Forum Discussion

5 years ago

How Do Reality Players Justify What Fantasy They Accept In TS4?

This is not click bait nor to question other players, however, if some don't want occults in game, and or 'magic' can we have an honest conversation about short cuts, and the fantasy they actually do think is acceptable and makes sense? These things about TS4 have been bothering me for a long time. Developers also seem to cater to reality players but do they really? I don't think they do, all that much while players over look all the short cuts and claim the TS4 is reality and they want reality then why are we happy with all the things below?

1. If no one wants fantasy then why accept the Sim doesn't have to walk to a pc to order meds? Isn't that some sort of magically deligious meds that just appear in inventory?

2. Why is it accepted starving Sims can just 'magically' get food from some invisible pocket and eat it and not starve? Isn't that magic?

3. Why do Sims walk everywhere? Is that reality? really? they walked to the desert? Wouldn't that be a road trip? From the alps of WB to the desert seems to me they would at least need an appearance of some sort of transportation. Magic teleporting through a loading screen. Fantasy.

4. Sims don't have to walk to a dresser but just click on it and change clothes, or click on Sim. No opening drawers to see clothes inside anymore, isn't that fantasy to just click on a Sim and magically change the outfit? Time saver fantasy.

5. Reality check. Sims get some weird disease but even if you don't get the meds they will be fine in a few hours or less. Isn't that a fantasy they didn't even have to get meds or go to hospital?

6. Sims die and nowhere to bury them. Isn't that fantasy no one held a funeral nor were they placed in any graveyard? What happened to the body? It just poofed away.

7. Grim Reaper, even if he did exist in RL would he hang out and party with Sims? Millions die daily, wouldn't he be too busy? Fantasy accepted it seems.

8. The need and demand for reality..ok...then wouldn't there be death? Wouldn't there be hardships? Wouldn't there be divorces? Wouldn't there be child custody battles? Wouldn't there be burglars? Cars? Home telephones? Newspapers (in some towns), Grocery stores? Accepted fantasy of no need to go buy groceries, no need to worry about death, no need to worry about transportation, no need to worry about not being able to afford a $1000 iPhone, no need to ever worry about divorce, or cheaters and or lies and or a life ruined.

9. No repo of stuff if the bills aren't paid? No bankruptcy. But sure, TS4 is reality, Not.

10. Fire in a house and Sim magically pulls out fire extinisher from magic pockets. Oh, but don't give us magic, lol. No firemen or fire fighter whichever you prefer. A whole town without a City Hall, city government or city employees. Reality check.

11. Strays everywhere, but no animal patrol or animal control agency. Why do we accept this as reality. Reality players surely are distrubed by all this fantasy, right? But don't build more magic and or occults that would be catering to fantasy players.

12. I don't use the gender patch much. However, male frame can get pregnant? IF I'm wrong and it's the transfemale who gets pregnant ok, but if it's two male frames, isn't that some magic?

13. The argument of omg, don't abduct my males and get pregnant, alien babies, but all the above is accpeted as reality.

14. Social worker, fantasy to see a light and not a real Sim pull up and take away child. Wow, isn't that magic? Can't adopt the child into a different family but never complain about the lack of reality that the child just poofed away gone from game forever.

15. Isn't it fantasy to accept people would have only three trait slots? That they never inherited traits nor they never learned behaviors that became traits.

16. Is it reality to think no one ever fights and or slaps another and they just go take an angry poop?

17. Is it reality to think sane Sims would talk to a toilet to gain a buddy?

18. Is it reality to think all Sims in all worlds would get up and auto make the beds? really? they would never have a messy house, TS4 is the cleanest game yet.

19. Reality check, Sims would get rich (all of them) from selling veggies and or paintings. Each and every one of them. I'd like to have some of that magic.

20. Reality check, A Sim deleted is just erased from game, never existed. How do players square that Sim was the father or mother of a child? No one cares.

There are like ten zillion other short cut examples that only seem to bother me, is it reality every Sim in every world would own a cellphone? So, when people request Maxis not to create anymore lifestate packs and or 'magic' etc. I have to laugh and wonder where reality players willl draw the line.

LiELF
Seasoned Ace
5 years ago
Most of your list has nothing to do with reality vs Occult gameplay and I think you know that. The bulk of what you're actually complaining about is the general execution of tasks, details, animations, autonomy and design choices.
Cinebar
5 years ago
"LiELF;c-17360338" wrote:
Most of your list has nothing to do with reality vs Occult gameplay and I think you know that. The bulk of what you're actually complaining about is the general execution of tasks, details, animations, autonomy and design choices.

Life simulator. None of what I listed is a reflection of real life is it? But perfectly acceptable as not 'magic'. lol
DocTxt
5 years ago
It's a game ?

It does not have to be as realistic as possible. Also, people prefer diffetent things, it's so nice that Sims caters to a lot of people with a lot of different play styles and wishes.

If I don't want magic, it's possible(with limitations) and if I want everyone to be occult, it's posdible too. Why the hate?

I, for example, do not play with Vampires, still in ny Simsworld they exist and drain my Sims.
One of my sims solved the Strangerville mystery and I liked it.
In my Sulani are at least 10 mermaids I created.
I have a witch, but really do not like the fact of random sims getting spellcaster skills and I don't like my mail delivery girl to deliver my letters by broom.
It happens, I have to deal with it. But I understand that people like all this and I respect it, so please respect my style of game too :)
Cinebar
5 years ago
"Chazzzy;c-17360348" wrote:
"Cinebar;c-17360344" wrote:
"Chazzzy;c-17360342" wrote:
Are you talking about occult players or players who prefer Sim’s getting picked up by carpool instead of disappearing off the edge of the lot? Because these are entirely separate things. The usage of the word “fantasy” is throwing me off.

Disappearing off lot is also not in line with what reality players should expect is it? One would expect a building (even if like TS3) and not an offworld place.

So you want the players who don’t mind Sims disappearing off the edge of the lot to now bundle themselves with the occult players because disappearing off the edge of the lot is not something that happens in real life?

Why so divisive?

I’m not sure why you wouldn’t just say in your OP that you’re tired of Sims teleporting and items appearing in their inventory immediately after ordering. I can agree with you to some extent on these points. But trying to connect these points to occult gameplay is where things get fuzzy. I don’t understand why you want to draw this connection.

I have read many complaints from others how they want reality in the game. But they perfectly accept everything I wrote as if it reflects reality when it doesn't. If they can accept those things I mentioned then I don't see where they ever got the idea The Sims is a reality game. They might request no more occult packs etc. however, are perfectly willing to accept TS4 as a reality game, when we know as a life simulator it is the most not simulated game ever. I have seen complaints about death, illness etc. in the same paragraphs as wanting reality. Well reality would include accidents, deaths, illness that led to death, and not some Utopia. It's a sort of strange for me to read those type of complaints knowing if they really want reality you have to take the bad with the good and not the happy, happy. Happy all the time isn't reality but they also accept that not having to walk to do something (like to the pc) is perfectly normal and reality play. When it's not.
Cinebar
5 years ago
"Simsandra;c-17360346" wrote:
It's a game ?

It does not have to be as realistic as possible. Also, people prefer diffetent things, it's so nice that Sims caters to a lot of people with a lot of different play styles and wishes.

If I don't want magic, it's possible(with limitations) and if I want everyone to be occult, it's posdible too. Why the hate?

I, for example, do not play with Vampires, still in ny Simsworld they exist and drain my Sims.
One of my sims solved the Strangerville mystery and I liked it.
In my Sulani are at least 10 mermaids I created.
I have a witch, but really do not like the fact of random sims getting spellcaster skills and I don't like my mail delivery girl to deliver my letters by broom.
It happens, I have to deal with it. But I understand that people like all this and I respect it, so please respect my style of game too :)

I don't hate anyone or anything. Why the assumption. What I wrote speaks for itself. The game doesn't simulate reality but it is perfectly acceptable to accept as reality then request no vampire. That seems odd to me.
LiELF
Seasoned Ace
5 years ago
"Cinebar;c-17360343" wrote:
"LiELF;c-17360338" wrote:
Most of your list has nothing to do with reality vs Occult gameplay and I think you know that. The bulk of what you're actually complaining about is the general execution of tasks, details, animations, autonomy and design choices.

Life simulator. None of what I listed is a reflection of real life is it? But perfectly acceptable as not 'magic'. lol

The Sims franchise was never based on "real life" though? Even Sims 1 had Grim Reaper, magic, ghosts, Bone Hilda, etc. The argument of, "The Sims is supposed to be a life simulator so the gameplay should reflect every single detail of real life"... never stands. You should know that. The first game was inspired by dramatic soap operas, wasn't it? Yes, it's a life simulator, but whose life? Not ours. It's never been ours, we only have opted to play it that way. It's always been fictional with real life parallels so that the player could relate to it and use it as they wanted.

Also, there's a whole world of "real life" out there, so which segment is the game supposed to represent? In earlier games it was loosely American middle class, late 1900s, but the player base is international now and we're in the 2000s. It's never going to please all players with realism because everyone's "reality" is different. So all players can do is request the details that they want to see in the game. For example, buying groceries. It's not in the game at all. Players can take fruits and vegetables and create a produce shop with the retail system if they want. But what about online ordering? The evolution of technology, at least in the US, allows people to order groceries online in many areas and have them delivered. This is essentially how it was done in Sims 2 (but not with a computer, it was through the fridge - was that magic too?) but in Sims 4 there is no way to do that. Personally, I don't care, but some people might. The point is, there are a bazillion elements to "real life" that are not going to make it into a video game. There are many, many details and lifestyles to consider, especially as time moves forward and technology/medicine/science/humanity/culture/regions evolve. This is probably why each base game focuses initially on modern lifestyles and trends. With every decade comes change, and every generation wants representation. But I'm digressing.

What you are actually pointing out is the lack of fine details that you got used to in previous games. There's no need to disguise it as "realistic" or "Occult" for the purpose of.... Actually, I can't even tell what exactly you're trying to accomplish with this thread? You've made these exact same arguments for five years now, over and over in a hundred other threads and I'm sure anyone who has come into the feedback section is well aware of how you feel by now, lol. Like other posters have said, you're just being divisive here.

You say in your OP that this post isn't click bait, but it actually seems to be. I'll just let @EA_Rtas and @EA_Mai decide.
popstarissa
5 years ago
These goofy game design choices aren’t the same as wanting a Sim to be a werewolf or a fairy?
ChampandGirlie
New Spectator
5 years ago
Err, I only have a limited amount of time to respond right now. In short, I fully respect your opinion but wow, there is a lot to unpick in what you've said. This doesn't need to nor should it be realism vs. fantasy just because some players prefer to play without supernatural elements or with them very limited.

This game series is at its best when it can appeal to many different players. There has been experimentation with trying to find that balance which appealed to some and didn't appeal to others. My only problem with supernatural players is when they deride other playstyles or insist that every pack that isn't supernaturally-focused is bad or that we're done with non-supernatural content so we should only make content for them now.

As mentioned above, there are different ways to play the game and that's totally ok. This is not an entirely fantasy-based series, it's meant to be entertaining and to give players a sandbox or platform or ... game to have fun with. Different players find different things to be fun and not even all supernatural players probably want the same things. I am perfectly happy to co-exist with supernatural players and I hope that they get what they are looking for. For some of the points you make, I have those. For example, I built my own graveyard. I've had funerals or visits to the graveyard. I've built some other specialist religious lots for future funerals when appropriate.

I might be able to come back to this topic later but essentially if you are saying that players shouldn't have different reactions to what is immersion-breaking and what isn't then I don't know, I disagree.

Insisting that we should all want the same things and play the same way just doesn't make sense.
astridentanja
5 years ago
Realism comes in different ways. I can actually understand how people won’t like occults in their game (with all their powers and show effects), but at the same time won’t mind about other not so realistic details, as long as it allows them to play the life of a human. Some short cuts I honestly don’t mind myself (Sims 2 is a bit too detailed for me, it starts to feel like a grind after a while), but Sims 4 went overboard with it I think (I agree with you there). Others won’t mind however and they still can dislike the occults. Again, there is no link between one form of realism and the other.
thesimsisepic
5 years ago
It’s stylized realism. Even the magical and occult stuff is stylized and not as specific in fantasy genres like Harry Potter, etc. If they went all world of warcraft on the magical aspects of The Sims we’d be just as overwhelmed by the overcomplexity as we would if they added politics to the game including president sims, senators, judges, state reps, assistants, secretaries and all of it. A life simulator shouldn’t have to go into every single detail possible to be fun, if there was way too much real life boring stuff it would never even be released and we all might as well live our own lives if were gonna play a Real-Life Sims game?