Buy Mode
The Sims originated from Will Wright's need to rebuild his home and life after the Oakland firestorm of 1991. This is partly why one of the biggest aspects of the series is building. Players can literally build their Sim's homes from the ground up, in just about any way they wish.
Any multiplayer mode that a next-gen Sims game could have would have to include the ability to build with other players. Maybe something similar to Minecraft's Creative Mode where all players are free to build on the same server. Who knows what wonderful creations Simmers could build with the ability to work together!
3 Don't Want - A Public Only MMO
While some people enjoy public MMO's others enjoy multiplayers where they get to select who they play with. Looking back on the reception of The Sims Online and The Sims Social when it comes to trying to make The Sims an MMO like Half-Life, it just doesn't seem to work out.
Allowing players to choose who they wish to play with, whether it's making a password-protected server or making the multiplayer invite-only might garner better results. There's already a mod, Sims 4 Multiplayer, that allows for a similar multiplayer experience that lets 2 people play together using the same save file and connecting to a server.
2 Want - The Ability To Use Mods
The modding community for The Sims has been around since the first game. Maxis doesn't endorse or support mods, but with The Sims 4, they have made it easier for players to install and use mods. We would hope that Maxis continues to make it possible for the custom content community to thrive, and make it possible to use mods in a multiplayer mode.
Games like Stardew Valley and Don't Starve Together make it possible for players to use mods in multiplayer. In certain instances modded and vanilla players can still play together with no issues, as long as the mods in place have a local effect on the game, and not a global one.
1 Don't Want - A Compromised Singleplayer
As fun as a multiplayer Sims game could be, straying too far away from the 'core' of The Sims isn't something most players would like to see. It's something that Andrew Wilson understands, as he mentions in the EA Earnings Call that Maxis "will always stay true to our inspiration, escape, creation, self-improvement, motivations".
The Sims is unlike any other current simulation game, and that formula of self-driven escapism and creativity has made the franchise what it is today. Completely taking out, or not giving fans the full single-player experience they've come to expect from the series would be a big mistake.