Forum Discussion

MissyHissy's avatar
6 years ago

Skills As Hobbies

https://i.imgur.com/fRlgXMU.jpg

This is something I've been doing for quite a while and with the imminent release of the University pack, I thought it might be an interesting time to ponder this one in more depth.
We haven't had an *official* hobby pack since Sims 2, where Freetime brought in a variety of activities and 10 different hobbies. However, I've been using the expanded skills in Sims 4 to create the hobbies for my sims and most of them fit very nicely into one of the original ten categories from Sims 2.

Arts & Crafts
• Painting
• Photography
Cuisine
• Baking
• Cooking
• Gourmet Cooking
• Mixology
Film & Literature
• Acting
• Writing
Fitness
• Fitness
• Wellness
Games
• Video Gaming
Music & Dance
• Dance
• DJ
• Guitar
• Media Production
• Piano
• Singing
• Violin
Nature
• Archaeology
• Flower Arranging
• Gardening
• Herbalism
Science
• Logic
• Robotics
• Rocket Science
Sports ~ No specific skills but activities instead
• Basketball
• Football (Soccer)
Tinkering
• Handiness
• Programming (?)

I've missed off a few, I know but these are the ones I'm currently using in my game (in the case of some, will be when the new pack release) plus some, like the Selvadoradian Culture, didn't quite fit into those categories. So with each new pack that adds new skills, I'm adding to the list of hobbies.

I also use the club system from Get Together to create hobby groups and that's where things like the bowling can come in.

So I was wondering if anybody else uses the skills and clubs, or any other method, to provide their sims with hobbies? https://www.cheesebuerger.de/images/midi/haushalt/a054.gif
  • "sirguylittle;c-17307929" wrote:
    "Simmerville;c-17307908" wrote:

    I do have hobbies for some of my sims, but I use it more like defining interests than to actually build skills. In my online residents registry I programmed the script to consider each sim's skills and traits etc, and then to suggest a hobby for them based on all that. Of course a sim can choose whatever hobby they like, one point of a hobby might even be to do something new and different.


    Wow, that's quite a lot of detail you've built up!


    Thanks! I always made lots of notes for my sims games, so I figured I could just a well organize it in a script. Most info is simplified, like I only count reaching level 5 of a career as a promotion, and skills are updated only when someone in the household has a birthday, etc. Wish the game would have these kind of registries, though. It gets tedious to visit each and every household to check on details.
  • I think this would be a great idea. I've only played Sims 2 a little bit and I don't think I ever had that pack. My own few hobbies are already listed as skills in the game so, as of right now, I use the skills as hobbies. If they had a hobbies pack, I would definately buy it, it would be something completely new to me.
  • If they did do a hobbies pack, it would be lovely to go with @alan650111's idea of having some new fleshed out skills. I think some sports ones would be handy - I can only think of football and basketball right now and they're not even skills.
    Things like the knitting, sewing etc would be wonderful, especially for any stay-at-home mums or dads (or grandparents, come to think of it).

    icemunmun has made a few other objects, with skills, that could also be included as hobbies, if you're not averse to CC:
    Canning ~ comes with 10 level skill in canning.
    Candle Making ~ comes with a ten level skill in candle making.
    Nectar Making ~ once again, a 10 level skill in nectar making. <3
  • @babajayne oh that would be awesome! Sims wearing weirdly shaped hats all of a sudden (well, more so than the random townies already do haha)

    In all honesty though, I'd love if we at least got it as an activity that doesn't produce any 'craftables'. It wouldn't really make sense that way though but I imagine having the rewards be CAS items might get complicated. Let alone things like wearables that can be chosen during live mode.

    If you think about it though: we can already unlock CAS items via careers or skills. And we do have umbrellas that Sims choose in live mode. So... please, devs? ;)
  • Yeah, I’m down for any and all new activities. I don’t love that some of them are hidden skills, though, it makes them feel less real.
  • "AnnLee87;c-17588854" wrote:
    My Sims use learning as a hobby. I just feel like if my Sims aren't learning something there is no point in doing it unless it's related to needs. Even filling the fun bar is educational. Skills are hobbies. The more they know the more they can do. They can even open up more if the hobby is related to a job or an aspiration. It's progressive! With some skills they can make money and that amount goes up with skill. Even with singing your Sim can win a karaoke contest outside of the job as an entertainer. There are programming and gaming competitions at Geekcon and the list goes on. My point is that skills are hobbies. No matter what is added to the game it's still a grind to do it no matter what object they are using or by just reading a book. Adding more hobbies/skills to the game would just be a change in scenery and how I build to incorporate the objects into my build. I welcome any to the game but it still feels like a grind. Sometimes I just want to play the game and tell a story. Oh, my Sim that is not creative was visiting a friend. My Sim just walked over and started playing the violin. He must like that. So my Sim just picked his own hobby and now it's part of my story. It no longer feels like a grind. More hobbies that can be picked up autonomously would be great. So I take my Sim home and buy him a violin so he can play it in his free time but I'm not pushing him into doing it because the grind will set in again.


    I agree with this, I love it when my Sims *pick* their own hobby. So a certain level of autonomy is definitely welcome!