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rebellance24's avatar
rebellance24
Rising Newcomer
1 day ago

Neighborhood multiplayer

Subject: Feature Suggestion – “Neighborhood Multiplayer” for The Sims 4

Hello,

I am a long-time console player and wanted to share a feature idea that I believe would significantly improve the social experience in The Sims 4.

Feature Name: Neighborhood Multiplayer

The idea is to allow two players to connect their households and interact within the same neighborhood in a simple co-op format. This would not need to be a full online world or MMO, but rather a small-scale multiplayer experience between friends.

Core Concept

One player hosts the game world, and another player joins the session with a selected Sim. The visiting player would control only their Sim while the host maintains control of the household and game time.

Basic System Outline

  • One player hosts the save file.
  • The host controls time (pause, play, fast-forward).
  • A visiting player selects one Sim from their household to travel into the host’s world.
  • Each player controls their own Sim only.
  • Sims can interact normally (socialize, visit, build relationships, etc.).
  • Players can visit each other's houses and neighborhoods.

DLC Handling

If a visiting player enters a lot that contains DLC items they do not own, they should still be able to interact with those items while visiting, but not place or build with them unless they own the pack.

This would allow players to experience their friends’ worlds and builds without bypassing DLC ownership.

Mods

Multiplayer sessions could simply disable script mods to prevent conflicts. Cosmetic items that are not present on another player's system could default to base-game alternatives to avoid errors.

Benefits

  • Encourages social gameplay between friends and family.
  • Allows players to explore each other’s builds and households.
  • Creates new storytelling opportunities with multiple controlled Sims.
  • Adds a cooperative layer to an already strong life simulation game.

Many players enjoy sharing their creations, but currently cannot truly experience each other's worlds live. A simple neighborhood co-op system would make the game feel much more alive.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

 

Sincerely,
Lance
 Console Player

discussion

2 Replies

  • Gingerymoon's avatar
    Gingerymoon
    1 day ago

    You have my 1st like.
    I know a multiplayer mod exists btw (have never tried it though), but console players cannot use that indeed. I'm also not sure if they could make in-game multiplayer in a way that supports interactions between console and PC players. Still your idea sounds nice 👍

  • Prov31Simmer's avatar
    Prov31Simmer
    Seasoned Ace
    1 day ago

    rebellance24, the Sims franchise has always been a single-player experience. My own kids play it, but we would never want to play co-op. We each enjoy our own saves snd do not want anyone "joining" it. When my family games together, we actually can play 4 different games in the same room (I have 2 EA accounts so we can have 2 people play Sims 4 if we want). I actually do not know anyone IRL who would wants to co-op in The Sims. I started playing the franchise since the Sims 1 days in the early 2000's. I have never owned a console Sims game.

    If you look up the history about Sims 4, look up project Olympus. It was rumored to orginally have an online playing experience, but that was scraped when the Sim City always online requirement got backlash. It is why all the sims act so similarly, no matter what traits they are given and why the game can feel so repetitive. There are too many different pack combinations for any online multi-player to work, that isn't even considering if PC players use CC. 

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