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Teens
brainybee
Posts: 1,123 Member
Hi forum! Several Sim Gurus, most recently SimGuru Lyndsay and SimGuru Holms, have been asking us what it is exactly that we want from teens in our games. They seem genuinely surprised at the number of players that play legacy challenges or play families exclusively. SimGuru Holms asked a sincere question yesterday - "Teens were almost the same height as adults in the Sims 3, so what is different this time?"
Judging from this and other Sim Guru's responses to players' questions and concerns, I think we need to give a clear and detailed picture of how we "play" with teens in our games (this is a question for all players, not just legacy players), concrete examples of what is different about teens between games (aside from height), what we like that they've done this time around, and what we would like them to do moving forward given the constraints of the current game engine. Feel free to add screen shots.
I would like to have some good examples on this thread - I will pull the best examples, links, and ideas up here to the top (the second post here on the thread). I will keep updating this thread until they close it (this is a useful thread, if you want them to actually listen to us, don't do anything to make them close it down) or it is no longer useful. Feel free to post links here to other people's threads on teens.
I will start other "summary" threads on the most common issues other players want addressed as well, but I will begin here with teens. I think it will be a helpful way to sift through what players want and keep it all organized and in one place. I have been a player since Sims 1. I didn't actually create an account on any of the forums until 3, but I have read thousands of threads and hundreds of thousands of posts by people on all the forums for many years. I have read pretty much every thread here on Sims 4 since they made the switch over. Sims 4 GD is certainly the most entertaining read so far
Please tag forum members who have posted something helpful about what we want from teens so their comments can be added.
Judging from this and other Sim Guru's responses to players' questions and concerns, I think we need to give a clear and detailed picture of how we "play" with teens in our games (this is a question for all players, not just legacy players), concrete examples of what is different about teens between games (aside from height), what we like that they've done this time around, and what we would like them to do moving forward given the constraints of the current game engine. Feel free to add screen shots.
I would like to have some good examples on this thread - I will pull the best examples, links, and ideas up here to the top (the second post here on the thread). I will keep updating this thread until they close it (this is a useful thread, if you want them to actually listen to us, don't do anything to make them close it down) or it is no longer useful. Feel free to post links here to other people's threads on teens.
I will start other "summary" threads on the most common issues other players want addressed as well, but I will begin here with teens. I think it will be a helpful way to sift through what players want and keep it all organized and in one place. I have been a player since Sims 1. I didn't actually create an account on any of the forums until 3, but I have read thousands of threads and hundreds of thousands of posts by people on all the forums for many years. I have read pretty much every thread here on Sims 4 since they made the switch over. Sims 4 GD is certainly the most entertaining read so far
Please tag forum members who have posted something helpful about what we want from teens so their comments can be added.
Post edited by brainybee on
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Not too long ago @SimGuruMarion said this about the trade-off to make Teens the same height as YA/A/E in the Sims 4, “We are listening to the community to tell us whether the trade-off was worth it, and what we can do to improve the teen experience.”
I’m sure you’ve all heard by now that Teens are something that players feel very (VERY) strongly about. Seriously, thousands of posts on the Sims 4 GD forums mention them. I started this thread yesterday with only the word “teens” in the title and had well over 1k views and 102 comments in just a couple of hours.
We understand if there is not a lot you can do about teen height in Sims 4 at this point. Even so, players are pretty unhappy with teens as they are (c’mon even the icon for Teen in CAS is shorter than the one for YA because that’s how we know at a glance what lifestate we’re picking), but we have really good suggestions. I have read thousands of posts on this topic and have assembled the most constructive, most do-able, and most requested items on the Sims 4 forums here in the following list.
But first, I’d like to share just a few quotes that demonstrate in a concrete way what specifically players dislike about teens in Sims 4 as they are now. These represent literally thousands of posts:
“I really need some kind of DIFFERENCE between teens, young adults and adults. I feel like I am essentially playing the same life stage three times over and it's boring.”
“I just hate once you hit the teen lifestage your Sim is basically done growing and their face isn't going to change that much. I love watching my Sim grow but now I have 3 lifestages that just plateau.”
“When Malcolm Landgraab and Olivia Lewis-Spencer-Kim aged up in my game, I really could not tell any difference between the before and after.”
“At the moment they are (to me) just adults who happen to go to school and have embarrassing chats about woohoo.”
“I'm playing a Sim couple whose first born son just aged up to teen a few days ago when I played it last, and I haven't opened the game since. He aged up into this big burley guy with a paunch and a square jaw, wearing a fedora... I swear he looks older than his father.”
There may be subtle differences between teens and adults in the game as it stands now, but players are not seeing them. But this is not just another thread about how unhappy players are with teens.
Here is a summary of thousands of posts with constructive, do-able suggestions (that aren’t about changing teen height) when it comes to teens in the Sims 4 -
1) We’d really like our teens to LOOK more noticeably different. It is important to us. Here are a few suggestions:
At the very least put an age icon next to names for all Sims Teen-Elder so we know how old they are. Something telling us how long until they age up would be super helpful. This would also avoid that awkward marriage between a YA and an Adult 2 days away from being an Elder.
Teen only clothes and hairstyles
We’d like teens to be obviously skinnier, more awkward, fuller or thinner in the face, maybe with optional braces.
Many players would like a different walk animation for teens
Teens should have noticeably different voices from children and adults
Changing to teen only clothes when they age up from children
Acne (optional, under freckles in CAS) and a potion to reverse acne in game
From a player - “I bet it would be fun for the developers if they took out photos of themselves as teens and compare them to their adult photos in order to see what makes adults look different from teens.”
2) We’d like them to ACT noticeably different:
A player said “I wish they would be more goofy, clumsy, embarrassed, crazy in love, angry (and so on) than the other age groups.”
Many players expressed the wish for teens to have more intense emotions and mood swings.
Teens could have separate animations and walks for emotions.
We need more teen specific moodlets.
When a child ages up to teen, maybe they could pick a social group: jock, nerd, rebel, brainiac, punk, goth, popular ...with clothes, traits, whims, and interactions that go along with those. This would be a better use of a system like we had in TS3 University.
3) We’d like Teen only options such as:
Skip class with friends as an option when they go to school. There could be a pop up from the principal when they get caught.
Sneaking out
Writing in a diary
Teen Only Pranks
Curfew – with a higher chance of NOT getting caught, especially if certain traits or conditions are met.
Teen garage band career would be hilarious. It would be funny to have teens rocking out poorly while dreaming of being stars.
“Do Homework With” interaction for other teens or younger siblings
Parents have an "Ask to Clean Up Room" interaction
Chores - where you can assign chores like cleaning room, taking out trash, and have a meter bar like a job that goes up or down and if it gets into the red, they're grounded, etc.
Babysit
Teen Only Pillow Fight – when Adults, YAs, and Elders can do it, it’s creepy.
4) We’d like Teen specific parties:
After school group study
Prom (not a rabbit hole - your teen can organize a prom at a venue and teens would be the only ones who show up except for some NPC adults to cater and DJ)
Slumber party
The “My Parents are not Home” Rave – Neighbors can call the cops if teens get too loud
Teen only parties thrown by NPCs so teens can sneak out and meet other teens
5) We’d like Teen specific activities and venues:
After school activities/ Clubs
Hang-out spots like Pizza Parlor
Skateboards and Skate parks - A "skate park" is a pretty do-able new venue. They could base the object and animations off the snowboarding from TS3 Seasons. It should be a "teen only" or "child/teen" only interaction.
Video Arcade
That's it for now, but I will keep this thread open and keep updating and summarizing as I get more suggestions. Thanks for being open to our input. We players love our Sims (we know you do too) and we are hoping to help make it the best game it can be.
(Coming Soon - Look for more topic summary threads in the future!)
Things Simmers Say That You Shouldn't Say In Public
Things Simmers Say That You Shouldn't Say In Public
There's more but I'm on my phone so I'll leave it at that for now.
I'm not a psychopath. I'm a high-functioning psychopath. Reaper
Things Simmers Say That You Shouldn't Say In Public
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Exactly. The teens in TS2 and TS3 had specific things that made them distinctly teen-ish, and it's not just their appearance.
In TS2, teens could sneak out of the house, get acne, be overachievers (which, I admit, is just a special memory), and a few other things.
TS3 teens in Generations were just great. They had school dances, school clubs, teen parties, etc.
It would be nice if teens could look and do things like teens in real life. Well, the fun parts anyway. Just to help differentiate it from the young adult stage and give it more substantial gameplay.
Race Against the Clock: Can your elder sim turn back the clock before their time runs out?
Things Simmers Say That You Shouldn't Say In Public
Do you remember your first heart break, exactly. I want my teens to be devastated one day and over the moon the next, I want them to mock there parents, I want them to sneak out. I want parents to ground their teen, have them play pranks, be able to ask any friend to sleep over. I guess a mix between wonky sims 2 teens and the expansion of generation teens.
I miss Sims 2 reactions to teens making out and flirty, the same gasping sim did get annoying but some reaction would be better than none..
When my teen asks her dad to leave the room because she's about to "mess around" with her romantic interest he shouldn't just walk out, he should be embarrassed or angry, or maybe he should start yelling at her, idk something.
- I think they've currently got some good social things for teens to do, like ask about Woohoo, or complain about everything, but not enough physical activities that distinguish them from adults.
- The identical height makes them visually indistinguishable. So if you see a Sim you want to flirt with, you have no way of telling right off the bat without going into the social menu and seeing there's no romance option.
- I agree there could be a video game system or arcade machine, but what about teaching them to drive? Even without an open world you could still have them vanish from the lot and do a random-adventure like the rocket ship to raise driving skill.
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Things Simmers Say That You Shouldn't Say In Public
everything I was going to say.
> TS3 teens in Generations were just great. They had school dances, school clubs, teen parties, etc.
PRETEND school dances and PRETEND school clubs that you never get to see because they happen in a hollow shell of a building you never get to enter. No thank you.
But I would like the sneaking out and the acne again.
I second this also because the Sims Teens really looks the same with the Sims Young Adult/Adult Stage. So to make them better to separate them from the said stages. Well i could also just live with special Hair Style or Clothing to separate them better.
One of the issues that I have with the teen stage in TS4 is that it's almost exactly like the adult stage, from their interactions to the clothes they wear and the things they're interested in. I'd love to have teen specific clothing and styles (why can my teen girl wear a sexy corset to bed? That makes no sense.) I'd love for the developers to think about some of the awkardness and fun of the teen years. Pimples, pranks, sneaking out, clubs, after school activities, cheerleading, writing in diaries, I could go on. The teens just need more charm. They need to be less like young adults and more youthful and cute.
Things Simmers Say That You Shouldn't Say In Public
Oh yes teens had acne in Sims 2, this was also really fun.
Also if they could stop with all the hourglass shaped tops. Give us some loose fitting tops.
Saying "not to be rude", then blatently being rude does not excuse rude behavior.
Things Simmers Say That You Shouldn't Say In Public
And then I would like to see more teen specific interactions. Teens and adults don't act the same. They need teen places to hang out like a pizza parlor or a mall. They need arcades. Or even just little things...write name on table or playing pranks.
And they should have their own clothes. I know lots of people like that teens have access to the same adult clothes, but there is a juniors department in stores for a reason. Teens don't usually dress like adults.
Honestly, I'd really like for them to implement a preteen stage and bring the toddler's back. My biggest gripe is how big of a jump it is between the younger ages.
Leave the Mess Around options, leave the Making Out interaction, leave the clothing options, leave it as is and just expand. I personally think you did a good job with Teens and they are far and away a much better job than the base game TS3 Teens which was very restrictive.
Curfew would have been more fun if there were in-game ways to escape it, but the psychic police came in their helicopters out of nowhere, dragged the teen from whatever they were doing back to their house. It wasn't fun gameplay at all!
Do not restrict. Give us options!
Yes, exactly! I enjoyed the clothing in the Sims 2 Teen Style stuff pack, it felt like it fit the age group, so perhaps they could take inspiration for clothes from that and build on it further.
Well, as mentioned before, there's also height. But a SimGuru did mention that different heights would need adult animations to be redone for teens, which eats up time and resources, so I'm fine with height as is. Maybe if they make teen heads smaller and their bodies lankier? I dunno.
I bet it would be fun for the developers if they took out photos of themselves as teens and compare them to their adult photos in order to see what makes adults look different from teens. I can imagine all the immature ribbing because of the way someone looked way back when. :P
As for the Rabbit hole teen dances and teen clubs, they at least gave something tangible. The dances give memorabilia photos, which are pretty nice IMO. The clubs give skill boosts (I know they can use the time to use skill objects anyway, but still) and awards. But I do think that having non-rabbit hole destinations would be great, so that we can actually simulate certain teen scenarios. Like maybe some of the things from the Bully video game? (Which, btw, is overdue for a sequel)
Maybe for the first time in the series, they can have a huge-sized mall, which teens can go to as a hangout spot. Food courts and shopping boutiques and whatever.
And maybe skateboards and skateparks. I don't know if a lot of teens still skateboard today, but it's something I've never seen before in the series. It could be fun, even if they don't include a lot of tricks, which are understandably hard to create in a game like The Sims. Unless they create specific objects that skateboarders can approach and perform tricks on.
And maybe teens can blog on LiveJournal about how hawt they think Gerard Way is. Or is that a little too close to home?
Race Against the Clock: Can your elder sim turn back the clock before their time runs out?
To feel like teens they need mood swings or acne or an ability to have a rebellious streak - something to make them TEENS.
Events like prom or a school dance, graduation, maybe the ability to join an after school club or play after school sports
Different interactions that are NOT just the adult interactions with different names (like 'Mess Around')
Forgot to add that they NEED different clothing, maybe some themed 'stereotypical' clothing like Geeks and Jocks etc.