Feedback and ideas for the current game
I know there was recently surveys from the Sims team and after watching EnglishSimmer recent youtube video, I thought I'd add my own thoughts and ideas about the Sims 4 and it's future. The Sims team has reaffirmed the Sims 5 is not happening. This is an 11 year old game mind you. Players getting burned out or losing interested is understandable. If the Sims wants to continue this game indefinitely they need to be mindful of why their current players are feeling the burn out.
The Sims has been around for 25 years now and people who haven't even played the game know it. It's definitely the most recognizable life sim game out there. I mean, they're working on a movie about the series after all. That alone will bring in new players and old. The current game however has its issues that I think a new player may find difficult.
A lot of the base game and early DLC packs feel dated. Some of the UI does not feel as intuitive as it could be and the game has bugs throughout of varying severity. If they truly plan to keep this game indefinitely while continuing to add content and want new / old players to stick around the bugs need to be addressed. Outside of the bug issues I think players lose interest when the 'what now?' thought creeps in haha. The game is really open ended, you can build anything, create and play through generations of characters but every player has hit that wall at some point. I think that wall is what the Sims 4 team really needs to focus on. Comparable big name games like Fortnite, Minecraft, Roblox have large diverse communities of players with differing focuses of interest and gameplay styles. I don't think Multiplayer is necessary for the Sims 4 and would probably be a difficult undertaking to implement. (Although I'm like 99.9% sure there is a mod out there for it) I do think however, that tapping into that community and creativity aspect could really benefits the Sims.
Looking at a game like Roblox for example, the game functions mostly as an engine to create and share different games, some focused on building, some on life sim, other on survival / combat, etc. Its easy to create, share, explore, find your niche / interest. If the Sims 4 could implement a system like that i think it would really benefit. We currently have the Gallery system to explore other players characters and builds. This is such a great tool that could be expanded on. The Sims has scenarios too, which often get over looked and under utilized as they don't have a huge impact on gameplay and don't always seem the most interesting. I think being able to download and play other players scenarios could be interesting. The Sims community loves making and playing challenges, rags to riches, decades challenge, etc I think being able to search the gallery and download different neighborhoods/worlds that are prebuilt and populated with their own unique charcacters, challenges/goals would be amazing. Implementing it with the current UI I'd imagine something like downloading a scenario from the gallery would add a new save file that you could jump right into. I'm no UI or code expert so idk how they would actually go about it, but letting players create and share playthroughs would be great. When players are feeling bored or directionless they could simply go to the gallery and play some sort of scenario that someone created, or the could create their own and share it with friends. You could create a whole neighborhood that needs to be fixed up, a scenario where everyone is mean / an alien, a scenario where you need to explore and find something / someone, those are just a few small ideas but the possibilities could be endless.
Another aspect of the current game that i think could be expanded on and implemented relatively easily would be the tab/1st person camera. Having the option to be able to move your character using WASD keys while in 1st person camera would open up so many options for gameplay ideas and seems simple enough to incorporate. Feeling like you are walking around, exploring and interacting with the world would be game changing. It wouldn't fundamentally change the game at all as its an optional camera mode so players can chose to use it as frequently or infrequently as they like. But even simple things like testing a builds functionality in 1st person WASD controls would be fun. Being able to move your character with WASD would probably help with some of the interaction bugs like sims randomly going outside on a bench to eat a plate of food. Plus it would add so much to the immersion of gameplay. I think Baldur's Gate 3 had the option to click nav or WASD nav and it just seems like having that option for Sims would be a game changer. That coupled with the prev 'scenario' idea and you could really let the creativity run wild with possibilities. I think these additions would complement what makes the Sims series great. I also think these options would be great for new users who may be more familiar with that type of nav or new players who may be more interested in playing through a scenario that they're familiar with.
These are just two relatively small additions to the game that I think would open the game up to a wider audience and add more 'replay-ability' to current or returning players who've hit the 'what now' wall or felling a bit burnt out. I think it would help in modernizing the game a bit while just being a refreshing addition to compliment the existing game.
I've been playing the Sims off and on since it released when I was just a kid, I'm in my 30s now and love the Sims 4 but there are flaws that could be improved and good aspects that should be expanded. I have plenty of other thoughts and ideas regarding the current state and future of the game haha But realistically these two additions I want to see so badly. The immersion, creativity and community aspects are what keeps me coming back to the game so expanding on those aspect is key to me.
