Talking Teenagers

Many players have exactly the same issue with teens as you do (like me, nothing to add), others will say nowadays teens are often taller than their parents or show pictures where adults played teens (Grease) and nobody noticed right? For me this are no arguments, because while a teen may be taller than their parents, they aren’t taller than themselves when they become adult. Plus the teens played by adult actors represent at least the 17/18 yr olds, I think the game needs 13/14 yr olds. And last but not least: it’s a game where life stages matter, so there must be diversity, it must be clear. Each life stage should be recognizable (using some stereotypes; yeah I know not every elder walks with a stick and bends over, but some do and I need an elder to look like one too).

I play a guy in Sims 3 who was conceived after his dad had made the genie wish where they ask for a long life. Turns out that means each life stage of kids born after that (like my sim) lasts twice as long, also in childhood. I really felt the guys frustration when he was still a teen, somewhere around his 30s and still being treated as a kid by everyone. I wouldn’t have felt that if I’d played him in Sims 4.

I tried to do different things with the teenagers to make them feel different, but I know what you mean, they need more life and a discovery of life. I've built arenas, arcades, cafes, all in an effort to have more things for my teens to do and try to re-create that and it really didn't work. It needs the proper interactions/reactions to go with them. Sure the stuff I built was fun, but YA-Elders can have fun there too, even children in a lot of cases although I did these buildings with teens in mind. It didn't fix the problem though. The teens need some stuff for just them to make them feel different from other stages and they should look different too. It bugs me too sometimes if my sim is at a park and chatting it up and I think they're making a friend and I see it's a teen then just feel kinda creepy... Part of why some of this is missing I feel like is because it's missing for adults. No sims have likes or dislikes or favourites or anything. The teen problem is part of a much larger core game problem.

All the life stages need work though to be honest. (Except for Toddlers, YA and Adult). Elders and children are neglected and I would like more interactions for them. I remember my TS3 elders whipping out wallet photos to show off their family to other sims, that was so sweet! I'd like my elders to feel more distinguished, I feel like they've lived long enough to deserve it. Children should be able to interact with each other more and act like children. Pillow fights, playing pretend, tag. All my sim children want to do anymore is be alone with a tablet. If I take electronics out of the house, they talk more to each other, but that's it. It's not their fault though (the sim kids), the interactions simply aren't there.

I would love teen-only aspirations.

I would love this!

"JoAnne65;c-17369014" wrote:
Many players have exactly the same issue with teens as you do (like me, nothing to add), others will say nowadays teens are often taller than their parents or show pictures where adults played teens (Grease) and nobody noticed right? For me this are no arguments, because while a teen may be taller than their parents, they aren’t taller than themselves when they become adult. Plus the teens played by adult actors represent at least the 17/18 yr olds, I think the game needs 13/14 yr olds. And last but not least: it’s a game where life stages matter, so there must be diversity, it must be clear. Each life stage should be recognizable (using some stereotypes; yeah I know not every elder walks with a stick and bends over, but some do and I need an elder to look like one too).

Hey, thanks for your response. Yeah I know that some teens are taller than their parents, but this game isn't about 100% reality for me. It's a game so it's a version of reality, it's a simulation, and things are often "represented" and characatured in a Sims format, which is why that visual distinction becomes important. So I agree about using some stereotypes to get the ideas across for the different lifestages.

Yes, same here. And teens being taller than their parents nowadays comes down to better food and less child diseases. Not biology.

"Camkat;c-17369206" wrote:
I tried to do different things with the teenagers to make them feel different, but I know what you mean, they need more life and a discovery of life. I've built arenas, arcades, cafes, all in an effort to have more things for my teens to do and try to re-create that and it really didn't work. It needs the proper interactions/reactions to go with them. Sure the stuff I built was fun, but YA-Elders can have fun there too, even children in a lot of cases although I did these buildings with teens in mind. It didn't fix the problem though. The teens need some stuff for just them to make them feel different from other stages and they should look different too. It bugs me too sometimes if my sim is at a park and chatting it up and I think they're making a friend and I see it's a teen then just feel kinda creepy... Part of why some of this is missing I feel like is because it's missing for adults. No sims have likes or dislikes or favourites or anything. The teen problem is part of a much larger core game problem.

All the life stages need work though to be honest. (Except for Toddlers, YA and Adult). Elders and children are neglected and I would like more interactions for them. I remember my TS3 elders whipping out wallet photos to show off their family to other sims, that was so sweet! I'd like my elders to feel more distinguished, I feel like they've lived long enough to deserve it. Children should be able to interact with each other more and act like children. Pillow fights, playing pretend, tag. All my sim children want to do anymore is be alone with a tablet. If I take electronics out of the house, they talk more to each other, but that's it. It's not their fault though (the sim kids), the interactions simply aren't there.

Yeeessss I love your post. I always really miss the "play" menu from The Sims 2 that the kids had! It was so cute. And in TS3 they had some fun games and could play tag and really act like kids.

I'd love to see a return of the "Grow Up" aspiration (I used to have a mod for one, I'll have to see if it's been updated!) Which made kids just want to have fun and get pets and grow up happy.

Freeing the babies is also fairly high on my list, but I'd prefer to see a teenage revamp and kids improved first.

Hopefully likes and dislikes make a grand entrance to the game very soon! I voted very strongly for them on the community survey, that's for sure.

All the life stages are off and missing a lot. Its as if the developers are afraid to offend us. I can't speak for the rest of you. I don't offend easily at all. I'd like to have self-exploration for our teens. Have them learn to drive. Being able to talk to friends to ask to text their crush. Lose your nerve calling or texting your crush. Caught kissing by a younger sibling. Secret relationships. Rooftop meeting in school. Depending on it being a rival or a romantic interest can have different interactions. School sports, cheerleading, school dances, prom, graduation, etc. I want drama with my teens.

These are all really great ideas! I also have a hard time making teens because I find them boring. I want them to be able to sneak out (like the sims 2), cause mischief by throwing eggs, ding don g ditch, toilet papering houses (sims 3). I want them to experience all their firsts including their first heartbreak (because let's face it life isn't always sunshine and rainbows). They should have house parties and slumber parties, school dances, crushes, and be able to gossip with our teens about who likes who. Have hobbies or sports to entertain them like skateboarding, rollerblading, soccer, baseball, working on cars, knitting, pottery, ballet, and so on. (Adults and kids should be able to participate in hobbies too)
As for Elders, it would nice if they could watch grandkids, teach grandkids different hobbies that they learned, show off pictures of family, set up inheritance, an option where an adult child asks them to move in to take care of them, walking cane, be able to tell stories about "back in their day".
I also agree that kids need more kid to kid interactions and kid and parent interactions. They need tag, cops and robbers, mary mac, jumping on beds, playing catch with a parent, being swung around by parent, dancing on toes, and showing off.

We need an ability to keep the parents out of the house until late at night--or even a whole week--so that we can have our Teens have a wild teen party. Plus, the host Teen's sibling should have the ability to call the parents and tell on them, lie for their sibling to help cover it up, or blackmail their sibling to keep their party a secret. That would really liven things up for both Teens AND Children!