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dg51829's avatar
dg51829
6 years ago

Active Lifestyle Ideas

So, lately I’ve been reflecting a lot on the Sims franchise and our current gameplay. I’m super disappointed in the lack of sports and physical activities in general. The climbing wall was a great addition, but honestly only left me wanting more. I know recently we had the option to vote for a healthy lifestyle pack, which didn’t win. It really got me thinking on what I would want out of a game pack that did have a healthy/active lifestyle theme. So, I broke this into three parts: sports, vegetarian/vegan lifestyle, and health.

Part 1: Sports
I really want afterschool activities to come back and having kids/teens playing soccer, football, volleyball, baseball, basketball, tennis, gymnastics, cheerleading, and wrestling. This really bothers me we don’t have this option as we did in Sims 3. I loved that aspect of Sims 3 and it played a role in university, at least I think it did I don’t remember for certain. I was so disappointed when this didn’t show up in university. I do think this could go well with a generation’s expansion as well.
Sports is a huge part of all cultures really. I wouldn’t even care of they were rabbit holes. I just want afterschool activities. Sure, I use a mod for it, but we shouldn’t have to rely on mods to complete the game. It would also been great if there was more than just soccer at the university level. We have basketball, so why wasn’t that included?
I’d also like to be able to play outside of rabbit holes. Like have a buyable volleyball, football, baseball, ect like we did in Sims 3. Plus having ‘courts’ like we do for basketball so we could place it in gyms and have volleyball games and tennis matches. I loved volleyball in Sims 1. As a former volleyball player in middle school and high school I’d love be able to emulate that part of my life in the Sims.

Part 2: Vegetarian and Vegan Lifestyles
By this it is such a pain to figure out what meals are okay for vegetarians. Life would be so much easier with an icon. Also, why does everything have to be tofu or a salad to be vegetarian friendly. There are so many cool food ideas that could be used: stir fry, stuffed vegetables (peppers as example).
This is just a pet peeve that doesn’t have a good solution in Sims 4. But I wish we have our core traits then lifestyle traits. Because I hate wasting a spot in my traits for the vegetarian trait. Even if I was given more traits to use, I’d be happier. Sims 2 we had sliding bars that affected you in college and Sims 3 had five spots. I do not count in game traits. Honestly, traits are really lacking in the game, but that is for another post.

Part 3: Health
So, your sim never leaves their apartment. They order take out every day and play video games all day. But right now, there is little that happens to them. In real life, you would gain weight or get sickly. I’d love to see this kind of system put into the game. This is a great opportunity to use the Sims to promote a healthy lifestyle to younger players. Now, I know some people wouldn’t like it so it would be great to put something as something that could be opted out.
Having more diverse sickness would be nice as well. Like the flu, allergies, asthma, and fevers for example. I also hate how super fit and healthy sims get sick constantly. Like, how do sickness spread in the Sims 4. It seems completely random and annoying because once they get sick, they constantly get sick. If you Sim is a gym rat it should have some benefits to it.
I’d also love to be able to do maternity checks up. Doing ultrasounds for examples. One thing I loved about Sims 3 was that it was super bold when it came to childbearing as in Into the Future, we could do basically IVF where we could select every aspect of the baby. That reminded me of how edgy Sims 2 was. I’d love to see IVF make a return. It just adds inclusiveness.

In the end, Sims 4 has so much potential, but it is wasted a lot of the time. The franchise is an amazing force that makes a huge impact in young players. I started playing the Sims at eight years old. I learned a lot about budgeting and time management from the Sims. I just think that promoting healthy living would be a brilliant idea. Do you guys have any other ideas for this?

13 Replies

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  • dg51829's avatar
    dg51829
    6 years ago
    "Briana2425;c-17596104" wrote:
    That's why I said yes to American High School when it was on the survey because it had sports in it and especially cheerleading some simmers didn't like it because it was talking about having groups and people found that boring. I'm like we get to have content for teens/kids Simmers need to start looking at the bigger picture instead of focusing on one thing imo of course. It listed sports it may include afternoon stuff I'm sure because the afternoon class for kids is lacking all we have is drama club and being a scout like we need more options please.


    I don't know. I thought American High School is too detailed and would alienate majority of players. I would have voted for a School theme that added more sports and afterschool activites. I use mods for this currently. I actually talk about it in this post. https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/979167/generations-expansion-includes-school-update#latest
  • Movotti's avatar
    Movotti
    New Spectator
    6 years ago
    "dg51829;c-17597878" wrote:
    It should be a bit more international inclusive, but they shouldn't completely ignore the American roots of the game. This seems to be happening lately. It can end up alienating some players that may not be as cultural exposed you could say.
    Aside from the surfing santa, sandman, and thing lights, my culture has pretty much been ignored. IF they wan the game to be more welcoming and inclusive, they're gonna have to try a lotharder.


    I've known non-meateaters who eat nothing but junk.

    I'm not saying they are. But maybe more healthier food. Like why is all the basic food basically horrible for your sims. Like it's super annoying.
    Good point. The basic food is terrible.
    Basic food here is often considered to be meat and 2/3 veg. A lamb chop with carrots and peas. Bangers, mash, carrots and peas.
    Basic mac n cheese as a meal is terrible! Personally my mac n cheese is always loaded with veggies.
    And if the developers want some inspiration for some quality meals, I suggest they check out Nat's What I Reckon. He uses pretty strong language. He's a comedian, an advocate for mental health, and a bloody good cook. During the first lock down here, he started an online cooking show, because everyone was ignoring all the fresh food still available in the supermarkets. The most recent episode, was with Drag Queen Courtney Act, and they made a healthy vegan dish.


    I've got a friend who lost a lot of weight due to gaming, and rarely leaving his room. He was too busy playing to eat much, and when he did eat, it was junk.

    This is a good point. Metabolism is not a thing. There is no diversity. Your sims only get fat from being inactive.

    And that could lead to the opposite, a sim who works out, and eats right, but doesn't lose weight fast.


    I don't really understand why you knitpick my post
    It's not really nitpicking, its thinking out loud. I do it to lots of posts that I find to be interesting, but needing more... moreness? Back and forth banter can stimulate more ideas.


    Being healthy/fit does decrease you getting sick. Being healthy by eating balanced diet and exercising does increase your immunity.
    It's not working for Covid 19. Fit, healthy young people are still having blood clots and stroke from it.
    There are some things that no matter how fit and healthy you are, you can still end up horribly ill from.
    There's been super fit and healthy gym instructors who are now showing signs of having post viral fatigue syndrome after catching the virus.


    It's about promoting a more active lifestyle, which in 90 percent of people is a healthy lifestlye.
    I think your percentage is too optimistic. There are a lot of people who over do it with the gym, and try so hard to be healthy, yet fail, and end up making themselves ill from it.


    This post is mostly about promoting an active lifestyle as in sports and how to improve the in game health system that is very broken without mods.
    But why sports only?
    A truly healthy active lifestyle isn't only about sports, it's about many aspects of your life.
    I know someone who lives on a farm, never goes to the gym, but is super fit, because rather than driving, or riding a motor bike to go out and check on the animals or fences, he walks.

    The gardening in the game is a bit pathetic, and lazy in its programming.
    If you want to plant a seed, your sim should have to dig a hole first, and that is difficult to do if you don't have the muscles for it.
    Weeding too. Every time I weed my garden, my 'weeding muscles' ache for the next couple of days. Weeding is a physical activity, and gives you a practical workout.

    Hanging out laundry is another way to keep you fitter. Put the basket on the ground, and all the bend and reach is a gentle workout. Scrubbing the shower is another subtle workout. Picking up a toddler is exercise.

    I guess what I'm trying to say, is that the game needs to take into account all the things your sim does, and how they do them, to add or detract from their fitness level. Eg, if you use the drier, you're not going to be as fit as the person who hangs their clothes on a line.
    Sims who use bikes all the time should be fitter than those who don't. (if we're assuming that the ones who don't are driving invisible cars, or some other transport like that)


  • dg51829's avatar
    dg51829
    6 years ago
    "Movotti;c-17598136" wrote:
    "dg51829;c-17597878" wrote:
    I guess what I'm trying to say, is that the game needs to take into account all the things your sim does, and how they do them, to add or detract from their fitness level. Eg, if you use the drier, you're not going to be as fit as the person who hangs their clothes on a line.
    Sims who use bikes all the time should be fitter than those who don't. (if we're assuming that the ones who don't are driving invisible cars, or some other transport like that)


    That is a good point. I don't see it ever happening because I think it's too much work for EA and they already did a pathetic fitness stuff pack. But I digress. For that reason I felt like focusing on sports was the best choice. Cycling would also be a cool as a club for teens and elders as well. I recently posted about more after school activities and elder activities (like high schoolers) for the retired sims to have more to do.

    If you had worded that from the start it wouldn't have felt like knit picking. It's very hard to understand tone online so it came off like you picking apart the ideas to start an argument.

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