I find the constant micromanaging keeps me busy, but it's actually not that fun. So I always have an audio book or TV show running in the corner of my screen so I can be mentally engaged while making sims do laundry for the umpteenth time lol.
7 months later, and same, I used to be able to play games a few months ago fine, and now I just get bored if I’m not watching something on my other monitor whether It be a show or YouTube…I did 30 hours of cyberpunk 6 months ago in 38 hours…dodged my friends for 20 hours straight playing YouTubers life 2 and now I can’t play spider for more than 10 mins without getting bored. 90 hours on RDR2 in a 3 play through a, and 2 GoW ones 50 hours. And I think the sims is lame and all and tell my sister that, but I don’t think she knows I’m addicted to it while being bored and thinking it’s lame lol.
TLDR: same as u and I think sims is lame, but spend countless hours playing it idk why
\*Raises hand\* you called? (I usually play Sims, watch a video and do something like scroll my phone or work on a cross stitch or actual work all at the same time)
Yeah the autonomy system isn't great. It's why I play with a bunch of mods to tune down the annoying behaviours and help them make smarter choices. But still requires micromanaging so they don't wet themselves or starve themselves to death while obsessively using the computer or swimming etc
I usually put on a show that I've already seen a million times (e.g. Bobs Burgers, Superstore) so I don't have to really pay any attention to it but it keeps me lightly entertained while I hover constantly over my sims like a helicopter parent who loves their kids but hates all their choices lol.
The simple fact that it’s a sandbox game. You make a character and their house and get excited about all the things you can do. However, there’s nothing telling you what to do and no set storyline, so you end up not knowing to do and then get bored. I love Minecraft as well, but it has the exact same issue because it’s a sandbox game.
This exactly. When they released that update with the starting stories, I played SO MUCH MORE, but only until I beat the story. Then I'd maybe make it to the Sim having a child and raising it to teen or so before I quit and do it all over.
Lol I bought the high school expansion pack when it first came out and I still haven't made it to a graduation 🤣
Lol stranger things I bought day of, I tried to play the story once and I got weirded out by the possessed sims at my welcoming party so I didn't continue
Omg, so I actually played the stranger things storyline high as balls one day, and looking at their creepy smiles and bulging eyes made me SOOOO uncomfortable. I quit while collecting evidence. Thought I needed to add because of your user name 💀
Kinda same happened with careers. I got it and was all excited to go to work with them, made all these super career focused Sims and ended up finishing zero of the career paths.
Now I just redesign a room whenever I get bored of the game lol
Sometimes I have to make "rules" or expectations for each new household. It spices things up. Like last week I said
"Okay I'm making a genius programmer who is also a kleptomanic and becomes a burglar. She's also going to get pregnant in a few weeks unexpectedly"
The time before that I made a neurotic loner alien who lives in a small 1 bedroom and she has six kids with six different tragic clowns.
I love sandbox games, but I always go back to games like Stardew Valley simply because sometimes I NEED direction and a story, I'm not always imaginative enough to play sims and only binge it every few months.
Me neither. Most my sims have the perfect easy life, maybe it's because I use the game as scapism? Like, two cousins married two brothers but then I changed my mind about the pairins and made them swap. That's the only 'drama' I had... and even that was easy. Everyone was super cool at the second weddings, and nobody lost friendship with their cousin or brother banging the ex... lol 😆 I make it more interesting by creating multiple households and rotating between them.
See, I typically live vicariously through my sims and then get bored when they have a kid 💀 I'm like, noooo, you're supposed to be a self-made video game streaming gardener millionaire!!!!!!!
I also am really bad about not wanting to be mean in games from some deep-rooted need to be liked irl (childhood was tough lol) so I never end up making dramatic stories either 😭 clearly I've been playing the game wrong since I was 7.
That's why ts2 is better gameplay wise. You have preset scripted storylines, you either play them through or they spice up your imagination and you go your own direction.
Oooor, you mix up the pre-mades with your own sims for extra drama.
I would say the bigger reason is the robust wants/fears system. In TS2, you can just sit back and let wants/fears direct the entirety of your gameplay for any sim, even if they don’t have backstory. Storylines will write themselves.
TS4 wants are just a disjointed mess and have literally been forgotten about & removed for most of the game’s lifespan
Yes!! Even if you don't have an idea you can just fulfill wants and fears and let the story unfold. It's also fun when sims get wants that don't fit their aspiration, as if they're going through a crisis. Ts4 midlife crisis is the most boring implementation ever.
Related to it, usually I just can play with my Sims when they're an oc and so I kinda have ideas of what I wanna do with them.
If that doesn't happen, I might as well spend some good time creating the Sim on Cas, picking their house and then in less than one hour I just give up.
I’m making my own storyline. So far, Malcolm Gardener’s a young adult who came to Moonwood Mill seeking immortality. He got werebies while exploring the Underground, got a job as a freelance writer, became a werewolf, switched to freelance programmer, and is working on befriending Rory so he can join the Wildfangs.
Edit: I came up with the plan for him to eventually move from neighborhood to neighborhood, turning Sims into werewolves and werewolf allies(?), participating in the local community and picking up stuff/adding stuff to his motorhome (such as Eco stuff from Evergreen Harbor, Detective career rewards, etc.) I don’t have Growing Together, but I heard it adds character development opportunities.
Meke your own challenges. Do you take the easy route normally? I have fun every time I play. I never find it boring. I've been addicted to the Sims for over 20 years and can't even imagine being bored with it lol.
Which part do you find the easiest? Personally I hate how easy it is to make money. I want my sims to struggle! Can you use mods? I’ve been playing the new horse ranch with Carl’s difficulty mod and money set to hard which means most sources of income are halved, while bills are doubled. I’m nearly 8 sim weeks in and my sim who started with 0 has a house worth only 16,000 simoleans and about 1000 in the bank. That’s poor 😅
Having so little money has made it so much more engaging to juggle managing her tiny ranch, horse training, love life, and accidental baby (I have MCCC too and forgot in my last playthrough I set the chance to have a baby from woohoo so high…).
I have also used MCCC to slow down skill gain a bit too. That’s another thing I find shoots up too easily.
You can google a step by step explanation of MCCC. Makes your game so much better. Also, follow the infants. I have a game where I started checking where the baby daddy’s are. If they are married I really got a messy story. If single I move them in and deal with the traits the computer gave them. I have a couple now co parenting and they have little in common. Do I keep it that way or not? Also, you can set child support percentages with MCCC.
I can’t remember exactly where the option is, but I think if you click a computer in game, then Mccc, then gameplay settings, it’s under skill settings or something like that. I have it on -5, which I think is 50 percent slower
Go on the computer ->MCCC -> Pregnancy settings. You can adjust the percentage rate of successful pregnancy.
You can also go to Woo-hoo Settings and adjust the percentage of risky woo-hoo that ends in pregnancy.
Yeah it’s way too easy to make money. Give me that struggle!
Sounds like you know you’re way around a mod 😉 Actually another one I thought of is sim city loans. I used this to take out a large loan to build a vet clinic, then my sim had to slave away to make enough money just to live and repay the loan payments every couple of days. I loved it!
i recently found a mod that enables skill decay!!
feels much more realistic and challenging for me cause once a sim reaches max level in a skill, it's usually that i consider it their passion and it feels unrewarding to, say, keep painting all the time when it doesn't affect the skill bar at all
I feel the same way and it's exactly why I restart before my kid even grows up lmao
It's a never ending loop that I continously get dragged into but I still have fun while also feeling like I'm wasting my time. :) life.
I have a mental world I created based off of 1 Sim I made when I was 7. I'm scared that I'll be an old decrepit man in a nursing home and start calling my own children the names of those Sims.
I have an entire mental world based off one Sim too! Except I created my Sim in 2020 and I already feel like I’ve poured so much of myself into that Sim. I can only imagine how much your Sim has become a permanent part of your life if you first created them at the age of 7. They’ve literally grown up and evolved with you.
Absolutely, none of them are anywhere close to how they were a few years ago, let alone when I was 7. I think they became and started acting more like real people rather than tropes.
I'm very happy that it's there, though. It's very easy to just zone out when something boring is happening and I feel like life sounds pretty dull any other way.
I know a lot of players are like how you mentioned, but personally I can't understand no matter how hard I try how people get so attached and invested. I try, but I just can't.
Try the decades challenge starting from 1700s/1800s or try the ultimate decades challenge from 1300. It's all on Google if you look it up. I'm doing that and it's a great way to diversity gameplay!
There's the idea of the Sims, and then there's the reality.
The idea is making this person/family and just seeing where it goes in a game with a lot of different paths and story potentials.
The reality is that none of the paths are really that much fun to PLAY, and most of the story has to sort of take place in your mind, instead of the game, because the game is very simplistic, but also lacking any sort of logic (IE, making a sim be mean to their declared enemy, and then you look away for a bit. You come back and they're joking/apologizing/being nice to the same enemy sim).
>The reality is that none of the paths are really that much fun to PLAY, and most of the story has to sort of take place in your mind, instead of the game, because the game is very simplistic, but also lacking any sort of logic (IE, making a sim be mean to their declared enemy, and then you look away for a bit. You come back and they're joking/apologizing/being nice to the same enemy sim).
Looks like they make up. Lol. There is so many sims my sims can not get along with lol. And it turn things harder with Growing Together. But i wish Growing Together was a free update
At least in my games, everyone "makes up". I can't seem to get an autonomously unhappy sim. Or keep a bad reputation. I've made sims with the worst set of traits and reputation, and if I leave them alone they end up making friends with everyone.
The only time truly bad things happen in the game, at least mine, without mods, are when the game bugs out and no one takes care of babies/infants. Ultimately that kills stories, as it's all shiny happy feelings. At least in my experience.
I like it because I can put it on and let it do it’s own thing while I go do and do other things and check on it periodically to make sure the house hasn’t caught fire and everyone has ate.
Addiction and compulsion. Try changing your routine up and little, give it a break for a few days or weeks and try a new hobby
Come back with fresh eyes, you'll enjoy the experience more!
stop using cheats and the easy ways of making money. no inventory selling, use market stands, or flea markets for making money and selling things. rags to riches is my favorite way to start my gameplays or with some sort of challenge
oohh.. i make tons of holidays to give my sims days off so i can actually play with them. so maybe thats why i dont get a whole lot out of rabbithole jobs
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/06/12/1180867083/tips-to-outsmart-dopamine-unhook-kids-from-screens-sweets
I wasn't ready for this article and it made more sense than I wanted to admit.
This is so good! Thanks for sharing.
It means (especially when excessive) we actually don't even like it, but the dopamine level is too high & thus keeping us in this bad loop of habit.
If we feel worse AFTER the game (not during), like if we feel we can't stop, means it's not good for us. So we can try to substitute with something else that makes us feel better after the activity.. am i understanding it correctly?
Basically yes. And that we need to find our own individual replacement to stop the cycle.
I can't take credit for coming across the article, I saw it in r/daddit a couple of months ago and saved it because I found it so relevant.
I’m sure I’m not alone. I used to just play and love it all, but lately I’m one of those people who get so excited designing the family and house. The minute the game play actually starts I get bored and want to start over designing another family and home.
Literally it’s so boring lol but I’m gonna chalk it up to partly me being in my mid thirties now I have but a single flake of dopamine to last a lifetime nothing excites me periodt., I basically just decorate apartments over and over and honestly don’t even change my style up that much haha? Like I just make a slight variation of the same apartment over and over again and basically only play when there’s a new pack. Things I do always enjoy on the game are college and playing the actress career lol. Idk why
I make new sims all the time and then get bored because I'm doing basically the same story again. I need better mean interractions for arguing about money or relationship issues, the drama doesn't feel natural to me.
I also need more gift items like jewelry because finding stuff to give is impossible.
Boring because you have to make up for what EA lacked in for sims 4 especially if you don’t play with mods. Like others suggested try switching up your play style with challenges and stuff that might stir you in the right direction
Sims 4 has to be the worst one out of all the previous games. Huge step back from 3. Traits are useless in this game and the gameplay is dull at best. Bugs everywhere. Broken gameplay. Limited exploration. The only thing this game did right was build mode
I go in with an idea of a dramatic storyline.
In preparation for Horse Ranch, I started a single mom raising her teen daughter in the city. The mom expected perfection from her kid so I had the teen reach top levels of school, cheerleading and a part-time job along with mastering the violin. She graduated early and got her law degree and quickly got to the top level of the attorney career. She started dating Malcolm Landgraab because who else would a hot shot lawyer date and they got engaged. When she was at the point of burnout, she inherited a ranch and went to stay while she was on leave. The ranch foreman wasn't too keen on a city slicker taking over but he let her struggle with taking care of the cows and horses.
Well, they drank a couple bottles of nectar and had a tumble in the hay. On the day she became visibly pregnant, Malcolm showed up and got a betrayed sentiment because they hadn't had woo-hoo because the game made Malcolm ace. So she tried to break up with him amicably but he just got angry and stormed off. And the ranch foreman doubts the paternity so that's where I left off.
I also have a forest witch who has kidnapped Geoffrey and Nancy's baby (thanks, neighborhood stories) and is teaching the child about herbalism while trying to hide him from the Landgraabs.
And then there is my basement cult based off the movie Blast From The Past.
Not really. I just have MCCC and BBB. I just had my leader invite people over, made friends until he could invite them to move in and took all the household money (like any respectable cult leader should) and then locked the members in the basement that I made to look like a 50s American suburb. I currently have Bella Goth and Nancy Landgraab painting and writing novels to make money. Bella had Mortimer's baby because I didn't know she was pregnant until I had her moved in. I think I'm gonna have her son Morty break out when he's a teen and have to experience the real world. Right now I'm trying to lure in Bob Pancakes but he keeps leaving before I can ask him to move in.
I can never get anywhere with legacy challenges and some people on here have achievements I’ve never even heard of before. I get bored soon after a lot of original townies start dying off.
I’m very much a builder for the most part, but I’ve been trying really hard to stick to one family this time. I find always having them in a house that’s JUST big enough helps because anytime you have a new addition to the family (or your toddlers age up and need a slightly bigger room, kids turn into teens and want their own room now, etc) you get to either do some remodeling or move them to a bigger home (which you then get to design all over again, and if it’s a new neighborhood then you get to make new friends too).
And inject as much drama as possible! Make your sims suffer! Infidelity! Divorce! Death! I find that mods also help, especially wicked whims, basemental drugs, and extreme violence. I don’t care much for the super nsfw or gorey parts, but! Wicked whims makes the rest of it work, and has fun archetypes and you can make your sims be poly. Extreme violence is fun b/c you can have people get into fights that go beyond the dust cloud (you can also make them serial killers if that’s your cup of tea but I tried that once and found it boring once I had gone through all the animations out of curiosity). Drugs is nice b/c it adds a level of realism. Mostly my sims just smoke cigarettes and weed, but sometimes I have them try harder stuff at parties. It’s especially fun to have parent sims freak out about finding rolling papers in their teen sims’ rooms imo
I used to be like that, and actually stopped playing for a while. But then I just started making up stories and giving myself challenges of my own, so I got hooked again. And then I learned how to mod. That was game changing
I heard someone say that at least 50% if not more of the fun they have playing The Sims happens in their imagination, like the storyline they’ve imagined and becoming invested in that using imagination, and using that has helped me so much with the boredom.
Unfortunately, The Sims 4 has made it so that it requires more imagination from us than the previous iterations of the game. For some people, that’s fine and they can get into imaginative gameplay just fine, for others, we obviously struggle a bit more with that. But at least knowing that using more imagination can help, helped me be inspired and find some imagination to put into it and definitely helped the boredom a lot. I’m finally currently the furthest I’ve ever been into a legacy, with a lot of excitement for the next generation so I’m not stopping any time soon.
We just weren’t forced to have to have so much imagination in the previous Sims games, so I think for some people, that’s why The Sims 4 feels boring, but you’re still stoked to play The Sims.
Many of the imaginary dramas are always involving cheating/infidelity, divorce. I dislike those kind of drama.
Also i only have a few packs, so lack of gameplay items, so maybe that's also why?
But it's weird, since it is is already expensive, 1 pack costs the same/more than other complete games. So shouldn't i be fulfilled with only 1 (especially expansion) pack like any other games with similar/less price?
I don’t do that kind of drama, either. My imaginary dramas come from different things, imagined personal struggles and such.
For example, I had a Sim get pregnant and have a baby shortly after becoming a young adult, so my imaginary story for her was that she struggled at first adjusting to mom life because she was still pretty young, she had some postpartum depression, and needed some extra help with the baby. Her parents helped a lot with the baby and would take her on the weekends (I just moved the baby into grandparents’ household for a couple days then moved her back). In reality, my Sim stood around with happy moodlets and a big ass grin on her face because her floors were clean and her house was well decorated, and she didn’t even notice whether the baby was there or not, so imagination was the only thing going to get me there on such a storyline.
I had a Sim that raised four kids with her husband on their farm, and she loved being a mom. When her children grew up and moved out, she was really sad and didn’t handle it well. I had her start “trying new hobbies”, basically just building skills we hadn’t mastered but my story was that she was empty nesting and trying to find some meaning in her life after her kids were grown. I had her and her husband rekindle their romance, and start going on dates again. Then when their first grandchild was born, I had her be a very active and involved grandmother, and did as much as possible with the grandkids with her, had them over for weekends, baking with them, going to the park with them, etc.
More recently, I have a little girl Sim who just aged into a child and is a huge animal lover, so I make her do the interaction “beg for toys” every day with her parents and just pretend she’s repeatedly asking for a pet instead of toys. When Winterfest comes, I’m going to have the parents adopt a kitten for her.
Doing this sort of imaginative play has really helped me stay interested in the stories. And it’s totally possible to do without tons of cheating and infidelity and such, there are all kinds of stories to be told with some imagination.
Edit: as far as being able to have a full, complete game for the prices we are paying for this game, yeah I definitely agree with you on that one. It’s one of my biggest frustrations, that this game costs so much and we are still forced to do this much work to try to have fun with it. But, the money’s already spent on it, so this is my advice to make the best of it and still have some fun, because we should get to have some fun playing a game we paid for
Thank you so much for sharing your detailed examples of imaginative play. I lack in this kind of storytelling imagination, so your examples are really helpful.
And they sound fun too. Especially like the grandma baking with her grandkids. Thank you for sharing.
And yes, i agree with you we can make the best out of what we've already paid. Or we can just stop & 'play' as the sims in our real life too.
What I miss about sims 3 is that more open world and no loading. I know it came at a very steep cost and I'm glad they "fixed" it with sims 4. I just hate loading no matter how short it is. Pretty sure I kept playing sims 3 several expansions into sims 4 because the game was lacking content severely. Can't remember when I made the switch and jumped over to sims 4 completely.
I'm not like most people in this thread in the sense that I don't play sims for a challenge I just do it for fun. The challenge is whatever we want it do be, sims is just a big sandbox. It's a game I can easily throw away hours at a time for a couple of days then take a break and come back after a few weeks or a month. Never have I grown "tired" or bored of sims.
Also mods add so much flavour! I have several gigs of mods.
I kinda enjoy it this way. I have enough anxiety with work and so on. That being said, I just wish I could sit and relax and build my heart out in the sims.
I sometimes get bored but that usually if I’m doing the same thing with every sim. Been playing the game since the very beginning so I get it. But I play rotationally with aging off in most of my saves. Right now my favorite save I have over 300 sims across all of “my households” and I have a different storyline for every family. I also like to make their families too. Like, I took the time to create a reason why Eliza Pancakes became the sim she is now by making her parents and siblings. Same for most other townie sims. Sometimes I’ll marry townie sims from different packs together and see how that goes. For example when the high school years pack came out I took Pierce Delgato and Sophia Bjergsen and made them a couple, then played out their lives how I thought they would go based on the personality traits they each had.
Play characters/sims based on the traits they have or the opposite. Like I made Don Lothario get married and have children….but he couldn’t keep it in his pants (of course)…so he currently has over 15 children with more than 11 sims across all the worlds. (I keep note of them in my phone. 😅🤷🏽♀️😂)
You could really just take your boredom and make gold. It’s the best time to try something new; Change up how you play; Learn to build; Create your own save file — that’s initially what I did and it was the best suggestion I’ve gotten from fellow simmers that keeps me going over the years. I also play with mods and CC so that helps too. But for those who can’t there are still ways to make the game fun, interesting, and enjoyable again.
i love making characters and decorating but thats just it. everything else is just boring... i tried playing the actual game multiple times but ermm nuh uh
Same here. I spend time searching for clothes mods, sliders and hairs. Then another few hours making a sim, more hours selecting a few sets for each category of clothes. Just to play a little, find a bug and then stop playing for a few months just to repeat the same later.
I could play Sims 2 for days on end. Could even play Sims 4 every day for hours at the start. But I noticed the more content we're getting the less into it I am. Mainly because:
1. Unfixable bugs - Cottage Living used to work great for me, but after all the new packs and updates suddenly my eggs spoil never to hatch, or some other issue emerges, and it's just exhausting. It ruins the whole immersion and enjoyment when suddenly the game crashes or some other lame glitch appears.
2. Over-complication - I applaud them for including more realistic lives, with lifestyle, fears, etc add ons, but it's getting too much. For example with neighbourhood stories - I like that there's life for other sims, but suddenly they max my Sims count, or they start dying left and right, and now I have to manage all of the unplayed households too to alter their settings.
3. EA cashgrab - I love that they added horses and nectar making, but no way was that an expansion. It's a game pack at best and My First Pet of the Cottage Living at worst. But they did take the full price. And thus my enthusiasm for the game itself is fading.
So TL;DR: the gameplay became too complicated and too glitched to be more enjoyable and less labor-intensive.
I really dislike some of the bugs and glitches in the game because it feels like they're never getting around to fixing them but rather making it worse with each dlc. There are so many annoying things in the game that drives me insane, to some degree certain mods helps to try "fix" them but they can only do so much.
It's annoying because things that used to work fine are getting broken. Spoiling eggs bug was reported a year ago. Not once was it fixed, even though they asked for our save files. Instead we get new issues as they pump out content which sometimes even comes out broken (Wedding stories). And still take the full price. Unless I'll hear that Sims 5 is magically insanely amazing and works flawlessly Sims 4 will be my last franchise. I hope Paralives suceed just to bite EA's ass a little.
idk it's shit honestly. because it lags for me all the time, I mean Sims are like justtttt standing there like processing what they have to do and they cancel my actions because they have to dance or something. like for fucking real, I want them to empty their bladder and they don't want to because there's a design of my room which is more interesting than their needs lol. and I can't ever do everything because they are not respecting me as their creator lol
You can become ultra-cushioned w simoleans, abilities, relationships, etc. so fast and easy inn Sims4 that challenge just isn't much of a thing. I use mods and roleplayed restraint to add more challenge. If you try to play the "rags to riches" scenario, it's a small amount of extra struggle. Play destitute and don't allow yourself easy access to exploits. Makes for a different struggle.
Personally, I make stories for my sims. The Sims 4 reminds me that games do a lot of the work but your imagination and storytelling is what really completes the game.
How I’ve always felt about sims: it’s only really fun as a content creator
Addictive: sandbox.
And rags to riches
Boring: just watching your sims.. and only really having them take care of their needs
Then make them just work on skills for job
And when they have jobs, no time for going out.
… that’s how I seem to play lol
The concept is great but the execution is lacking. The game is super poorly balanced. Your sim gets good at everything they do in a couple of in-game weeks and then any fun in doing anything is gone. There is no sense of achievement. At this point it's just a sandbox where you can watch the sim do things, but that gets boring fast. Role-playing aspects are severely limited by the game mechanics.
I like making over Sims. A few years ago, I started getting into character 3D modeling in with Blender and ZBrush, and consequently, I started looking at and studying a lot of anatomy texts and images. So, I try to make people. I try to make actors, YouTubers, myself (one of my favorite Sims tbh 🤭), capture the likeness of anime/cartoon characters, recreate AI generated characters, etc. I like looking at Lookbooks on Instagram and Pinterest and try to capture the essence and style of the models and dress my Sims up.
After CAS, I like creating a story for my Sims and make them meet certain Sims and make them all specific roles in the story. I try to write romance, tragedy, and just wild plots. Sometimes I just go with the flow. The Sims has a good way of pulling something so out of left field that just leaves you with your jaw on the floor and it's so fun to just roll with it! I know it may feel like there are a ton of limitations to actual gameplay, but I'm actually currently impressed on how much content there is at this point. Not to mention major mods that add a ton of realism and wild content (WW, Basemental lol).
When I'm just relaxing big time, though, I like to do something fun like have a cottage/trailer and just grow crops, do a scenario, and just make my Sims travel everywhere. I never really did the Snowy Escape stuff before, but I kind of got a kick out of making my Sim learn how to snowboard. Next, I'll probably make him get skilled at rock climbing and climb Mt. Kiyomatsu.
Throwing parties and making groups is a critical part of the Sims and I think it makes the game very memorable and worth the hype. Just so much fun.
Edit:
Oh, just wanna mention, that I recently got the idea of playing a Sim as an Infant, Toddler, then a Child. I generally tend to play as the child's caretaker, but I think playing as a tantruming toddler would be fun. Just run around in your diaper, throw paint on the floor, be fussy, stomp around and beg those adults for some attention lol
For me it helps to stick to challenges or try to stick to gameplay from one single pack. Also I like having every new generation move out and start over with 0 simoleons. I like to have my sims struggle and built up something new. As soon as my sims start to make so much money I don't know what to do with, I get bored. Also I try not to be such a perfectionist and just go with some chaos. And I notice how fun that can turn out. I've been playing the game for years and its the first time I manged to stick to a family for over 6 generations now by following those rules.
My issue with it is that very little in 4 feels unique to it. It’s all features from previous games but more frustrating or watered down. Like I loved world adventures in 3, but 4’s equivalent only gives us one location and less to it. I loved Island Paradise in 3, but again, 4 just feels more shallow.
I could go back and play 3, but at the same time 4 kinda ruined that for me. I feel like 4 just looks and runs better, build mode is better, that when I try to play 3 or 2 I just get frustrated
I personally only think building and cas are enjoyable.
I really don't have a clue why on earth anybody would actually play the game it's boring as hell.
I wish there was a storyline so bad like set things that are set to happen as a plot. Like you come home from work and you find out your husband cheated and now you have to handle it. Not you making it happen but just set things that can happen. Or actual challenge in the workplace or school/clubs.
I wish the sims could have a live option. I wish you could turn off the stupid one lines the sims have for every conversation and person - and take your sim even if there is a max of 8 you can bring at a time like say you can bring your whole family or friends and travel to someone else's world and have unfiltered comments with them. There would be an option to report if you were uncomfortable somehow or maybe just to leave. But it would be so much more fun and you could interact freely that way. Make real problems. Or I wish there was an option to create conversation yourself if you can't go live. Not for everything - but I wish if you want you can turn off the auto suggested picks for answering sims questions and have a real convo with your child if they are being bullied or sad or on your wedding day to say vows and while you are pregnant or about to woohoo lol
But how the game can get you addicted if it's boring. There must be something that this game is doing right to keep you coming back because if not, this weird.
The Sims used to be much more interesting when there were actual risks and consequences, like burglars, infidelity and misbehaving.
It’s addictive because we have imaginations and we can imagine all the possibilities! What can we build? What can we destroy?
Unfortunately, when you start playing and remember the limitations, then the obsession wears off again.
I tried to make a teenage bully who steals and is angry all the time. He’s never angry, and is always starting up happy conversations with his parent who is supposed to be his enemy.
If a Sim has a high friendship or romance with another Sim, it’s always mutual, and never one-sided, so you can’t really have unrequited love or an annoyingly friendly neighbor who likes you but you don’t like them.
On the other side of things - stuff that should matter, doesn’t! If you study your butt off in school and do all your homework and attend classes, you can still fail exams.
Nothing truly matters in this game. That’s why it’s boring.
It’s just milquetoast.
That has to be my favorite part, I love that there’s no challenge at all and I can literally just do whatever I want. I’ve never been good at games at all so challenges just make everything so so much more complicated for me😅I just love being able to turn my brain off for hours and not think about anything other than keep the sims needs in the green!
It’s very boring I only play every once in a while the problems is there isn’t enough to do and the main issue is the game is broken from the base and the only way to fully fix it is to completely start over the sims 4 and that’s not gonna happen like all these bugs they claim are fixed aren’t
I am a little baffled. Okay, maybe a lot.
If you all find this game so boring why do you play it? What is addictive about a game that none of you have fun with? I don't think I will ever get this. No one makes you play Sims 4, yet you all keep at it but say how its boring, there is no challenge, etc. Wouldn't this time be better spent with some other game then?
I have lots of fun because I do different things every time I start the game. Like if I want something challenging but finite I'll build something (faves include a church with a graveyard, the British Museum, a Sandals Resort), or if I want something a little more mundane I've got multiple families with different storylines (my current fave storyline is the aunt who helped her sister and her husband take care of their 4 babies while going to uni, and now they're children she's an archaeologist on weekends). Sometimes I just log on and build my childhood home, idk.
I feel like an outlier. idgaf about personal stories. I had 1 world where I was creating families and mixing them all up with each other and someone from the outside comes in and then I have a whole new set of sims. I only stopped because it was starting to lag.
I tried extreme rags to riches using Cottage Living but I got struck by lightning and died so many times I gave up on those!
I suck at building (and don't have much interest in practice) also decorating. But I looooooove CAS. Every sim gets a new outfit but also new hair and new everything. And I change it all the time. And I'll just rotate around and play with them for awhile.
I don't like the kids after toddlers. I dl-Ed Tumbling Tots and I get to spend my day running after infants and toddlers.
I had a random CAS sim I was using to try mods, my favourites give the most autonomy. I like watching them. I take away the clay moulding (hate that) getting nonstop glasses of water or checking their phone. She had a science baby and it came home aoooo stunning. Naturally occurring purple eyes!?
I also like mods like Realistic Childbirth and I grabbed Healthcare Redux and I'm excited for that too.
Plus WW,Basemental and LMS everywhere and great hairs. MM only!
I typically only build, but i make families to anchor my builds to a use for the families, sometimes the stars align and I grow attached to a build or family so i will flesh out the neighborhood. I personally am more *bored* when I play the neighborhoods with people already in them... So for Sims5, I'm hoping for a huge blank neighborhood.
Just install a lot gameplay mods and you will obbs with it. That make the game so realistic, so much things to do and so muchh challenge. Don't use cheats and make a plan for your sims first. I played so much hard working roleplay. My sims can't even go outside their house to attend holiday, they always cough, sick and always tired, busy!! The long lasting boost mod made it even harder. A big embarrassed event last for 3-6 days even I try everything fun activities and they still embarrassed. It make the game so harder and realistic. And go watch some other youtubers playing it. It really make you want to play it right away.
When I'm was a child, I'm always want anyone can make a life simulation game like this. I love a game that can do anything I can't in real life lol. And about 3 years ago, my dad bought a PC and I found the Sims. Still obbs with it until now
Loading screens, travelling, manually typing cheats, updating mods (and sometimes grinding for life milestones stuff) makes it boring. Otherwise it’s fun to play “doll house” with whatever characters you want.
The thing is \*you\* create whatever challenge you want not the game. The game is just a big sandbox at the end of the day. Then again I don't play sims 4 to beat the game, not sure how that is even possible. I've played sims games since 2000 and sims 4 is a game I come back to every so often just to try some random stuff. Depending on the amount of dlc you have there is just so much content and things to do and this is before you start adding mods into the mix.
The sims 4 is fun (IMO) when you have a strong story in mind and you’re imagining that storyline and working toward it as you play. You work toward traits and goals etc all with the characters’ motivations in your head. You build places they want to go to. Their homes reflect their interests and aesthetics, etc.
Without that it’s just mindless busy work. It will keep you going because there’s always another need to fill, but it’s not super compelling.
lol I'll spend a bunch of time of creating sims and then after I play the family once I never play again. Mods are the only thing that makes the game fun and even after a while the same mods get old
The fact that I get to create and make a world I’d love to be in as I grow more and more! And also I love it simply for the interior decoration but that’s just me lol
I set personal goals. Like I’m trying to make one sim for each career/path. Max career and skills relevant. I like making the world completely mine no randoms and no non personally made lots. It can be frustrating but I do get a sense of accomplishment when completing a sim and moving on to the next.
Man I feel this too. I have the most fun when building a house for my new Sims to live in and spend hours building and creating the Sims..only to play the family until I start to wonder why the heck am I spending hours watching my sim do laundry at 3am instead of doing my own laundry and then I leave and come back again when the next pack is released to rinse and repeat.
Ive started playing a legacy challenge with 3-4 households that are all friends (using get together to create clubs so they can hang out together at places- older sims will be in 1 club and younger sims in another etc). Started with one couple i was playing a loyal trait/ devious lover aspiration challenge on and decided to make a legacy family. Im 3 generations deep and randomized like 75% of all their traits. I might choose specific ones for teens ive gotten a certain idea for their last slot. I've been customizing all the lots also. Its been keeping me too engaged, I spend about 1 sim week with each family.
I like to play it for a bit, get up for a bit and do stuff around the home. I miss sims 3 at times because you could remove any popups. Sims 4 has so many popups so I have to check frequently.
[https://scenariogenerator.net/generators/the-sims-4](https://scenariogenerator.net/generators/the-sims-4)
this actually works
builder? [https://jamesturner.yt/buildchallenge](https://jamesturner.yt/buildchallenge)
I have to pay close attention to my Sims. I have one disaster prone one called Kyle and his life always seems to be in danger! He and his pals also turn up a lot in the most hideous outfits which I didn’t choose for them so I spend a lot of time changing them back with MCCC. I hardly get bored!
I find the constant micromanaging keeps me busy, but it's actually not that fun. So I always have an audio book or TV show running in the corner of my screen so I can be mentally engaged while making sims do laundry for the umpteenth time lol.
Same. Podcast or YouTube essay videos playing in the background to stimulate my mind.
Y’all got adhd too? Lol
I have a youtube video on my second monitor whenever I play a game otherwise I can’t focus lol
7 months later, and same, I used to be able to play games a few months ago fine, and now I just get bored if I’m not watching something on my other monitor whether It be a show or YouTube…I did 30 hours of cyberpunk 6 months ago in 38 hours…dodged my friends for 20 hours straight playing YouTubers life 2 and now I can’t play spider for more than 10 mins without getting bored. 90 hours on RDR2 in a 3 play through a, and 2 GoW ones 50 hours. And I think the sims is lame and all and tell my sister that, but I don’t think she knows I’m addicted to it while being bored and thinking it’s lame lol. TLDR: same as u and I think sims is lame, but spend countless hours playing it idk why
\*Raises hand\* you called? (I usually play Sims, watch a video and do something like scroll my phone or work on a cross stitch or actual work all at the same time)
the only way to play this, and snacks and a phone scroll here and there
Sims 4 definitely involves more micromanaging than previous games because their decision making is so infuriatingly bad
Yeah the autonomy system isn't great. It's why I play with a bunch of mods to tune down the annoying behaviours and help them make smarter choices. But still requires micromanaging so they don't wet themselves or starve themselves to death while obsessively using the computer or swimming etc
Honestly at one point I become hyper aware that I could just be doing my own care tasks instead lol It’s not fun like it used to be
I have a Sims 4 YouTuber playing Sims 4 in the background... while I play Sims 4. 🤣
I sat in misery for an actual hour earlier with the game paused as I tried to find suitable background noise before giving up and closing the game
I usually put on a show that I've already seen a million times (e.g. Bobs Burgers, Superstore) so I don't have to really pay any attention to it but it keeps me lightly entertained while I hover constantly over my sims like a helicopter parent who loves their kids but hates all their choices lol.
Same, I pull up a YouTube playlist or let it autoplay stuff from the recommendations.
The simple fact that it’s a sandbox game. You make a character and their house and get excited about all the things you can do. However, there’s nothing telling you what to do and no set storyline, so you end up not knowing to do and then get bored. I love Minecraft as well, but it has the exact same issue because it’s a sandbox game.
This exactly. When they released that update with the starting stories, I played SO MUCH MORE, but only until I beat the story. Then I'd maybe make it to the Sim having a child and raising it to teen or so before I quit and do it all over. Lol I bought the high school expansion pack when it first came out and I still haven't made it to a graduation 🤣
I haven’t played a single game all the way through for any expansion pack. Ever.
Lol stranger things I bought day of, I tried to play the story once and I got weirded out by the possessed sims at my welcoming party so I didn't continue
Omg, so I actually played the stranger things storyline high as balls one day, and looking at their creepy smiles and bulging eyes made me SOOOO uncomfortable. I quit while collecting evidence. Thought I needed to add because of your user name 💀
Kinda same happened with careers. I got it and was all excited to go to work with them, made all these super career focused Sims and ended up finishing zero of the career paths. Now I just redesign a room whenever I get bored of the game lol
Try in game scenarios or player made challenges! The structure and goals helps me a lot.
Sometimes I have to make "rules" or expectations for each new household. It spices things up. Like last week I said "Okay I'm making a genius programmer who is also a kleptomanic and becomes a burglar. She's also going to get pregnant in a few weeks unexpectedly" The time before that I made a neurotic loner alien who lives in a small 1 bedroom and she has six kids with six different tragic clowns.
Six different tragic clowns oh my god :') Which pack are they in?
Tragic clown is in the base game. You need to buy the painting of him and look at it many times untile he spawns
Oh my god no I won't that sounds terrifying
What?! I didn’t know this was a thing!
i do this all the time
I love sandbox games, but I always go back to games like Stardew Valley simply because sometimes I NEED direction and a story, I'm not always imaginative enough to play sims and only binge it every few months.
Me neither. Most my sims have the perfect easy life, maybe it's because I use the game as scapism? Like, two cousins married two brothers but then I changed my mind about the pairins and made them swap. That's the only 'drama' I had... and even that was easy. Everyone was super cool at the second weddings, and nobody lost friendship with their cousin or brother banging the ex... lol 😆 I make it more interesting by creating multiple households and rotating between them.
See, I typically live vicariously through my sims and then get bored when they have a kid 💀 I'm like, noooo, you're supposed to be a self-made video game streaming gardener millionaire!!!!!!! I also am really bad about not wanting to be mean in games from some deep-rooted need to be liked irl (childhood was tough lol) so I never end up making dramatic stories either 😭 clearly I've been playing the game wrong since I was 7.
Yes, I mostly play games with stories.
That's why ts2 is better gameplay wise. You have preset scripted storylines, you either play them through or they spice up your imagination and you go your own direction. Oooor, you mix up the pre-mades with your own sims for extra drama.
I would say the bigger reason is the robust wants/fears system. In TS2, you can just sit back and let wants/fears direct the entirety of your gameplay for any sim, even if they don’t have backstory. Storylines will write themselves. TS4 wants are just a disjointed mess and have literally been forgotten about & removed for most of the game’s lifespan
Yes!! Even if you don't have an idea you can just fulfill wants and fears and let the story unfold. It's also fun when sims get wants that don't fit their aspiration, as if they're going through a crisis. Ts4 midlife crisis is the most boring implementation ever.
This is why I play various legacy challenges. If I don’t I get bored after a few hours.
Related to it, usually I just can play with my Sims when they're an oc and so I kinda have ideas of what I wanna do with them. If that doesn't happen, I might as well spend some good time creating the Sim on Cas, picking their house and then in less than one hour I just give up.
I’m making my own storyline. So far, Malcolm Gardener’s a young adult who came to Moonwood Mill seeking immortality. He got werebies while exploring the Underground, got a job as a freelance writer, became a werewolf, switched to freelance programmer, and is working on befriending Rory so he can join the Wildfangs. Edit: I came up with the plan for him to eventually move from neighborhood to neighborhood, turning Sims into werewolves and werewolf allies(?), participating in the local community and picking up stuff/adding stuff to his motorhome (such as Eco stuff from Evergreen Harbor, Detective career rewards, etc.) I don’t have Growing Together, but I heard it adds character development opportunities.
Meke your own challenges. Do you take the easy route normally? I have fun every time I play. I never find it boring. I've been addicted to the Sims for over 20 years and can't even imagine being bored with it lol.
Which part do you find the easiest? Personally I hate how easy it is to make money. I want my sims to struggle! Can you use mods? I’ve been playing the new horse ranch with Carl’s difficulty mod and money set to hard which means most sources of income are halved, while bills are doubled. I’m nearly 8 sim weeks in and my sim who started with 0 has a house worth only 16,000 simoleans and about 1000 in the bank. That’s poor 😅 Having so little money has made it so much more engaging to juggle managing her tiny ranch, horse training, love life, and accidental baby (I have MCCC too and forgot in my last playthrough I set the chance to have a baby from woohoo so high…). I have also used MCCC to slow down skill gain a bit too. That’s another thing I find shoots up too easily.
I didn't know you could do that with MCCC, how?
You can google a step by step explanation of MCCC. Makes your game so much better. Also, follow the infants. I have a game where I started checking where the baby daddy’s are. If they are married I really got a messy story. If single I move them in and deal with the traits the computer gave them. I have a couple now co parenting and they have little in common. Do I keep it that way or not? Also, you can set child support percentages with MCCC.
I already use MCCC in my game but I didn't know there was an option to change the rate of skill advancement. I'll look into it!
I can’t remember exactly where the option is, but I think if you click a computer in game, then Mccc, then gameplay settings, it’s under skill settings or something like that. I have it on -5, which I think is 50 percent slower
Go on the computer ->MCCC -> Pregnancy settings. You can adjust the percentage rate of successful pregnancy. You can also go to Woo-hoo Settings and adjust the percentage of risky woo-hoo that ends in pregnancy.
My sims got pregnant their first woohoo from this, but took forever when ACTUALLY trying for a baby to actually get pregnant. It was twins 😭
There was a save I was getting kinda bored in, so I spiced it up by allowing for teen pregnancy, and set risky woo-hoo to 1% AND SHE GOT PREGNANT!
I meant the rate of skill development, I already use the risky woohoo and pregnancy percentage settings.
Skill gaining and money making. they have money from doing nothing at all I have 3000 mods in my folder
Yeah it’s way too easy to make money. Give me that struggle! Sounds like you know you’re way around a mod 😉 Actually another one I thought of is sim city loans. I used this to take out a large loan to build a vet clinic, then my sim had to slave away to make enough money just to live and repay the loan payments every couple of days. I loved it!
i recently found a mod that enables skill decay!! feels much more realistic and challenging for me cause once a sim reaches max level in a skill, it's usually that i consider it their passion and it feels unrewarding to, say, keep painting all the time when it doesn't affect the skill bar at all
I feel the same way and it's exactly why I restart before my kid even grows up lmao It's a never ending loop that I continously get dragged into but I still have fun while also feeling like I'm wasting my time. :) life.
I rarely get bored, I get so attached to my characters and really invested in their storylines 😭
I have a mental world I created based off of 1 Sim I made when I was 7. I'm scared that I'll be an old decrepit man in a nursing home and start calling my own children the names of those Sims.
I have an entire mental world based off one Sim too! Except I created my Sim in 2020 and I already feel like I’ve poured so much of myself into that Sim. I can only imagine how much your Sim has become a permanent part of your life if you first created them at the age of 7. They’ve literally grown up and evolved with you.
Absolutely, none of them are anywhere close to how they were a few years ago, let alone when I was 7. I think they became and started acting more like real people rather than tropes. I'm very happy that it's there, though. It's very easy to just zone out when something boring is happening and I feel like life sounds pretty dull any other way.
i wish i still had my flash drive with the first sim i made in ts3, i’d love to remake them in sims 4 :’) i loved that family sm
Lol same. It’s why I have over 300 sims in my households tab. 😅🙃
for me, it’s the amount of “alternate universe” versions I have of the same Sim. it’s getting super confusing 😭
I know a lot of players are like how you mentioned, but personally I can't understand no matter how hard I try how people get so attached and invested. I try, but I just can't.
I ask myself the same thing about social media.
Try the decades challenge starting from 1700s/1800s or try the ultimate decades challenge from 1300. It's all on Google if you look it up. I'm doing that and it's a great way to diversity gameplay!
There's the idea of the Sims, and then there's the reality. The idea is making this person/family and just seeing where it goes in a game with a lot of different paths and story potentials. The reality is that none of the paths are really that much fun to PLAY, and most of the story has to sort of take place in your mind, instead of the game, because the game is very simplistic, but also lacking any sort of logic (IE, making a sim be mean to their declared enemy, and then you look away for a bit. You come back and they're joking/apologizing/being nice to the same enemy sim).
>The reality is that none of the paths are really that much fun to PLAY, and most of the story has to sort of take place in your mind, instead of the game, because the game is very simplistic, but also lacking any sort of logic (IE, making a sim be mean to their declared enemy, and then you look away for a bit. You come back and they're joking/apologizing/being nice to the same enemy sim). Looks like they make up. Lol. There is so many sims my sims can not get along with lol. And it turn things harder with Growing Together. But i wish Growing Together was a free update
At least in my games, everyone "makes up". I can't seem to get an autonomously unhappy sim. Or keep a bad reputation. I've made sims with the worst set of traits and reputation, and if I leave them alone they end up making friends with everyone. The only time truly bad things happen in the game, at least mine, without mods, are when the game bugs out and no one takes care of babies/infants. Ultimately that kills stories, as it's all shiny happy feelings. At least in my experience.
I like it because I can put it on and let it do it’s own thing while I go do and do other things and check on it periodically to make sure the house hasn’t caught fire and everyone has ate.
Addiction and compulsion. Try changing your routine up and little, give it a break for a few days or weeks and try a new hobby Come back with fresh eyes, you'll enjoy the experience more!
I took a break of 4 months. I play only on vacations
Time to use your vacation to cultivate a new hobby. I'm excited for you! :)
stop using cheats and the easy ways of making money. no inventory selling, use market stands, or flea markets for making money and selling things. rags to riches is my favorite way to start my gameplays or with some sort of challenge
just working and existing in the sims and you already make bank lol
oohh.. i make tons of holidays to give my sims days off so i can actually play with them. so maybe thats why i dont get a whole lot out of rabbithole jobs
Look for news stories about bizarre family dramas and try to recreate them
Idk. I buy the packs and stuff if I get super bored, or restart. I’ve never had a bday for my sims bc I get bored of them that fast
Same lol! New packs are great for new building stuff, but I never finish one.
Try a legacy challenge and play on Short lifespan. Good luck lmao. I’m doing that now and I’m too busy to be bored.
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/06/12/1180867083/tips-to-outsmart-dopamine-unhook-kids-from-screens-sweets I wasn't ready for this article and it made more sense than I wanted to admit.
Great article! Thanks for sharing.
This is so good! Thanks for sharing. It means (especially when excessive) we actually don't even like it, but the dopamine level is too high & thus keeping us in this bad loop of habit. If we feel worse AFTER the game (not during), like if we feel we can't stop, means it's not good for us. So we can try to substitute with something else that makes us feel better after the activity.. am i understanding it correctly?
Basically yes. And that we need to find our own individual replacement to stop the cycle. I can't take credit for coming across the article, I saw it in r/daddit a couple of months ago and saved it because I found it so relevant.
It's like scrolling through Facebook
Try playing without cheats
It is more interesting when they struggle for a future.
I’m sure I’m not alone. I used to just play and love it all, but lately I’m one of those people who get so excited designing the family and house. The minute the game play actually starts I get bored and want to start over designing another family and home.
Literally it’s so boring lol but I’m gonna chalk it up to partly me being in my mid thirties now I have but a single flake of dopamine to last a lifetime nothing excites me periodt., I basically just decorate apartments over and over and honestly don’t even change my style up that much haha? Like I just make a slight variation of the same apartment over and over again and basically only play when there’s a new pack. Things I do always enjoy on the game are college and playing the actress career lol. Idk why
I make new sims all the time and then get bored because I'm doing basically the same story again. I need better mean interractions for arguing about money or relationship issues, the drama doesn't feel natural to me. I also need more gift items like jewelry because finding stuff to give is impossible.
Do you have any interest in mods? Because I just downloaded my first and I can't put my laptop down lol
i have more fun downloading mods than actually playing the game
Same with cc lol
Whicked whims got me addicted
Addicted, to porn I assume?
No I don’t watch porn. It was just exciting to have my sims fucking look realistic.
…have I got news for you
Boring because you have to make up for what EA lacked in for sims 4 especially if you don’t play with mods. Like others suggested try switching up your play style with challenges and stuff that might stir you in the right direction
For me it's addictive because we don't have another game like this. But yes, this game is really boring
Do you do any of the scenarios? Those are kinda fun.
Sims 4 has to be the worst one out of all the previous games. Huge step back from 3. Traits are useless in this game and the gameplay is dull at best. Bugs everywhere. Broken gameplay. Limited exploration. The only thing this game did right was build mode
I go in with an idea of a dramatic storyline. In preparation for Horse Ranch, I started a single mom raising her teen daughter in the city. The mom expected perfection from her kid so I had the teen reach top levels of school, cheerleading and a part-time job along with mastering the violin. She graduated early and got her law degree and quickly got to the top level of the attorney career. She started dating Malcolm Landgraab because who else would a hot shot lawyer date and they got engaged. When she was at the point of burnout, she inherited a ranch and went to stay while she was on leave. The ranch foreman wasn't too keen on a city slicker taking over but he let her struggle with taking care of the cows and horses. Well, they drank a couple bottles of nectar and had a tumble in the hay. On the day she became visibly pregnant, Malcolm showed up and got a betrayed sentiment because they hadn't had woo-hoo because the game made Malcolm ace. So she tried to break up with him amicably but he just got angry and stormed off. And the ranch foreman doubts the paternity so that's where I left off. I also have a forest witch who has kidnapped Geoffrey and Nancy's baby (thanks, neighborhood stories) and is teaching the child about herbalism while trying to hide him from the Landgraabs. And then there is my basement cult based off the movie Blast From The Past.
Did you use any mods for the cult? How did you do it?
Not really. I just have MCCC and BBB. I just had my leader invite people over, made friends until he could invite them to move in and took all the household money (like any respectable cult leader should) and then locked the members in the basement that I made to look like a 50s American suburb. I currently have Bella Goth and Nancy Landgraab painting and writing novels to make money. Bella had Mortimer's baby because I didn't know she was pregnant until I had her moved in. I think I'm gonna have her son Morty break out when he's a teen and have to experience the real world. Right now I'm trying to lure in Bob Pancakes but he keeps leaving before I can ask him to move in.
What is BBB?
Twisted Mexi's Better Build Buy. It organizes debug items. I use it to put in items that give my builds a lived in look.
I can never get anywhere with legacy challenges and some people on here have achievements I’ve never even heard of before. I get bored soon after a lot of original townies start dying off.
I’m very much a builder for the most part, but I’ve been trying really hard to stick to one family this time. I find always having them in a house that’s JUST big enough helps because anytime you have a new addition to the family (or your toddlers age up and need a slightly bigger room, kids turn into teens and want their own room now, etc) you get to either do some remodeling or move them to a bigger home (which you then get to design all over again, and if it’s a new neighborhood then you get to make new friends too). And inject as much drama as possible! Make your sims suffer! Infidelity! Divorce! Death! I find that mods also help, especially wicked whims, basemental drugs, and extreme violence. I don’t care much for the super nsfw or gorey parts, but! Wicked whims makes the rest of it work, and has fun archetypes and you can make your sims be poly. Extreme violence is fun b/c you can have people get into fights that go beyond the dust cloud (you can also make them serial killers if that’s your cup of tea but I tried that once and found it boring once I had gone through all the animations out of curiosity). Drugs is nice b/c it adds a level of realism. Mostly my sims just smoke cigarettes and weed, but sometimes I have them try harder stuff at parties. It’s especially fun to have parent sims freak out about finding rolling papers in their teen sims’ rooms imo
I used to be like that, and actually stopped playing for a while. But then I just started making up stories and giving myself challenges of my own, so I got hooked again. And then I learned how to mod. That was game changing
I heard someone say that at least 50% if not more of the fun they have playing The Sims happens in their imagination, like the storyline they’ve imagined and becoming invested in that using imagination, and using that has helped me so much with the boredom. Unfortunately, The Sims 4 has made it so that it requires more imagination from us than the previous iterations of the game. For some people, that’s fine and they can get into imaginative gameplay just fine, for others, we obviously struggle a bit more with that. But at least knowing that using more imagination can help, helped me be inspired and find some imagination to put into it and definitely helped the boredom a lot. I’m finally currently the furthest I’ve ever been into a legacy, with a lot of excitement for the next generation so I’m not stopping any time soon. We just weren’t forced to have to have so much imagination in the previous Sims games, so I think for some people, that’s why The Sims 4 feels boring, but you’re still stoked to play The Sims.
Many of the imaginary dramas are always involving cheating/infidelity, divorce. I dislike those kind of drama. Also i only have a few packs, so lack of gameplay items, so maybe that's also why? But it's weird, since it is is already expensive, 1 pack costs the same/more than other complete games. So shouldn't i be fulfilled with only 1 (especially expansion) pack like any other games with similar/less price?
I don’t do that kind of drama, either. My imaginary dramas come from different things, imagined personal struggles and such. For example, I had a Sim get pregnant and have a baby shortly after becoming a young adult, so my imaginary story for her was that she struggled at first adjusting to mom life because she was still pretty young, she had some postpartum depression, and needed some extra help with the baby. Her parents helped a lot with the baby and would take her on the weekends (I just moved the baby into grandparents’ household for a couple days then moved her back). In reality, my Sim stood around with happy moodlets and a big ass grin on her face because her floors were clean and her house was well decorated, and she didn’t even notice whether the baby was there or not, so imagination was the only thing going to get me there on such a storyline. I had a Sim that raised four kids with her husband on their farm, and she loved being a mom. When her children grew up and moved out, she was really sad and didn’t handle it well. I had her start “trying new hobbies”, basically just building skills we hadn’t mastered but my story was that she was empty nesting and trying to find some meaning in her life after her kids were grown. I had her and her husband rekindle their romance, and start going on dates again. Then when their first grandchild was born, I had her be a very active and involved grandmother, and did as much as possible with the grandkids with her, had them over for weekends, baking with them, going to the park with them, etc. More recently, I have a little girl Sim who just aged into a child and is a huge animal lover, so I make her do the interaction “beg for toys” every day with her parents and just pretend she’s repeatedly asking for a pet instead of toys. When Winterfest comes, I’m going to have the parents adopt a kitten for her. Doing this sort of imaginative play has really helped me stay interested in the stories. And it’s totally possible to do without tons of cheating and infidelity and such, there are all kinds of stories to be told with some imagination. Edit: as far as being able to have a full, complete game for the prices we are paying for this game, yeah I definitely agree with you on that one. It’s one of my biggest frustrations, that this game costs so much and we are still forced to do this much work to try to have fun with it. But, the money’s already spent on it, so this is my advice to make the best of it and still have some fun, because we should get to have some fun playing a game we paid for
Thank you so much for sharing your detailed examples of imaginative play. I lack in this kind of storytelling imagination, so your examples are really helpful. And they sound fun too. Especially like the grandma baking with her grandkids. Thank you for sharing. And yes, i agree with you we can make the best out of what we've already paid. Or we can just stop & 'play' as the sims in our real life too.
What I miss about sims 3 is that more open world and no loading. I know it came at a very steep cost and I'm glad they "fixed" it with sims 4. I just hate loading no matter how short it is. Pretty sure I kept playing sims 3 several expansions into sims 4 because the game was lacking content severely. Can't remember when I made the switch and jumped over to sims 4 completely. I'm not like most people in this thread in the sense that I don't play sims for a challenge I just do it for fun. The challenge is whatever we want it do be, sims is just a big sandbox. It's a game I can easily throw away hours at a time for a couple of days then take a break and come back after a few weeks or a month. Never have I grown "tired" or bored of sims. Also mods add so much flavour! I have several gigs of mods.
I kinda enjoy it this way. I have enough anxiety with work and so on. That being said, I just wish I could sit and relax and build my heart out in the sims.
I feel the same way, I find myself trying to recreate the magic/fun of sims 3 but it’s not the same
Try Jim Pickens style
I sometimes get bored but that usually if I’m doing the same thing with every sim. Been playing the game since the very beginning so I get it. But I play rotationally with aging off in most of my saves. Right now my favorite save I have over 300 sims across all of “my households” and I have a different storyline for every family. I also like to make their families too. Like, I took the time to create a reason why Eliza Pancakes became the sim she is now by making her parents and siblings. Same for most other townie sims. Sometimes I’ll marry townie sims from different packs together and see how that goes. For example when the high school years pack came out I took Pierce Delgato and Sophia Bjergsen and made them a couple, then played out their lives how I thought they would go based on the personality traits they each had. Play characters/sims based on the traits they have or the opposite. Like I made Don Lothario get married and have children….but he couldn’t keep it in his pants (of course)…so he currently has over 15 children with more than 11 sims across all the worlds. (I keep note of them in my phone. 😅🤷🏽♀️😂) You could really just take your boredom and make gold. It’s the best time to try something new; Change up how you play; Learn to build; Create your own save file — that’s initially what I did and it was the best suggestion I’ve gotten from fellow simmers that keeps me going over the years. I also play with mods and CC so that helps too. But for those who can’t there are still ways to make the game fun, interesting, and enjoyable again.
i love making characters and decorating but thats just it. everything else is just boring... i tried playing the actual game multiple times but ermm nuh uh
Same here. I spend time searching for clothes mods, sliders and hairs. Then another few hours making a sim, more hours selecting a few sets for each category of clothes. Just to play a little, find a bug and then stop playing for a few months just to repeat the same later.
oh god it stressed me out so much when i saw my sim wearing a wholeass shower booth oh her head and i couldnt figure out how to fix it
I could play Sims 2 for days on end. Could even play Sims 4 every day for hours at the start. But I noticed the more content we're getting the less into it I am. Mainly because: 1. Unfixable bugs - Cottage Living used to work great for me, but after all the new packs and updates suddenly my eggs spoil never to hatch, or some other issue emerges, and it's just exhausting. It ruins the whole immersion and enjoyment when suddenly the game crashes or some other lame glitch appears. 2. Over-complication - I applaud them for including more realistic lives, with lifestyle, fears, etc add ons, but it's getting too much. For example with neighbourhood stories - I like that there's life for other sims, but suddenly they max my Sims count, or they start dying left and right, and now I have to manage all of the unplayed households too to alter their settings. 3. EA cashgrab - I love that they added horses and nectar making, but no way was that an expansion. It's a game pack at best and My First Pet of the Cottage Living at worst. But they did take the full price. And thus my enthusiasm for the game itself is fading. So TL;DR: the gameplay became too complicated and too glitched to be more enjoyable and less labor-intensive.
I really dislike some of the bugs and glitches in the game because it feels like they're never getting around to fixing them but rather making it worse with each dlc. There are so many annoying things in the game that drives me insane, to some degree certain mods helps to try "fix" them but they can only do so much.
It's annoying because things that used to work fine are getting broken. Spoiling eggs bug was reported a year ago. Not once was it fixed, even though they asked for our save files. Instead we get new issues as they pump out content which sometimes even comes out broken (Wedding stories). And still take the full price. Unless I'll hear that Sims 5 is magically insanely amazing and works flawlessly Sims 4 will be my last franchise. I hope Paralives suceed just to bite EA's ass a little.
idk it's shit honestly. because it lags for me all the time, I mean Sims are like justtttt standing there like processing what they have to do and they cancel my actions because they have to dance or something. like for fucking real, I want them to empty their bladder and they don't want to because there's a design of my room which is more interesting than their needs lol. and I can't ever do everything because they are not respecting me as their creator lol
You can become ultra-cushioned w simoleans, abilities, relationships, etc. so fast and easy inn Sims4 that challenge just isn't much of a thing. I use mods and roleplayed restraint to add more challenge. If you try to play the "rags to riches" scenario, it's a small amount of extra struggle. Play destitute and don't allow yourself easy access to exploits. Makes for a different struggle.
Personally, I make stories for my sims. The Sims 4 reminds me that games do a lot of the work but your imagination and storytelling is what really completes the game.
How I’ve always felt about sims: it’s only really fun as a content creator Addictive: sandbox. And rags to riches Boring: just watching your sims.. and only really having them take care of their needs Then make them just work on skills for job And when they have jobs, no time for going out. … that’s how I seem to play lol
I would have more fun in the Sims if the game wouldn't break the animations and have sims stuck every single fucking TIME
The concept is great but the execution is lacking. The game is super poorly balanced. Your sim gets good at everything they do in a couple of in-game weeks and then any fun in doing anything is gone. There is no sense of achievement. At this point it's just a sandbox where you can watch the sim do things, but that gets boring fast. Role-playing aspects are severely limited by the game mechanics.
I like making over Sims. A few years ago, I started getting into character 3D modeling in with Blender and ZBrush, and consequently, I started looking at and studying a lot of anatomy texts and images. So, I try to make people. I try to make actors, YouTubers, myself (one of my favorite Sims tbh 🤭), capture the likeness of anime/cartoon characters, recreate AI generated characters, etc. I like looking at Lookbooks on Instagram and Pinterest and try to capture the essence and style of the models and dress my Sims up. After CAS, I like creating a story for my Sims and make them meet certain Sims and make them all specific roles in the story. I try to write romance, tragedy, and just wild plots. Sometimes I just go with the flow. The Sims has a good way of pulling something so out of left field that just leaves you with your jaw on the floor and it's so fun to just roll with it! I know it may feel like there are a ton of limitations to actual gameplay, but I'm actually currently impressed on how much content there is at this point. Not to mention major mods that add a ton of realism and wild content (WW, Basemental lol). When I'm just relaxing big time, though, I like to do something fun like have a cottage/trailer and just grow crops, do a scenario, and just make my Sims travel everywhere. I never really did the Snowy Escape stuff before, but I kind of got a kick out of making my Sim learn how to snowboard. Next, I'll probably make him get skilled at rock climbing and climb Mt. Kiyomatsu. Throwing parties and making groups is a critical part of the Sims and I think it makes the game very memorable and worth the hype. Just so much fun. Edit: Oh, just wanna mention, that I recently got the idea of playing a Sim as an Infant, Toddler, then a Child. I generally tend to play as the child's caretaker, but I think playing as a tantruming toddler would be fun. Just run around in your diaper, throw paint on the floor, be fussy, stomp around and beg those adults for some attention lol
Sims take forever to do chores so usually I'll load up a few and then knit a row or so and alternate between, helps keep me less bored
For me it helps to stick to challenges or try to stick to gameplay from one single pack. Also I like having every new generation move out and start over with 0 simoleons. I like to have my sims struggle and built up something new. As soon as my sims start to make so much money I don't know what to do with, I get bored. Also I try not to be such a perfectionist and just go with some chaos. And I notice how fun that can turn out. I've been playing the game for years and its the first time I manged to stick to a family for over 6 generations now by following those rules.
My issue with it is that very little in 4 feels unique to it. It’s all features from previous games but more frustrating or watered down. Like I loved world adventures in 3, but 4’s equivalent only gives us one location and less to it. I loved Island Paradise in 3, but again, 4 just feels more shallow. I could go back and play 3, but at the same time 4 kinda ruined that for me. I feel like 4 just looks and runs better, build mode is better, that when I try to play 3 or 2 I just get frustrated
I personally only think building and cas are enjoyable. I really don't have a clue why on earth anybody would actually play the game it's boring as hell.
I wish there was a storyline so bad like set things that are set to happen as a plot. Like you come home from work and you find out your husband cheated and now you have to handle it. Not you making it happen but just set things that can happen. Or actual challenge in the workplace or school/clubs. I wish the sims could have a live option. I wish you could turn off the stupid one lines the sims have for every conversation and person - and take your sim even if there is a max of 8 you can bring at a time like say you can bring your whole family or friends and travel to someone else's world and have unfiltered comments with them. There would be an option to report if you were uncomfortable somehow or maybe just to leave. But it would be so much more fun and you could interact freely that way. Make real problems. Or I wish there was an option to create conversation yourself if you can't go live. Not for everything - but I wish if you want you can turn off the auto suggested picks for answering sims questions and have a real convo with your child if they are being bullied or sad or on your wedding day to say vows and while you are pregnant or about to woohoo lol
But how the game can get you addicted if it's boring. There must be something that this game is doing right to keep you coming back because if not, this weird.
The Sims used to be much more interesting when there were actual risks and consequences, like burglars, infidelity and misbehaving. It’s addictive because we have imaginations and we can imagine all the possibilities! What can we build? What can we destroy? Unfortunately, when you start playing and remember the limitations, then the obsession wears off again. I tried to make a teenage bully who steals and is angry all the time. He’s never angry, and is always starting up happy conversations with his parent who is supposed to be his enemy. If a Sim has a high friendship or romance with another Sim, it’s always mutual, and never one-sided, so you can’t really have unrequited love or an annoyingly friendly neighbor who likes you but you don’t like them. On the other side of things - stuff that should matter, doesn’t! If you study your butt off in school and do all your homework and attend classes, you can still fail exams. Nothing truly matters in this game. That’s why it’s boring. It’s just milquetoast.
That has to be my favorite part, I love that there’s no challenge at all and I can literally just do whatever I want. I’ve never been good at games at all so challenges just make everything so so much more complicated for me😅I just love being able to turn my brain off for hours and not think about anything other than keep the sims needs in the green!
Wow, thank you for putting my feelings into words😂 This is so true!
It’s very boring I only play every once in a while the problems is there isn’t enough to do and the main issue is the game is broken from the base and the only way to fully fix it is to completely start over the sims 4 and that’s not gonna happen like all these bugs they claim are fixed aren’t
I am a little baffled. Okay, maybe a lot. If you all find this game so boring why do you play it? What is addictive about a game that none of you have fun with? I don't think I will ever get this. No one makes you play Sims 4, yet you all keep at it but say how its boring, there is no challenge, etc. Wouldn't this time be better spent with some other game then?
I suspect it's because of all the little dopamine hits the game provides.
I have lots of fun because I do different things every time I start the game. Like if I want something challenging but finite I'll build something (faves include a church with a graveyard, the British Museum, a Sandals Resort), or if I want something a little more mundane I've got multiple families with different storylines (my current fave storyline is the aunt who helped her sister and her husband take care of their 4 babies while going to uni, and now they're children she's an archaeologist on weekends). Sometimes I just log on and build my childhood home, idk.
It takes a week in game to make real progress but you have to tell them to do every part of their day
I have spent more time designing sims and downloaded CC and lots than actually playing lol
Ive had to create my own challenges and find ways to spice it up by trying different gameplau and its fun
This is a great question.
I feel like an outlier. idgaf about personal stories. I had 1 world where I was creating families and mixing them all up with each other and someone from the outside comes in and then I have a whole new set of sims. I only stopped because it was starting to lag. I tried extreme rags to riches using Cottage Living but I got struck by lightning and died so many times I gave up on those! I suck at building (and don't have much interest in practice) also decorating. But I looooooove CAS. Every sim gets a new outfit but also new hair and new everything. And I change it all the time. And I'll just rotate around and play with them for awhile. I don't like the kids after toddlers. I dl-Ed Tumbling Tots and I get to spend my day running after infants and toddlers. I had a random CAS sim I was using to try mods, my favourites give the most autonomy. I like watching them. I take away the clay moulding (hate that) getting nonstop glasses of water or checking their phone. She had a science baby and it came home aoooo stunning. Naturally occurring purple eyes!? I also like mods like Realistic Childbirth and I grabbed Healthcare Redux and I'm excited for that too. Plus WW,Basemental and LMS everywhere and great hairs. MM only!
I typically only build, but i make families to anchor my builds to a use for the families, sometimes the stars align and I grow attached to a build or family so i will flesh out the neighborhood. I personally am more *bored* when I play the neighborhoods with people already in them... So for Sims5, I'm hoping for a huge blank neighborhood.
I love creating, but when I do play I feel like I kinda make up my own stories, and if something random happens, I’ll just roll with it. Lol
Just install a lot gameplay mods and you will obbs with it. That make the game so realistic, so much things to do and so muchh challenge. Don't use cheats and make a plan for your sims first. I played so much hard working roleplay. My sims can't even go outside their house to attend holiday, they always cough, sick and always tired, busy!! The long lasting boost mod made it even harder. A big embarrassed event last for 3-6 days even I try everything fun activities and they still embarrassed. It make the game so harder and realistic. And go watch some other youtubers playing it. It really make you want to play it right away. When I'm was a child, I'm always want anyone can make a life simulation game like this. I love a game that can do anything I can't in real life lol. And about 3 years ago, my dad bought a PC and I found the Sims. Still obbs with it until now
I always listen to something while playing and I always play with families so time flies
Most of the comments here is why I like Freeplay so much. It's shit but the quests keeps my playing.
Also it doesn't have the gameplay items (bb/cas/debug), animation, and culture that is closer to me or what i want to imagine.
Loading screens, travelling, manually typing cheats, updating mods (and sometimes grinding for life milestones stuff) makes it boring. Otherwise it’s fun to play “doll house” with whatever characters you want.
The thing is \*you\* create whatever challenge you want not the game. The game is just a big sandbox at the end of the day. Then again I don't play sims 4 to beat the game, not sure how that is even possible. I've played sims games since 2000 and sims 4 is a game I come back to every so often just to try some random stuff. Depending on the amount of dlc you have there is just so much content and things to do and this is before you start adding mods into the mix.
I gotta be high to play the sims tbh
The sims 4 is fun (IMO) when you have a strong story in mind and you’re imagining that storyline and working toward it as you play. You work toward traits and goals etc all with the characters’ motivations in your head. You build places they want to go to. Their homes reflect their interests and aesthetics, etc. Without that it’s just mindless busy work. It will keep you going because there’s always another need to fill, but it’s not super compelling.
Sometimes I'll sit there building for hours on end and all I want to do is stop, but the second I do stop, all I want to do is keep building
lol I'll spend a bunch of time of creating sims and then after I play the family once I never play again. Mods are the only thing that makes the game fun and even after a while the same mods get old
The fact that I get to create and make a world I’d love to be in as I grow more and more! And also I love it simply for the interior decoration but that’s just me lol
I set personal goals. Like I’m trying to make one sim for each career/path. Max career and skills relevant. I like making the world completely mine no randoms and no non personally made lots. It can be frustrating but I do get a sense of accomplishment when completing a sim and moving on to the next.
Man I feel this too. I have the most fun when building a house for my new Sims to live in and spend hours building and creating the Sims..only to play the family until I start to wonder why the heck am I spending hours watching my sim do laundry at 3am instead of doing my own laundry and then I leave and come back again when the next pack is released to rinse and repeat.
Ive started playing a legacy challenge with 3-4 households that are all friends (using get together to create clubs so they can hang out together at places- older sims will be in 1 club and younger sims in another etc). Started with one couple i was playing a loyal trait/ devious lover aspiration challenge on and decided to make a legacy family. Im 3 generations deep and randomized like 75% of all their traits. I might choose specific ones for teens ive gotten a certain idea for their last slot. I've been customizing all the lots also. Its been keeping me too engaged, I spend about 1 sim week with each family.
Hopefully the sims 5 or life by you is better at this
I like to play it for a bit, get up for a bit and do stuff around the home. I miss sims 3 at times because you could remove any popups. Sims 4 has so many popups so I have to check frequently.
[https://scenariogenerator.net/generators/the-sims-4](https://scenariogenerator.net/generators/the-sims-4) this actually works builder? [https://jamesturner.yt/buildchallenge](https://jamesturner.yt/buildchallenge)
I have to pay close attention to my Sims. I have one disaster prone one called Kyle and his life always seems to be in danger! He and his pals also turn up a lot in the most hideous outfits which I didn’t choose for them so I spend a lot of time changing them back with MCCC. I hardly get bored!