The Sims Online

The Sims Online, or TSO was a massively multi-player online-game. It was based on The Sims, however it offered online play with other gamers via PC. It was published by Electronic Arts and released on December 17, 2002. After the popularity of the game waned, the name was changed to EA Land; the change failed, and EA Land was permanently shut down by EA on August 1st, 2008.

Overview
There were 12 cities for a Sim to choose:


 * Mount Fuji - Targeted to Asian market.
 * Calvin's Creek
 * Interhogan
 * East Jerome
 * Fancey Fields
 * Test Center
 * Blazing Falls
 * Alphaville - Largest city
 * Dan's Grove - A small close-knit town.
 * Jolly Pines
 * Dragon's Cove - Harder objectives, energy lose quicker, doubled the price of stuff, also known as a "hardcore city".
 * Betaville - Created to test new functions, will have the ability to create a family of adult Sims and to adjust their level of free will.
 * Test Center 3 - Created as of the TSO-E Project. December 4th - TC3 Merged with TC

Players needed to train skills (mechanical, cooking, charisma, body, creativity, and logic) to unlock new interactions and careers. A player increased skills usually by visiting Skill category properties, as skill could be increased at a faster rate when multiple Sims worked on the same skill concurrently. These Skill properties, or "Skill Houses" as they were commonly referred to in the game, usually specialized in only one or two skills, as was often mentioned in the property's name.

Controversy
There was some controversy in The Sims Online concerning some players who were setting up virtual brothels in the game, exchanging cyber sex for Simoleons.

EA Land
After The Sims Online had been somewhat of a failure to EA they changed The Sims Online to "EA Land". Many previous users from TSO weren't welcoming to the recent changes, because of the limits placed on free accounts and the requirement of paying $9.95 monthly to keep your account for over a year. Further disappointment and lack of any new content to keep the users staying caused many users to quit and eventually an official message was posted, ending EA Land permanently August 1st, 2008.

Revival
Many very dedicated ex-players (such as http://www.thesimsonline.co.cc/ ) are currently working on bringing back the game via a petition. Not private servers as some expect. The Sims 4 may have online features as stated on another Sims rumor website. (Edited by owner of TheSimsOnline.co.cc)

In October 2010, a small team of professional programmers revealed the TSO Restoration Project. They stated that they will be bringing back TSO free of charge through a private server. http://www.tsorestoration.com. Rumors are that the game will be early Alpha Testing in October/November 2011.