"Joyful Retirement" EP concept - Elders, mid adults and adults focused!

I love your title!

I agree we definitely need to beef up the elder life stage, and I appreciate that you’ve avoided the stereotypes of walkers, wheelchairs, and hearing aids. Too many elder pack suggestions focus on the health issues, but many retirees are just as active as their kids are. I’d rather see the game emphasize a positive aspect of aging. For the retired people I know, travel, family, hobbies/learning and personal enrichment are the primary interests.

I really like the hobbies you’ve listed. I would also add learning an instrument and ballroom dancing. Scrapbooking tied to a memory system might be cool. I love the retirement party idea!

I think I would avoid nursing homes in game, mostly because they are still very negatively stereotyped (and I say that as someone who works in elder care). Instead, I would go with senior community centers where they can engage in social activities, have a community garden, have classes in any number of things, play games (cards, checkers, chess, trivia), and have parties and events.

Additional grandparent interactions would be nice. Grandkids are tops. So are pets.

Casinos, cruises, RVing, and world travel would be appropriate. So would concerts, theater, craft shows and volunteering.

Anyway, thanks for taking a positive approach to an elder refresh. I hope we do get something like this, eventually.

This thread has some great ideas, I can see my parents and their friends sin several of the comments.

We could have the return of landline phones and the option to turn off mobiles.

I would love to see an update to the woodworking bench. My retired dad does some of that, has done all my life - when I had cats he made them a little "house" for the garden, and that was before he retired.

Yes to nectar making too - my parents used to make wine before I was born. The juice was the one thing I really liked about the Eco-Living pack when I played the trial, but it wasn't quite enough to tempt me to buy the pack.

This is not an idea that I've put any idea of in the past, and I honestly have no idea why. This sounds like a great pack. Sign me up!

I'm surprissed for your reception! Elders deserves better!

Mid adults can be a new transition age, much like pre-teens if the supossed High School EP include thems.

Another potential gameplay could be communitary bingo lots, tai chi for elders and new interactions for pets.

"Mak27;c-18124546" wrote:
I'm surprissed for your reception! Elders deserves better!

Mid adults can be a new transition age, much like pre-teens if the supossed High School EP include thems.

Another potential gameplay could be communitary bingo lots, tai chi for elders and new interactions for pets.

Definitely Bingo. And tai chi would be great! I think the whole concept of age needs to be redefined in this game. I very rarely put any of my sims in the elder category unless they’re meant to be really old… and by that I mean ancient…because I find the back cracking, stooped posture stereotype off putting. I keep active elders in the adult category and provide age details in CAS. My mom is 88 and she is still completely independent. Has she slowed down a bit? Sure. But she’s a far cry from the stereotypical “old folk” we have in game. I’m retired myself, but most people think I’m in my 40’s, not just based on appearance, but on approach to life. If 60 is the new 40, you’d never know it in The Sims.

"cyncie;c-18124552" wrote:


My mom is 88 and she is still completely independent. Has she slowed down a bit? Sure. But she’s a far cry from the stereotypical “old folk” we have in game. I’m retired myself, but most people think I’m in my 40’s, not just based on appearance, but on approach to life. If 60 is the new 40, you’d never know it in The Sims.

Well, I'm 32 and my parents are "mid adults" between 55 to 59. That new life stage can add some new interactions and a proper transitory age between adult to elder, so mid adults sims can learn a crafting hobbie easier, restoring cars, complain about hot water (water heaters/boiler included in this pack concept), having a hobbies club, retirement parties and silver wedding anniversary.

I would love a middle aged sim life stage as well or could be at the retiring age where they can do hobbies go on vacation, have a mid life crisis, take care of their elderly parent if they have any. Take care of their grandchildren.

I'm not sure I think this ought to be a full on EP, but a GP definitely. I would love a midlife stage, where sims grow a little grey, have a little thinner hair perhaps (more hairstyles for middle aged and elder sims), a few more wrinkles and cannot have kids any more (no more babies born the day someone ages up to an elder, please!)

For middle age I'd love various mid-life crises options, similar to phases but tied to their personality. So non-commitment or romantic sims could get the whims to have affairs, flirt, get divorced, get a young lover. Materialistic sims get whims to buy cool stuff. Some sims would get whims to quit their job and go back to uni, others to retire early, some might want to see the world, others dress like a teenager... (there could be a lot of cool options here).

For elders I really want a reward trait based on the life led - so they could be nostalgic for old times, bitter about chances lost, want to catch up on everything they didn't do, family orientated sims could get the trait "grandparent" that would open up new interactions. I would also love more grandkid-grandparent interactions overall.

A good idea, but maybehave some real retirees vet it, because I'm not there yet, but have found out that things I never saw coming, become troublesome when very common things like carpal tunnel, rotatorcuff issues, and arthritis set in. Churning butter would be right there with tennis and fencing, for aggravating these issues, and tango is dramatic and fun but those deep movements are very challenging to anyone with back or knee issues which is most everyone by middle age.

Would love to hear what the retirees on the forums suggest?

"ignominiusrex;c-18125940" wrote:
A good idea, but maybehave some real retirees vet it, because I'm not there yet, but have found out that things I never saw coming, become troublesome when very common things like carpal tunnel, rotatorcuff issues, and arthritis set in. Churning butter would be right there with tennis and fencing, for aggravating these issues, and tango is dramatic and fun but those deep movements are very challenging to anyone with back or knee issues which is most everyone by middle age.

Would love to hear what the retirees on the forums suggest?

Read my posts. I’ve been mostly retired for two years. I just did a 5 hour music rehearsal and have a concert tomorrow. Retired people are still pretty active for years before feebleness sets in. I know people who have done all of the things I listed. Yes, health issues have to be managed, but you don’t just suddenly go from working full time to a wheelchair. There’s a nice, active in between.