The Sims in the mainstream media

"KatAnubis;c-17830566" wrote:
I get the feeling that people aren't bothering to read the initial article.

I tried, but my own pandemic experience is so vastly different from hers that I only skimmed that article after the first few sentences. For me as a young Gen X/Older Millennial it is hard to imagine how someone can feel hollow with the internet at their disposal and all the opportunities to learn and to connect to people. I did, however, take from the article that the author is only using The Sims as a metaphor for her own situation, she doesn't seem to be a gamer (else she'd probably used 1090s rpgs or MMO quest/leveling as her metaphor of choice).

With that out of the way, I don't find the game repetitive. I'm a story player and the same task to me feels different depending on what sims I have them do. Two rivals going up the slopes to ski will feel different than a happy family, despite me clicking the exact same sequence of pie menu strings. It's all in my head and when the game slaps a sentiment on my sims, that is already too much for me. The game doesn't know my sims, its job is to simulate the weather, the workplace performance, basically everything physical in the outside world.
For this reason Sims 4 works for me. (Sims 2 still makes me feel being in control more than Sims 4, despite the wants/fears system that is very easily cheesed by abusing dates.) However, as you already said, if one wants to plunge into a dynamic world to adventure in, then Sims 4 comes across as bland and limited. There's no consistency in sims actions, they only live in the moment, governed by their current emotional state. I can see how that hit home with the article's author, seeing how trapped and disconnected from the "real" world she feels.

I played a (indefinitely on hold) legacy on the side where I don't allow a story (otherwise I'd get distracted from the legacy goals and never finish that playthrough). After four generations of grinding skills and aspirations I still wouldn't call the game repetitive, but certainly not challenging. The "challenge" of Sims 4 is not surviving, but striving in the most efficient way. In that it compares to browser or idle games: you are never in danger of "losing", the only question is how far you progress in an hour.