Re: Why does locking doors/gates not work?

@Vyo4  Your mockup looks absolutely brilliant!

1. I absolutely agree with the simplification! I basically worded it the same on my paper mockup including the animals being just one category. Partly because I didn't know which animals are considered pets anyways but it got me thinking.. that's basically something the devs know but us players don't have a clear distinction in the game! So why should we even have them in separate categories, why not just have everything under "Animals" as it's the simplest solution. I'd like to think that categories that seem intuitive to players would be the best solution.

2. I'd love to see options greyed out when they're not applicable as it is in many of the UI choices already in the game but ofc I can't come up with any examples right now. 😅 What I mean is that if you check Cats under Animals then the option All Animals would become greyed out, just for clarification.

6. I feel genders would be helpful not only because inevitably the bathroom doors sometimes bug out but because the only ones we have are very modern and don't suit any other styles. They don't look good on more traditional onsens. It would be consistent to have the gender options on all doors, not just a few. I also want the peace of mind knowing that, for example, my teenage girls can change & shower in peace at school without the possibility of an older male teacher walking in to look at decor in there.. It just.. creeps me out. :/

I feel like another section, perhaps Other Sims might be needed as we still have some other groups of sims, the most recent addition being Tenants. I'd probably categorise it so that we'd have animals, household, clubs, employees, other sims, occults, ages, genders and guests. Probably not in this specific order but anyways! I'd have it something like:

Other Sims:

    Roommates
    Tenants
    Landlord/lady (not sure if they follow employees categorisation and it makes sense to me to have them separate)

    Teachers
    Celebrities

I could see Other Sims including visitors and clubs as well. I'd personally prefer them separate though.

Another category could be Service Sims that are not hired. These would include Vendors (I'm aware they can be hired but the issue is usually with the ones that spawn independently in the world), Mail Carriers, NAP Investigators, Master Gardeners etc. I'd love to stop the mailman entering homes to judge décor, it's creepy. The Landlord/lady would optionally fit this category too.

I see a design strength in having these clear, separate groups because it's a) clear and easy to understand for the player and b) it would be easy later on to expand these categories with additions from new DLCs! Like if we got something like news reporters as NPCs I'd put them to Other Sims, but nurses who visit to take care of elder sims, they'd obviously go to employees same as... chimney sweeps. :D (Burglars don't go to any group because they can get through any door, right?😉) I hope the Sims team would consider these suggestions! 

@Vyo4   I love how you snuck Fairies in there AND made Celebrities an Occult.  lol

@siirysiir  Great suggestions and feedback! I've updated the mock-up, attached.

Thought of more scenarios where Gender specifications would be useful such as having a Male/Female wing at a Boarding School or Prison. And we already have Male/Female wall decals in the game. Added genders to the new mockup.

Did some testing as well on a new category: Hired Staff, see my findings at the end. This category is different than Hired Services as Hired Staff are hired by clicking on an item or hired through a Social Event.

Sprinkled in some Questions needing feedback within some of the categories.

(?) = Tooltip

Global Choices

• Apply to All Doors
• Apply to All Gates

Restrictions

• Invite Only
• Knock to Enter
• Baby-Proof (?)
• Male
• Female

(?) Baby-Proof: Restricts Infants and Toddlers from exiting. Allows Caretakers to enter and exit. Toddlers may try to escape.

Lock For...

• Everyone
  
  • All subsequent boxes become checked
  • When an exception is made, the Everyone box becomes unchecked.
• Household Members

Categories:

• View ALL
• Ages
• Visitors
• Hired Services
• Hired Staff
• Pets
• Occults
• Miscellaneous

Specific Applications: (by Category)

Ages

• Infants
• Toddlers
• Children
• Teens
• Adults
• Elders

Example of Use:

• Make the EZ Exit Window only accessible by escaping Teens.
• Child-only clubhouse.

IDEA Click > Sneak Out Window - The EZ Exit Window should have the option to Click > Sneak Out Window. Otherwise my Sims will ignore the EZ Exit Window and exit via an exterior door. All doors of the room have to be locked to make the Sim exit out of the EZ Exit Window.

Visitors

• Invited Guests (?)
• Stayover Guests
• Club Members
• Roommates

(?) Invited Guests: Social Events invitees, visiting family, visiting friends, visiting neighbhors, stay-the-night dates.

Animals

• ALL Animals
  
  • All subsequent boxes become checked within category.
  • When an exception is made, the ALL Animals box becomes unchecked.
  • ** This rule would apply to each "All" option within each category.**
• Cats
• Dogs
• Horses
• Chickens
• Mini Sheep
• Mini Goats

Hired Services (?)

• ALL Hired Services
• Gardener
• Maid
• Nanny
• Butler
• Ranch Hand
• Eco Inspector

(?) Hired Services: One Time or Reoccurring Services hired through the phone.

Example of Use:

• Gardener only in yard or farm.
• Nanny only in nursery.
• Ranch Hand only in barn, corrals.

Hired Staff (?)

• ALL Hired Staff
• Caterer
• Mixologist
• Entertainer
• Comedian
• Violinist
• Pianist
• Organist, Vampires
• Vendor (Cafeteria), High School Years, Discover University
• Vendor (Boba Tea), High School Years
• DJ, Get Together
• Barista, Get Together
• Chef, Dine Out
• Yoga Instructor, Spa Day
• Message Therapist, Spa Day
• Animal Tender, (Social Event) Horse Ranch
• Grill Master, (Social Event) Horse Ranch

(?) Hired Staff: Staff hired through an item or Social Event. Not to be confused with Employees (Retail, Vet Clinic, Restaurant)

Example of Use:

• Caterer restricted to Kitchen.
• Staff Entrance - Staff can only come through the side door.
• Staff Quarters - Staff only bathroom.
• Stage entrance/backstage - Musicians only.

IDEA Staff Only door. Similar function as the Club Door in Get Together or the Wolf Graffiti Industrial Door, Werewolves.

Occults

• ALL Occults
• Vampires
• Werewolves
• Spellcasters
• Aliens
• Mermaids
• Fairies :-)

Miscellaneous

• Celebrities
• Tenants
• Landlord
• Patchy
• Flower Bunny

Example of Use:

• Flower Bunny stays outside to drop flowers.
• Patchy stays in the garden.

QUESTION: Should Celebrities be included? They are really only a Community Lot problem. Can't lock doors on Community Lots.

Public Service

• Mail Carrier
• NAP Civic Inspector

QUESTION: NAP Civic Inspectors are supposed to enter the residence? To check that appliances are up to code?
QUESTION: Bug? Might be a bug where Mail Carriers enter the home? I've personally not had that happen, but I've seen Let's Plays with it happening.

NOTE: Didn't include Public Service on this mock-up version.

Experiment: Hired every available Staff at one time.

Observations:

• Certain types of Hired Staff will wander away from their post. Sometimes they will leave to watch another Hired Performer (DJ), play on the computer, or just... cross-stitch.
  
  • Caterers wander off after cooking a dish.
  • Musicians might wander after finishing a song.
  • Comedians might wander after finishing a routine.
  • Oftentimes the wandering Staff will return to their post to perform another song/dish/routine.
  • A staffed DJ Booth will pull away other Hired Staff from their posts.
• Staff that tended an object did not leave their post until their shift ended.
• Stall Vendors didn't leave their post until their shift ended.

BUG: The DJ Booth remained on after the DJ ended their shift. No option to Click > Turn Off. Had to Reset Object to turn off effects.

@Vyo4  The mockup looks great and those are some great additions! I really appreciate the work you put in making it! ^^

Especially agree on the Highschool EZ Exit window! I remember now that I've had issues with random sims CRAWLING IN FROM MY TEENAGER'S BEDROOM WINDOW like if that's not creepy then I don't know what is! If I remember correctly it's the sims with no boundaries coming to ask to be best friends by intruding my house through a window. :D So I'd really appreciate more options on locking those and more over an option to direct a sim to climb through it any time. (I often use a mod that let's you do just that when playing with teenagers, can highly recommend!)

To your questions:

- Celebrities disrupt gameplay by making sims stop what they are doing to react to the celeb posing. I know this is intended but on some lots I'd rather choose to not have it. It takes long enough to dine at restaurants already without the interruptions and I don't see why Judith Ward needs to visit my scrungy public pool with a filthy laundromat. (I wish we could stop celebrities visiting some lots altogether but I'll at least lock them out if possible!)

- NAP inspectors aren't that big of an issue. If you talk to them they might start considering themselves as "normal guests" and do whatever weird stuff visitors tend to do.

- Yeah not sure if it's a bug or not with the mail carriers. I've seen it in my game (and let's plays too) where they come inside to judge décor. Just don't buy Dream Home Decorator and you'll be fine. :D

And to the Sims team, Please make doors/gates on community lots lockable!  There are several good reasons:

1) This would help a lot with keeping staff at their posts to keep gameplay.. well, playable with staffed objects staying occupied with hired or automatically hired sims. Also works the other way around so patrons won't walk behind the counter to the bartender or barista's side to get their drink.

2) we can build performance stages for lots like lounges and nightclubs and it would be best to be able to lock doors/gates to the stage so that unskilled sims don't go there to plunk the piano and ruin the ambiance. Only performers need to get there.

3) some players like to pretend their sim is the owner of, for example, a bar and they "live" in a flat above the business. Giving us the option to lock doors on community lots would give more opportunities for various creative gameplay ideas like these. Like in the bar example we could make the flat only accessible to the "bar owner" and patrons and bartends would stay on the business side.

4) Creating proper changing rooms. I would like to be able to assign changing rooms to male/female/nonbinary sims separately. It's especially disturbing when adult male sims can enter spaces that are meant for little girls. Certain horrible real life things are luckily not possible in the game but the anxiety arising from situations as described is very much real. The threat is so real in the real world that even in a simulation game it's impossible to forget its existence. We often play this game to escape the real world and to feel safe and relaxed.

5) Creating new custom lot types. The lot types currently don't support some gameplay that simmers want to have in their games but using  locked doors/gates creatively could make it possible to build new types of lots. Examples: cemetery lot with a locked private family mausoleum, a secret vampire hangout on a community lot where other sims couldn't enter (think Werewolves pack bar lot but for vampires!) or a magic boarding school with separate dormitories for boys and girls.

@siirysiir Thank you! It's been fun to brainstorm conceptual solutions to the door-locking problem.

I added Employees to another mockup. Doors are lockable on all owned properties.

Employees

• ALL Employees
• Retail
• Vet Clinic
• Host
• Chef
• Waiter

I think the reason there are no locking options on Community Lots is because at any time your Sim has the freedom to just start cooking on the Chef Station at a Restaurant, or take over tending the Bar at a Lounge, or steal the Mic to sing badly to an unsuspecting audience - as an opportunity to build their Skills. It's likely more about giving freedom of movement to your playable Sim than it is to take away movement of unplayed Sims when on a Community lot.

EDIT: I can understand having more restrictions on a Home lot, but not a Community lot. We can control our own environment, but not the environment of the public, so to speak. So Judith Ward is still going to hog all the attention at the Museum.

However I do see a hybrid solution for lockable doors on Community lots, possibly allowing:

• Baby-Proofing
• Male
• Female

Performed a test on Rental Lots.

You can lock doors on Rental Lots, as you temporary own them.

Experiment:

1. Sim-1 rented a lot. Locked all doors for Everyone.
2. Sim-1 ended vacation and returned home.
3. Sim-1 rented the same lot again. = All doors remained locked.
4. Switched to a different household = Sim-2.
5. Sim-2 rented the same lot as Sim-1. = All doors remained locked.

Only played households visit and reserve Rental Lots.

Question: Should locked doors on Rental Lots revert to unlocked upon vacation end?

Question: Could this become an issue for rotational players?

Question: Could this become an issue for a Hotel pack?