How would you improve Teens?

My annoyance with teens at the moment is that the 'school' system is generic and pointless. It doesn't seem to matter if my teen gets good or bad grades. And the 'homework' is just a box ticking exercise. I'd love active schools! Or at least a choice of schools, like how we could send kids to private school by impressing the headmaster in TS2. But mostly I'd just like more customisation of the school life. Being able to pick classes or subjects to specialise in, so my arty Sims might get an assignment to paint a picture or brush up on their painting skill, or my computer nerd might get programming homework. Just so there's a bit more individuality and customisation. And also to feel like my Sims are going to school and doing their homework for a reason.

I also agree that TS4 could have done with shorter teens, purely from the standpoint of more gradual aging. The skip from small child to full on adult-size AND behaviors is just too much for me.

There are things that I would love to see for teens:

• Arcades, not simply one machine.
  

• The ability to also play Voidcritters and to trade. (That is still a very teen thing to do.)
  

• Skateboarding and bike-riding, including popping wheelies or jumping the curbs.
  

• Teaching each other how to dance.
  

• LAN parties.
  

• Attempts to spike the punch bowl.
  

• Practical jokes.
  

• Party games -- charades, for example. Or, perhaps, Seven Minutes in Heaven, using the closet. (That game is certainly no worse than the "mess around in bed".)
  

• A teen rep system -- cool kids, mean kids, jocks, geeks, nerds. Totally different from clubs, please -- more like temporary traits that are earned as a result of overarching behavior. A teen can be happy, embarrassed, angry, or sad about the trait that they've earned among the teen crowd. They can seek to change the trait or to embrace it with pride, depending on the teen's preexisting, permanent traits.
  

• Cheerleading, sports, and sports clubs, including fundraising activities, events/contests, and away games on the weekends.
  

• Class trips to destination worlds.
  

• Be camp counselors for the younger kids during the summer. (Another good use for Granite Falls.)
  

• Makeup and nail parties (I'm dying for fingernails/manicures to officially make their appearance in the series.)
  

• Real movie theaters where teens can meet up with friends, buy junk food, and actually sit to watch the movie. Stay until the movie is over, whispering, giggling, and throwing popcorn.
  

• Bring back pillow fights
  

• Allow teens to loll across the bed to use their cellphones.
  

• Allow teens to sit cross-legged or lay on the floor to do certain activities such as playing video games, watching television, speaking to friends, speaking on the phone. Parents can encourage them to get up or move out of the way. :D
  

• Sneaking out to meet friends or a boyfriend/girlfriend
  

• Places in the world where only the teens hang out. Such as: Lover's Lane, a particular beach, or even the area under the bridge in BB. If teens break curfew, that's the first place the police will check. (Give the police something real-world to do. It would be nice to see them working.)
  

i would add more "rule breaking" and rebellious situations and options...i remember how in sims 2 they could run away from..now ,that was fun. also if they could do "illegal" things like drinking (but in a way that appropriate for the game and the younger simmers playing it somehow? :D ) i would also add tests in highschool and they would need to study at home (if they choose to) i would add stress related moodlets,hormones,"nobody understands me's". :D i would add some stuff at schools even though its a rabbit hole just to make it richer like options to join chess club\cheerleadering\football\drama drama, that would come with skills to improve at home, outfits,exclusive objects,prizes,and interactions. also proms and graduation ceremony from sims 3 generations should definitely make a comeback. i would add piercings. i would add sleepovers or studying for a test together with a friend. oh and acne, pimples are a must.

Teen's Room Stuff Pack.

I also want a YA Room's SP. And an Adult Room's SP. And an Elder Room's SP.

So, more content.

Shorter teens is ridiculous and would break everything from item usage to CAS. I like that teens can wear anything in the CAS that the older Sims can. Provides more customization, compared to kids or toddlers, who are infinitely more limited. If you want some sort of 'obvious' way to spot a teen from a YA or older, I'd ask for a change in their name color or something simple like that.

I have a question - How is it going to make any difference if they just add more content for teens when all Sims teen - elder wear the same size unless they also alter the teens height?

I can see it now - adding a bunch of teen clothing just to see all the NPC elders running around in town dressing in those clothes. We already know NPC will wear anything - I even see them in the science career gear at festivals. Do you really want to see adults and elders running around in teen gear? They already all wear the same things as it is.

The only true solution is having them different sizes so they can't wear teen specific clothing. The AI will just give all townie sims access to everything like it allows them to wear career stuff when they are not in those careers. So teen size needs to change to keep that from happening.

"Writin_Reg;c-16338272" wrote:
I have a question - How is it going to make any difference if they just add more content for teens when all Sims teen - elder wear the same size unless they also alter the teens height?

I can see it now - adding a bunch of teen clothing just to see all the NPC elders running around in town dressing in those clothes. We already know NPC will wear anything - I even see them in the science career gear at festivals. Do you really want to see adults and elders running around in teen gear? They already all wear the same things as it is.

The only true solution is having them different sizes so they can't wear teen specific clothing. The AI will just give all townie sims access to everything like it allows them to wear career stuff when they are not in those careers. So teen size needs to change to keep that from happening.

I'm guessing a more simple solution to that would be age filtering in CAS (just like there's gender filters, color filters, etc). Pretty sure the game already uses filters like the different outfit types (party, for example) for the townies. So I don't think it would be too much to add in age filters too for teens-elders.

"TheGoodOldGamer;c-16338282" wrote:

"Writin_Reg;c-16338272" wrote:
I have a question - How is it going to make any difference if they just add more content for teens when all Sims teen - elder wear the same size unless they also alter the teens height?

I can see it now - adding a bunch of teen clothing just to see all the NPC elders running around in town dressing in those clothes. We already know NPC will wear anything - I even see them in the science career gear at festivals. Do you really want to see adults and elders running around in teen gear? They already all wear the same things as it is.

The only true solution is having them different sizes so they can't wear teen specific clothing. The AI will just give all townie sims access to everything like it allows them to wear career stuff when they are not in those careers. So teen size needs to change to keep that from happening.

I'm guessing a more simple solution to that would be age filtering in CAS (just like there's gender filters, color filters, etc). Pretty sure the game already uses filters like the different outfit types (party, for example) for the townies. So I don't think it would be too much to add in age filters too for teens-elders.

Actually it does not help with the townies - the AI ignors any filtering and why we sometimes see townies in career clothes, men in suits wearing high heels, etc. That's why I said it would be a problem as I know the townies will still be doing what they have always done no matter what we set our filters at.

Shorten and add exclusive teen centered content. Create an ambitions themed update or pack where everything is just for teenagers, or in relation. Add items, interactions, new outfits and hair, room decor and furniture, give them the ability to run away, I’d say also add the ability to come back pregnant but that’s a very risky subject and despite us already having vampires assulting us in our own homes...I highly doubt EA wants the problematic topic of runaway teenagers having the chance of returning with a bump and no idea who the father is, or showing up pregnant and you find out the father is your best friends teenage son.

Just because our pets have a chance doesn’t mean our teens should too, despite the sad realism of a lot of lives out there.

I would like the ability to run away to be an option though, with or without the above mentioned subject, what would also be sort of cute and sad is maybe your pet can go sniff them out and bring your kid home, police use sniffer dogs for locating so why can’t Lassy go find Fred? It would help story creators and give dogs more interactions and things to do.

Of course allow more mischief, property and vehicle damage, loud parties that involve police, give them more career choices, the ability to learn to drive and do exams at school that will impact their future!

Finally...shoplifting, again, risky subject but then we can already steal so what’s the harm in teens sneaking out in the dead of night or in the afternoon with friends to go pull a score? Obviously give them the chance to be caught but then also give them the chance to come back with some good loot, it’ll lower relationships if they know the victim and are seen during, locals will be warned of their past crimes and so on, give teens a lot more life and reason for being.

I’d just like a couple of teen aspirations. Mostly because I want to see what kind of reward traits they might have.

"Godleyjeans;c-16338382" wrote:
Shorten and add exclusive teen centered content. Create an ambitions themed update or pack where everything is just for teenagers, or in relation. Add items, interactions, new outfits and hair, room decor and furniture, give them the ability to run away, I’d say also add the ability to come back pregnant but that’s a very risky subject and despite us already having vampires assulting us in our own homes...I highly doubt EA wants the problematic topic of runaway teenagers having the chance of returning with a bump and no idea who the father is, or showing up pregnant and you find out the father is your best friends teenage son.

Just because our pets have a chance doesn’t mean our teens should too, despite the sad realism of a lot of lives out there.

I would like the ability to run away to be an option though, with or without the above mentioned subject, what would also be sort of cute and sad is maybe your pet can go sniff them out and bring your kid home, police use sniffer dogs for locating so why can’t Lassy go find Fred? It would help story creators and give dogs more interactions and things to do.

Of course allow more mischief, property and vehicle damage, loud parties that involve police, give them more career choices, the ability to learn to drive and do exams at school that will impact their future!

Finally...shoplifting, again, risky subject but then we can already steal so what’s the harm in teens sneaking out in the dead of night or in the afternoon with friends to go pull a score? Obviously give them the chance to be caught but then also give them the chance to come back with some good loot, it’ll lower relationships if they know the victim and are seen during, locals will be warned of their past crimes and so on, give teens a lot more life and reason for being.

"police use sniffer dogs for locating" omg that just gave me a cute idea...!
i picture teen sims running away from home (if we choose them to ofc,or if they have a terrible relationship with parents) and then the parents could call the police, an officer with a police dog would come home and talk to one of the parents of the escaped sim, and i could already picture the interaction- the parent cries while talking to the officer and gives them a random shirt and the officer would give the shirt to the dog to sniff. after 24 hours the teen and officer together would be nocking on the door and the teen would be back home.