Reality Players, How Much Is Too Much?

"simgirl1010;c-17875188" wrote:
It's quite simple. When players say they want a realistic experience they mean within the game's parameters. What's currently available to realistic players. I'd prefer sims to open and close drawers and cabinets. But they can't. I'd prefer sims to go shopping for clothes and groceries. But they can't. My definition of realistic play simply mirrors every day typical family based interactions. Chores, preparing meals, raising children, going to work. For me it's not all about the animations.

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"simgirl1010;c-17875188" wrote:
It's quite simple. When players say they want a realistic experience they mean within the game's parameters. What's currently available to realistic players. I'd prefer sims to open and close drawers and cabinets. But they can't. I'd prefer sims to go shopping for clothes and groceries. But they can't. My definition of realistic play simply mirrors every day typical family based interactions. Chores, preparing meals, raising children, going to work. For me it's not all about the animations.

I can understand all that, I like some of TS4 and other simulators that don't have as many animations. However, I'm wondering if we will someday accept just clicking on an item and the Sim's motives will be filled without them ever even needing to move. That would be within the 'parameters of the game', too, so I'm wondering how much is too much if we are willing to chalk many simulations of that nature. We've already seen a move to shorten the time or remove animations of eating in one of the last patches. I can understand why people think sometimes it's too long (multitasking stops and starts) but has that all now become 'too much'? It seems we keep moving toward just clicking on stuff and be done with it without any animations.

Compared to some of the things I've seen listed for "realistic gameplay" I think there should be limit. Will Wright never meant for the Sims to be too realistic. Not many people seem to understand this.

Life simulation does not mean simulating normal life it means simulating a life you want. THAT is want the Sims franchise has always been about and yes this includes occult life states whether people like it or not.

I don't have all of sims 4.

I love realism and small details. Obviously, I'm not really looking for the gritty, dark side of life (I have GTA for that), but the poofing and divine intervention (I'll explain a bit below) gets on my nerves a bit.

I guess I'll address some points in the original post since they are some things that I have thought a bit about.

- "Is it ok that their teen Sims look exactly like YAs and Adults, unless you zoom and or alter the Sim?"
I don't mind the height so much. Teens comprise 13-18/19 IMO, so a (let's say) fully grown 13-year-old teen boy is a bit weird. But I stopped growing around that age, so it isn't unrealistic. I liked how baby-faced sims 2 teens looked, so even if there wasn't a height difference I could tell. Sims 3 teens were weird looking, there was a near-uniform facial distortion that all teens had that wasn't present in 2. I'd like if they got a growth spurt, so mid life stage they suddenly become y/a height, almost like a mini age transition.

- "Or that Sims who own a shop don't have to hire a manager for the shop while they are away and can still get money from the pot with a click of a button?"
That's a little immersion-breaking. I'm personally a little too lazy to micromanage shops, but it feels cheaty

- "Or that they don't take out the trash but players just drag it over to the can and kaching! instant cash?"
This is very immersion-breaking. Obviously, it is useful for large families and I find myself using it, but imagine if in real life GOD just picks up your dirty dishes and pops them in the trash? And I don't find myself missing this feature when I play 2, in fact, I like how I have to handle the minutiae of life. I would like a macro clean command, though.

- "Or that Sims with particular traits don't even have anything mildly related to those traits but get an inspired buff, the one go to buff for almost everything in TS4?"
The buffs/emotion system in 4 is annoying and unrealistic. Not a fun, "quirky" unrealistic, but a shallow and unenjoyable unrealistic. I'm not really that interested in buffs in the first place, I don't mind not seeing a tally of everything in my sims' heads (2 was fine without, for example), but they made a LOT more sense with the way they were implemented in 3. They're weighted wrong in 4 too, since a sim in labor will be distracted by their sparkling floors and nice paintings so much that they just ":DDDD" their way through childbirth. This particular instance could be/may have been patched since I last played, but it illustrates how messy and unnatural this system has been.

- "Or that Sims can get money faster than bees can collect pollen in TS4 or perhaps any future game?"
Money is wayyy too easy to earn in 4. It's a little depressing, but the Sims does stand out as a potential rags-to-riches simulator. I don't want to deep dive into ~capitalism~ and ~consumerism~, but part of the joy for me is seeing your sims rise from being a family with 200 simoleons to spare to owning a car that costs 20,000 alone. Hobbies, unless turned into a business, shouldn't be more lucrative than having a job.

- "On the other hand how much reality is too much? Such as Sims having to buy new clothes if they have grown taller? And or fatter? And or skinnier? Or having to call a taxi because yes, it is a long way to the desert from a snow capped mountain."
I'd actually like to buy new clothes if sims become fatter, but with the shaping system of TS4 CAS this would be a bit funky. I miss having to buy clothes in general. And bring back taxis, or implement other forms of transport like trains! The subway/monorail system of 3 was so exciting when it first came out, even if it made routing issues worse.