I am wondering what is missing from each life stage and what you want to be added to each life stage? Down below is my list of what each life stage is missing!
Infants: Strollers and Daycare
Toddlers: Tricycles and Daycare
Children: Active elementary school or boarding school, arcades, skate parks, more playground equipment like seesaws, roundabouts and slides. Skateboards, Pogo sticks and Jump Ropes and four square are also missing. Also some cute romantic interactions like a first crush. Easy bake ovens, coloring books, and school supplies should be added. I want to also see an update to homework for both children and teens to actually do math problems, science experiments, essays and more. I would also like to see miniature golf even though that is more for families.
Teens: Teen only parties, games like spin the bottle, pranks like teepeeing a house, boarding school.
Preteens: To be added to the game with middle school or boarding school, slamming doors, awkward trait etc.
Elders: Retirement Homes with bingo and trivia night, as well as walkers, canes, wheel chairs etc.
Toddler crayons and wall doodles. Stickers they apply to anything and everything. Not all elders go into retirement homes, some go on cruises and casinos. Golf and bingo would be great. Magazines would be great if they made a comeback, some with comics, some for skills, some aimed at teens, some at ladies, some at men, some could be aimed at different professions like a medical journal for doctors, some with gossip and whatnot.
Babies - I've given up on them don't care never using them
Infants - Strollers more sibling interactions and group play even if it's just mostly destroying what the older kids do upsetting them
Toddlers - More group play interactions especially with infants and children
Children - As all the younger Sims they need more group activities children play games together
Preteens - Everything, fill in the gap where they try to act older and are in an awkward stage of change
Teens - They need a lot high school years went so shallow. learning to drive group sports where they actually play some form of game bands (where they all play the same song and learn together) dating. Simply no hobby is designed to be meaningful seriously football is just tossing a ball everything is just so shallow I want more meaningful interactions.
Adults - More balding hairstyles think we have 2 or at least I do missing a few packs especially the newer stuff but never seen any offered anywhere else.
Elder - Walk style with a cane some loving interactions with grandkids would be nice with a this is of hard to get back up after giving a grandkid a hug animation if they have that walk style.
Sims 4 went from "You Rule" to "One of the stories we want you to tell"
Infants/Toddlers
Strollers, being able to color on the walls, obsessing over a favorite toy and carrying it around everywhere.
Children
Games, and important moments they can experience for the first time. Crushes, more kids games, more after-school activities, dealing with bullies, different school options like school and private school. They could get caught up in fads, like fandoms or memes.
Maybe some story-based Aspirations that allow them to team up with friends and play through an imagined storyline. Like the first level would be about gathering friends, convincing them to join the game and then training up skills. The second level will have them search around areas for treasure, then having to fight off imaginary creatures with their friends. The third level could have them fight with their friends, and they can either try to make up with their friends (thus earning a trait that will make friendship values decay much slower), or finishing their quest on their own (thus earning a trait that will make friendship values decay faster, but make you lose the social need much slower. I think this would be fun because there's room for the story to change based on your sim's personality, and it could add some depth to the sims they've chosen to itneract with.
Teens
This lifestage should be all about kids coming into their own and finding themselves. So youthful rebellion, hobbies to help shape their identity, and dealing with more adult situations. I want pranks and house parties, a more robust system for sneaking out, more after-school hobbies and social groups/problems based around them. Have them choose specific skills to study in, to help prepare them for university or future jobs.
AKA do what High School Years was trying to do.
Elders
Elders are just kind of forgettable, since they're just adults, but worse. But playing into their old age could make them more engaging to play with. Walking with canes, wills and inheritances and more hobbies associated with elders would help give them an identity. But also some fun things, like being able to play elder-specific pranks. Imagine dropping false teeth in front of someone to freak them out; yelling at clouds or objects around the house; trapping people in hours-long stories that will deplete their needs but leave yours intact; hitting people with your cane; or faking a heart attack ala Fred Sanford in Sanford and Son. This would let you play a fun grandparent, a vengeful one, a hypochondriac, a senile grandpa, a witty eccentric, or someone who is genuinely ill.
This might make them more annoying to play, but how about health conditions? Sims who didn't exercise a lot when they were young might find that they have back problems, giving them uncomfortable moodlets and slow down their walking speed on certain days. Some might have high blood pressure and avoid stressful situations. A sim might get tired easily and need to take lots of naps. If you slip in mud, you could hurt yourself and require your no-good kids to look after you, instead of just calling you over the phone and acting like they spent time with you.
To counter the conditions, you'd pay a small fee to have doctor's appointments that instantly cures your problems for the time being. Take part in elder-friendly fitness regiments. Join a power walking group, which you can see running together in the background, like an active club gathering. Play in a Bingo tournament. Go on a rabbit hole cruise, where you have the chance of finding love, making friends, or fighting off pirates.
Plastic surgery to make them look like young adults. Imagine playing a 90 year old grandma who looks like she's 20 and works as a supermodel.
🐲🐲🐲🐲
The Sims 4 hasn't introduced a new musical instrument since 2017
🐲🐲🐲🐲
Newborns: Free the babies!! Please bring me back the Sims 2 babies
Infants: Strollers, daycares, baby walkers (are they banned in US?), pacifiers (there are pacifier moodlets but no real pacifiers in the game)
Toddlers: Playable kindergartens, tricycles
Children: Playable elementary / primary schools, first love (in the late term of childhood)
The team should add a preteen stage between child and teen...for preteen: Playable junior high school, puberty (first period for girls and voice crack for boys)
Teens: I'm very strict...public exam for university / college please graduation trips
Young adults: Internship and student unions in university / college
Elderly: Dentures, canes, "have a grandchild" want, "have a child get married" want
Newborn obviously to be out of the cribs
Infant strollers, swing.
Toddlers strollers again because they walk slow. Tricycles, more playground equipment, more beds and themes, more clothing. More finger food and drinks, more time with parents like putting toddler to sleep in rocking chair, snuggle with your toddler on couch, walking hand in hand with toddler, have toddler sit on lap.
Kids more playground equipment we have the same two playground equipment switch it up, more beds and themes more cas more skills like ballet, karate, soccer, basketball, flag football, baseball, they do gymnastics, cheerlead as well.
Preteens- would be a great addition to the franchise but also add more game play and stories, they can define who they what they like, dislike, should they remain friends with they childhood friends or get a new group of friends, different clothing style, bedroom style, lots and lots of attitudes.
Teens- learn to drive once we get cars, focus on what they want to do in the future either go to uni or not.
YA and A are fine
Elder, canes, walkers, have senior citizens discount, bingo night, low maintenance exercise so they won't get tired easily. Or be healthy so they won't get tired easily give something to elders that can combat with that overly excursion moodlet that irritates me.
Newborns: Free the babies!! Please bring me back the Sims 2 babies
Infants: Strollers, daycares, baby walkers (are they banned in US?), pacifiers (there are pacifier moodlets but no real pacifiers in the game)
Toddlers: Playable kindergartens, tricycles
Children: Playable elementary / primary schools, first love (in the late term of childhood)
The team should add a preteen stage between child and teen...for preteen: Playable junior high school, puberty (first period for girls and voice crack for boys)
Teens: I'm very strict...public exam for university / college please graduation trips
Young adults: Internship and student unions in university / college
Elderly: Dentures, canes, "have a grandchild" want, "have a child get married" want
I'd say other people are better at suggesting stuff for the kids, toddlers and infants. I play with them because I'm playing rotationally and so many kids have been born into my game that it's almost like a baby challenge but spread across multiple families. Sometimes I enjoy it and sometimes I find it to be a slog so I switch around. That just means that I play with the kids but sometimes I feel like I'm marching them along to grow up eventually but I do play with them. I like a lot of what has been added that I have like the kids' play tents. I'm always a fan of more activities and private school.
I kind of think there should be a pack or concept for the very rich sims or rags & riches. I'd be fine if some of that involved ways for them to lose money. Gambling, sure, but also pet projects like wasting money on a private jet or good & bad investments. Obviously wills & inheritance are highly requested. It feels like those could be patched to all games because they are so universal.
I'd like more experiences, hobbies, travel and ways to spend time for all ages. If they do make a death pack, I do think they could add gameplay for elders. Elders could have an overhaul to their retirements and they could have times of being more and less active.
About teens, yes, there's a lot that they can do with teens. I kind of think of teens and YAs together similarly though because teen sims can be quite independent. I think if they come out with bands and pop music stars, that's heavily about teen gameplay. Teens could have fad obsessions. There's already social interactions for them about that. They could have actual specific obsessions. They could also have teen-specific goals to achieve during that formative time in more depth than is currently available.
The thing I miss the most re elders is for them to walk differently when getting real old. I just had a sim aged 104 and he still ran about as if he was 71. I think they could get a bit reduced at 80 or at least at 90. Just slightly crooked and moving slower.
Not something specific but i wish we had 3 birthdays per life stage with the sims getting body and mental changes through each sublevel building up for the next big one life stage.
For Infants and Toddlers, we're missing active daycare, apart from in the home with a Nanny. I don't think I'd personally use this, though. But I think it should be playable as a caregiver as well as as a Toddler (in particular) attending.
For Children, I'm really missing the whole elementary schoolexperience -- craft corner, reading buddies, recess, recorder class... -- plus things like daycamps and sleepaway camps. I'd like the option to go with my Sims to all these things, plus to have active careers for schoolteachers.
For Teens, the sleepaway camps as well (personally, I was a camper much more often as a Teen than as a child, but that was at themed camps), and an active job as a camp counsellor. Sleepaway camps should be highly customizable for activities but I'd love to see them based on a classic Adirondack or Muskoka camp experience, with canoeing and wooden cabins and tetherball and all that.
For both Children and Teens, I'd like homeschooling built into the game too, with customizability for subject-based homeschooling and unschooling. I think it would be a great gift for historical players! I'm not one, but I've definitely played families where I'd use that. And sometimes I think about representation for this too, like for one of my kids who, if they'd been into this kind of game, might have used it to work through their own experience of having to homeschool for health reasons.
For Elders, I'd like a young-Elder stage and an old-Elder stage. There's a really big difference between a 70-year-old who might still have a job or only just be retired, do lots of physically active pasttimes, care for family, etc. and a 90-year-old who's much less likely to be able to do all the physical things, will look older, and will have more ailments. As someone who can see early Elderhood in their future now and has a true Elderly parent, I'm really conscious right now of those two stages. If physical limitations are introduced as options for old-Elders, they should be available as options for all same-body-scale Sims, so that younger people who, say, use a cane or walker or wheelchair for mobility can also represent themselves. But please stop making Elder women droopy by default. Elder women wear bras that actually function too.
For Elders' lifestyles, we're very much missing things that bring Elders together with their peers and that aren't all about being the old person in a family. I'd like to see living situtations for Elders that include communal aspects -- basically, a retirement home, but one we can customize with various degrees of care and amenities. That means having dining room service, physical care assistance options, and group activities like sitting exercise and large-group games. For cross-pack play, a visiting therapy dog would be lovely, and visiting manicurists.
EA CREATOR NETWORK MEMBER — Want to be notified of patches, new Broken Mods threads, and urgent Sims 4 news? Follow me at https://www.patreon.com/luthienrising.
@luthienrising I agree with everything you said, very spot on.
I haven't personally felt the need for two elder stages, but on the other hand for a late adult (or mid adult) stage, a bridge between being older and being an elder. When you no longer can have kids, when you start thinking about retirement, when your kids are leaving the home and you start seeing those wrinkles and graying hairs.
Personally I also miss specific gameplay for all ages: for kids more games (hide and seek, cops and robbers, climbing trees...), for teens more just "hang out" (I miss this interaction from previous games), for YA more impact on things like moving out of your parents' home and getting your own place, or starting your first job. Milestones, like "moved out for the first time" "had a child move out" definitely, but also gameplay of packing up the things in your room and deciding what stays and what goes. Things like moving boxes would be great here. Saying good buy to your parents, things like "first visitor in my own home" milestones and so on.
For adults closing in on old age (mid/late adults) some might experience naturally graying hair (for some) or loss of hair for some, loss of eyesight with the need for glasses, hearing loss with the need of hearing aids... not everyone would go through those things, but some might, some early some late, but that and reactions and milestones connected to that might be interesting.
For elders I want trait and aspirations tied to being an elder that are affected by their lives. An elder who was mostly happy in their life would get some type of traits, while those who had a life with unfulfilled aspirations might get traits that will make them want to catch up on all those things they didn't do, and those with many losses and unhappiness might bet traits like 'bitter'.
Moreover, I advise that the cart button must be destroyed!
Ghosts are missing some more special powers and haunting abilities. And maybe some of them could be interested in not breaking stuff and seeing their children and grandchildren grow happily. It might be nice if some ghosts (it could depend on their traits) would get angry if their spouse is married again, and maybe you could appease angry ghosts with gifts.
Comments
Infants - Strollers more sibling interactions and group play even if it's just mostly destroying what the older kids do upsetting them
Toddlers - More group play interactions especially with infants and children
Children - As all the younger Sims they need more group activities children play games together
Preteens - Everything, fill in the gap where they try to act older and are in an awkward stage of change
Teens - They need a lot high school years went so shallow. learning to drive group sports where they actually play some form of game bands (where they all play the same song and learn together) dating. Simply no hobby is designed to be meaningful seriously football is just tossing a ball everything is just so shallow I want more meaningful interactions.
Adults - More balding hairstyles think we have 2 or at least I do missing a few packs especially the newer stuff but never seen any offered anywhere else.
Elder - Walk style with a cane some loving interactions with grandkids would be nice with a this is of hard to get back up after giving a grandkid a hug animation if they have that walk style.
Strollers, being able to color on the walls, obsessing over a favorite toy and carrying it around everywhere.
Children
Games, and important moments they can experience for the first time. Crushes, more kids games, more after-school activities, dealing with bullies, different school options like school and private school. They could get caught up in fads, like fandoms or memes.
Maybe some story-based Aspirations that allow them to team up with friends and play through an imagined storyline. Like the first level would be about gathering friends, convincing them to join the game and then training up skills. The second level will have them search around areas for treasure, then having to fight off imaginary creatures with their friends. The third level could have them fight with their friends, and they can either try to make up with their friends (thus earning a trait that will make friendship values decay much slower), or finishing their quest on their own (thus earning a trait that will make friendship values decay faster, but make you lose the social need much slower. I think this would be fun because there's room for the story to change based on your sim's personality, and it could add some depth to the sims they've chosen to itneract with.
Teens
This lifestage should be all about kids coming into their own and finding themselves. So youthful rebellion, hobbies to help shape their identity, and dealing with more adult situations. I want pranks and house parties, a more robust system for sneaking out, more after-school hobbies and social groups/problems based around them. Have them choose specific skills to study in, to help prepare them for university or future jobs.
AKA do what High School Years was trying to do.
Elders
Elders are just kind of forgettable, since they're just adults, but worse. But playing into their old age could make them more engaging to play with. Walking with canes, wills and inheritances and more hobbies associated with elders would help give them an identity. But also some fun things, like being able to play elder-specific pranks. Imagine dropping false teeth in front of someone to freak them out; yelling at clouds or objects around the house; trapping people in hours-long stories that will deplete their needs but leave yours intact; hitting people with your cane; or faking a heart attack ala Fred Sanford in Sanford and Son. This would let you play a fun grandparent, a vengeful one, a hypochondriac, a senile grandpa, a witty eccentric, or someone who is genuinely ill.
This might make them more annoying to play, but how about health conditions? Sims who didn't exercise a lot when they were young might find that they have back problems, giving them uncomfortable moodlets and slow down their walking speed on certain days. Some might have high blood pressure and avoid stressful situations. A sim might get tired easily and need to take lots of naps. If you slip in mud, you could hurt yourself and require your no-good kids to look after you, instead of just calling you over the phone and acting like they spent time with you.
To counter the conditions, you'd pay a small fee to have doctor's appointments that instantly cures your problems for the time being. Take part in elder-friendly fitness regiments. Join a power walking group, which you can see running together in the background, like an active club gathering. Play in a Bingo tournament. Go on a rabbit hole cruise, where you have the chance of finding love, making friends, or fighting off pirates.
Plastic surgery to make them look like young adults. Imagine playing a 90 year old grandma who looks like she's 20 and works as a supermodel.
The Sims 4 hasn't introduced a new musical instrument since 2017
🐲🐲🐲🐲
Infants: Strollers, daycares, baby walkers (are they banned in US?), pacifiers (there are pacifier moodlets but no real pacifiers in the game)
Toddlers: Playable kindergartens, tricycles
Children: Playable elementary / primary schools, first love (in the late term of childhood)
The team should add a preteen stage between child and teen...for preteen: Playable junior high school, puberty (first period for girls and voice crack for boys)
Teens: I'm very strict...public exam for university / college please
Young adults: Internship and student unions in university / college
Elderly: Dentures, canes, "have a grandchild" want, "have a child get married" want
Infant strollers, swing.
Toddlers strollers again because they walk slow. Tricycles, more playground equipment, more beds and themes, more clothing. More finger food and drinks, more time with parents like putting toddler to sleep in rocking chair, snuggle with your toddler on couch, walking hand in hand with toddler, have toddler sit on lap.
Kids more playground equipment we have the same two playground equipment switch it up, more beds and themes more cas more skills like ballet, karate, soccer, basketball, flag football, baseball, they do gymnastics, cheerlead as well.
Preteens- would be a great addition to the franchise but also add more game play and stories, they can define who they what they like, dislike, should they remain friends with they childhood friends or get a new group of friends, different clothing style, bedroom style, lots and lots of attitudes.
Teens- learn to drive once we get cars, focus on what they want to do in the future either go to uni or not.
YA and A are fine
Elder, canes, walkers, have senior citizens discount, bingo night, low maintenance exercise so they won't get tired easily. Or be healthy so they won't get tired easily give something to elders that can combat with that overly excursion moodlet that irritates me.
Man I forgot about pacifiers yes to that.
I kind of think there should be a pack or concept for the very rich sims or rags & riches. I'd be fine if some of that involved ways for them to lose money. Gambling, sure, but also pet projects like wasting money on a private jet or good & bad investments. Obviously wills & inheritance are highly requested. It feels like those could be patched to all games because they are so universal.
I'd like more experiences, hobbies, travel and ways to spend time for all ages. If they do make a death pack, I do think they could add gameplay for elders. Elders could have an overhaul to their retirements and they could have times of being more and less active.
About teens, yes, there's a lot that they can do with teens. I kind of think of teens and YAs together similarly though because teen sims can be quite independent. I think if they come out with bands and pop music stars, that's heavily about teen gameplay. Teens could have fad obsessions. There's already social interactions for them about that. They could have actual specific obsessions. They could also have teen-specific goals to achieve during that formative time in more depth than is currently available.
The thing I miss the most re elders is for them to walk differently when getting real old. I just had a sim aged 104 and he still ran about as if he was 71. I think they could get a bit reduced at 80 or at least at 90. Just slightly crooked and moving slower.
For Children, I'm really missing the whole elementary school experience -- craft corner, reading buddies, recess, recorder class... -- plus things like daycamps and sleepaway camps. I'd like the option to go with my Sims to all these things, plus to have active careers for schoolteachers.
For Teens, the sleepaway camps as well (personally, I was a camper much more often as a Teen than as a child, but that was at themed camps), and an active job as a camp counsellor. Sleepaway camps should be highly customizable for activities but I'd love to see them based on a classic Adirondack or Muskoka camp experience, with canoeing and wooden cabins and tetherball and all that.
For both Children and Teens, I'd like homeschooling built into the game too, with customizability for subject-based homeschooling and unschooling. I think it would be a great gift for historical players! I'm not one, but I've definitely played families where I'd use that. And sometimes I think about representation for this too, like for one of my kids who, if they'd been into this kind of game, might have used it to work through their own experience of having to homeschool for health reasons.
For Elders, I'd like a young-Elder stage and an old-Elder stage. There's a really big difference between a 70-year-old who might still have a job or only just be retired, do lots of physically active pasttimes, care for family, etc. and a 90-year-old who's much less likely to be able to do all the physical things, will look older, and will have more ailments. As someone who can see early Elderhood in their future now and has a true Elderly parent, I'm really conscious right now of those two stages. If physical limitations are introduced as options for old-Elders, they should be available as options for all same-body-scale Sims, so that younger people who, say, use a cane or walker or wheelchair for mobility can also represent themselves. But please stop making Elder women droopy by default. Elder women wear bras that actually function too.
For Elders' lifestyles, we're very much missing things that bring Elders together with their peers and that aren't all about being the old person in a family. I'd like to see living situtations for Elders that include communal aspects -- basically, a retirement home, but one we can customize with various degrees of care and amenities. That means having dining room service, physical care assistance options, and group activities like sitting exercise and large-group games. For cross-pack play, a visiting therapy dog would be lovely, and visiting manicurists.
I haven't personally felt the need for two elder stages, but on the other hand for a late adult (or mid adult) stage, a bridge between being older and being an elder. When you no longer can have kids, when you start thinking about retirement, when your kids are leaving the home and you start seeing those wrinkles and graying hairs.
Personally I also miss specific gameplay for all ages: for kids more games (hide and seek, cops and robbers, climbing trees...), for teens more just "hang out" (I miss this interaction from previous games), for YA more impact on things like moving out of your parents' home and getting your own place, or starting your first job. Milestones, like "moved out for the first time" "had a child move out" definitely, but also gameplay of packing up the things in your room and deciding what stays and what goes. Things like moving boxes would be great here. Saying good buy to your parents, things like "first visitor in my own home" milestones and so on.
For adults closing in on old age (mid/late adults) some might experience naturally graying hair (for some) or loss of hair for some, loss of eyesight with the need for glasses, hearing loss with the need of hearing aids... not everyone would go through those things, but some might, some early some late, but that and reactions and milestones connected to that might be interesting.
For elders I want trait and aspirations tied to being an elder that are affected by their lives. An elder who was mostly happy in their life would get some type of traits, while those who had a life with unfulfilled aspirations might get traits that will make them want to catch up on all those things they didn't do, and those with many losses and unhappiness might bet traits like 'bitter'.