Sul sul Simmers!What’s on your mind for the next Sims 411?We heard you say that you want a higher level of challenge and depth in the Base Game. And we’d love to hear more about it! Let us know what a higher level of challenge and depth in the Base Game would look like for you. What would you expect from it? How would this change your current experience of The Sims 4? What specific aspects of the game would you like to see more depth in?Today, on August 19th starting at 6 AM Pacific Time, we’ll be welcoming your comments during 24 hours in The Sims Forums (check here for local timezones). We’ll close the conversation after 24 hours, on August 20th at 6 AM Pacific Time. You’ll be able to share any additional comments next time (our team is made of humans, and there are only so many comments one human can read at a time... :) ). We appreciate you understand that this is not a wish list for content requestsbut a place where we can listen to your thoughts without distraction this is not a guarantee we’ll provide an answer in the next Sims 411but rest assured that your comment is being read and will be addressed whenever possible this is not a place to report bugsbut please continue to report bugs on AHQ THE GOLDEN RULEWe’ll only read comments that adhere to our Positive Play guidelines and our forum rules. GUIDELINES AND RULESWe’ll only read comments that adhere to our Positive Play guidelines and our forum rules - here are some of the most important points when it comes to giving feedback: Be respectful. We want to hear what you have to say but please be kind and respectful when posting here. Being mean or aggressive as well as cursing and swearing doesn't help to bring your point across. Keep it game-related and on topic. As we said before, this is not the place to post a wish list and bugs, or talk about those Sims 4 mods that you found. Don't make things personal. It's not cool to target other players who may have different opinions or attack SimGurus and other officials. This also means: please no mass taggings. Don't bully, troll, bait, or derail the conversation. This is never okay - which should go without saying! If you do this, you will be moderated as per our forum rules. Don't spam or flood this thread. Posting the same thing over and over will not get your question into the Sims 411 but it may lead to moderation.We’re looking forward to reading your comments! :)

Background and Table of ContentsTo start, a little about myself so you know who you are reading. I consider myself a disaffected lifelong Sims player. I no longer desire to buy any Sims 4 packs or play that game (I primarily play the Sims 2 but revisit the Sims 1 and 3). By EA Marketing’s definition, I do not fit the mold of what a “typical” Sims player is: female, teenager or early-twenties, and interested in “storytelling.” My favorite Sims content creators are LGR, PleasantSims, Carl’s Sims 4 Guide, SimmerErin, EnglishSimmer, and Plumbella. I am active on Twitter in what can only be called a protest movement to improve the game. We've been advocating improvements to the Sims 4 for the last 7 years including skin tones, playable character lore fix, and gameplay. I care deeply about this franchise.I want to bucket my observations and suggestions into the following:1) Sims 4 is sandboxy to a fault; it is devoid of conflict and challengeI have to control the story of every aspect of the Sims. It’s a dollhouse to the extreme. If my Sims’s social need is low I can invite literally anyone over. I can marry anyone in a day…and Sims can cheat with little consequence. Sims personality or current mood almost never prevents or encourages certain behavior in the AI or actions players can perform.2) Design choices for personality are flawed and Sims feel too similarTraits alone do not suffice for personality as it is difficult to use them as the basis for programming different animation styles, idle actions, actions queued by the AI, etc... Sims 2-style slider traits forming core personality and Sims 3-style traits layered on top are necessary to make Sims feel different and add challenge to gameplay.3) “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”: beloved systems such as Wants and Fears, Aspiration Meter, Chemistry, and Memory Tokens have been ignored or partially reimplementedImportant systems, primarily from the Sims 2 base game, add challenge and depth to gameplay. Here I will discuss why they are needed and how they impact the player experience.4) Design choices in the Sims 4 UI and information pop-ups dumb down the game and discourage explorationProducers went for an overly-minimalist user interface for the HUD that removes core details, such as numerical scores (e.g., 73 out of 100) for relationships and stripped the interface of necessary gauges and status monitors that are essential to the simulation genre. We are burdened with tutorial pop-ups and information that break immersion.Finally, I have included Sims content creator reference videos.1) Sims 4 is sandboxy to a fault; it is devoid of conflict and challengeIn the months leading up to the Sims 4 base game launch, we learned about a revolutionary emotions system that would add depth and make our Sims feel more alive than ever. Now, in retrospect, the majority of the Sims community can confidently say that emotions were a flawed experiment, and many of us want to be able to disable them.Why don’t they work? Well, like many features in the game, there is no consequence. We might get a change in the HUD UI and our Sims expression will change...but no consequence. What is consequence and what am I defining it as? Consequence includes actions that can or CAN NOT happen due to state changes in the game. If your sim is depressed due to their spouse dying, I want them to reject actions by the player to throw a party or make out with someone. If someone wants to do random storytelling….LET THEM USE CHEATS! But we can’t back out of the default right now which is basically almost pure sandbox. The players can’t add these hindrances, but they can generally be removed via cheats.Gameplay is boring as a result. Sims can matchmake with everyone. Anyone can get along with anyone. Emotions are purely cosmetic - they appear in the UI, the animations might change for a bit, and you might get some new interactions which are basically recycled actions with a new text string (“Take a Brisk Shower”) and a color associated with it (green) so you know it’s because of the emotion. I want sims to stomp on the ground and reject my actions because they are in a bad mood. I want almost all of their social interactions to get double red negative signs because they are stressed. Add the challenge.2) Design choices for personality are flawed and Sims feel too similarWe need the diametric personality sliders (Sims 2 style) e.g. active-lazy, outgoing-shy, neat-messy. This is the CORE Personality. Sims AI (what actions they choose by default), as well as the animation styles that are used (such as how they react or talk with other sims), are DETERMINED first by the core personality. EA threw this amazing personality system away in favor of Sims 3 traits.HOWEVER, traits still have their place. Traits ON TOP of personality adds additional flavor.A good question: why can't traits alone suffice? Answer: the act of forcing the core personality into a diametric slider of extremes (e.g., strong active, neutral, or strong lazy) as well as over a fixed number of dimensions that is consistent for ALL SIMS no matter the future expansion packs make the personality ACTUALLY PROGRAMMABLE AND LOGICAL.It's reasonable to make animations and AI decisions by saying....okay, if your Sim has at least 7 out of 10 in the direction of active, we're going to give them the quick get-out-of-bed animation instead of the slow get-out-of-bed. They are going to lose energy need faster. They will be naturally interested in working out and will queue actions to use objects classified as workout equipment. When idle, they might do jumping jacks. Basically, every Sim can be understood for every personality aspect.With traits...there is an effectively infinite number of them, and they range in type. A "vegan" trait is different from a "neurotic" trait which is different from an "ambitious" trait. Sure, you can program specific quirks or abilities for each trait, but they range in type and not every Sim has a degree of strength in every single trait. This makes programming animations and AI difficult for every single trait. The problem expands when you add additional traits.3) “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”: beloved systems such as Wants and Fears, Aspiration Meter, Chemistry, and Memory Tokens have been ignored or partially reimplementedLet’s talk first about Aspirations. I feel like EA made aspirations in The Sims 4 a catch-all for any "gameplay element." Added a new feature? Make an aspiration out of it. Added a new skill? Make an aspiration. Need a tutorial for a new world? New aspiration.This misses the point entirely and is not great game design. There are legitimate reasons for including tutorials and objectives....but make them something else! Make that a new system entirely....simply call them "Objectives." Objectives can be those checklist items that are currently masquerading as aspirations in TS4. A romance sim can still complete the objective to explore Henford on Bagley just like a family-oriented sim. Hence, a separate system. An Objectives system.But let's be clear. They're not aspirations. Aspirations are best implemented in The Sims 2. What are they? They are a high-level orientation for the Sims. What do they want to get out of life? What type of experience makes them happy? Knowledge, Romance, Friendships, etc.? The Sims 2 aspirations were a great list, though I can think of a few more to add...an "Exploration" aspiration and a "Creativity" aspiration...the former would focus on quests, travel, and collecting and the latter focused on freelancing, craftables, and creative endeavors.Aspirations should be semi-permanent and DIRECTLY related to a wants and fears system. Why? Well if the only wants you have are basic actions like talk with a sim or order a drink at a bar, that's NOT impactful. Wants should be stepping stones aligned with the general orientation of that aspiration. You are a fortune sim? Wants you should roll should be related to making money, developing your career, and building businesses. But someone that does not care for money would be unlikely to have those wants. In general, wants should start small but ultimately lead to longer-term wants that require time and work to complete.This aspiration system should work with wants and fears. It adds challenge and incentivizes the player. Give Sims the ability to have multiple of these aspirations. And there are consequences if your Sim goes into aspiration failure. The whims feature doesn’t cut it.Now for the other systems.If you are familiar with the Sims 2, you should know what tokens are. In the programming, tokens are hidden objects that can be modified or passed from one Sim to the other. There is a jealousy token that is created when an event such as cheating is triggered. Tokens like these can decay over time. Memories are also represented via tokens. Gossip can be passed from one sim to the other. We need some sort of consequence and record of our events. Nothing appears to matter in the Sims 4.Chemistry is another must. Again, Sims 4 feels too sandboxy. We need some ways to hinder the player. There will always be a place for cheats if the player wants to create some story. But for gameplayers...we feel ignored. Give us roadblocks. Make some sims get along better with others.4) Design choices in the Sims 4 UI and information pop-ups dumb down the game and discourage explorationIt’s clear the Sims team went for an overly-minimalist user interface for the HUD. Core dashboards and details, especially from the Sims 1 and Sims 2, have been ignored. Unfortunately, EA appears to consistently underestimate the intelligence of Sims players and, in a desire to “make the game accessible,” they’ve stripped detail and challenge.Why not add back both a Daily and Lifetime relationship in the panel. There were obvious design reasons why Will Wright created the Sims 1 and 2 this way. Daily represents the day-to-day fluctuations in a relationship. Lifetime is slower to build and represents cumulative relationships. Let’s see the actual relationship numerical value. That way, the player can discover…”Oh, this social was rejected, maybe I’ll try again when I increase relationship by 20 extra points.”Separately on this topic, the UI design was poor at anticipating future expansion packs and systems that would be added to the Sims 4. Lifestyles and sentiments and all of the other modules of the UI...now we’re scrolling through pages and pages of modules in a single section to access the information we want. Finally, notification popups and tutorials are everywhere. The Sims 1 Makin’ Magic is an excellent example of the best way to implement advice. Make it INTERACTIVE. Don’t break the immersion. In this game, Magic Town had specific guides that you could talk to. You could select the “Ask about…” interaction and learn about quests and magicoins and duels.As a design principle, limit gratuitous popups in the UI as much as possible in favor of interaction. Right now if we order an object, it just appears in your inventory and you get a popup notification. How about if we order something, some time passes (24 hours) and then a cardboard box is delivered on your doorstep so we can interact to open the box and get the item? This example detail is significant because it adds depth and realism as well as some challenge (delayed gratification from waiting for the item). Also, if we need to be explained something, make the user interact for that popup via talking to someone like talking to the garden club member to learn about gardening! Exploration and interaction is rewarding and adds depth.Sims content creator reference videosPlumbella - The Sims 2 Is The Best Game Ever MadeEnglishSimmer - I have too many emotions and so does The Sims 4Carl's Sims Guide - In Sims 4, I'm God - Must I Always Be in Charge of Drama and Story for EVERY Sim?Carl's Sims Guide - Sims 4 Gameplay Could Be Better. Here's How!Thank you for reading and for doing this!

Everything is too easy in the sims 4 that it feels dumb most of the time. There is literally no negative outcome for anything. When we ask for depth and challenge in the gameplay, we mean the challenges we used to face in the previous sims games.How you can improve the gameplay:1-In The Sims 2, our decisions made an impact on our sims' lives thanks to Wants & Fears system. They had their best moments and the worst. Although the game was always light-hearted and didn't exactly simulate reality, it felt meaningful. Their desires and fears shaped their personality, their little memories helped us to create stories. It wasn't always colorful and happy, but it felt unique. Thus I think this should be the number 1 priority to improve the sims 4's gameplay. Bring back the wants & fears system, combined with TS2-style memories (TS3 memories were too much, we don't need a new memory for every time our sims visit a new venue), allow us to see the consequences of the actions we take in our sims' lives, let us see the negative outcomes too. Emotions, buffs and sentiments are too weak when compared to what we had back in TS2.2-Traits do not feel like traits. I saw a tweet the other day, it was "The Sims 2 pulled off a better personality system with only 8 aspirations." Can you even argue with that? I believe that The Sims 3 had the best personality & aspiration system when compared to all other existing games, maybe copy from that? Lactose intolerant or vegetarian isn't a personality trait, it is a condition or preference. Please give us PERSONALITY traits that define a sim's personality, that affect a sim's autonomy and idle behavior. It is utterly annoying to see all of the sims acting the same, walking around with an s i l l y smile on their faces. Even TS2 did a way greater job when it comes to authenticity. Please, I'm begging you, please just let us give our sims personality as you promised with the game's initial launch advertisements. Please just keep your promises. We want smarter and more authentic sims.3-Aspirations are way too easy and do not feel like lifetime goals. It is nice that now we have milestones and small rewards while we are advancing in aspiration, but do they really have to require zero IQ? I mean, come on, nobody aspires to sit on a lounge chair (Beach Life aspiration) or something equally ridiculous. Most of the aspirations literally serve as tutorials for new game features coming in new packs and that is just unacceptable. We need reasonable, challenging and satisfying aspirations WITH meaningful and satisfying rewards. We don't need any more "skill bonuses" or "emotion buffs" as aspiration rewards, the game already serves everything on a golden platter for free, our sims can master ANYTHING without any struggle, they do not need more bonuses. --While many of the existing aspirations suck, just a couple of them are really nice though, maybe look at them for inspiration? Eg. writer aspiration is somewhat challenging and the reward is unique and totally worth it (being able to write a book of life that actually has an impact on gameplay). We need more things like that for ALL of the aspirations. Financial aspirations should be a LOT harder too since earning money is TOOOOOOOOOOOO easy.4-The economy in TS4 is messed up. It is unrealistic, dissatisfying and poorly executed. Our sims earn way too much money, way too easily... It is almost impossible to play the game without mods that allow us to tweak the amount of money they get. In real life, we can't sell the flowers we grow at home and get rich, this may be a poor example but you can get my point. It should be harder for them to earn money. Instead of bonuses, chance cards that give even more money freely, there should be more expenses to maintain a sim's life. With Eco Lifestyle update, the bills started to make more sense indeed, but that isn't enough. There is almost nothing to spend simoleons on in the live mode. In previous games, there were more things to do with money. Our sims paid for transportation, sometimes got tricked and lost their money... We need that kind of approach back in the game. Remember the sims sessions earlier this summer? Why could our sims enjoy those concerts for free? It was a perfect opportunity to sink some of their simoleons! It would be much more realistic. Other than food, services, bills and furniture, there should be more expenses overall. (Plus, all of the prices in build-buy catalog should be revised. A toilet roll costs 50 bucks, that doesn't make sense.)Edit: Return of clothing stores (again, like in the sims 2 the masterpiece) would help a bit to sink simoleons. It doesn't make sense that we have access to an infinite amount of clothing items anyway.5-We need more failures in the game. Like, our sims shouldn't be good at everything. I wish there was like a slider/bar to define their talents and abilities like they would be good at arts but they would suck at sports kind of thing. The skill gain would be a lot more challenging for them.6-Negative outcomes are a must. Maybe they should get rejected from a job or they should get demoted or fired if they can't meet certain deadlines or performance criteria... It makes no sense that they get paid and promoted with literally no effort. Same should apply for the rest of the game, not just their career. They must fail every now and then.7-Relationships are ridiculously unchallenging and dissatisfying as well. We DEFINITELY need an attraction system, but it is not enough. What made The Sims 2 PERFECT (chefs kiss) is that our sims didn't share a mutual friendship/romance bar. Their feelings were their own, our sims could have a one-sided romance with their crushes. Sim A could have 60 friendship points with Sim B and Sim B could have like 50 friendship points in return. They didn't always have to share the same feelings for each other and IT WAS JUST PERFECTLY REALISTIC. If you are planning to bring back the attraction system, please consider this too. It would add more challenge and more consequences. Eg. Sim A wants to kiss Sim B (because Sim A has more feelings for Sim B --) but Sim B would reject because they do not feel the same. Again, authenticity and intelligence. We need that back in the game!---Regarding the attraction system, long ago I proposed a way for you to reintroduce horoscopes. While some signs may find it easier to get along, it shouldn't be the base factor of how their chemistry works. Read here to see more: https://simscommunity.info/2019/11/27/how-the-sims-4-should-re-introduce-zodiac-signs-and-why/8-We need more activities, more skills, more gameplay objects, more interactions with the world around our sims. Again, feel free to copy from previous games because you will see how much we lack when we compare the sims 4 to them.9-We need more events like sleepovers and funerals. Such events would make the gameplay experience more wholesome and satisfying.10-We need more customization to create more authentic sims. Maybe walk styles should also affect the idle animation/pose? Because the current idle animation/pose sucks. The sims 2 had the best idles. The stance was anatomically more correct and the idle was totally neutral and their personality & moods shaped how they appeared. It can be a lot better with all of the customizations we now have in the sims 4.11-We need more freedom in our neighborhoods. Revisit the existing worlds and expand the explorable areas of the neighborhoods, the game feels super claustrophobic most of the time. Allow us to visit/interact with the pagoda in Mt. Komorebi, let us walk in the forests of Windenburg islands, let us roam the streets of Brindleton Bay and see that town hall/watchtower, let us walk in the back streets of Strangerville... I mean, we can see all those places, but we can't click those parts of the map and our sims can't go there, this is super annoying.12-REVISIT THE EXISTING WORLDS' WATERS AND ALLOW OUR SIMS TO SWIM IN THERE! It is super painful for us that our sims can't enjoy the sea in Windenburg & Brindleton Bay or the lake in Granite Falls.13-LET THE COUPLES HUG OR SPOON EACH OTHER WHILE THEY'RE SLEEPING IN THE SAME BED, LIKE IN THE SIMS 2. AND AGAIN, PLEASE LET THEM CUDDLE EACH OTHER IN THE BED WHEN THEY WAKE UP, LIKE IN THE OLD DAYS. I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT WE ARE IN 2021 AND I STILL HAVE TO REMIND YOU OF THIS, WHILE WE HAD THESE BY DEFAULT IN PAST SIMS GAMES. LOVE WINS, RIGHT? WHY ARE YOU AFRAID OF LOVE?Lastly, please know your audience better. The sims shouldn't be an educational game targeting children. You can target kiddos with a new game, with a different title. Please stop trying to be super child-friendly because I think this is what holds you back for real.I miss the old raunchy sims experience.Thanks for this opportunity so I could express my thoughts once more.

I think one of the problems with The Sims franchise when it comes to challenge, and is something that's been happening since The Sims 3, is the fact that the game has become excessively and extremely easy with each new generation and packs released.When it comes to challenges in The Sims 4, the first thing you need to urgently review is the simoleon earning system, and everything that goes with it.It is EXTREMELY easy to get high simoleon values in the game legitimately without using cheats. It's possible to earn a lot of money through small interactions, or interactions with specific objects, or with careers, or with other types of activities in the game, whether it's painting or planting, or whatever.The game has gotten easier and less challenging, and sometimes that worries me a lot, especially when I think about future releases.------------------------Global Economy SystemOne thing that I think would be SUPER cool, and that could be COMPLETELY OPTIONAL, is if you guys added a global economy system to the game, which is directly controlled by you, from Maxis.With the global economy system, you at Maxis could control the price of Build/Buy Mode objects and items. There could be times when objects in general are costing cheaper, or more expensive. Also, you could create "inflation" or "crisis times" where everything is costing MUCH more than usual.With this system, you could also control the amount of simoleons that can be gained from interactions/objects/activities. Example: one day I can sell a professional painting for a high price, but the next day sales will be paying lower prices.Anyway, I really believe that a global economy system, where the price of things is never fixed, and which can still count on economic crisis, could bring a VERY fun level of challenge to the game, because then we players would never know what we can expect, because one day things can be very cheap, but the next they can be VERY expensive.I even imagine how funny and fun it would be go play The Sims 4 and find out that we are in a week of economic crisis, and everything is costing absurdly expensive. This leaves room for players to explore new ways to play The Sims 4 and deal financial issues that are being caused by the global economy online system.Imagine if, for example, a global crisis happens, and a person is forced to live in an off-grid lot because everything is too expensive?Obviously, the global economy system would be FULLY optional. No one would be forced to gamble having to deal with any high prices, inflation, or low simoleon earnings from activities or sales of things.I start from the following principle: players who want a higher level of challenge will enable the global economy system, and will play with it enabled. It would still be possible to use simoleons cheats, but I believe that those who really want challenge will not use simoleons cheats naturally.A global economy system could create a unique level of challenge in the franchise.------------------------The return of The Sims 2 Wants and Fears system, and the consequences if we don't fulfill the wants, or fulfill the fear.The Sims 4 is an extremely sandbox game. And this has caused a great lack of challenge and depth.The Sims 2 had a Wishes and Fears system that was AMAZING. If we didn't eventually fulfill some of our Sims' wishes, they could end up going crazy. And if we completed their fears, they would look bad and could also go crazy, but the results were fun, especially when we completed a fear accidentally because of something that happened.In The Sims 3, Wishes and Fears were removed, and now what we had were sorts of "missions" that we could do or not, because they were optional, you didn't have to do them if you didn't want to.And the same thing happened in The Sims 4. Fulfilling whims is completely optional, and there is no consequence to the sim if the player wishes not to fulfill them. Fulfilling wishes basically just gave you points to spend in a shop, and that was it.The Sims 2 was fun because it BROUGHT challenges and gameplay, while The Sims 4 is about looking for challenges and gameplay.You should bring back The Sims 2 Wishes and Fears, and MOSTLY the fears.ADDON:I LOVED The Sims 2 Wants and Fears roulette animation when we completed some Want or Fear. You guys should bring something like that too, it would be really cool.

Hello! Thank you guys for this initiative and I have a couple of ideas that I hope you guys consider.P.S: English isn’t my first language, so if there’s any mistakes, I’m sorry!1. I think that all jobs shouldn’t be available at all times and when sims apply for it, should have some sort of interview, much like the audition in the actor career, where the sim only gets the job if they have affinity with it, considering their likes and abilities, because this gives more meaning to the abilities and makes the game more realistic.2. The burglars add more challenge because makes the game more realistic and now with Cottage Living this happens with chickens, so I don’t see why this can’t happen with the sims.3. The relationships should be harder to maintain and harder to gain. For example, couples should fight when one of them does something when the other doesn’t like, because when they live together and are married it seems like a paradise, their relationship bar doesn’t move that much and when someone flirts with a married person the partner should react and impact on their relationship. And to gain, is like if my sim has good reputation from Get Famous, for example, when they introduce themselves, they are instantly good friends and with a close sentiment, sentiments should be for those that have a longer connection because be good friends with everyone along with sentiments makes friendships shallow.4. The happy emotions shouldn’t have bigger impacts than the negative ones. For example, my sim’s wife just died in front of him and he got the sad moodlet but in an instant he was energetic because of the lot trait and because he had just exercised, that takes the impact of such an important event.5. Harder to complete aspirations. From what I understand, aspirations are desires for a lifetime and there’s a couple that sims can complete in a month. Harder aspirations inspire ideas, stories and push us to get more excited to play.6. Add fears. Everyone has some type of fear in life and to not have this in game makes it shallower and more unrealistic, everything has a consequence, if it doesn’t have a consequence, it isn’t life and the concept of the game is to play with life.7. The dislikes should have more impact. My sim had a party and some guest disliked the song that was playing but kept up dancing happily anyway, if they keep doing things they don’t like and that doesn’t impact in relationships or anything, I don’t see the point of them existing.Sorry for the long post and thanks for listening!

These features should have an impact on emotions, gameplay and have meaningful and lasting effects.Personalities: Being able to create more unique sims would bring more depth to the game. Adding things like wants, fears, turn offs/on, set gender preference, grudges and memories would help to create more distinctive sims. More consequences: Adding more negative results for different actions would bring more challenge to the game. Things like evictions, getting arrested, bad investments, poor health, fines, injuries, furniture needing repair over time, pests in untidy homes, cheating affecting reputation, etc Unexpected events: this would bring more challenge and unpredictability to the game. Things like layoffs, autonomous proposals, and break ups. Weather conditions having negative affects can be challenging, for example, things like power outages during a storm, strong winds breaking outside objects, shovel snow as a necessity, snow days, etc.

Sims 411 - Forum Feedback, August 19th

Anonymous
4 years ago
Background and Table of Contents

To start, a little about myself so you know who you are reading. I consider myself a disaffected lifelong Sims player. I no longer desire to buy any Sims 4 packs or play that game (I primarily play the Sims 2 but revisit the Sims 1 and 3). By EA Marketing’s definition, I do not fit the mold of what a “typical” Sims player is: female, teenager or early-twenties, and interested in “storytelling.” My favorite Sims content creators are LGR, PleasantSims, Carl’s Sims 4 Guide, SimmerErin, EnglishSimmer, and Plumbella. I am active on Twitter in what can only be called a protest movement to improve the game. We've been advocating improvements to the Sims 4 for the last 7 years including skin tones, playable character lore fix, and gameplay. I care deeply about this franchise.

I want to bucket my observations and suggestions into the following:

1) Sims 4 is sandboxy to a fault; it is devoid of conflict and challenge
I have to control the story of every aspect of the Sims. It’s a dollhouse to the extreme. If my Sims’s social need is low I can invite literally anyone over. I can marry anyone in a day…and Sims can cheat with little consequence. Sims personality or current mood almost never prevents or encourages certain behavior in the AI or actions players can perform.

2) Design choices for personality are flawed and Sims feel too similar
Traits alone do not suffice for personality as it is difficult to use them as the basis for programming different animation styles, idle actions, actions queued by the AI, etc... Sims 2-style slider traits forming core personality and Sims 3-style traits layered on top are necessary to make Sims feel different and add challenge to gameplay.

3) “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”: beloved systems such as Wants and Fears, Aspiration Meter, Chemistry, and Memory Tokens have been ignored or partially reimplemented
Important systems, primarily from the Sims 2 base game, add challenge and depth to gameplay. Here I will discuss why they are needed and how they impact the player experience.

4) Design choices in the Sims 4 UI and information pop-ups dumb down the game and discourage exploration
Producers went for an overly-minimalist user interface for the HUD that removes core details, such as numerical scores (e.g., 73 out of 100) for relationships and stripped the interface of necessary gauges and status monitors that are essential to the simulation genre. We are burdened with tutorial pop-ups and information that break immersion.

Finally, I have included Sims content creator reference videos.

1) Sims 4 is sandboxy to a fault; it is devoid of conflict and challenge

In the months leading up to the Sims 4 base game launch, we learned about a revolutionary emotions system that would add depth and make our Sims feel more alive than ever. Now, in retrospect, the majority of the Sims community can confidently say that emotions were a flawed experiment, and many of us want to be able to disable them.

Why don’t they work? Well, like many features in the game, there is no consequence. We might get a change in the HUD UI and our Sims expression will change...but no consequence. What is consequence and what am I defining it as? Consequence includes actions that can or CAN NOT happen due to state changes in the game. If your sim is depressed due to their spouse dying, I want them to reject actions by the player to throw a party or make out with someone. If someone wants to do random storytelling….LET THEM USE CHEATS! But we can’t back out of the default right now which is basically almost pure sandbox. The players can’t add these hindrances, but they can generally be removed via cheats.

Gameplay is boring as a result. Sims can matchmake with everyone. Anyone can get along with anyone. Emotions are purely cosmetic - they appear in the UI, the animations might change for a bit, and you might get some new interactions which are basically recycled actions with a new text string (“Take a Brisk Shower”) and a color associated with it (green) so you know it’s because of the emotion. I want sims to stomp on the ground and reject my actions because they are in a bad mood. I want almost all of their social interactions to get double red negative signs because they are stressed. Add the challenge.

2) Design choices for personality are flawed and Sims feel too similar

We need the diametric personality sliders (Sims 2 style) e.g. active-lazy, outgoing-shy, neat-messy. This is the CORE Personality. Sims AI (what actions they choose by default), as well as the animation styles that are used (such as how they react or talk with other sims), are DETERMINED first by the core personality. EA threw this amazing personality system away in favor of Sims 3 traits.

HOWEVER, traits still have their place. Traits ON TOP of personality adds additional flavor.

A good question: why can't traits alone suffice? Answer: the act of forcing the core personality into a diametric slider of extremes (e.g., strong active, neutral, or strong lazy) as well as over a fixed number of dimensions that is consistent for ALL SIMS no matter the future expansion packs make the personality ACTUALLY PROGRAMMABLE AND LOGICAL.

It's reasonable to make animations and AI decisions by saying....okay, if your Sim has at least 7 out of 10 in the direction of active, we're going to give them the quick get-out-of-bed animation instead of the slow get-out-of-bed. They are going to lose energy need faster. They will be naturally interested in working out and will queue actions to use objects classified as workout equipment. When idle, they might do jumping jacks. Basically, every Sim can be understood for every personality aspect.

With traits...there is an effectively infinite number of them, and they range in type. A "vegan" trait is different from a "neurotic" trait which is different from an "ambitious" trait. Sure, you can program specific quirks or abilities for each trait, but they range in type and not every Sim has a degree of strength in every single trait. This makes programming animations and AI difficult for every single trait. The problem expands when you add additional traits.

3) “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”: beloved systems such as Wants and Fears, Aspiration Meter, Chemistry, and Memory Tokens have been ignored or partially reimplemented

Let’s talk first about Aspirations.

I feel like EA made aspirations in The Sims 4 a catch-all for any "gameplay element." Added a new feature? Make an aspiration out of it. Added a new skill? Make an aspiration. Need a tutorial for a new world? New aspiration.

This misses the point entirely and is not great game design. There are legitimate reasons for including tutorials and objectives....but make them something else! Make that a new system entirely....simply call them "Objectives." Objectives can be those checklist items that are currently masquerading as aspirations in TS4. A romance sim can still complete the objective to explore Henford on Bagley just like a family-oriented sim. Hence, a separate system. An Objectives system.

But let's be clear. They're not aspirations. Aspirations are best implemented in The Sims 2. What are they? They are a high-level orientation for the Sims. What do they want to get out of life? What type of experience makes them happy? Knowledge, Romance, Friendships, etc.? The Sims 2 aspirations were a great list, though I can think of a few more to add...an "Exploration" aspiration and a "Creativity" aspiration...the former would focus on quests, travel, and collecting and the latter focused on freelancing, craftables, and creative endeavors.

Aspirations should be semi-permanent and DIRECTLY related to a wants and fears system. Why? Well if the only wants you have are basic actions like talk with a sim or order a drink at a bar, that's NOT impactful. Wants should be stepping stones aligned with the general orientation of that aspiration. You are a fortune sim? Wants you should roll should be related to making money, developing your career, and building businesses. But someone that does not care for money would be unlikely to have those wants. In general, wants should start small but ultimately lead to longer-term wants that require time and work to complete.

This aspiration system should work with wants and fears. It adds challenge and incentivizes the player. Give Sims the ability to have multiple of these aspirations. And there are consequences if your Sim goes into aspiration failure. The whims feature doesn’t cut it.

Now for the other systems.

If you are familiar with the Sims 2, you should know what tokens are. In the programming, tokens are hidden objects that can be modified or passed from one Sim to the other. There is a jealousy token that is created when an event such as cheating is triggered. Tokens like these can decay over time. Memories are also represented via tokens. Gossip can be passed from one sim to the other. We need some sort of consequence and record of our events. Nothing appears to matter in the Sims 4.

Chemistry is another must. Again, Sims 4 feels too sandboxy. We need some ways to hinder the player. There will always be a place for cheats if the player wants to create some story. But for gameplayers...we feel ignored. Give us roadblocks. Make some sims get along better with others.

4) Design choices in the Sims 4 UI and information pop-ups dumb down the game and discourage exploration

It’s clear the Sims team went for an overly-minimalist user interface for the HUD. Core dashboards and details, especially from the Sims 1 and Sims 2, have been ignored. Unfortunately, EA appears to consistently underestimate the intelligence of Sims players and, in a desire to “make the game accessible,” they’ve stripped detail and challenge.

Why not add back both a Daily and Lifetime relationship in the panel. There were obvious design reasons why Will Wright created the Sims 1 and 2 this way. Daily represents the day-to-day fluctuations in a relationship. Lifetime is slower to build and represents cumulative relationships. Let’s see the actual relationship numerical value. That way, the player can discover…”Oh, this social was rejected, maybe I’ll try again when I increase relationship by 20 extra points.”

Separately on this topic, the UI design was poor at anticipating future expansion packs and systems that would be added to the Sims 4. Lifestyles and sentiments and all of the other modules of the UI...now we’re scrolling through pages and pages of modules in a single section to access the information we want.

Finally, notification popups and tutorials are everywhere. The Sims 1 Makin’ Magic is an excellent example of the best way to implement advice. Make it INTERACTIVE. Don’t break the immersion. In this game, Magic Town had specific guides that you could talk to. You could select the “Ask about…” interaction and learn about quests and magicoins and duels.

As a design principle, limit gratuitous popups in the UI as much as possible in favor of interaction. Right now if we order an object, it just appears in your inventory and you get a popup notification. How about if we order something, some time passes (24 hours) and then a cardboard box is delivered on your doorstep so we can interact to open the box and get the item? This example detail is significant because it adds depth and realism as well as some challenge (delayed gratification from waiting for the item). Also, if we need to be explained something, make the user interact for that popup via talking to someone like talking to the garden club member to learn about gardening! Exploration and interaction is rewarding and adds depth.

Sims content creator reference videos

Plumbella - The Sims 2 Is The Best Game Ever Made

EnglishSimmer - I have too many emotions and so does The Sims 4

Carl's Sims Guide - In Sims 4, I'm God - Must I Always Be in Charge of Drama and Story for EVERY Sim?

Carl's Sims Guide - Sims 4 Gameplay Could Be Better. Here's How!

Thank you for reading and for doing this!
sovereignsimmer
New Spectator
4 years ago
Everything is too easy in the sims 4 that it feels dumb most of the time. There is literally no negative outcome for anything. When we ask for depth and challenge in the gameplay, we mean the challenges we used to face in the previous sims games.

How you can improve the gameplay:

1-In The Sims 2, our decisions made an impact on our sims' lives thanks to Wants & Fears system. They had their best moments and the worst. Although the game was always light-hearted and didn't exactly simulate reality, it felt meaningful. Their desires and fears shaped their personality, their little memories helped us to create stories. It wasn't always colorful and happy, but it felt unique. Thus I think this should be the number 1 priority to improve the sims 4's gameplay. Bring back the wants & fears system, combined with TS2-style memories (TS3 memories were too much, we don't need a new memory for every time our sims visit a new venue), allow us to see the consequences of the actions we take in our sims' lives, let us see the negative outcomes too. Emotions, buffs and sentiments are too weak when compared to what we had back in TS2.

2-Traits do not feel like traits. I saw a tweet the other day, it was "The Sims 2 pulled off a better personality system with only 8 aspirations." Can you even argue with that? I believe that The Sims 3 had the best personality & aspiration system when compared to all other existing games, maybe copy from that? Lactose intolerant or vegetarian isn't a personality trait, it is a condition or preference. Please give us PERSONALITY traits that define a sim's personality, that affect a sim's autonomy and idle behavior. It is utterly annoying to see all of the sims acting the same, walking around with an s i l l y smile on their faces. Even TS2 did a way greater job when it comes to authenticity. Please, I'm begging you, please just let us give our sims personality as you promised with the game's initial launch advertisements. Please just keep your promises. We want smarter and more authentic sims.

3-Aspirations are way too easy and do not feel like lifetime goals. It is nice that now we have milestones and small rewards while we are advancing in aspiration, but do they really have to require zero IQ? I mean, come on, nobody aspires to sit on a lounge chair (Beach Life aspiration) or something equally ridiculous. Most of the aspirations literally serve as tutorials for new game features coming in new packs and that is just unacceptable. We need reasonable, challenging and satisfying aspirations WITH meaningful and satisfying rewards. We don't need any more "skill bonuses" or "emotion buffs" as aspiration rewards, the game already serves everything on a golden platter for free, our sims can master ANYTHING without any struggle, they do not need more bonuses.
--While many of the existing aspirations suck, just a couple of them are really nice though, maybe look at them for inspiration? Eg. writer aspiration is somewhat challenging and the reward is unique and totally worth it (being able to write a book of life that actually has an impact on gameplay). We need more things like that for ALL of the aspirations. Financial aspirations should be a LOT harder too since earning money is TOOOOOOOOOOOO easy.

4-The economy in TS4 is messed up. It is unrealistic, dissatisfying and poorly executed. Our sims earn way too much money, way too easily... It is almost impossible to play the game without mods that allow us to tweak the amount of money they get. In real life, we can't sell the flowers we grow at home and get rich, this may be a poor example but you can get my point. It should be harder for them to earn money. Instead of bonuses, chance cards that give even more money freely, there should be more expenses to maintain a sim's life. With Eco Lifestyle update, the bills started to make more sense indeed, but that isn't enough. There is almost nothing to spend simoleons on in the live mode. In previous games, there were more things to do with money. Our sims paid for transportation, sometimes got tricked and lost their money... We need that kind of approach back in the game. Remember the sims sessions earlier this summer? Why could our sims enjoy those concerts for free? It was a perfect opportunity to sink some of their simoleons! It would be much more realistic. Other than food, services, bills and furniture, there should be more expenses overall. (Plus, all of the prices in build-buy catalog should be revised. A toilet roll costs 50 bucks, that doesn't make sense.)
Edit: Return of clothing stores (again, like in the sims 2 the masterpiece) would help a bit to sink simoleons. It doesn't make sense that we have access to an infinite amount of clothing items anyway.

5-We need more failures in the game. Like, our sims shouldn't be good at everything. I wish there was like a slider/bar to define their talents and abilities like they would be good at arts but they would suck at sports kind of thing. The skill gain would be a lot more challenging for them.

6-Negative outcomes are a must. Maybe they should get rejected from a job or they should get demoted or fired if they can't meet certain deadlines or performance criteria... It makes no sense that they get paid and promoted with literally no effort. Same should apply for the rest of the game, not just their career. They must fail every now and then.

7-Relationships are ridiculously unchallenging and dissatisfying as well. We DEFINITELY need an attraction system, but it is not enough. What made The Sims 2 PERFECT (chefs kiss) is that our sims didn't share a mutual friendship/romance bar. Their feelings were their own, our sims could have a one-sided romance with their crushes. Sim A could have 60 friendship points with Sim B and Sim B could have like 50 friendship points in return. They didn't always have to share the same feelings for each other and IT WAS JUST PERFECTLY REALISTIC. If you are planning to bring back the attraction system, please consider this too. It would add more challenge and more consequences. Eg. Sim A wants to kiss Sim B (because Sim A has more feelings for Sim B --) but Sim B would reject because they do not feel the same. Again, authenticity and intelligence. We need that back in the game!
---Regarding the attraction system, long ago I proposed a way for you to reintroduce horoscopes. While some signs may find it easier to get along, it shouldn't be the base factor of how their chemistry works. Read here to see more: https://simscommunity.info/2019/11/27/how-the-sims-4-should-re-introduce-zodiac-signs-and-why/

8-We need more activities, more skills, more gameplay objects, more interactions with the world around our sims. Again, feel free to copy from previous games because you will see how much we lack when we compare the sims 4 to them.

9-We need more events like sleepovers and funerals. Such events would make the gameplay experience more wholesome and satisfying.

10-We need more customization to create more authentic sims. Maybe walk styles should also affect the idle animation/pose? Because the current idle animation/pose sucks. The sims 2 had the best idles. The stance was anatomically more correct and the idle was totally neutral and their personality & moods shaped how they appeared. It can be a lot better with all of the customizations we now have in the sims 4.

11-We need more freedom in our neighborhoods. Revisit the existing worlds and expand the explorable areas of the neighborhoods, the game feels super claustrophobic most of the time. Allow us to visit/interact with the pagoda in Mt. Komorebi, let us walk in the forests of Windenburg islands, let us roam the streets of Brindleton Bay and see that town hall/watchtower, let us walk in the back streets of Strangerville... I mean, we can see all those places, but we can't click those parts of the map and our sims can't go there, this is super annoying.

12-REVISIT THE EXISTING WORLDS' WATERS AND ALLOW OUR SIMS TO SWIM IN THERE! It is super painful for us that our sims can't enjoy the sea in Windenburg & Brindleton Bay or the lake in Granite Falls.

13-LET THE COUPLES HUG OR SPOON EACH OTHER WHILE THEY'RE SLEEPING IN THE SAME BED, LIKE IN THE SIMS 2. AND AGAIN, PLEASE LET THEM CUDDLE EACH OTHER IN THE BED WHEN THEY WAKE UP, LIKE IN THE OLD DAYS.
I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT WE ARE IN 2021 AND I STILL HAVE TO REMIND YOU OF THIS, WHILE WE HAD THESE BY DEFAULT IN PAST SIMS GAMES. LOVE WINS, RIGHT? WHY ARE YOU AFRAID OF LOVE?

Lastly, please know your audience better. The sims shouldn't be an educational game targeting children. You can target kiddos with a new game, with a different title. Please stop trying to be super child-friendly because I think this is what holds you back for real.
I miss the old raunchy sims experience.

Thanks for this opportunity so I could express my thoughts once more.
SimsTime
Seasoned Newcomer
4 years ago
I think one of the problems with The Sims franchise when it comes to challenge, and is something that's been happening since The Sims 3, is the fact that the game has become excessively and extremely easy with each new generation and packs released.

When it comes to challenges in The Sims 4, the first thing you need to urgently review is the simoleon earning system, and everything that goes with it.

It is EXTREMELY easy to get high simoleon values in the game legitimately without using cheats. It's possible to earn a lot of money through small interactions, or interactions with specific objects, or with careers, or with other types of activities in the game, whether it's painting or planting, or whatever.

The game has gotten easier and less challenging, and sometimes that worries me a lot, especially when I think about future releases.

------------------------

Global Economy System

One thing that I think would be SUPER cool, and that could be COMPLETELY OPTIONAL, is if you guys added a global economy system to the game, which is directly controlled by you, from Maxis.

With the global economy system, you at Maxis could control the price of Build/Buy Mode objects and items. There could be times when objects in general are costing cheaper, or more expensive. Also, you could create "inflation" or "crisis times" where everything is costing MUCH more than usual.

With this system, you could also control the amount of simoleons that can be gained from interactions/objects/activities. Example: one day I can sell a professional painting for a high price, but the next day sales will be paying lower prices.

Anyway, I really believe that a global economy system, where the price of things is never fixed, and which can still count on economic crisis, could bring a VERY fun level of challenge to the game, because then we players would never know what we can expect, because one day things can be very cheap, but the next they can be VERY expensive.

I even imagine how funny and fun it would be go play The Sims 4 and find out that we are in a week of economic crisis, and everything is costing absurdly expensive. This leaves room for players to explore new ways to play The Sims 4 and deal financial issues that are being caused by the global economy online system.

Imagine if, for example, a global crisis happens, and a person is forced to live in an off-grid lot because everything is too expensive?

Obviously, the global economy system would be FULLY optional. No one would be forced to gamble having to deal with any high prices, inflation, or low simoleon earnings from activities or sales of things.

I start from the following principle: players who want a higher level of challenge will enable the global economy system, and will play with it enabled. It would still be possible to use simoleons cheats, but I believe that those who really want challenge will not use simoleons cheats naturally.

A global economy system could create a unique level of challenge in the franchise.

------------------------

The return of The Sims 2 Wants and Fears system, and the consequences if we don't fulfill the wants, or fulfill the fear.

The Sims 4 is an extremely sandbox game. And this has caused a great lack of challenge and depth.

The Sims 2 had a Wishes and Fears system that was AMAZING. If we didn't eventually fulfill some of our Sims' wishes, they could end up going crazy. And if we completed their fears, they would look bad and could also go crazy, but the results were fun, especially when we completed a fear accidentally because of something that happened.

In The Sims 3, Wishes and Fears were removed, and now what we had were sorts of "missions" that we could do or not, because they were optional, you didn't have to do them if you didn't want to.

And the same thing happened in The Sims 4. Fulfilling whims is completely optional, and there is no consequence to the sim if the player wishes not to fulfill them. Fulfilling wishes basically just gave you points to spend in a shop, and that was it.

The Sims 2 was fun because it BROUGHT challenges and gameplay, while The Sims 4 is about looking for challenges and gameplay.

You should bring back The Sims 2 Wishes and Fears, and MOSTLY the fears.

ADDON:

I LOVED The Sims 2 Wants and Fears roulette animation when we completed some Want or Fear. You guys should bring something like that too, it would be really cool.
Cristiny18
4 years ago
Hello! Thank you guys for this initiative and I have a couple of ideas that I hope you guys consider.
P.S: English isn’t my first language, so if there’s any mistakes, I’m sorry!
1. I think that all jobs shouldn’t be available at all times and when sims apply for it, should have some sort of interview, much like the audition in the actor career, where the sim only gets the job if they have affinity with it, considering their likes and abilities, because this gives more meaning to the abilities and makes the game more realistic.
2. The burglars add more challenge because makes the game more realistic and now with Cottage Living this happens with chickens, so I don’t see why this can’t happen with the sims.
3. The relationships should be harder to maintain and harder to gain. For example, couples should fight when one of them does something when the other doesn’t like, because when they live together and are married it seems like a paradise, their relationship bar doesn’t move that much and when someone flirts with a married person the partner should react and impact on their relationship. And to gain, is like if my sim has good reputation from Get Famous, for example, when they introduce themselves, they are instantly good friends and with a close sentiment, sentiments should be for those that have a longer connection because be good friends with everyone along with sentiments makes friendships shallow.
4. The happy emotions shouldn’t have bigger impacts than the negative ones. For example, my sim’s wife just died in front of him and he got the sad moodlet but in an instant he was energetic because of the lot trait and because he had just exercised, that takes the impact of such an important event.
5. Harder to complete aspirations. From what I understand, aspirations are desires for a lifetime and there’s a couple that sims can complete in a month. Harder aspirations inspire ideas, stories and push us to get more excited to play.
6. Add fears. Everyone has some type of fear in life and to not have this in game makes it shallower and more unrealistic, everything has a consequence, if it doesn’t have a consequence, it isn’t life and the concept of the game is to play with life.
7. The dislikes should have more impact. My sim had a party and some guest disliked the song that was playing but kept up dancing happily anyway, if they keep doing things they don’t like and that doesn’t impact in relationships or anything, I don’t see the point of them existing.

Sorry for the long post and thanks for listening!
ms_mika_xx
4 years ago
These features should have an impact on emotions, gameplay and have meaningful and lasting effects.

Personalities: Being able to create more unique sims would bring more depth to the game. Adding things like wants, fears, turn offs/on, set gender preference, grudges and memories would help to create more distinctive sims.

More consequences: Adding more negative results for different actions would bring more challenge to the game. Things like evictions, getting arrested, bad investments, poor health, fines, injuries, furniture needing repair over time, pests in untidy homes, cheating affecting reputation, etc

Unexpected events: this would bring more challenge and unpredictability to the game. Things like layoffs, autonomous proposals, and break ups. Weather conditions having negative affects can be challenging, for example, things like power outages during a storm, strong winds breaking outside objects, shovel snow as a necessity, snow days, etc.
R13n3
4 years ago
Sentiments are the best vehicle towards meaningful, long-term gameplay that The Sims 4 has introduced so far. I hope these will continue to be updated for every interaction in the base game, and expanded further by placing greater emphasis on crucial life events, such as marriage, divorce, and death.

I also believe the game could accommodate more players by giving us more control of our stories and surroundings. This can be achieved in a number of ways, including by adding more familial relationships that we can set in CAS, and more unique interactions for Sims who share those relationships.

A toggle to switch off certain life states could benefit players looking for more realism, while population controls would no doubt be of interest to fantasy players that don't want their immersion broken by Nancy Landgraab jogging through their neighborhood.

Speaking of immersion-breaking, why do Sims have to autonomously sit down every time they're arguing? This is something that really breaks the illusion of the game for me.

I think these features could add more challenge and depth to the base game and make it more versatile for all types of players.
purplestarz2006
New Spectator
4 years ago
Once again, thank you for taking community feedback in this way. For this topic in particular, I think the longer forum post format is better suited than short-form posts on other platforms.

The thing about the concept of “depth and challenge” is that it means different things to different people. For myself, my biggest concern is that everything in the game feels…episodic, for lack of a better word. This is primarily due to the game’s over-reliance on the Emotion system. No matter what happens in a Sims’ life-from getting a job to having child to losing a loved one-the only reaction is an emotional buff. Now, yes, the buffs do have varying degrees of intensity and durations. But the thing about emotions is they are not permanent, and once that emotional buff expires it’s as if that major life event never happened.

There’s also the issue that the emotional buffs only apply to Sims who are physically there for an event. Certain events should have at least some emotional impact regardless of whether you were physically present. If I’m playing a lot where an elder passes away from old age, it seems odd that when I switch to their adult children in another house they’re smiling without a care in the world. I know that TS2’s memory system was a huge source of technical issues, but there needs to be some middle ground between that and Sims having no awareness at all unless they’re physically in the room.

The other effect of relying on the emotion system is that there are no real, long-term consequences for anything a Sim does or does not do. Again, compare to Sims 2. If a Sim neglected to teach a toddler to walk and talk, they aged to a child with a disadvantage. If a Sim didn’t meet their wants, or realized too many fears, they would have a nervous breakdown-and if this continued for long enough their lifespan would be shorter.

The Emotions system is nice to have, and I know it’s one of TS4’s headline features. But it can’t provide a in-depth experience on it’s own, because emotions are fleeting. When the only impact of a Sims’ actions is a brief emotional reaction, it makes the entire game feel shallow. With the Aspiration system having shifted away from providing long-term goals to providing player tutorials, there needs to be another way to show how a Sim is impacted by their life beyond how they feel in the short term. This may or may not be something that can be brought to TS4-but if it can’t, I hope that it’s taken into consideration if/when development begins on TS5.
JRmilek
4 years ago
I don't know if I understood the concept of this new iteration. As far as I know it is about the base game and its level of difficulty and challenge. I can't explain how I feel about this without suggesting fixes to the problems I'm exposing.

So here are my thoughts:

Different play styles have different necessities. It would be fun to have a slider to the features in the game, on how often things are triggered in the game. When someone plays with the aging on there are very different necessities than someone playing with aging off, for example. A slider feature to control the difficulty level on how hard to earn money, learn skills in these different ways of playing the game would be a very interesting way of creating a more challenging gameplay. This is necessary in many aspects… controlling how many times in the week the cleaner or the Gardner comes to help when you have hired them could be very effective to change the difficulty of the game.
Improving the babies would be a nice way to give the game a bigger challenge… Having babies with traits like "calm" or "crier" assigned to them when they are born would make them feel different from each other and add another layer of difficulty.
Adding a feature that would difficult getting a job, especially if it's a new save, would be nice as well. Not only applying to the job and being immediately hired. But having to meet a little requirement on something or having a friend on the Career to give them a recommendation on the job.
Having a toggle "on and off" to the plants in game to Add the need to water and trim like it was in previous iterations would be a nice way to make the game harder. The same on feeding fish and cleaning their tanks. (Even though this last one would make my play style impossible to play, lol).
Allowing the user to set the amount of money Sims make for an hour would be nice as well… if you set the highest amount per career level, but allowing to low it down.
Allowing players to start the game without the obligation of owning a lot would be a nice way to make the game more challenging.
Using the calendar feature in game (since it has been moved to the base game) it would be possible to allow old challenges and give the players the possibility to unlock those locked items (like the fruit plant planters).
Removing the career attached mark, like it happens into the entertainment and food aspirations, may add more challenge to those who try to complete all the aspirations with just one Sim in one save.
Eaten bad food could take days of the Sims away… so they become older more quickly… that would also be a neat challenge.
Losing skill level on unused abilities after some time would be another nice way to improve the game challenge and difficulty.
The way Sims earn money on TS4 is easy, it would be nice to have a feature that took things away from them… like hurricanes, burglars, meteor falling…
About depth, I feel that there are a few issues that need to be addressed about romantic interactions. The first one is related to the spying career. Romantic interactions have nothing to do with being a spy and this gets in the way of the story telling for the character. If I want, for example, create a spy that is asexual I can't, because the game forces them to be actively exploring romantic interactions with other Sims. The second is the lack of romantic interactions. People have a lot of ways to show affection other than woohoo. It would be nice to have options to cuddle, to hold hands, to hold tenderly, to slow dance, to serve someone their favourite meal…
Another thing that would improve the Depth is adding the ability to create multiple purpose lots. The worlds now have fewer and fewer lots and it would be nice to have a legitimate way of creating spaces that serves more than one function.
logionX
Seasoned Hotshot
4 years ago
Hello Sims Team,

I would like more reasons to play the game for longer and encourage me as a player to try out different sims and do different things in the game. These could be larger aspirations, life goals or larger scenarios which could add more challenge and depth to the game.

I think we could also add more challenge and depth to activities and careers in the game by allowing us to increase the difficulty and the rewards.

With careers we could have more options to work overtime, work additional days or set additional work tasks in order to get paid more, but that could require more time and skills.

With activities we could have more options to do things together and sims skill levels, emotions, traits and likes and dislikes matter more with how successful those sims are with completing an activity with positive buffs. Sims could also become friends by doing activities together and having more likes and dislikes that they share.

Thank you and Happy Simming.
Zenionith
4 years ago
DEPTH:
Car pools
The simple thing of watching your Sims go to work in a carpool or children going into the school bus. This added a huge amount of depth.
https://oyster.ignimgs.com/mediawiki/apis.ign.com/the-sims-2/5/58/Sims2kids-0039.jpg?width=325
This simple animation gave you a feeling that Sims were actually going somewhere. That‘s what I mean by depth.

Story progression - Sims lives outside of the household should progress without player input. For example, NPC Sims autonomously find partners, get married, get children, get divorced, find new friends, make new enemies, etc.
It makes you feel like the world around you is alive and has depth to it.

Unpredictable random events - I want life events that are thrown at me that I have to deal with in gameplay. The game currently is too predictable. Examples for random life events would be: One of my Sims gets hit by a meteor and dies. Or a burglar breaking into my house. Or my house getting a cockroach infestation I have to deal with like in Sims 1. Or the TV randomly falling off the wall like in Sims 2. It’s those things that you won‘t discover first hand. Most players are still finding new things in Sims 2 to this day (like the TV falling off the wall)

More events at night. Nighttime is quite boring in Sims 4. I would want more random things to happen in the neighborhood at night. In Sims 1 there would be a bear suit NPC (Claire the Bear) that would roam through your trashcan at night.
Or raccoon NPCs that roam the neighborhood at night.

CHALLENGE:
Burglars - I want the Burglars back that your Sims have to fight off. Burglars would break into your home at night and make nighttime more interesting. Your Sims could fight the burglars if they‘d got high Fitness skill. Or they could upgrade their doors with burglar alarms if they have high Handiness skill.
This motivates player to play with these skills and level them up.
http://i.imgur.com/ArcRIa9.jpg

Prices of B&B objects - The prices of most B&B objects are pretty low compared to previous games. This makes the game too easy and less challenging. Once you earn enough money, you don‘t know what to buy anymore because everything is so cheap.
The prices of middle- and high-end B&B objects should be raised.