A Notice to the SimHaven Community

August 2, 2026

Today marks SimHaven’s one-month anniversary.

That should have been something worth celebrating. Instead, I have to announce that SimHaven is currently offline after a very strong DDoS attack this evening caused us to lose our server.

This is not the first attack we have received. There have been several, mostly during off-peak hours. Most of them only caused minor spikes or brief interruptions, but they kept happening.

I had already been searching for another provider while hoping the person responsible would eventually stop. I have my suspicions, especially because the timing has been extremely convenient, but I will get into that later.

For now, our provider allowed me to quickly pull the files from the server and cancel the service because of their terms of service.

Thankfully, I have automated hourly backups. Our files and game data are safe. SimHaven has not been wiped out.

But I honestly do not know what happens next.

I did not want to write this. I was hoping I could simply run SimHaven, work on it, build the community, and be left alone.

Ever since Rhys released the FreeSO source code, The Sims Online community has become even more divided than it already was. Everyone wants something different from a revival project, and that is fine. Different servers can have different rules, different goals, and different ways of operating.

What is not fine is joining another community just to privately message its players and say, “Hey, come over here instead.”

What is definitely not fine is launching DDoS attacks against another community.

That crosses the line from competition and community drama into legal trouble. More importantly, it damages an already small and divided The Sims Online community even further.

The attacks against SimHaven did not begin until our first weekend open to the public, when I posted an advertisement on Reddit.

That post quickly got the attention of one particular person connected to another Sims Online community. I do not know whether they are actually the operator, a developer, or just someone heavily involved with it, so I am not going to claim a title I cannot confirm.

They took what I said, twisted it into something it was not, used the opportunity to mention their own community, and attempted to make me look bad.

I replied respectfully and clarified exactly what I meant.

They immediately deleted their response.

Later, someone else made another Reddit post about SimHaven. Within only a few minutes, that same person appeared again, swooping into the comments to bring up their community and take another shot at SimHaven.

I replied.

They deleted their comments again.

This has continued.

Two days after that first Reddit advertisement, SimHaven received its first DDoS attack.

Several days later, we received another.

Then another.

After that, the attacks continued at a lower level, usually only causing small spikes or temporary issues.

Until tonight, August 2, 2026.

Tonight was different.

I cannot prove who is responsible, and I am not going to publicly accuse someone based only on suspicion. But I am also not going to pretend that I have not noticed the timing or the pattern.

We are adults.

Most of us are adults who remember playing The Sims Online years ago. So why are people behaving like children fighting in their bedrooms over who gets to run the most popular revival?

The Sims Online community is already divided enough. Why are we making it worse?

All I have tried to do with SimHaven is recreate what The Sims Online and FreeSO originally tried to provide.

I am not a graphic artist. I have made that abundantly clear. What I do have is years of experience with web development, coding, servers, and running online services.

Other people have skills that I do not have.

Why can we not get along and pool those skills instead of trying to destroy each other’s work?

SimHaven was never created to compete with anyone.

It was created for players who wanted an authentic FreeSO and The Sims Online experience without drama between developers, without favoritism, with a protected economy, and with the game being operated fairly.

From what players have told me, they were not finding that experience in some of the other available communities.

That does not mean those communities should not exist. It does not mean SimHaven needs to “win.” It means players should be able to choose the experience they want without communities trying to sabotage one another.

Part of me wants to say:

If it is really that damn important for you to be the person running the most popular Sims Online revival project, then have it.

It is not worth this.

The other part of me wants to keep going, find a new provider with stronger DDoS protection, restore the backups, and continue building SimHaven.

But stronger protection costs more money.

I am not rich, and I have intentionally avoided accepting donations or payments for SimHaven. I do not want to take money from players to operate a project based on an Electronic Arts and Maxis game, only for EA or Maxis to potentially step in and shut it down later.

So what does that leave us with?

I honestly do not know yet.

I have not decided whether SimHaven will return. I have not decided whether I will move everything to another provider or whether continuing this project is financially and personally worth it.

I only knew that I needed to tell the SimHaven community what happened instead of leaving everyone in the dark.

To the people who have supported SimHaven during its first month, opened lots, tested updates, reported bugs, helped new players, and spent time making this community feel alive: thank you.

This is not how I wanted our first month to end.

And to the person or people responsible for attacking the server:

For now, you win.

I do not know what I am going to do at this time.

WyattFounder of SimHaven