How would you improve Teens?

I would be very happy they if they make them shorter.

I i want acne to be real, not only "makeup", i think that its stupid and lazy.

I'm with right there with you on the acne issue, @NeverSeemsToEnd.

Okay, so the Sims team says that they don't want to hurt anyone's feelings by linking acne to hygiene? Fine. Then why not link it to mood, since the game is so huge on emotions? Or, how about making it genetic? Player's choice when creating their founding Sim. If neither of those ideas suit, how about making acne entirely random then?

But, no. As with so many other things in TS4, the solution is to totally axe an idea, altogether. Make something that looks like acne and call it done.

If I wanted acne make up, I could have made that myself. What I expect from the EA team are things that can't be created by any modder with a decent understanding of Photoshop or Gimp. I expect new systems that the awesome creators in the community can use to build on. Which brings me right back to the teens who are teens in name only.

It just bums me out. TS4 had the potential to be such an amazing game. Instead, it's the equivalent of that gorgeous guy that you've been dying to meet. However, once you finally do, he's got absolutely nothing going on between his ears and he's constantly looking for his reflection so that he can admire himself while he's speaking to you. If TS4 were a person, it would be that guy.

The game is so focused on the appearances, rather than how things work.

"Cynna;c-16371240" wrote:
I'm with right there with you on the acne issue, @NeverSeemsToEnd.

Okay, so the Sims team says that they don't want to hurt anyone's feelings by linking acne to hygiene? Fine. Then why not link it to mood, since the game is so huge on emotions? Or, how about making it genetic? Player's choice when creating their founding Sim. If neither of those ideas suit, how about making acne entirely random then?

But, no. As with so many other things in TS4, the solution is to totally axe an idea, altogether. Make something that looks like acne and call it done.

If I wanted acne make up, I could have made that myself. What I expect from the EA team are things that can't be created by any modder with a decent understanding of Photoshop or Gimp. I expect new systems that the awesome creators in the community can use to build on. Which brings me right back to the teens who are teens in name only.

It just bums me out. TS4 had the potential to be such an amazing game. Instead, it's the equivalent of that gorgeous guy that you've been dying to meet. However, once you finally do, he's got absolutely nothing going on between his ears and he's constantly looking for his reflection so that he can admire himself while he's speaking to you. If TS4 were a person, it would be that guy.

The game is so focused on the appearances, rather than how things work.

LOLOL That's exactly how i feel. If EA give the time and resourses developers need, this could be the most amazing sim game ever, gorgeous graphics even with the cartoon factor, a stable system, but lacks in gameplay, and makes me fall aslepp when i play.

We need a school game pack sort of like University but for High Schools as well!

Extracurricular activities, cliques and proms would be absolutely amazing.

"Cynna;c-16371240" wrote:
Then why not link it to mood, since the game is so huge on emotions?

Oh my, that's actually an amazing idea? Teenagers who get "tense" a lot should get acne. I know I still struggle with stress related acne even though I'm an adult. It's a thing, right? Stress makes your skin break out and since we already have a sort of stressed out emotion in the game it's a good way to make acne a part of gameplay.

Junk food could affect teenagers with acne as well. If a sim eats too much ice cream or sweet treats they could wake up with break outs the next day.

Obviously, it's always the players who get cool ideas, never the developers. Sad!

I voted add more content exclusive to them... although I'm good with them spreading this added content out. I'm in no hurry for it.

I know I definitely don't want them to shorten them, mostly because it would take way too much time and effort to redo all the animations as they are now. I don't want them to spend time, money or put effort into that. I also don't want them creepy small as teenagers. It would be weird to see a short teen going to prom in my opinion or on a date. If they were very slightly shorter than their young adult counterparts sure. The only way I'd want shorter is if they added in pre-teens and I really could care less if they did that. I don't see myself playing with a pre-teen all that often but I've surprised myself in the past. I know I wouldn't have a problem with them being added in.

I do want some events added though.. prom especially. Other items that make them stand out as teenagers.. mostly CAS items though. I can see cliques or peer pressure ect added but I also want a way out as not every teen is affected by that. What I mean by that is say you have a sim that has the gregarious trait.. they might be more affected. I'd actually rather a new trait was added in if you wanted them to be deeply affected by groups and cliques. If you had a sim with the loner trait they really might not care what others thought... and wouldn't be as affected by peer pressure growing up.

I guess what it boils down too for me is I still want to be able to play my homeless, challenged, surviving alone teens that don't act like most people believe teens do. Sometimes for certain people that stuff really isn't important... or they don't have time for it to be important to them. I want that choice.

I'd just add more tense buffs for school/academic related things. Maybe they have finals, or the 'S.I.M.'s, or their parents keep breathing down their necks about future plans. Ambitious parents could 'check grades' on the computer and get a positive or negative buff from that.

It would also be cool if the part-time jobs were broadened, and make to include adults. (Maybe have them be active?) Teens could intern, be lifeguards,

New clubs (okay, this could just be made by players) like theatre, speech and debate, student gov, sports, etc.

And finally, have the acne skin detail be triggered by the acne buff, like how JA poison works.

I want to sing a lullaby to my baby sim, HOWEVER, the actual question's answer is that I would improve Teen and Children by including school activities, extracurricular activities, Prom (or some kind of formal dance.)

"LeGardePourpre;c-16341363" wrote:
Maybe they could get some exclusive Aspirations.
Should the Teen Aspiration be "Successful Lineage", "Big Happy Family" or "Super Parent" when they can't try for baby ?

Also, children have their own aspirations and I think that there should also be TEEN exclusive aspirations. These aspirations can also tie into the extracurricular activities. FOR INSTANCE, Pom Pom or Cheer Squad as an after school activity and an aspiration to Become Head Cheerleader, or Football Hero with a Football extracurricular (Maybe NOT football necessarily. Track or Basketball, a sports centered Aspiration), Honor Society and an aspiration like Whiz Kid to be the smartest kid at school. Bring back the Valedictorian and Salutatorian. . .

GRADUATION!!!

"Cinderellimouse;c-16337930" wrote:
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'd like to see some sort of home schooling or maybe bring some elements of the CL job system to education; you could be given the option to go to school as normal or "study from home" then get two or three different tasks, like interview an elder Sim then write essay about life in the olden days, or collect 3 frogs for Biology Lab or 3 plants for Botany. I'd also modify the rabbit hole schools so children only meet other children and teens meet other teens; right now if you do "Meet Friends" at school you wind up meeting both children and teens and that's not very realistic (unless it's a really small school district you rarely have children and teens go to school together at least here in the US). If we do get a University pack, maybe teen Sims with good grades can get a scholarship and/or college credit if they have really good grades, sort of like if you take Advanced Placement classes in the United States.

Teen-only activities: basement bands (since we don't have garages), skateboarding (with a skate park and/or the ability to build our own with ramps, half-pipes and such) andould tie in with a Seasons pack by turning into snowboarding parks in the winter. We've already got the system where you can separate out part of your household funds for owning restaurants or retail stores; maybe that could be adapted to create teen savings accounts where they can save money for college or just moving out on their own. Would give more purpose for the teen part-time jobs, and when they age up to YA they can use that money to pay for college (if we have University) or just to get a head start by adding the savings to the base 20K they currently get. Add in some more worn/second hand furniture (we could get that Starter Home SP that was one of the choices in the Community Pack survey). An actual teen hangout where teens could gather and meet each other without kids or YA+ hanging around would be awesome.

We're not going to get shorter teens at this stage of the game; the work to adjust the clothing to match smaller frames would be way too much work. The height doesn't bother me that much; I've always been shorter than my nieces and nephews anyway. I think unique activities and interactons solely for teens would be enough. Or maybe something similar to the gender filter but for age; have some outfits that are solely for teens, but that can be removed if you're dressing your own Sims or a townie's household.

"DragonCat159;c-16343893" wrote:
I would suggest allowing them to "run away", but EA nowadays wouldn't want to make a bad influence to its demography, that considers simmers being way below who is under adolescent age and almost turning the game into E rated. Well they could at least return the interaction between other teens/children of "giving a nuggie" from TS2

Teens can already live on their own; my current save's storyline is a teen that ran away to San Myshuno to escape an arranged marriage to one of her criminal dad's "business" associates. :o