I turned on the data sharing in my game for this very reason. I want Maxis to see that yes, I am playing with mermaids who are populating Sulani with well-raised kids, spellcasters who are starting massive gardens and farms, and vampires who struggle to figure out how to pay the bills in their massive mansion while raising children and finding plasma donors. Occult play doesn’t necessarily mean that I can’t also have family gameplay; I have plenty of spellcasters who just have magic but don’t really delve into it, but it’s part of their heritage and I don’t want to give it up. I want werewolves so I can have rival vampire and werewolf families whose kids have a Romeo and Juliet love story.
Even the dust kit has the dust bunnies that can turn evil - the game has tons of quirkiness that goes beyond realism, and that quirkiness has always been part of the charm. Go have a baby at a hospital? Prepare to watch see your heart get pulled out and a robot operated by a doctor glue you together. Want to work from home as a botanist? Half of your assignments require you to feed sims to a sentient plant. Have an easel and no formal art training? Prepare to be a millionaire via Plopsy. Maybe it’s just because the people who are content to play the game as it is aren’t on the forums and Twitter asking for different, but I’m amazed at how many people seem to actively dislike this version of the game while continuing to purchase new content for it.
