EA if this isn't a wake-up call to bring back the classic version of The Sims, I don't know what is. PCGamer reports that FreeSO, which is a passion project that recreates the world of The Sims Online but makes it free to players, has crashed due to too many players joining on launch.  

Essentially what happened is the game's launch zone was able to hold 200 players...and word got out about this project and around 1,000 showed up minutes after launch and brought the game down entirely. The developer, who goes by Rhys, vows to have the game back up soon in a closed beta form to help them resolve future issues the game may have.

No doubt one of the issues will be the notoriety they're now getting from gaming media! I, for one, have read nothing about this project on other sites and would've been all over it weeks ago had I known! It's safe to say if more sites had gotten ahold of this info there would have been way more than 1,000 people clamoring to get into this game! 

Of course, with great hype over a fan-made game comes massive crackdowns,  and I wouldn't be surprised if those precious few minutes are the only time FreeSO will ever spend on the web. EA has been really adamant about keeping their classic titles out of stores for some reason, so I don't think they'll react too kindly to the news once it reaches them.