Gameplay style

I'm an extremely hands-on visual artistic person in the real when it comes to learning a new skill.

I play games the same way.

I look at myself and commercial art or entrainment along with life's cliche's as  inspirational gameplay in my game.

Life imitates art...or the other way around, either way this is where I find inspiration to continue to play the sims. 

I'm a goal oriented family player and my goal is to complete all the careers, aspirations, skills, etc. I do it with one family that I've been playing for six years. 

What keeps me engaged is the challenge and playing this family long enough that they really feel like family.

My Super Sims Family Challenge 2.0 | EA Forums - 4959503

I am a challenge player and a legacy player. It is great when both can be combined since my favorite challenge is the decades challenge where I can play a legacy family. I do have a save that has 30+ (I lost count) generations.

I too played the Sims for years before settling into a play style that really suited me. I’m a simple family player — challenges and trying to meet goals doesn’t really interest me — but like you, I used to get bored of playing with a family after a while. Then I discovered rotational play, and I’ve been doing that consistently for about 4-5 years now.

There are different ways of doing rotations. My version tries to explore all the packs (I’ve got all EP, GP and SP so far) so there’s lots of variety. I’ve got one save game per world (so I’ve got quite a lot of saves now!), and in that save game I play one household that focuses on the particular elements of that world/the pack it came with. So in my Evergreen Harbor save I play a household that focuses on eco lifestyle stuff, in Del Sol Valley I play a rich and famous sim household, etc. I only play each household for 2 sim weeks before moving on to the next save game/household. Ageing is set to Long, so I have plenty of time to do what I want — but I tend to age sims up when I feel ready to move on, rather than waiting for them to age up automatically. I find that I’m getting really attached to the households I play, so that when I return to a particular save and household after time away from them, I’m excited to play them again! This way stops me getting bored with a family, helps me to explore packs as fully as possible, and also means I don’t forget or neglect any of the worlds.

I hope you can find something that works for you!

I play rotationally. I started with playing randomly any sims I was interested in, then I focused on about five main families and now I have merged those families into one big legacy family.

I have premade sims and other sims (that I don't play as actively as my legacy family) as background sims. It means they have some kind of stories and I may play them if I feel like it, but they are often just in the background and friends or lovers of my legacy sims.

My legacy family is in many different households, because I enjoy playing one, two or three sims at a time. Four is already a bit too much for me, because then I can't properly focus on all the sims and what they are doing.

Lately I have played focusing on aspirations and doing collections. I guess what keeps me engaged is the different situations my sims are in and the different things they do. Sometimes it is hard to choose who to play next, but I have noticed that at times it is important to just stick playing a family and then I start getting ideas what they could do next. Sometimes giving a makeover to the sim I'm playing is nice and refreshing.

I play on long lifespan, because I don't want my sims to age too fast, but I also want them to age at some point. I have noticed that long lifespan works the best for me. My sims have a lot of time to do what they want and if I want them to age up faster I can do that too.

I don't know if this was useful, but I hope you'll find a play style that suits you 💛

I feel like I have a few different places styles.

One is to play the pack. I like to explore a new pack with a new save which I eventually abandoned. 

Another is to play a family for a few generations usually max of three before the story has run its course. But I always come into it with an initial storyline. I really like to start off with single Sims. And I know people complain about the Sims is being a single person simulation game, but those are my favorite aspects of the game.

And the last that I really enjoy is challenges. I like goals, which is usually why I run out of steam in saves. So having a storyline for each generation and goals that they have to complete is a lot of fun for me.

The best challenge that I’ve found that kind of has a combination of all this without being a generation challenge is the globetrotter challenge. I highly recommend it. Especially if you’re trying to get out of a rut, play different packs and explore different worlds. 

I like playing generations, too. I'm currently on my 5th generation with a Sim I played during the New In Town Challenge. When she finished the challenge I kept going with her. It did go off the rails, though. 🙃 There are so many relatives that I have two families who fell deeply in love with and are married to their cousins. 🤪 And apparently one of the moms was stepping out while I was playing other households because there are 2 kids that came out of nowhere. 😮 They're townies so they never aged up because of my settings. None of the other family members know about them and I didn't see them until she passed away from natural causes.😂 Don't judge, it is what it is in The Sims. 😅 Playing the game packs is fun, too. I CAS with aspirations and traits that help them gain skills faster for whichever pack I'm playing.  Then I give them a messed up trait that sabbotages their goals for a little spice and let the shenannigans begin.😁 I like starting out with single, YA Sims, though I had teenage twins living alone and that was fun. WifeyClarky​ Since you like working in build mode you should try the Interior Designer career if you haven't already. I think it's part of the Get To Work expansion pack. I liked it because each job took me to a different world map location to redesign another property. If it's a community location like a bar, lounge or club you get to hang out in your new design space! The stronger your reputation the more jobs you get and the more $$ you make. It's giving home-rehab/home design series vibes for me. 🤩 The before and after photos are a cute touch. And if you get clients to cry during the reveal you'll have clients for life! 

Hope you find your niche! Happy Simming!❤️

I like playing generations and through that I may utilize certain family members for new challenges (if I don't devote a whole new save file to a certain challenge--some challenges can be lengthy and need their own file). 

I also like to try all the features of a new pack when it comes out, so I'll designate a certain Sim in the family for each new aspiration, kids aging up will get to try out any new traits, then I'll spread the new jobs around, etc.  so I have everything covered. 

Right now I'm still playing a file I started when Lovestruck came out with a single Sim who married Manuel from the pack. Their family is on Gen 4, and with the descendents I've have played through Life & Death and the Small Business pack features. This save is pretty well populated now, though, and big files can get glitchy, so I think for the Nature pack I may start a new save so I can just jump in with both feet to explore everything faeries and nature in its own file. 😄 It will turn into another legacy, I'm sure, 'cause that's mainly how I play. I always say they'll have one kid, and then next thing I know, there's 7. LOL!!! 🤣

Carl's Guide offered a bunch of generational challenges for TS4 called Dynasty Challenges. I tried to post a link, but it won't let me do that.

There used to be a thread collecting all the various legacy challenges over in the Creative Corner section, but it doesn't appear to have been stickied.

I was more of a builder in Sims 3 (until Sims 4 gives us at the very least a colour wheel/Create-a-Style, I plan to only lightly build). But when I do gameplay my play style is usually a loose storyline with skill/career/collecting goals to match the theme.

For example I am playing Spellcasters who are going to be loaded up with all canon friendly skills as well as 1-2 schools to match them. I don't like the idea of every sim maxing out on every skill/school of magic/etc. I like the idea of specializations for each so they each have a sense of being unique.

I recent got a lock skill mod to prevent selected sims from learning certain skill or locking to a certain level, I find this helpful to keep a Sim canon to character. Beyond that keeping in with goal oriented tasks/aspirations/collections/careers. 

I found Sims 4 on it's own, Sims learned skills I didn't want them to learn all the time, and would not abide by their likes dislikes or traits too much. So having each them more tuned to a type and specifics for focus, made the gameplay feel like it (and each sim) has/had a path. Instead of every playthrough and every Sim is more or less the same and everything learned, and no real differences between them.