I’m sorry but that’s not true.
There are thousands of such posts on Reddit from rotational players asking for an option to block unplayed Sims from gaining skills/weight etc.
I would be ok if my currently unplayed Sims gained some skills, but returning to find my Athlete-profession Sim morbidly obese, having maxed Programming, and having romanced another Sim while he is married with a wife is very annoying!
I noticed that the issue is especially exaggerated and broken when your Played Household lives in San Myshuno. My Unplayed Sims swarm the food stalls as NPCs and eat junk all the time. Coupled with the events, they end up gaining skills (from playing guitar for tips all the time), they get obese from eating nonstop at the stalls, and build relationships. I stopped attending the Romance festival because my Unplayed Sims flirt with randoms and destroy their homes…
Just give us an option like the one where it enabled/disables Sims from moving out, getting married freely, losing their job etc. that simply halts/freezes the Skill gains and relationships of active unplayed households. It’s very easy. That way everyone is happy. If I disable Neighborhood Stories, add an option that simply freezes unplayed Sims from gaining skills/weights/relationship too.
It’s definitely worse in San Myshuno, but I also had this happen in San Sequoia. A newly placed household built skills by themself. And only the Sims that I saw as an NPC did. When they visited me, for instance, a Sim played my piano which ended up leveling her piano skill when I went back to that household to check. I don’t want this when I play rotationally. I am always forced to either “Send them Home” or reset them when they use my stuff to build skills. This also happens in the street. They bask with guitars for tips. Why would my doctor Sim play guitar for tips on the street? I don’t want them leveling guitar.
You can clearly see this happen when you haven’t played for a long time with a specific household. The longer you wait to play them in your rotation, the higher and more skills they build.
Keep an eye out as it happens!
@BylineBelifeThe game does not have any built in auto marriage option, even with neighbourhood stories enabled - it only goes up to auto engagements in my experience with phone calls that ask your permission. So if you're getting unwanted spouses - that's players using mods like MCCC which is all on them. Kids, pets and job changes are part of neighbourhood stories which can be disabled.
But, if I see my other played sims at the gym in the background chatting with other sims, I expect to see them gain fitness skill, lose fat and gain relationship points with whoever they are talking with while I'm not playing them.
If they add an option to disable those gains for players that don't want them, then that's fine as long as players who do want them aren't affected. As it's personal preference, it's feedback and not a game bug, hence this thread now existing in the General Feedback section and not the bug report section.
The whole appeal of The Sims 4 for me is that it feels more like a living world, with sims in the background actually living and learning stuff. I saw an NPC pick up a guitar for the first time at a festival, and they sounded terrible. But a few weeks later, I saw the same sim busking at a street performer station, and they were much better, after having learned in the background. I found that fascinating. Same with sims at the gym - I saw a fat sim get on a treadmill and weeks later saw them fit and jogging around the neighbourhood.
That's what I prefer in The Sims 4 over my experience with The Sims 2 where every household was isolated and frozen in time. There was no universal time, houses were out of sync even in days of the week and the world didn't feel connected or alive.
