How can we make Teens stand out?

"safersaviour;c-16581549" wrote:
Unfortunately, some teenage experiences are geographical. Prom, cheerleading, the importance placed on school sports, school uniforms, even the age at which a person leaves and the kinds of classes available. Trying to create a universal teenage experience is really difficult. A lot of the teen stuff in previous Sims games has been really American. To the point where the teenage lifestate has felt less true-to-life than Vampires to me.

That is a good point. It irks me that people always bring up prom as some kind of universal fix for teenagers for example. See, I grew up in a country where proms aren't a thing. We didn't even have school dances. You can throw a formal party for teenagers in the game as of now so what would it change to have official in-game proms? Not much in my opinion. I'm not against it, it would be a nice touch for sure but people seem to think there is nothing more to being a teenager than cheerleading and obsession with prom dresses. A lot of American people I've met didn't even go to their own prom lol. They just didn't care.

That is why teenager lifestate in a game like The Sims, that's already doing a lot to be inclusive since it's played all around the world and not just in USA, should focus more on hobbies for teenagers than milestone events so specific to american culture. It does not change anything for me that my teen can have an actual high school graduation from HS. It's just a one time event. It won't flesh out teenagers. I want good, long term gameplay based on hobbies that adults usually don't take up and more emphasis put on the conflicts of everyday life.