Children in previous iterations could easily max out skills like (the old form of) Creativity, for example, which covered a multitude of things and I found that extremely unrealistic. I like how the skill building works now: Creativity is maxed and then they are able to refine specific creative skills, but that only includes violin, piano, photography and singing if you have the City Living pack. Why not painting? Why not the guitar? That freezer bunny guitar looks childish to me. So I like the changes that TS4 has brought to children, but see many missed opportunities. I recently added up all the adult skills that children are able to build, and there’s only 10 (maybe there are more in packs I don’t have):
Bowling
Charisma
Fishing
Logic
Mischief
Photography
Piano
Singing
Video Gaming
Violin
They can play basketball, but for some reason that’s a hidden skill where bowling is not. They can skate, but that’s also a hidden skill. Why? That seems lazy to me.
Lately I have assigned hobbies to my kids and teens, I feel like it gives them more personality, so I put a shelf in their room with an object that represents their hobby so I don’t forget (I rotate families and they all kind of run together in my memory). This has helped!
I also like forming clubs and find that they meet other kids this way, it’s been great. But a lot of their activities don’t build relationships. They play that llama game and they’re silent and their relationships are not getting anywhere. They have lots of socials available but they’re short ones and it’s high maintenance to keep their convos going. If a kid comes over after school and my kid invites them to watch a movie, the kid starts to watch but then goes to empty the fridge of spoiled food, rejoins my sim after doing this inexplicable chore. Huh???
I just see a lot of missed opportunities and out-of-character actions.
If their whims were better (and all of them WORKED) I might find them more interesting.
