What’s your opinion on lore/ backstories in The Sims?

While I don't play with the premade families, either, it does add a nice sense of wholeness to the game. One doesn't move into a neighborhood without learning something of their neighbors after a time. I miss it, actually. I also miss the newspapers to 'catch' up on the doings of the other Sims. So much has been stripped away, but sadly the innovations are such, that going backward for a few perks just isn't satisfying either. I know others have complained about getting the same things in each iteration, but what I'm looking for is the fun of what came before coupled with and added to the innovations of the newer. Think about it. This is what I would ask for in Sims5.

The actual Sims themselves don't do much for me because I like to create my own characters and stories, but I enjoy some references which builds the whole interconnectedness of the franchise.

With some of the lots I remodelled in Willow Creek I used a few names to give a bit of "history" to the businesses that I created:

"Ayeffen;c-17404629" wrote:
Joining Landgraab & Co are popular chains like SBC (Simoleon Banking Corporation), Caliente Fashion, Cassandra's Cakes, and world famous chef Daniel Pleasant's new restaurant, 'Fredesche Wompf'.

I miss it so much. I've recreated the Sims 1 and Sims 2 characters and set it up so I can re experience playing with their stories in the Sims 4.

I like it vague. More intricate backstories and scenarios alway felt like playing with someone else's dollies or that my stories are only fanfics. I think it's telling that I got into playing the premades in Desiderata Valley, Sims 2's least developed neighborhood and characters. It had just enough storyhooks to work with, while not being too much in my face.

The instances where they tried to built their own lore in Sims 4, like the two universities, actually put me off. Now I have to retcon existing lore to fit my world instead of simply being able to build my unis from the ground up.

Until joining this forum and watching plumbellas videos I never knew lore was a thing in the game. I knew there were pre-made sims but never previously played them. Now I have some generations of the goths, villareal and some of the newer pre-makes from the recent packs in the game but they are mainly supporting characters. The landgraabs at one point played a bigger role and then one of my sims killed them off. So sim lore and most pre-mades I have not much interest in them.

I've never played with premades much, except to marry them into my Sim's family. But I did enjoy their backstories and I grew attached to them. I became even more attached to them after I started playing Sims 4.

In Sims 4, because they don't have any depth to them, I've deleted all of the premades and replaced them with re-creations of Sims 2 premades. My houses are full of Sims 2 premades and townies. Because of the way the game works, they still don't have quite the same depth and humor to them, but I like them better.

I miss them. I would always use them as a jumping off point when I played with the premades and didn't have any ideas.I hope they bring them back if they do make a sims 5.

While it’s never been a necessity to me, it’s always been something I enjoyed in my worlds and my towns. Backstories and biographies to the Sims around my household made the town feel much more alive, and made many (like Thorton Wolff from the Sims 3 being one of my favourites) have a permanent place in my heart. Even if I don’t play with premades often, worlds feel much more lively and real when they’re fleshed out, and it’s a feature I miss deeply in The Sims 4.

I love lore, and it's one area I'd love to see improved upon (although with TS4 I have extrapolated heavily on what we do get for Sims like Johnny and the Vatores). Give me that good story stuff!

I miss the lore. I didn't play with pre-mades much to be honest, but it's nice when you see them around town and know a bit about them. I know I can make it up myself, and I do for my own sims, but if I'm playing with a pre-made, they should be pre-made and have their story too, not just be a pretty face.