Base Game Platform Improvements (Gameplay)

Here's a list of technical/platform improvements that should be added to the base game for a more rewarding experience, along with brief explanations. These are NOT new features, content, DLC ideas, or mod ideas. These are foundational features that would improve the gameplay experience at a base level, regardless of later content additions. The focus of this post is gameplay, not build/buy or CAS. I've aimed to keep the list short and include only essentials.

Sim Autonomy

• Refactored Sim personality. Lots of systems currently exist, but they are too disjointed (traits, likes & dislikes, preferences (food etc), sentiments, talents, lifestyles, turn ons/offs, etc). Traits are a mess: some are similar to likes/dislikes, others contribute to skill or relationship gains, and in general they don't impact sim behavior enough. This should be redesigned top-down so that everything in a sim's personality profile feels clean and meaningfully impacts gameplay.
• Improved Sim autonomy + livelier neighborhoods. Behaviors should be more consistent with sim personality, skills, careers, hobbies, etc. Neighborhoods should be visited by sims you would expect to see in those neighborhoods.
• Smarter NPC generation. Random townies should suggest backstories/profiles and their households/outfits should be consistent with those profiles.
• Smarter Neighborhood Stories. While some randomness is good, changes currently feel too random; they should be consistent with Sim personalities and visible in the world (eg friendships, relationships, careers, etc).

World Management

• More control over Sims & Households in Manage Worlds. Filtering by relationships, filtering/assigning by careers (including NPC careers), managing Sim personalities without loading into CAS.
• Better content discovery and filtering in gallery. Enables players to find cool lots, sims, etc.
• Lot Type presets on gallery. Custom venues were introduced in Adventure Awaits but this should be expanded - players should be able to build and share lots based on specific presets (eg cinema, arcade) and this should be identifiable via logos on the map (eg museum, bar, gym), not just "custom venue".

Life Stages

• Preteens. The problem with the child-teen aging gap is that since launch, DLC has narratively leaned into and exacerbated the gap rather than trying to bridge it, making it even more obvious than it was at launch. This was clearly done by design, so it becomes more urgent to address over time. When the most generous age range estimate for activities caps out at 11 for children and starts at 15 for teens, a height difference wouldn't fix anything. Untouched areas to explore here (not limited to a preteen life stage) include friend groups and cliques, fan and collector clubs, puberty and first crushes, mall hangouts, extracurricular activities, etc.
• Older Adult. Since adults can have different maturity levels, distinct gameplay from the Adult life stage isn't a must. It's more a necessary visual/facial/metadata difference, as adults currently span anywhere from 35-70 years old and that's too big of a range to represent visually in one stage. More Elder-specific activities would be great, but this post is not about new content.

Loading Screens

• Open neighborhoods or seamless transitions between lots
• Larger max household size and easier transition between households
• More activities in neighborhoods/less emptiness