Do you want story progression?

"JoAnne65;c-16599606" wrote:

"Writin_Reg;c-16599321" wrote:
I disliked it totally in Sims 3 and kept it shut off - so if they do offer it - and patch it in - I hope it comes with an off button. The thing I hated most in Sims 3 SP besides non-played sims procreating worse than rabbits - was when the SP would go after my own sims I played in rotation - ones I did not want to have a job outside of the household until they had degrees and I was planning their futures - I experienced even SP making them have babies when I did not want them to have babies. I played so my sims didn't have babies until they were established in their career, had Uni behind them - got married and had turned adult age - but sp didn't see it my way. Rotational play in Sims 3 was hard enough without the game doing it's own thing when ever it felt like it because there were not enough babies in the neighborhood - it had no business touching mine.

If I wanted to watch a story I never planned - I'd watch tv - EA sp is just too agressive - as I saw modder made sp a lot less agressive and I did not even use that. So No - unless it can be shut off - then please no SP. Sims 2 was fine with no sp.

The question is ‘do we want story progression’, not ‘do we want Sims 3’s crippled version of story progression’ (so crippled that after a few years they patched it out of the game). And I think it’s a misconception people who like story progression in their game want the game to be a tv show. Unplanned stuff happening around your sim isn’t like watching a tv show at all, on the contrary, because for players who love that (I for instance don’t care to play rotational at all, for me that would be a bore) it’s in fact the surprises that hand the gameplay. When the girl I had put into my game to become the love interest of my sim appeared to be pregnant after a sim week, I had to deal with that (I loved it). Because it’s the player who will have to decide how their own sims are going to react. Unlike a tv show where everything’s scripted by others, including the lives of the main characters.

Exactly.

They don't have to repeat their mistakes this time around. I do agree the original SP was a bit aggressive so to speak, but a lot of polls and a good listen to the community would allow them to better that feature. And obviously there's the perfect scenario of SP+ability to turn it off that's still possible. People are so fixated on TS3 having issues but it is not TS3 we're talking about. SP in TS4 could be something completely new and customizable. If a modder can create SP for TS4 and make it so households chosen by you are bypassed (and it 100% works) no reason to think developers with ivy league degrees can't do it even better.

Just like rotational players don't want their families being out of control, I find the lack of progress in town sad and immersion breaking. There are no toddlers in my town unless I personally make sure to create or download them. At some point all your neighbors just die off having left absolutely nothing behind, not having impacted the world in any way. It's not realistic. When my sim has 5 children, I'm not gonna play every single one of them later on to develop their story. Just like irl, I want them to move out and have lives on their own while I'm focusing on just one heir. I think SP very much belongs in a life simulator, just well designed and customizable. We all want something different from the game but that's why we should be calling for options, not cancelling features important to others. I don't like supernaturals but if I had the power to somehow, magically influence EA decision makers to never ever include them in the series again I would never decide to do that.