The Sims 4 Ideas

I just made a post about potential game ideas, but for whatever reason, it wouldn't submit. So here's what I wrote:

This post is not meant to present problems about the game itself, this is meant to talk about some things that could be added and/or modified to the existing game. Some things that could be added to Sims 4 could be:

- (Weekend) slumber parties: this could be a social event (kind of like the toddler play date) in which a child sim could invite friends over for a sleepover, specified by a certain number of days. It doesn't have to be a bunch of kids, maybe up to four, and it'll run in the same fashion as any other social event/party.

- Bunk beds: sims can climb stairs, why not ladders? This would save some room in people's households by having two sims to a bunk bed (basically, two single beds stacked on top of each other).

- Apartment access to those given a key: I don't take credit for this idea, but it is something I always thought about. If a sim locks a door, other sims with a key should have access regardless. For all of that, why give a key if you can lock them out anyways?

- Increase with best friends: hot topic issue! Allow sims to have more than one best friend, but maybe no more than four.

- Pet play dates: see weekend slumber parties (think toddler play dates).

- Ownership of restaurants and retail: this should not be subjected to household, but to the actual sim. If a sim makes a restaurant, but moves out the household, that should be their store, not the household's.

- Allowing children to assist with toddlers more: kids can pick up babies/toddlers, give them baths, etc. This could add to the child's responsibility trait, build on the child's and toddler's/baby's relationship, and other positive things. As a bonus, because they are kids, if they mess up, there could be repercussions (toddler could drown).

- Allowing children to assist with pets more: have kids be able to walk pets, give them baths, etc.

- A "Back to School" package: Driver’s ed, home ec, art class, maybe choosing alternate schooling for sims? School schedules could be made as well. This doesn't necessarily mean we (the players) see what's going on at school, but it'll give more purpose to caring about sims going to school. Excelling in specific subjects can help build specific skills instead of them being done at home. For example, if a teen has a home ec class, this could boost the cooking skill. Also, there could be private schools and alternative schools.

- More job diversity: teachers (I'd love to see my adult sim teaching at my child's school lol; with this, players can choose to go to work with the sim, like the doctor), actor/actress, band member (this differs from just being a musician), illustrator (combines artist and writer), salon (hair, nails, massages), dentist, etc.

- Do something more with aliens: as is, aliens really feel like regular sims that can change appearance, as say compared to how vampires work. Maybe aliens could impregnate sims on command (not like the random event with the weird light, but actually being about to control an alien sim to do this through mind control).

- More personality traits: many basic ones are covered in the game, but why isn't there one for "hates animals"? The pets have way more choices than actual sims! How about one called "nosy" or competitive?

- Drums: we have violin, piano, guitar, and microphone. Drums seem like the next natural instrument. In addition, how about more instruments for children, as well?

- Ski resort vacation: new place, new activities. Runs the same way as going camping and the jungle. NOTE- there could also be a "travels package" with different types of destinations (Europe, Africa, etc.); with that, there could be different and new collectibles and an achievement called, "Around the World."

- Seasons package: another hot topic issue. Self-explanatory.

- A metropolitan area: this could be an extension of Myshuno, or a bridge between there and Promenade, but this could be an essentially empty world where players could make this solely a marketplace-type area for restaurants, retail, and vets. It could also spark some in-sims competition...

As a special note, this is just a list of things that could potentially happen. Some of these things have probably been mentioned by others. These things may be more complicated to implement than to talk about, but I also think they are feasible enough to be considered. What else do you think could/should be in the game?

Some more ideas...

- Being allowed to choose specific employees/butlers- instead of a random list of sims, have it where the players can choose who works at their restaurant/retail and/or manage household chores. On a personal note, I lucked out that my sim's twin sister was an option to work at her bakery (total coincidence). Yet I purposely leveled up a different sim to work at a restaurant, just for her to never come up as an option. Based on research, to get that to happen is too much work. Just make it like an "interview": from a series of sims that can cook--whether already employed or not--the player can choose from that selection. Same with butlers, instead of a randomly assigned sim, have choices (like for adoption).

- Being allowed to operate food stands- if a player purchases a food stand, let the played sim operate it, not hiring someone to run it. OR have either option available.

- Extracurricular activities- similar to the volunteering option, child and teen sims can have an extracurricular activity option on their phones; they can invite friends and family to these activities, as well. When selected, there can be choices like soccer/basketball/football game, science fair, school dance, etc. While attending these, again just like with volunteer, specific skills can get a boost along with random events occurring.

Hi @Quien80946,

Thanks for sharing your ideas!! Yes, some have been mentioned in the past, but it's always good to know different perspectives or how many of you are interested in the same - so feel free to post about them anyway!

As with @RaeRackz96's, I can surely forward your ideas 🙂

I have a question for you, if you don't mind clarifying:

'- Apartment access to those given a key: I don't take credit for this idea, but it is something I always thought about. If a sim locks a door, other sims with a key should have access regardless. For all of that, why give a key if you can lock them out anyways?'

When do you lock your doors? Is there any general reason why you use the locking option?

-Mai

PS. Your first post was eaten by the spam filter for some reason - as this one has additional ideas I'm keeping this one. Shouldn't happen again but feel free to PM me if so.

@EA_Mai,

Thank you so much for sending my (and @RaeRackz96's...and anybody's) ideas to the company. Hopefully, they will be considered as that'll definitely increase playability and maybe spark other ideas in the future!

To answer your question, the reason why I personally use the lock door feature has to do with a bug that seems to be fairly recent (and I made a post about, as well). For apartments, there's a problem where random sims will just enter apartments uninvited. It gets really annoying having a bunch of random sims basically coming into apartments and do whatever they please and/or mess up the apartment and leave. So to stop this, I just lock the door to everyone but household members, but it presents the problem of when I want certain sims to come over, they can't just come in on their own despite having a key.

So if there was a feature that allowed keyholders access to apartments even if the door is locked to everyone, I can keep the uninvited away and not have to worry about locking out those I want over. At first, I didn't really mind random sims coming in because they started with my neighbors who I was mostly on friendly terms with. But it got worse when sims from other places (the street) who had absolutely nothing to do with the played sims would come in. I've had up to, I think, six random sims in my apartment completely trashing the place. Even when I locked the door, they just hung around in the...lobby?...and wouldn't leave.

Giving keyholders access may not prevent the random sims thing, but it would lessen the problem of them coming in uninvited.

Some more ideas that were thought up over the week...

- Allergies: this could be a randomized trait in which sims could have allergies to pets. Something like this does occur with plants (sims get itchy), so let's say something similar happens where sims could be allergic to pets, but this is beyond the player's control (i.e. this would have to be a programming thing that is totally random and a surprise to everyone). Unlike with plants, this isn't something that goes away after a few sim-hours whether you do something or not to lessen the effect. This would be more real life where sims would have to buy medicine and/or go to the doctor to get treated;if the sim just lets the symptoms go on, the effects keep piling (sneezing, hives, headache, and so on). This would bring more purpose to the clinic other than the profession itself or pregnancy. Players could actually voluntarily have the option to go to the clinic.

- Building your own clinic: we can operate our own vets, why not our own clinics?

- Tennis courts/Country club: add a tennis court asset for more variety (especially since there's already a cute little tennis skirt the females have!) and/or just have a massive country club building that houses tennis courts, rock climbing, basketball courts, bar, recreational gaming, etc. For the country club, however, there is a membership fee per hour or sims can purchase a membership card at a higher price but automatic access; this could also be a party venue. Sims could even work at this establishment (chef, fitness trainer, etc).

- Pet permanently running away setting: ok, ok, before people rip me to shreds on this one, I already know this was a debated topic (pets permanently running away). But what about a happy medium- in the game settings, have a new option where players can choose to turn this feature on or off? That way, players who want more of a challenge getting their pets back can have it. As is, the worse that happens is sims get sad, but the pet will come back eventually (and no, I'm not talking about when they just wander off for some time). If this option is turned on and the pet runs away, sims can go around asking other sims if they'd seen their pet. Just like the detective, sims can be helpful or not; the more helpful sims can be more descriptive with where they saw said pet. Or maybe sims could receive calls saying their pet was spotted in [fill in blank] location. If the sim can't find their pet in 4-5 sim days, the pet won't come back on its own (but can still be in the game like other strays, which would mean that if the sim eventually finds their pet as a stray, they'd have to go through the same processes as with other strays).This would be in conjunction with the other methods of locating a pet already implemented in the game.

- Kneeling: occasionally, sims will kneel on the ground on their own. Add the option if you click on the sim, they could "Kneel Here." I find kneeling makes it better for taking pictures of toddlers since they're, you know, so close to the ground lol. With that, there should be a way regardless to take pictures of toddlers, even with the photo booth thing.

- Punish for skipping school: this might have been an oversight, but I had a child sim skip school with her friend and I purposely brought one of her parents over because I wanted them to catch their kid in the act. Long story short, there wasn't anything about disciplining the kid for not being in school (in fact, the kid wanted to dance on the dance floor with the parent lol). Just a thought for an additional reason to punish a kid/teen.

More ideas

• Fisherman/woman profession and houseboats: this could take more advantage of Brindleton Bay, or some expansion of it, in which there could be boat lots that serve as dwellings. Also, houseboats can be used as a money generator- sims can fish from these locations, open their own fish shack where other sims can purchase fresh fish (and/or knickknacks), boom! Profit!!!
• Amusement parks and farmer's market: this one has been brought up a few times, but in an earlier post, I mentioned having a new world that can be used as a metropolis for shops, vets/clinics, restaurants, etc. But this place can also have an amusement park and farmer's market. The former can be used for dates, social events, etc., and the latter for purchasing produce and spices (yes, the other booths can still be there, maybe the farmer's market can cycle items but have more of them available at once).
• Casinos: this one might be pushing the boundaries between The Sims and SimCity, but it might be fun to include this as an activity versus a vicarious moment.

"Hello! This is the school principal calling.

I know that you have absolutely ZERO parenting skill and are IN NO WAY related to this child which is why I've phoned to ask how we should treat this problem..."

Why does the School ALWAYS call an unrelated sim about a school problem? The mother of this child is in the house, but... no! Why not just ask a complete stranger?

Also, why so many of these calls? One a week would be a task, two would be a difficult task which is why I'm getting one a day sometimes...