I'm glad I found this thread, in particular, after finding out that I cannot create my own posts until I get 50 points somehow - because I wanted to post ideas and I should be able to do that here without hijacking a thread!
I don't think I can do formatting yet...
Country Club
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With the snobby walk and snob trait, I have been wanting to do a calloused, rich jerk sim family - but it really needs some additional stuff. The first thing that this would need is a classic, 2 button Ralph Lauren style two button polo for both men and women - perhaps sleeveless for women as well. It is a classic style which has essentially existed in our society since the 70s at least and isn't going to go away any time soon. I personally would like to see them with both unbuttoned and one button done as well as collar popped and unpopped options - in fact that could be made to alter between outfits sort of like how sims switch into and out of dark form or mermaid form or in and out of alien disguises. Alter outfit as an option when clicking on the active sim telling it to change one of those two things.
That sort of thing would open up even more clothing mod options - such as allowing button up shirts to be buttoned up and down using slightly different meshes - hell you can also allow them to be tied in a knot around the waist or just under the breast. You could also add in clothing layering - so you can put on and take off sweater vests or jackets or cardigans or loose dress shirts - a future Sims title can make these totally independent, but a few options for the same outfit would work well for now and would probably start a modding trend.
I personally have tried a bit to do this, but I am pretty clueless at meshing so I'm going to request it.
Now, beyond that, it would help to add some activities that fit the theme, such as raquetball and tennis - both in the theme and functionally similar - and it would rock to be able to add a tennis court to a mansion. Perhaps water polo and lacrosse too - without already having horses regular polo seems too much for this title. Maybe croquet. Golf would almost certainly be unruly with size limitations for it to be anything but something you leave to do. Fencing would work good and you know that'll turn into some swordfighting mods (pirates, medieval, lightsabers) within the skilled modding community.
I'm thinking it should also have some pretty snobby traits added in - and here are a few ideas:
Shallow - Makes the sim build their impressions of people based on their fame and wealth - so when a rich sim interacts with them it builds their friendship or romance faster while it builds much slower for poor sims; they may be rude to staff at establishments and at home.
Down to Earth - Sims with this trait would be able to build relationships with sims - that THEY initiate interaction with - based on the household wealth or status difference. So poorer and service sims would appreciate someone who would normally treat them like dirt treating them as equals. They would also have a relationship penalty with Shallow sims.
Spoiled Rotten - These sims would expect things handed to them - they would talk down to service sims like Shallow sims, but they will also act in inappropriate ways that demand their needs be met. They might have a diva skill or some more gender neutral term to get other people, not necessarily service sims, to do things for them: cook for me, sing for me, do some ridiculous thing for my amusement, bring me a drink, etc. I'm also envisioning a berate mean interaction.
Golddigger - These sims would be romantically drawn to the rich and famous and favor elderly over adult over young adult. They should have a way to convince sims they establish a romantic relationship with to leave their spouse.
This should also include a world with larger residential slots, some small slots for community lots, and such.
Going to School
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The idea behind this is allowing teens to actually live the drama of high school - though you'd probably add some stuff for kids as well. Rather than simply having minors go to school and come back, you would be able to go to school with them like an active career (and you consider student to be a career in game anyway). Schools can be public, private, or boarding - I've thought the boarding school idea would be fun to do since playing Bully on PS2. You go to classes, socialize with students, have bullies, attend school dances, play hookie, have tests, do senior pranks (as a seasons holiday), etc. You should also get to be able to set schools as year round or if they have breaks (summer vacation, winter break, etc). School should also start building skills instead of just being something you show up for. School cliques would be a nice thing to add in.
To make the clique/bully system work, it seems that you would need to be able to have cultural traits in play as well. Does the student body accept occults? Can your vampire teen hide what they are to not be an outcast? Do they praise or shun nerdiness and intelligence? Perhaps some traits such as Ugly or Awkward should be addable, have social butterflies and such.
Beyond school lots, there should be a world specific to build a boarding school - dorm lots, class lots, library lots, etc.
You should be able to set whether it is open wardrobe or if there is a school uniform and be able to design the school uniform options if so.
With Parenthood installed, there should be some nice interactions to do with detention, suspension, or expulsion as well. That might also mean the necessity of a military school option (as horrible as those things are).
A teacher career track could also be made active with this expansion as well.
For something like this, it would be great to have a time dilator that is better than just a cheat as well so you can live things out better. Have time between classes to socialize or flirt - have interactive afterschool activities and clubs. NRaas did this with Sims 3, and surely the actual developers can make it work as well.
Get Medieval
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Sims Medieval was an interesting game - but it wasn't really the Sims, but it's own thing. Having a Medieval world where modern technology doesn't exist and you can actually have sword fights and hierarchies and perhaps actually fight off raiders and bandits and dragons or stage a revolt against the noble or monarch can be fun. I don't want to play the blacksmith for two weeks to go through a story - I want to play one family of sims (or hell, I mainly play one sim period with an autonomous family) and live the entire life. This could be expanded with stuff packs to create a samurai experience or a sultanate or perhaps go back even further with a Roman or tribal life pack.
It would be nice for this to have EA break company character and allow an 18+ version that allows for blood and bludgeoning, maybe even torture. Don't like your neighbor - kill them - but also be able to kill those bandits that are there to cause you trouble. Parents might not want their kids playing it, but us adults should be able to get this kind of properly developed gameplay.
Some skills that might come into play with such an expansion are sculpting, (add new painting options), archery, swordplay, blacksmithing, courtliness, etc.
You could also work this in as Westworld-style theme parks that your Sims pay exhorbant amounts to visit (shift+ctrl+c money for those wanting to experience). Maybe you can kill host occults (or maybe call them cyborgs) but not regular sims. Hosts that know the time and world well could give interesting dialogue options and perhaps react to your character acting out of time.
The Sixam Life
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One of the letdowns of the Go To Work expansion was that, though you could visit Sixam, you couldn't build there like with Oasis Landing. Maybe it's time to add it in - add a Sixam world that you need a rocket or wormhole generator to travel between it and other worlds. Let's create some alien architecture, alien culture, more alien plants, a probing machine.... This might be a great time to add in light sabers - or laser swords or whatever you end up calling them to not get sued. Maybe alien pets are available with the Pets expansion....
Getting Political
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The politics career has been a schmoozing career - which is much the way modern bourgeois politicians operate. However, it would be nice to be able to actually affect change in your world and play with game rules. Perhaps you can set things such as creating welfare programs (a disabled trait?), subsidizing bills on poorer households by charging more for richer households, perhaps a policing system for penalizing certain mean or evil interactions - perhaps a dystopian world where good deeds are punished. Maybe you can have a republic or instead have a monarchy or dictatorship.
An 18+ version of this could allow for some other fun storytelling things - such as make your sim be able to run for office to get same sex marriage legalized or prohibited, grant or retract gender-based rights (which can include a matriarchy). Allow for some dystopian world settings that, while no one should want to live in, it can be fun to fight against. Bigots would certainly use it to indulge in fantasy, which is why such options should be 18+, but it would make a unique and optional experience.
I may blurt out a few more down the road, and developer thoughts would be appreciated. But I would probably suggest charging $5 more for any 18+ versions with the ability to upgrade with verification for just the $5 difference.
