Who the Game is Marketed To

"CordeliaBeaufort;c-18196707" wrote:

"crocobaura;c-18196692" wrote:

"simmerorigin;c-18196687" wrote:

"crocobaura;c-18196650" wrote:
I think the game has always been family friendly, even the cake dancers, there was nothing really inappropriate about them. In my opinion, the main difference is that before they used to have animations for a lot of stuff happening in game, now they have emotions and what used to be a visual element is now a text element. Also some design choices have taken away some of the charm. Remember the pretty oversized flowers sims would grow in TS1? TS4 flowers have no decorative function when planted, you can barely see the flowers actually. It may be because people have requested realistic gameplay and characters, so a lot of the charm was lost in favour of realism.

I don't think the original Sims 1 is really a child-friendly / family-friendly game like Disney Dreamlight Valley. I think it leans more into the Teen rating whereas the Sims 4 leans away from it.

I think perceptions changed a lot since then and people behave and react differently since when TS1 was released. I struggle to think of something that was inappropriate about TS1 content and not suitable for a 6 year old. People keep mentioning the cake dancer, but they were dressed and the only inappropriateness is that perceived by the player due to their experience with cake dancers outside of the game. There was nothing explicit in game. But like I said, perceptions have changed and nowadays people think even Tom and Jerry cartoons are not appropriate entertainment anymore.

As I remember, there was an official parental advisory that states you should be above 13 years old, but I was not when I was playing Sims 1 and indeed, I dont think any content harmed my childhood or anything. If anything, back to 2000's I was also playing Bloodrayne or Vampire Masquerade Bloodlines kind of games and they indeed, had a lot more violance and definetelly more inappropriate for my age group. You are right about perceptions have changed through 2000's to today, as there were no social platforms for parents to rant about how inappropriate a game for their children, so most game companies dont feel the pressure of creating family friendly games to not deal with angry parents. I doubt my parents would let me play the games I played if they have known when I was 7. (Sims 1 was one of the safe games I can say.)

You are also right about change of sensiblity. Back to Tom Jerry days, parents thought its a fun cartoon thats appropriate for children but today, even some might think it encourages bullying or violence. I think it was more acceptable for children to play games / watch films that normally out of parental advisory. If I were a parent, I personally would let my children to play all Sims games through 1 to 4. Okay, they wouldnt be allowed to play Silent Hill or Vampire Masquerade untill age 13 but Sims is, in my opinion, safe for all age groups, even though many disagree with me.

I dont think current Sims 4 targets children only, but also not teens or adults only unlike previous franchises. Sims 1 specially targeted 13+ year old people as they include some jokes and eastereggs that only 13+ would understand while Sims 4 avoided these jokes.

TS4 is rated T for teens, not E for Everyone. Anyway, I think that it's a complex game that younger children cannot fully play and understand, but they see parents and older siblings playing and want to play too. And they would need to be really good at reading with the amount of text in TS4 gameplay. That being said, I do wish TS4 would bring back staples of everyday life like cars, "entertainers", casinos and poker game, real vacations, etc.