Do you play Servants?

Wow, that's extensive and detailed. Very cool!

I play a little more loosely with "house staff".  My First Family had a live-in (playable) servant for a long time who basically helped raise the children and keep the house in order so the parents could still live their wild lives. When Horse Ranch came out though, the family moved to Chestnut Ridge in a large ranch house, leaving the servant alone in the vast mansion with the cat. (I needed more space to accommodate adding horses to the household.) I always meant for the family to return to that life one day, but it's been a long time and they're still at the ranch but now their eldest daughter lives next door with her roommates and husband and a couple of horses and goats. But the daughter just had a son of her own and the house is getting crowded so I'm thinking maybe if the parents don't return, one of their five children will go back and reclaim the Windenburg estate for the next generation. 

I have some households with unplayed butlers too. My Dracula and his Brides and Drac's daughters have a butler who they use as a plasma bag sometimes, lol. But he keeps on doing his job. 😄

I actually really like the idea of playing a Downton Abbey style household with aristocracy and servants. I may set that up one day although only 8 Sims in a household makes it a little less fun. But I could do maybe a family of five with three servants, or four and four. I think it's fun to play the servant side, especially when coming up with some risks for drama. 😁

That's interesting to read. And a child returning to claim the estate is a perfect way to build the family story. Btw, servants can indeed be used as placeholders. My ryals occupy 8 big esates, but they mostly resides in the palace. Some of the others were let to renters (finer families, mind you) and the rest has sme royal (or military) employee residing as Caretaker, in a separate section were they can even build a family. There are currently 4 royal children aged about 18-23, so it will be interesting deciding what estates they will move into, and maybe some servants will jopin them from the palace, too.

Because of my recent revamp, my higher aristocrat Houses will now be more eager to send their fresh YAs to serve for a few years, especially those not going to University. It might be a short term job, but will prepare them for running their own household in the future.

PS: Do you own the Vintage Glamor pack feat butlers? For your household needing the 8 sims capacity for horses, you can  hire a butler without taking up any household member spot. I prefer playing butlers as househld members though, but they become easier to control, but the butler service is cool, too.

Yes, I do have Vintage Glamour, I love using the Butler! (That's what my vampires use to get some emergency plasma.) But having a mix of servants of played and unplayed is doable as well. The Butler would be the lead servant and I'd have a played Sim be the second - maybe a Governess. I'd watch how the Butler behaves and play my sims to sort of follow his/her lead. So if the Butler is lazy, the staff would be looking for ways to sneak in downtime and maybe neglect a few duties, lol. 

>>So if the Butler is lazy, the staff would be looking for ways to sneak in downtime and maybe neglect a few duties, lol. 

Haha, loved this approach! Opens up for some interesting gameplay, maybe even attempting to fool the masters of the house.

When I play live-in butlers, there is one thing I miss in my game, the bell that the house master would use to get the butler's attention. I wish that object could be placed on a surface to bew used regardless of having a service-butler or not. I'd use it to call for other servants, too, like the maid. Most of my bigger estates have those old servant bells in the kitchen.

I guess most estates of today would use modernized electronical systems, though. I don't play historically, but well, some of these houses are a bit old fashioned :)

Yeah, I love to play in more historic eras, so I'd really love to see more items that cater to that. I've always wanted Sims 4 to be more flexible in gameplay to different timelines and styles rather than primarily focused on the modern and trendy. Of course, I am grateful for the cool things we've gotten that I can use, but I'd still really prefer a way to turn off all the tech and still feasible be able to play. Like have more snail mail order instead of online, and ability to just turn off the phones completely. How cool would it be to have Sims get letters from other Sims instead of texts and have newspapers and doorbells again!

The only time I have played a Servant, was when I got totally frustrated with the Nanny. That's when I decided to create my own live-in Nanny. Worked better when I could control her care of the wee ones. No more tippling on a more than daily basis.  I know the kids can be tough on a Nanny, but that doesn't mean you run to the bar every few minutes of the game-day and drink until you're oblivious. Seriously. I mean seriously.