6 years ago

I can't play without children.

So...I'm doing a rotational play for the first time. I usually ignore all the Premades, but this time I've decided to play them all. I don't have a set time with each family. I just play for 1-3 weeks until I'm ready to move on. I have aging on, but only for the household that I'm actually playing. I thought it would be fun to play all sorts of different Sims and to explore the Premades. They've already got set basic storylines and I've had fun trying out the different aspirations that have been picked for them. I usually ignore the aspirations but decided to try and fulfil them this time.
Anyways...I've gotten to the Pancakes. I decided to make the reasons that they are strained because they are so different in personality (slob vs perfectionist, hates working out, loves working out, etc) AND because Eliza can't have children. Bob doesn't really mind not having kids, but Eliza desperately wants to adopt a child. I was going to play this out with them bickering about having a kid for years, but I cracked and cheated. I got Bob abducted by aliens and they're going to raise the baby. I was playing them for less than a week. Eliza went out and did things all the time. But I still got bored. I don't know how people play without have more than one or two adult Sims. I was just bored out of my mind. Lol.
I know there are other Sims without children. I'll have to try again. Maybe their lives will be more interesting. Bob and Eliza are good characters, but they have pretty mundane lives that would benefit from children, I think.
I don't know. Lol. I don't even know what this post was supposed to be. Haha. I just want to talk about Bob and Eliza, I guess. How did you interpret their strained relationship?
Oh, also. I've made Eliza interested in woman because she and one of the Calientes started flirting. I think maybe she'll eventually leave Bob for a woman. I haven't decided who will keep the baby yet. But, it'll be a while before that happens. Bob caught her cheating. But he's a nice guy and agreed to try and work things out since he had recently found out he was expecting a child.
I guess I just can't play a game normally. Lol.

stories

11 Replies

LaBlue0314
Seasoned Ace
6 years ago
You are perfectly fine in the way you play. We all play this game differently, and it was created in a way to give players choices.
CrazyWriterGirl
6 years ago
"LaBlue0314;c-17057998" wrote:
You are perfectly fine in the way you play. We all play this game differently, and it was created in a way to give players choices.

Thank goodness for that. I love The Sims and it's really interesting seeing how everyone loves to play. I love how versatile the game is. There are so many options and their isn't an end goal so you really can do anything that you want to. They even encourage mods and cc for those you would like to use them. It's wonderful.
Lucy_Henley
Seasoned Ace
6 years ago
I've never been one of those players who spends hours creating their perfect Sim and perfect house. Like you, I'm a family oriented player. When I create a new family I already have an idea in my head of how I want things to go roughly, what jobs I want the couple to do (usually start with a couple), and creating the Sim/house just gets boring as I want to play!! Plus my interior design skills are terrible, my houses all end up looking pretty similar, so often I move a family into a pre-made house. I like the challenge of having a lot of kids, and don't find toddlers/children as difficult as some players do (the fact that toddlers can walk instantly, develop skills alone without adult help and can grab a plate of food for themselves makes things much easier in Sims 4).

But that's the beauty of the game. Everybody is different and it allows you to focus on what you want to do. If you want to spend hours designing and creating your ideal house, go for it. If you'd rather have a big family then do it.
NoWayJose527
6 years ago
I play a rotational style, and my play focuses mainly on young adults looking for love, getting married, and raising families. Once the children are grown and are establishing families of their own, yes, playing the parents can be a bit... well, boring. They are usually well-established in their careers and have no "storyline goals" of their own to pursue. Occasionally one family will be a little special, like my Edgar Evans family. He's a famous astronaut who is just about the reach the top of his career. His wife is a successful novelist, and they are still very much in love. I play them because I want to see them achieve the top positions in their fields, and also because Edgar is a fun goofball. He's constantly checking his social media to see how many followers he has. They've been a great couple, have raised two successful children, and I don't get bored with them.

Other "empty nest" parents may not be so much fun. Mostly they go to work, come home, eat, sit around and stare at each other, then go to bed. So, I sometimes mark them as "unplayed" and imagine that they've gone off to travel the world. I like having them around in the background, and I want to know when the grim reaper calls for them. (I age all my unplayed sims once each rotation.)

Sometimes it's fun to have elders who run businesses, but, sadly, as often as not, the older childless couples just aren't as interesting to play. :(
EnkiSchmidt
Hero
6 years ago
I need to play some child-free households, because soon as an adult couple has kids, the toddlers, children and teenagers become my focus and I neglect the adults to the point of just being money generating machines. I do not consider myself a family player, though.

As for Bob and Eliza, my backstory for them is pretty standard/boring: She is the success minded of the pair, but there was a job shortage when she finished college and she was forced into staying at home. Bob on the other hand, being a very gifted cook, snagged a job. Problem is he's lazy and not too fond of regular work hours or personal hygiene. So both hated their lifes. Soon as the Business Career track was added I employed Eliza, had Bob quit, gave him a nice veggie garden and everyone was happy. The Pancakes are a nice family to play, probably closest to the "suburban dream" and a welcome breather between my criminals, artists and scheming politicians.
AriaMad2
6 years ago
I’m exactly the same, honestly. Children are my favourite life stages to play with because there’s so much to do, more time for friends, they can play and everything prepares them for life.
Destin2016
6 years ago
I’ve tried playing singles or roommates, etc, but it is just too boring to me. I am a family player.
annaliese39
Seasoned Ace
6 years ago
What's normal? Sounds boring! We all play differently. That's the beauty of The Sims - it allows you to play how you want to play and create your own stories. There is no right or wrong. I tend to play one household per save with ageing off. I've been playing my main household since I started playing TS4. I have a favourite sim that I focus more on, but I am also a family player and so I almost always plan for my sims to have children. I've just always enjoyed relationship focused dramas and stories.

I don't play premades and instead use them as background characters my sims can interact with. The only thing I have done with Eliza and Bob is add their toddler, Iggy, from the gallery and made him a cute bedroom. I also feel that Bob and Eliza's difficulties stem from them being such different characters. I see them as quite a comic unlikely couple. However, being the hopeless romantic I am, I also feel that they do really love each other deep down, and so I wouldn't want to separate them. When push comes to shove, they're always there for each other.
justme22
6 years ago
I go between creating a couple from scratch and have them start out with family right away to going with a single Sim and having them find Mr./Ms. Right (or at least Mr./Ms. Right Now :D ). In my current save my Sim is romancing Gunther Munch. I'm also working on rebuilding my template save because my last one got corrupted (it was still playable except none of the festivals were showing up) so once that's done I might go back to direct family play.

BTW, Maxis created a new version of the Pancakes with a toddler son, Iggy -- it's available on the Gallery. You won't have any of the neighbor relationships so you can build them as much as you want. I typically give makeovers to the Pancakes and other premades just to update the looks since they're mostly in base game clothes and hair.
Simmerville
Legend
6 years ago
Sounds to me that you are enjoying playing them :) Lots of story twists coming up!

I normally stay only a very short time in a house if it's not being enjoyable or I have something to do there. I like to have some ambitions and goals, but it's not always easy to stay inspired. Funny thing is that if I skip a household on this round, I might love playing them on my next round :) I never had a male abduction with pregnancy, sounds like a good solution to them not having kids.