The Creepy, Horrifying World of Family Relations

heh sims are just pixels in computer game. Nothing in real life should be compared too them. Just use mc mod too make them your sims child.

@ACruelButLovingGod If you had explained all that at first, I think the responses you got would be different. Similar, but different. From what I saw of your first post, you saw two unrelated adult Sims could mechanically romance and pronounced it grooming. I understand the "ew" feeling. This really... Really isn't really the platform for a detailed kind of openness about those subjects, but there are things that make me feel uncomfortable, too. However, I do not find much merit in dwelling on it when nothing has actually happened.

I've got a give me for 4: great grandchildren. Last I checked with my four generation household, the great grandchildren weren't recognized as relatives. Under 4's broad relationship mechanics, a great grandfather and his great granddaughter can technically marry and have a baby since they are not recognized as family. Boom. Incest proper. Plus, this is a known thing.

Now, this doesn't mean the game is malicious, promotes incest, or has mechanics dedicated to it. It just means they stopped at three relation levels. I personally think they should have stopped at four, but since we can preserve a Sim forever it can technically reproduce with as many of its own descents as we make it. Where were they supposed to stop with the ties for that scenario? If it was something prohibiting Sims from sharing the same family tree a lot of other romances (including unrelated romances because of adoption and marriage) would also be prohibited.

@Calico45 Of course I can't predict the way people will react to things as posted (and generally I'm shooting from the hip when I comment about the game in general—the only posts I make with refinement and editing put into them are my stories-from-the-game posts, for obvious reasons.

It wasn't until I saw the way the thread was going that I was like "wait a minute, it's important that I clarify here, because..."

There are plenty of flaws in the relation system, of course, and making family trees that would make the Hapsburgs of Austria cringe is shockingly easy. In general, by the time my family trees grow so long that the branches start to look like weeping willows, that's when I know it's time to age off the older generations—I say "age off" because at least they deserve the dignity of one last storyline, so I have them add one more kid to the generation below and just let them age while the kid ages into an adult.

And like I said, part of this is just me being bothered by EA/Maxis getting all high and mighty about avoiding offending people when they make one set of game changes while out the other side of their mouth making all kinds of absolute depravity possible. I tend to agree with Trey Parker (of South Park fame) who said "as soon as we decide one thing is off limits, we're pretty much saying we condone everything else we've done."

OP, there should be a way in the relationship panel (Maxis should add one) to tag a Sim as a family member even after they grow up. I agree the game needs more ways to expand the family tree and include and be inclusive to extended family whether that is step kids and or in laws etc. If people don't want such a toggle as default then make it optional so the player can be inclusive to extended family members after they become adults. That would work for most people, I hope. Someone should ask again for a better family tree and extended to other family members even if adult, later. Or even yet, a popup to request if the step father wants to adopt the child before birthday or something since they are considered family until they age up. And it is not true the player controls TS4. No, a flirty Sim will flirt with anyone, a step child or not. So, no players don't have control over a situation that the game may invoke after the child grows into an adult. The game can cause the one Sim to flirt with this child/adult without any player input. So, no it's not something that can always be avoided or controlled.

I agree with you for the most part, @Cinebar. Not so much mark as family member, but personally I would like to romance lock different Sims. However, we do have some tools in the mean time, including a social that wipes the romance bar ("Agree to be friends.")

So I do challenge your claim that we do not control the Sims 4, since in the scenario you mentioned I can not only use this social, cheat to add an unflirty trait, separate said Sims, and/or just disable autonomy altogether. Plus, flirty Sims do not automatically flirt with proper children, so no grooming.

I'm sorry what? You are the one controlling these sims. Sims aren't going to start automatically doing romantic interactions on their own with another sim. If you don't want the two to be romantic with each other then don't click the romance options. ?‍♀️
You act like you have zero control over these sims.

It's only grooming if you choose for the grooming to happen.

Remember the good old days in TS1: Making Magic, when ageing wasn't a thing, but children could use a spell to become adults and, since the game didn't recognise family ties at all, start full-blown romantic relationships with their parents immediately afterwards? That happened to me once by accident. Thankfully, sims in TS4 in general seem to be less autonomously flirty and don't fall in love as quickly, so unwanted flings are easy to avoid, but I can understand where the discomfort comes from.

"GrumpyGlowfish;c-17974356" wrote:
Remember the good old days in TS1: Making Magic, when ageing wasn't a thing, but children could use a spell to become adults and, since the game didn't recognise family ties at all, start full-blown romantic relationships with their parents immediately afterwards? That happened to me once by accident. Thankfully, sims in TS4 in general seem to be less autonomously flirty and don't fall in love as quickly, so unwanted flings are easy to avoid, but I can understand where the discomfort comes from.

I guess you have never played with a situation like the OP has. For instance if a couple is in the home and you want one to become flirty with spouse, so they watch the Romance channel. Or even a date there you want to promote into a romantic relationship. Ok, would you have the parent or Sim not watch the Romance channel because guess what that Sim can auto flirt with anyone in the house. It's why there are threads that say the game turned their Sim straight and or the game turned their Sim gay. Because if any Sim is flirty they can and do flirt with anyone, autonomously as long as they are flirty and especially if they have the flirty trait. So, every one against any sort of tweaking by Maxis are saying the player has control. No, we don't. The emotion or the trait can and does overflow to any near by Sim. It's why there are threads about how their Sim outside their control got up from a table in a restaurant and walked over and flirted it up with another Sim they didn't want their Sim to flirt with. Do any of you not read feedback and complaints? It's been going on for years and it also includes any adult near by or in a household. So, Again No, the player doesn't always have control of a Sim with a flirty emotion nor with a flirty trait before it's too late to make it stop. The point is the player shouldn't have to 'avoid' something like seeing daddy flirt with step child who just aged into a young woman or man or other gender preference.

Maxis, it's also no longer acceptable in today's society to have a child in the home in The Sims and wait like a vulture until they grow up to be their child bride....that is just gross now, too. Like old guys in a lot just waiting for that little girl to grow up... Players should have a choice about if the game sees that child as family or not once aged up to YA or adult etc.
If every thing in this game is going to be politically correct isn't it about time the game protects the child Sim from old vultures later? think on it. Young minds shouldn't think it's ok should they? After all your game influences society doesn't it? At least you try to make it seem that way. It's your game, how are you going to fix it? It's not acceptable any more.

If the 'child' was a boy, and later an adult, the same thing could happen the way the game is programed now. He could develop a romantic relationship with him.

Like many people said, you, (the player) can let the programing do it's chaotic thing. Or there are cheat codes without mods to change what you (the player) doesn't like.

Mods make it easier to manipulate the game. It is a game. :)

That being said, I'm going to reticulate some splines...