I was so happy to hear about this thread! For a while now, I’ve wished that there was a way I could give my thoughts on my favourite game and make some suggestions to the people who actually make the game and now I can! This might be long, so bear with me. I have a lot to say. ?
First of all, the romance system needs a complete overhaul – the problem is that there is no system. It’s basically a free-for-all where anyone can flirt with anyone with no consequences and no consideration for gender preference, trait compatibility or marital status. Basically, all sims are bisexual whether you want them to be or not and all sims cheat on their partners whether you want them to or not. This is not representative of the real world.
It would be nice if we could choose whether our sims are straight, gay or bisexual in CAS. We can now set preferences for hobbies, décor, music and activities so why not also select gender preference? You could have “Male” and “Female” as options and you could select one or both as preferences. And while we’re at it, why not include a whole attraction system where you can also select what your sim is attracted to – such as hair & eye colour, physique (Fit or Unfit), traits, occult state, skills, careers or even financial status (for all those gold-diggers out there). Think of all the storytelling possibilities. Relationship status could also be a preference – you could choose “Attached” or “Unattached” as preferences and have your sim only be attracted to sims that are not already in a relationship. Or you could select “Attached” or both and have them be a potential homewrecker.
This way, relationships will no longer be a slam dunk where romance interactions ALWAYS succeed – in order for romance interactions to succeed, the sim you’re flirting with has to be attracted to you. How attracted they are to you and how they respond to your flirting would depend on what preferences are set for them. Things like gender preference, physical appearance, physique, trait compatibility, occult state, career, financial status, skills and relationship status will all now be taken into account – as it would in real life. Sims will now have to work harder to find a partner. No longer will sims have that little pink romance bar under the relationship panel icon of almost EVERY sim they meet. The pink bar would not be activated unless a romantic interaction succeeds, and a romantic interaction should not succeed unless you meet the criteria that the sim is attracted to, or at the very least don’t have any of the characteristics that they find unattractive. This will make relationships much more challenging and also much more realistic.
In addition, to help make all this work, we will need to have two new traits – Faithful and Unfaithful. These traits will supersede any attraction preferences – meaning that even if Sim A is extremely attracted to Sim B, they will not flirt with Sim B or accept any romantic advances from Sim B if Sim A is in a relationship AND has the Faithful trait. This is similar to how it works when a sims gifts another sim with a tulip-scented flower arrangement, except in this case the effects are permanent as long as they have this trait.
I have one other suggestion, and this idea came to me after seeing the lactose intolerant trait from Cottage Living. I feel that this shouldn’t be a trait since it’s more of a medical condition rather than a personality trait. I don’t dislike having it in the game, I just think there’s a better way it could be used. We now have lot challenges in the game – simple living, off the grid, etc. which enhance the way we play the game without having to take away one of our 3 lot trait slots. Since sims are allowed only 3 trait slots in CAS, it seems ridiculous to use up one of those few precious trait slots for something like lactose intolerant which doesn’t even affect the sim’s behaviour or relationship with other sims. So I thought, since we now have lot trait challenges, why not have sim trait challenges as well? These could be “traits” like “lactose intolerant” that make life challenging for a sim, but also won’t take up a trait slot. And you could use as many of them as you want, just like with lot trait challenges. You could also add the Vegetarian trait to this list and maybe add some new ones like allergies and certain mental health issues (ie. social anxiety) which can certainly be challenging for a sim in terms of building relationships.
I am a huge fan of playing occult sims and I would love it if you could add more to the game, such as werewolves and fairies and maybe even genies too. I would also love to see the gambling from Sims 3 brought back to the game, with poker tables, roulette wheels, slot machines, etc. I’ve been wanting to build a casino in San Myshuno for years now! I like that we're getting more international locations (Japan with Snowy Escape, England with Cottage Living). Would also love to see much more of that.
These are my two cents. I know this was a really long post and if you stuck with it this far, thank you for reading! I’ve been playing the Sims for years now and I still think it’s the best game out there, but there is still some room for improvement. I think it’s great that you guys are willing to give us fans a chance like this to give you our thoughts on the game and to listen to our suggestions. I really do think it will improve and enhance the game and make it more interesting to play. I look forward to whatever you bring to the game in the future! Thanks again for reading.
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