So Sims 4 is a young adult simulator ?

"NorthDakotaGamer;c-17445070" wrote:
@Beardedgeek

This is why I see the game to be a tech addict simulator. When the use of a computer or any electronic device is basically required in a majority of the career options.

I know! it's almost like real life! How odd! (sarcasm, yes).

"Beardedgeek;c-17445077" wrote:

"NorthDakotaGamer;c-17445070" wrote:
@Beardedgeek

This is why I see the game to be a tech addict simulator. When the use of a computer or any electronic device is basically required in a majority of the career options.

I know! it's almost like real life! How odd! (sarcasm, yes).

That's mostly a complaint from people who like to play their game in past time eras, which I admit, can be tricky to nearly impossible in this game unless one just looks past some immersion-breaking things. This game is simply not suitable for those types of gameplay imo. TS3 is a much better alternative in this case.

"Huiiie_07;c-17445155" wrote:

"Beardedgeek;c-17445077" wrote:

"NorthDakotaGamer;c-17445070" wrote:
@Beardedgeek

This is why I see the game to be a tech addict simulator. When the use of a computer or any electronic device is basically required in a majority of the career options.

I know! it's almost like real life! How odd! (sarcasm, yes).

That's mostly a complaint from people who like to play their game in past time eras, which I admit, can be tricky to nearly impossible in this game unless one just looks past some immersion-breaking things. This game is simply not suitable for those types of gameplay imo. TS3 is a much better alternative in this case.

Sims 3 did had cell phones, but they weren't stuck on the phones.Also they are a lot of jobs that don't require a computer in real life.My mom pays her bills at the store, or by mail.I do wish we have more options.As for my mom she dosen't have a smartphone.She is 59 , and lot of elders don't have those things.

"NorthDakotaGamer;c-17445185" wrote:

"Beardedgeek;c-17445077" wrote:

"NorthDakotaGamer;c-17445070" wrote:
@Beardedgeek

This is why I see the game to be a tech addict simulator. When the use of a computer or any electronic device is basically required in a majority of the career options.

I know! it's almost like real life! How odd! (sarcasm, yes).

In real life a majority of jobs DO NOT require a computer. I know the employment opportunity which I currently am schooling for does not. Even jobs that should not require one have daily tasks which make it seem they require it.

Many modern jobs does not require a PC at work. True.
However, a modern cash register IS a computer. A modern car is controlled by a computer. And so on.
Yes, if you are a concrete pourer and make your living that way (it requires a lot of skill to be good at it) then no, you do not require to use a computer at all, probably.
But that job does not exist in the Sims. The fact that you have to use your computer for "homework" is, however realistic.
Also, again, if you want to roleplay bygone eras in the Sims it wasn't made for that. It is not a valid complaint. At all. It's like complaining you can't be a stock broker in a 20th century family in Skyrim, or why you can't roleplay as a medieval peasant in Mass Effect.

Anyway, welcome to reality. I don't know what country you live in (for sure, but the username is a clue :) ), but all countries I live in or near are virtually 100% digital.

• You pay your bills online, or have them auto-paid for you (by signing up on the Bank's homepage and telling them to, of course).
  
• You do your taxes online.
  
• You do most of your shopping (for non food items) online.
  
• Virtually all visual media is digital and accessed online.
  
• You manage (if you are unfortunate) your unemployment online.
  
• You apply for jobs online.
  
• You book trips and movie tickets online.
  
• You might even book tables for restaurants online.
  

• You use your phone for talking your friends.
  
• You use your phone for TEXTING your friends.
  
• You (can) use your phone to pay for things (actual physical credit cards are on the way out).
  
• You use your phone to ask for directions.
  
• You use your phone to follow the news.
  
• You use your phone to listen to music.
  
• You use your phone to take pictures.
  

And so on. This is just scraping the surface. If anything, the fact that you CAN use the mailbox for so many things in Sims 4 is becoming VERY unrealistic.

"Sk8rblaze;c-17445252" wrote:
...I’m more concerned with what is fun in a life simulator, rather than what is true to life verbatim. Giving every Sim a smartphone that they’re glued to is not fun. Sure, it may be true to life, but does it make for a challenging, fun, interactive game?

Exactly. Sure, a lot of things in the modern world are done more and more online, even through the little computer in your pocket that companies still insist on calling a "phone" (even through people barely even talk to each other through the things anymore unless their facetiming...). However, there are still a lot of people who still do things the old-fashioned way when it's an option (or, because it's their only option, in the case of the millions of low-income Americans who don't have a bank account because they don't have the ability to afford the fees for a checking account or to keep the minimum balance in reserve in the account to get free checking and don't have access to a credit union in their area). My parents still pay their bills by money order through the mail because they don't trust online bill paying. There are still people who get a physical newspaper delivered to their door, and even my 31-year-old sister still sends her tax return through the mail instead of doing it online for security reasons. I'm 33, and I still prefer to get my movies and anime on DVD when I can, because you never know when a streaming service will take something down and owning your own copy ensures that you really can watch what you want when you want to at your own pace and revisit it anytime. I also prefer physical books to ebooks, because I enjoy the weight of the book and the texture and smell of the paper as I read (plus, you don't have to worry about battery life...).

Really, the phone should be something that we can at least turn off. I mean, the constant calls and texts from friends and acquaintances are so annoying! Why is everyone so irritatingly social in this game? Was TS4 designed by a bunch of extreme extroverts or what?! So much unnecessary chit-chat through the freaking phone!!! I wanna bash it with a hammer!! (And, yes, I always silence it...but it doesn't stop the constant calls from happening!! It just stops the sound of the thing ringing and stops it from forcing you out of fast forward mode when you get a call. I want to turn the stupid piece of garbage OFF!!! I mean, I even hate phones in real life because of how rude people are with how they time trivial calls about nothing and the stupid robocalls from every company and scammer on the planet...and wrong number calls , and the way the phone constantly bugs you in this game is like...AAAAARGHHH!!!)

As for the neglect for the Child stage, it's definitely one of TS4's bigger weaknesses. On the one hand, I appreciate that now Child sims can make microwave meals and I can play a household with a single working parent and a latchkey kid without the stupid social worker showing up just because the kid doesn't have "proper adult supervision" for a few hours (that was always really unrealistic to me, considering that Child sims in all the games look about 10, and a 10-year-old is more than capable of being left home alone for a few hours without burning the house down or drinking bleach or whatever people think an unattended child will do to kill their fool self without an adult to stare over their shoulder every minute of the day). On the other hand, I miss Children being able to play Tag and Cops and Robbers, I hate that when they "pretend" together that they just sit still and talk instead of doing something, and the poor water ballon and snowball fights in "Seasons" really hurt the gameplay experience with Child sims even more because of how lifeless and laggy they are. TS4 is a mixed bag for Child sims, since on the one hand they are finally realistically independent for how old they look, but on the other they also took a lot of basic interactions and gameplay from them (they can't even use the easel anymore and have to settle for that craft table instead).

The Sims in general has never done kids under 15 very well. There are always those few things they completely mess up...

"Beardedgeek;c-17445217" wrote:

"NorthDakotaGamer;c-17445185" wrote:

"Beardedgeek;c-17445077" wrote:

"NorthDakotaGamer;c-17445070" wrote:
@Beardedgeek

This is why I see the game to be a tech addict simulator. When the use of a computer or any electronic device is basically required in a majority of the career options.

I know! it's almost like real life! How odd! (sarcasm, yes).

In real life a majority of jobs DO NOT require a computer. I know the employment opportunity which I currently am schooling for does not. Even jobs that should not require one have daily tasks which make it seem they require it.

Many modern jobs does not require a PC at work. True.
However, a modern cash register IS a computer. A modern car is controlled by a computer. And so on.
Yes, if you are a concrete pourer and make your living that way (it requires a lot of skill to be good at it) then no, you do not require to use a computer at all, probably.
But that job does not exist in the Sims. The fact that you have to use your computer for "homework" is, however realistic.
Also, again, if you want to roleplay bygone eras in the Sims it wasn't made for that. It is not a valid complaint. At all. It's like complaining you can't be a stock broker in a 20th century family in Skyrim, or why you can't roleplay as a medieval peasant in Mass Effect.

Anyway, welcome to reality. I don't know what country you live in (for sure, but the username is a clue :) ), but all countries I live in or near are virtually 100% digital.

• You pay your bills online, or have them auto-paid for you (by signing up on the Bank's homepage and telling them to, of course).
  
• You do your taxes online.
  
• You do most of your shopping (for non food items) online.
  
• Virtually all visual media is digital and accessed online.
  
• You manage (if you are unfortunate) your unemployment online.
  
• You apply for jobs online.
  
• You book trips and movie tickets online.
  
• You might even book tables for restaurants online.
  

• You use your phone for talking your friends.
  
• You use your phone for TEXTING your friends.
  
• You (can) use your phone to pay for things (actual physical credit cards are on the way out).
  
• You use your phone to ask for directions.
  
• You use your phone to follow the news.
  
• You use your phone to listen to music.
  
• You use your phone to take pictures.
  

And so on. This is just scraping the surface. If anything, the fact that you CAN use the mailbox for so many things in Sims 4 is becoming VERY unrealistic.

Correction you can do things online.That dosen't me everyone does that.Agsin sims 3 had cell phones, but they didn't use them 24 hours a day.Again what is the problem for not wanting the sims too imedty play on the phone.That can be an option?

"Beardedgeek;c-17444909" wrote:

"Huiiie_07;c-17444470" wrote:

"Beardedgeek;c-17444438" wrote:
I keep hearing this and I... only partly agree.
It's an ADULT Simulator; kids are an afterthought. But:

1. There is absolutely no difference between YA and A in the game except wrinkles that you can remove in CAS without cheating.
2. I don't get the "Lack of activities for elder Sims" complaint. Except for Excessive Woohooing and going to the Gym, Elderly Sims can do everything Adult Sims can. And more importantly, I am 47 years old. My parents are almost 80 and they do the exact things they have always done. The "Classic Grandma" type of Elder literally died 30 years ago IRL. Today's elders are just like today's 50 year olds but listens to better music.

But yes, kids are an afterthought. TEENS are okay, because in this game, unlike sims 2 and 3, they actually look like realistic teens (that's a pet peeve of mine: people who think teens should look like 12 year olds and think that's "realistic").

That's exactly what I was thinking and already partly addressed in my own post. It's actually quite infuriating to see people constantly asking for "elder activities" (that's probably also a big reason why knitting won the recent community vote), or complaining about elders in the game constantly being on the phone or the computer since they "can't know about this stuff", which is just a really ageist thing to say. People who wish for this stuff don't really seem to understand that today's elders are often really tech-savy and still do the same things they did when they were young, if it isn't too physically demanding. It's not like someone stops their lifelong hobby of fishing the day they turn 70, just to get in their rocking chair, start knitting and completely forget what a phone is.

I also agree with you on the teens. Actually, the more adult-like they are, the more I like them. I disabled Parenthood from my game because of the mood swings the teens had because it just looked like a huge parody of what actual teenagers are like (I've been one myself not too long ago and never experienced such random mood swings like the teens in the game). Concerning their heights, I also prefer them in TS4. In TS3, they look really really young and short and like they just recently became teens, like around 13 or 14 years old. They just look like shorter, unproportional adults which just seems weird to me. That's just not what they look like in real life. Don't get me wrong, I know there are teens in real life who are shorter/look younger than they are (I am myself really short and don't look a day older than 15), but those are the clear minority. I also don't get the people who say that the teens often look the same age (or even older) than their parents. Many years ago, someone here posted a selfie of a mother and her daughter to "prove" how they look the same age, but to me, they just looked the same age because of the mother's clothing style being very teen-like. Don't even get me started on all the preteen threads back then, a lifestage that really isn't needed in the game and whose only purpose would be purely cosmetic to close the huge height gap between children and teens.

Exactly.

Quite frankly people who in 2020 don't think 80 year olds know how to use a smartphone probably don't have any living relatives over the age of 45. Not being mean, it's just the logical conclusion.
My parents are not tech savvy. But they have lived their lives after WWII, which means they have used modern computers at work, they have used increasingly modern phones, TVs and internet connections since forever (well Internet came somewhere around 1998 to most people). Mom was a secretary for an University proefessor and dad was responsible for budgets at a defense contractor. So yeah, staring at computer screens was basically what they did since mid 1980s forth.
Edit: and before anyone says anything, Rural people are just as used to tech. Have you seen a modern combine harvester? Between the AC, the built in semi-auto navigation system controlled by GPS and a ton of other tech they are basically Tesla cars, but cooler. And slower). Or modern milking machines? Or...

ALL TVs sold today are flat, smart, and has wifi connection built in. You have to special order phones that are not smartphones. Sure, mom calls me sometimes when googling for a solution to a computer issue isn't helping. But that is on another level, it's like asking everyone using a car to be a car mechanic, which hasn't been necessary since the 1920s.

And again, there is absolutely no difference in game between YA and A.

My 82 year old mom cannot use a cell phone, lol.

"kwanzaabot;c-17444792" wrote:
I mean? Sure. But technically I wouldn't call it a millennial simulator. The youngest millennials are in their mid 20s now.
It's a Gen Z simulator.

This.

Millennials are old now.

"pammiechick;c-17446029" wrote:

"kwanzaabot;c-17444792" wrote:
I mean? Sure. But technically I wouldn't call it a millennial simulator. The youngest millennials are in their mid 20s now.
It's a Gen Z simulator.

This.

Millennials are old now.

Media, and many people in general seems to confuse Millennial with people born in the 2000s. They really talk like they think they are 15-25. Admittedly it is the dumbest most misguided name for an age group ever invented, but...

Same with "boomer". Boomers are my parents generation now. They were born between the end of WWII and into the early 60's. They are not middle age, they are Elders.
Btw about elders, as we already talked about earlier; people still think "old people" are like their grandparents were in the 90's; the last "old people" generation (the ones that gave birth to the boomers).

@Idontrcall Yes, but one should not assume "old people" don't use tech. Most do. And know far more than we think about how it works.

"Beardedgeek;c-17446864" wrote:

"pammiechick;c-17446029" wrote:

"kwanzaabot;c-17444792" wrote:
I mean? Sure. But technically I wouldn't call it a millennial simulator. The youngest millennials are in their mid 20s now.
It's a Gen Z simulator.

This.

Millennials are old now.

Media, and many people in general seems to confuse Millennial with people born in the 2000s. They really talk like they think they are 15-25. Admittedly it is the dumbest most misguided name for an age group ever invented, but...

Same with "boomer". Boomers are my parents generation now. They were born between the end of WWII and into the early 60's. They are not middle age, they are Elders.
Btw about elders, as we already talked about earlier; people still think "old people" are like their grandparents were in the 90's; the last "old people" generation (the ones that gave birth to the boomers).

@Idontrcall Yes, but one should not assume "old people" don't use tech. Most do. And know far more than we think about how it works.

Honestly, people who seriously think millenials are still aged 15-25 are just horribly misinformed and are the same who say gen z are still all elementary to middle schoolers (Being born in 2001, I belong to the oldest members of gen z, and I graduated school one year ago). Though whether saying TS4 is a "millennial" or "gen z" simulator is both just blatant stereotyping. It's this weird cliché that millenials and gen z's can't get off their phone and are always out partying, which is just not reality. Gen Z has the same amount of introverts and people who barely use their phones as any other generation.