5 years ago

Don't Take Babies Out of the Crib Without These Additions

Alright, so for the past 6 years, a certain contingent of the playerbase has been complaining about Babies being objects because you can't take them out of the crib. However, to me, Babies have always been objects, they just had more portability and interactions in other games. Not being able to move them from the crib just highlighted everything that was already wrong with the lifestage to begin with for people who were easily fooled by being able to carry them around and the wider selection of interactions they had in previous games.

So, if Babies are ever to be taken out of the crib, here's a list of upgrades that the lifestage needs to make them true sims (from the perspective of someone who only plays families to develop an early-life history for her characters):

1. Give Them Personality Traits: Even as babies, people already have individual personalities. If you've ever raised kids or heard your parents, relatives, or friends who are parents talk about their kids when they were babies, then you know that some babies are very fussy, others are really chill, still others are very giggly, or stoic, or curious, or easily startled, some sleep like a rock while others will wake up as soon as they hear the tiny click the nursery door makes when you close it...You know, because even that tiny, humans are individuals. So, I'd like to see Babies in The Sims finally get personality traits, either randomized or selectable at birth with a randomize button for those who want a surprise. Babies need personalities!!

2. Give Them Skills to Learn: As babies, we're learning even from birth. Over that first year of life, we acquire skills like object permanence (the ability to realize that things don't disappear from existence just because we can't see them), basic mobility (sitting up, rolling over, crawling, grabbing and holding objects), visual-spatial skills (like recognizing shapes and mastering that doughnut stacker thing), and before we can even speak, we're learning to understand language and communicate with other people, even if it's just with a smile or a tantrum. So, sim Babies need some skills to learn, with bonus traits or hidden boosts from maxing them before aging up to Toddler.

3. Make Them Playable: Finally, they should be playable. Why not be able to crawl around the nursery or living room as a Baby? Playing with those classic baby toys, causing a fuss, putting everything under the sun in your mouth, practicing those age-appropriate skills. Ideally, as the object permanence skill develops, when you play as a baby what is visible and interactable onscreen can go from whatever is in the Baby's line of sight, to everything in the room, to everything on that floor, to everything in the house. Now that would be super cool!

Without making these changes, Babies coming out of the crib would just be adding extra interactions to an object. Making Babies non-objects isn't just about making them portable and being able to use them with a sink and a changing table, it's also about making them more interesting and individual and, yes, playable and fun to play. Just saying...

SEREFRAS
Seasoned Hotshot
5 years ago
I also think that babies need a personality & to be able to learn how to see, touch, taste, smell,
roll over & crawl.

When my beautiful daughter was a baby I saw how she struggled just to learn to sit up & when she eventually figured out how to move across the room she decided to bum crawl instead of using her hands & knees.
I didn't realize at that moment that she would grow up to be a very patient & adaptible
young woman.

Sometimes in life our babies can surprise us with wonder.?
squirreltail15
5 years ago
I agree with all of this. I've played Sims FreePlay for years, and despite my many problems with that game, one thing it did have was good babies. They could crawl around, learn to balance on sofas, and even have hobbies (the FreePlay equivalent of skills). Even without personalities (because FreePlay had no kind of personality system), they managed to be fun to play with and vaguely realistic. So, if they added that to Sims 4, I would be pleased. Also, I need to be able to make them in cas. I'm making a save file at the moment, and if I want to give any of my families a baby then I need to play the household for three to four days. It's getting irritating.

I figure that if they did have traits, they'd go off of the same trait system as toddlers. So they'd gain a pre-existing 'toddler' trait as a baby, keeping it through toddlerhood, then discarding it as per usual once they become children. I say this because the toddler traits we already have will work well for babies as well - or at least, EA isn't gonna waste cash on a whole new trait system.

In terms of learning and stuff, again I want a similar system as toddlers - I loved the way they went from babbling to talking as their skills progressed. Heck, I wouldn't mind if babies aged up based on skills - like once they could walk and knew a few words and stuff, they'd age up to toddlers. I want to play a little baby learning to sit up, then grab, slide, crawl, and finally toddle.

Edited out the rant about Sims FreePlay. I like that game, honest.
DonroaAkashu
New Spectator
5 years ago
I am sorry for stating the opposite of the thread's intent, but those things already exist in the toddler stage and age is relative, especially in the sims series.

I like that I can play the sequel on the same computer that I bought especially for TS3 specs; a game where the babies have a lot of these features. I would not like to have to uppgrade my computer to be able to play a game that on top of all sorts of interesting features added unnecessary asked for ones, simply being a repetition of previous iterations' interpretation.

Be careful what you ask for.

I like your werewolf idea though, but if it meant raising the specifications I do not want that either.
DaWaterRat
New Vanguard
5 years ago
Is there really time to meaningfully play babies, though? I mean, I'm solidly in the "Babies as objects is fine" camp - maybe be able to name and dress them in CAS, and move them between basenette, bouncy chair and playpen, but I don't need any serious improvements. If we were to get some major changes to babies, I'd probably just skip over to toddler stage.

But even if we were to get these changes, is three days long enough to justify it? Especially the skills needing to be actively learned. Three days, especially when you're juggling other sims, doesn't seem to be enough time for really meaningful play. And you can't just assume that everyone who wants to play with babies is willing to switch to long life or aging off.
DaWaterRat
New Vanguard
5 years ago
"SimsLovinLycan;c-17664492" wrote:
"DaWaterRat;c-17664435" wrote:
Is there really time to meaningfully play babies, though? I mean, I'm solidly in the "Babies as objects is fine" camp - maybe be able to name and dress them in CAS, and move them between basenette, bouncy chair and playpen, but I don't need any serious improvements. If we were to get some major changes to babies, I'd probably just skip over to toddler stage.

But even if we were to get these changes, is three days long enough to justify it? Especially the skills needing to be actively learned. Three days, especially when you're juggling other sims, doesn't seem to be enough time for really meaningful play. And you can't just assume that everyone who wants to play with babies is willing to switch to long life or aging off.

Well, the life stage could always be extended to 5 days. But, to me, it doesn't make sense to free the Babies from the crib without massive improvements to the lifestage, since they don't do anything interesting either way. There's no interesting emergent gameplay with them, since they're all exactly the same. There's nothing interesting to do with them outside of the nursery, so might as well keep them there. It's not like our sims have to go to the grocery store or whatever, so having strollers and baby harnesses is pretty useless. On normal lifespan, it's only 3 days, so why does it matter if it's 3 days in a crib if they don't do anything in the first place?

the primary reason I want to be able to move the baby to a bouncy chair and/or a playpen is so that I don't have to have a parent quit whatever task I have them doing, and then go to the baby's room to take care of them. This way they can tend the baby's needs in the office/gym/kitchen/garden/what have you. I don't need to take them anywhere outside of the house.
simprincesss
5 years ago
I love these ideas! It kind of bothers me when people say babies shouldn’t be updated because of the life stage being short. Not everyone plays with aging on. I keep my sim babies for an entire year which is 112 days before aging them up, so for me it would make a huge difference to be able to do more with them.
ChadSims2
Seasoned Newcomer
5 years ago
All of this is pretty much what I want to see and will fill in the gaps they left giving us toddlers who feel much older then we got in past games that are up and walking we need the game play and story telling possibilities to get to that point.

I feel as though babies should give us the huge chunk of life that is missing all of the things you listed are so important to human development yet we go right from the lifeless doll in the bassinet to a toddler walking around in a instant where's the baby learning to roll around sitting up learning to crawl before they walk so much is missing.
justme22
5 years ago
I wouldn't mind having them develop some of the toddler skills, depending on how well the babies are cared for. If you play with the baby a lot, when they age up to toddler they'd gain one of two points in skills. For example, if you helped the baby roll over and move a lot when they age to toddler they could start out with one or two points of Movement skill. Or if you talk/sing to the baby they'd start out with some Communication. Playing peekaboo or other games would build Imagination or maybe Thinking. About the only skill you couldn't get a head start on is Potty.
SimsLovinLycan
5 years ago
"DaWaterRat;c-17664435" wrote:
Is there really time to meaningfully play babies, though? I mean, I'm solidly in the "Babies as objects is fine" camp - maybe be able to name and dress them in CAS, and move them between basenette, bouncy chair and playpen, but I don't need any serious improvements. If we were to get some major changes to babies, I'd probably just skip over to toddler stage.

But even if we were to get these changes, is three days long enough to justify it? Especially the skills needing to be actively learned. Three days, especially when you're juggling other sims, doesn't seem to be enough time for really meaningful play. And you can't just assume that everyone who wants to play with babies is willing to switch to long life or aging off.

Well, the life stage could always be extended to 5 days. But, to me, it doesn't make sense to free the Babies from the crib without massive improvements to the lifestage, since they don't do anything interesting either way. There's no interesting emergent gameplay with them, since they're all exactly the same. There's nothing interesting to do with them outside of the nursery, so might as well keep them there. It's not like our sims have to go to the grocery store or whatever, so having strollers and baby harnesses is pretty useless. On normal lifespan, it's only 3 days, so why does it matter if it's 3 days in a crib if they don't do anything in the first place?
Pamtastic72
5 years ago
Yeah, this all would pretty much guarantee me aging them up as soon as we return from the hospital. I know it's not popular but I like babies the way they are. As a mom this is pretty much how newborns are, they nap a lot, and when they are awake they need fed or changed and then there's a bit of time where you can cuddle and coo and talk to them as they stare at the ceiling and eventually your face and then the go back to sleep until they need changed and fed again. Don't get me wrong. I have a 26 year old son who is the center of my soul, but the newborn phase wasn't a lot of fun. For me the fun began when he was a toddler and older and could really play, and interact and explore the world around him. Just my opinion though.