Gameplay style

Maybe it's just not the right game for you? 

For me, I cannot play just one household as there is not enough variety for me. I like to play a set rotation and vary each household as much as I can with ages, jobs, interests etc. I like to see the sims interacting with my other households and seeing sims I've created as NPCs out and about. I do like to have things to aim for too, so play with the L&D bucket lists, aspirations, career progressions etc. After all these years, I am just starting to play at completing a few collections too (crystals, metals etc).

I find it also helps me to be more invested in keeping a household if I make a record of their story with screenshots and notes, which I can refer to the next time I rotate to that household.

Also, sometimes I impose my own rules, such as only allowing sims to have certain jobs if they have been to university - eg. medical career, scientist. Jobs where you would need a degree in real life. And I made a map so that sims can't just jet around the globe anywhere that doesn't make sense, but only visit nearby locations unless they go for a vacation.

elliebreton​ I love your map! I’m always so impressed by players who are creative enough to work out something like this!

This actually sounds like something I could do! I have ADHD and get all excited when I have completed a build and family but lose interest quickly. If I had a different save for different world families (mermaid, rich and famous, eco living, etc then I could also follow the goals, wants and aspirations and when I get bored switch save! I end up playing a family then making a new one and then when I go back family members are dead or they have bought a horse or I have an adult in a toddler bedroom 🤣 I have just changed my lifespan to long. Definitely going to give this a try. Thank you x 

That's a great idea, I do have that pack so will definitely try that career for one of my sims! I do love to build and decorate ❤️

Glad I could help! 😇

I’m glad it was helpful! I hope it works out for you.

I have played rotationally since the beginning of TS4 and it has kept me entertained well - until recent years I've been playing less and find it hard to get back to my game. My current plan is to scale down my rotation a little bit because I feel it has become too huge especially when I don't spend as much time with it (we're talking here about 40+ households). I would like to have some main sims who I create some drama around.

I recently watched this video which gave me some good ideas. It's especially about creating drama and connections between sims and building your save like a soap opera! It's pretty much how I've always played, but I think I got a bit lost on the way.

You’re never going to stop playing The Sims after this

I enjoy playing rotation style too, although a bit different. I enjoy seeing how a neighborhood might change over time. 

In my current save, I've played San Myshuno. I've moved some people in from other neighborhoods, played out a romantic story for others, developed them in their careers, brought Darling's mother in to shake things up, etc. Essentially, it's now the city as it might be a year or two into the future.

I'm currently working on Willow Creek. So far I've played mostly with the Goths and Pancakes as far as developing their families, although I try to weave the rest of the world into the story as I can. I'm now on the Spencer-Kim-Lewis family. I also update lots and houses in the neighborhood as I go.

The Goths and the Pancakes are actually brought over from my old save which got corrupted. I copied and pasted the new versions of the Goths onto their old forms, except for Alexander. The idea being that he has manipulated his family into a new timeline to prevent Bella's abduction, but he remains the same. He also has a new little brother, Sebastian.

The Pancakes have Iggy and an alien daughter of Bob's, Chloe. Mostly they've achieved happiness by encouraging Eliza to get a job, take up painting as a hobby, and basically work on her dreams herself. Bob is primarily responsible for the children and makes money with his baking. This means the house is messier and noiser than Eliza prefers, but she has her own spaces to retreat to, and she loves her children. Yes, she does consider Chloe hers.

I do need to take breaks from the game. I've been away from it for several months, but now I'm ready to play again. This way I get to start with my old save, but focus on a new family in the neighborhood. I've started by expanding the Spencer-Kim-Lewis family. Vivian has two daughters, one who lives elsewhere in the neighborhood on her own and one lives with her. Dennis also has a teenage daughter who lives in the household and shares a room with Vivian's daughter. I didn't plan on it, but last time I played Eric got abducted by aliens and is expecting. I paused the pregnancy since I also have him finishing college courses at home. But I think soon, he and Bob are going to have to get together.

elliebreton wrote:

And I made a map so that sims can't just jet around the globe anywhere that doesn't make sense, but only visit nearby locations unless they go for a vacation.

Love your map. I don't have a map but I also usually only allow my sims to make daily visits to nearby locations.

Had that problem, too - not so much with building but with getting bored with a household. That changed about two years ago when I decided to build a household based on some fan fiction I was writing, so they already had some sort of background story. I'm still playing that household but have added a few more because after a while, I felt I needed to shake things up a bit.

At this point, I have 16 households in as many worlds. Some of them are offspring from my original household, the others are households I added over time. The reason why they are spread across worlds is I want to make the most of a world's gameplay. So for the household in Evergreen Harbour, the goal is to help them change the part of town where they live. The guy living in Ravenwood is an undertaker, his divorced wife recently moved to Forgotten Hollow and will be turned into a vampire sooner or later (she's having an affair with Celeb Vatore).

What also helps keep things interesting: have every Sim work a different career. I only have two Sims in the same career because it fit both characters. All the others are in different careers, and those who went to college have to take a job that aligns with their degree because otherwise, why bother with getting a degree at all, right?

I also try to leave my comfort zone every once in a while by accepting weird things the game throws at me and that I didn't plan. Yesterday, I returned to a household I last played I think two weeks ago. The second I got there, I received a pop-up telling me "It's the kid's birthday soon!" I was like: "Huh? Kid? What kid? He's single... drat! Is that an alien baby in the UI?" Then I remembered that when I last played that household, the guy got abducted by aliens, and when he returned home, I switched to the next household in line (I always switch on Sundays at 2 a.m.). I didn't even think about whether or not he might have gotten impregnated even though I knew it was possible.

So my first reaction was "Great. Now that's ruined". Then I considered sending the baby back to Sixam. Eventually, I figured I'll just roll with it and see what happens. I would have never made an alien myself, so here's my chance to use the gameplay that comes with aliens :)