A Not so Random Sims Post

     Those who have known me for that long will know that I have had an interest in games and gaming for a number of years.  And those who know about my interest in games and gaming are probably aware that one of my favorite game franchises of all times would be "The Sims".  To be honest, I could go back and include Sim City but I definitely have enjoyed The Sims more than I ever did Sim City. (Not to mention I sucked at Sim City for the most part.)

     The first Sims game was a belated college graduation gift to myself (due to the release being shortly after I graduated).  And I played it for hours at a time with both my own characters and with Sims I downloaded from the internet.  I seem to remember some other modded content that I used as well besides just Sims but I won't get into all of that.

    I didn't get to play much of Sims 2 and Sims 3 but I did try the various console versions. I also tried a knock off version of The Sims game that I remember being on Xbox based around The Playboy mansion as well.  (Thank goodness for the days of renting games from Blockbuster for THAT one as it wasn't all that great though there are a few things from it that I wish were in Sims 4. Okay, one thing and I will cover that in a bit.)

      Just to be up front and honest with people, I didn't get to play much of The Sims 2 because I didn't have a gaming PC at the time.  I had just gotten rid of my old PC and was using alternating between using a laptop and a mac.  I tried getting The Sims 2 for the mac when I ventured off to do film school stuff and quickly learned that I didn't like gaming on a mac all that much.  (Honestly, I think a large part of my disinterest was that I couldn't find as much CC on the mac as I did on the PC back then.  To be fair, again, I'm not the best at finding the stuff and not the most confident installing mods on games in general due to past experiences.)   For many of the same reasons, I didn't get to play The Sims 3 either when it released.  In fact, I didn't get to play The Sims 3 till over a year after I had started playing The Sims 4 in 2016.  I've not played much of it and there are things I noted about the game while playing it that made me honestly prefer The Sims 4.  (I know a lot of folks will disagree with me on this but oh well.)  Sims 4 was one of the first games I purchased after I got my new gaming PC in 2016 (which was the first PC that I had owned since 2004 but more about that another time).

     All of this is mentioned because of a brief exchange... a "conversation" if you will... that I had with one of the Sims 4 / Maxis Producers this morning on Twitter.  The "Sim Guru" (as they are called on The Twitter) is a guy by the name of Dave Miotke who also answers to SimGuruNinja and was about a question I had on the game.  In short, I had wondered if the amount of traits being limited to 3 instead of 5 was because of technical issues or if was something that might be addressed down the road.  He said it was not due to technical issues and that it was something he personally "absolutely LOVE to do a deep dive overhaul/addition on traits" which gives me and others a lot of hope that the team will get around to doing so at some point.

   That said, I'd love to have 4 or 5 traits per Sim but it is really toward the bottom of my "wish list" for stuff in the Sims 4 game.  I said "number 5 out of my top 5" but I don't even know if that is accurate. (I don't do well with "Top 5 or Top 10 lists or any sort of top whatever list like that.)  Nevertheless, I felt like writing this blog and commenting on a few things that I wish / hope might make it into the Sims 4 game.  And despite sucking at "top whatever lists", I am going to number the items just for the sake of keeping things orderly.

1) Some sort of "Historical" pack.  I am hesitant to put it as a "stuff pack" but the core idea of this pack came from simply wanting decorative items from eras like "Feudal Japan", "Victorian England", "Ancient China", "Medieval Europe", "The Old West: and other historical eras The US and other places. That was the original idea but then I thought about it a bit.  There is also a lot of "lore" to The Sims (in a manner of speaking) and it might be fun to expand on that even more with content also related to Sims Lore.  Why not have a game pack or an expansion pack that might involve exploring some of the "History" of The Sims Universe.

2) More Vacation spots.  In Sims 2, there was the "Bon Yoyage" expansion and in "Sims 3" there was World Adventures. (Heck, The Sims has a Vacation expansion too now that I think about it.)  In tune with the previous item, how about some places to explore that might get our Sims out and into 'the world".   I would love to have my Sims household visit foreign cities and towns.  I have seen some folks even bring up amusement parks.  There are plenty of options and it is a part of the Sims 4 that hasn't really been utilized.

3) More Strangerville but not Strangerville.  Okay what?  I loved the Strangerville game pack.  It was one of the few packs that pulled me immediately out of building stuff (which I tend to do more of than playing the game) and playing through the 'storyline' nearly in one evening. I loved the idea of having to solve a mystery in one of the neighborhoods that affected the Sims living there.  I'm an old film noir fan and detective movie fan, etc, so that should be a given.  My point is that Strangerville was some unexpected fun and great game play.  It felt like new ground in the game to me.  I would love to see more of it.

4) Another blank neighborhood or two... or three... or however many. Newcrest is great as a blank canvas neighborhood but it has its limits.  For starts, it feels like an extension of Willow Creek for the most part. A bigger issue for me is that some of the more recent packs have had neighborhoods and worlds with very little space to build.  I don't want to bulldoze all the stuff in Sulani, for example, but I would love more beach and island lots to build new builds.  (In fact, I don't like the notion of getting rid of any of the Sulani lots.)  The same goes with the "Get Famous" and "University" expansions though moreso the former.  Don't really want to get rid of any of those lots (except maybe your 64x64 'celebrity house' because it isn't all that great). And some more "City Living" style lots would be fun too. In fact, that would be a fun community poll, what new blank neighborhoods might the Sims Community as a whole be interested in at some point.)  I need some more 20x20 and 30x30 lots personally.

5) I know people have been all about the University Expansion until you released it. I have heard people now starting to clamor for some sort of "Farm" pack.  Umm, okay.  With all the options given in the latest community survey, I think the 'Science & Tech' group would lend itself great to some sort of Cyberpunk or Sci-fi pack.  (Plus I want to create Cyborgs in game not just servos.) Wow... here I am at number 5 and not even to the traits.

6) This is probably the most minor one of the bunch.  A "Private Investigator" that functions basically like a "freelance detective" career.  With as much film noir related stuff as you get to go with it. (Bonus points, so to speak, if it related to any films made by Humphrey Bogart or books by Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett.)

7) Well yeah, more trait slots.  I feel like my Sim needs at least 5 slots to be done as well as I would like it to be done and that is just with the current options.  In all honestly though, I have a similar issue with most of the households I have attempted to make (which doesn't happen often and this is one of the reasons). That said, more aspirations would be nice... especially when the athletic aspiration only has one thing under it.

8) And one last thing... this goes back to the allusion I made about the "Playboy Mansion" sims knockoff.  "Celebrities in Sims".   It is well known that there are some "celebrities who play Sims" and a few of them have Sims created and curated by Maxis on the Gallery.  I wouldn't mind seeing some more of them and the existing ones updated on the gallery to reflect more current content and be treated like actual celebrities in game.

bonus) More items for building that involve plants for indoor and outdoor decor.  More Carpet options (color and style!).  This is from someone though who loves building more than playing the game more oft than not (but oddly doesn't feel he can decorate for anything). More off the grid options for wall lights.   you get the idea.

Anyways, thanks for reading if anyone has read this. 

Till next time,
Cheers.