On a more serious note....I don't think there is a definition that fits everyone. The little "baby object" bothers some people, others have no problem with it. Some people have no problems with the current activities, others want something with more depth or meaning.
Personally since it means so many things to so many people this feels like a no win situation for anyone.
I'd say family play is what makes you happy and satisfied with the game and that's different for everyone. You can count on one thing though when you ask a blanket question like that in this atmosphere it seems like a lead in for disagreements.
"People really love to explore 'failure states. In fact, the failure states are really much more interesting than the success states." ~ Will Wright
Okay, so, the question has been solved? Great! Anyone wants cookies?
I doubt that anything has been solved. Some players don't want to validate the play styles of others if they don't conform to what they think. This thread proves there is no set definition to what a play style is to any given player.
"People really love to explore 'failure states. In fact, the failure states are really much more interesting than the success states." ~ Will Wright
In my case I play family style based around Sims 2 style legacy rules - where each stage of the family has equal importance and play time. There is no aging up anyone. In my game - like in Sims 3 I even went one step further and implemented epic aging, then maxed the ages on EVERY life stage. ONly when the game tells me someone is about to age up in the next 24 hours do my sims see a birthday cake and I plan them a party where just family and extended family attend. It is strictly a party for the family and I don't want no stinking meter to tell me what someone should be doing or whether or not it was successful as it is not a competition, it is a family member birthday party that has a sole point of celebrating that sims birthday. It does not need rating or having to comply with anything. I rule not some idiotic meter or game rule. At the birthday party my sims do things like I did at my real kids birthday parties and as I do at birthday parties for other aged family members. I always buy or provide something special for the birthday sim as a present even though this silly game does not recognize it - but would if I truly did rule.
In my game no one dies - permanently- except in the case of old age. For this reason ghosts matter. Also cemeteries matter, as one thing I do different from legacy rules - is once a Sim actually dies of old age - then and only then do they get moved to a cemetery - another thing Maxis left out. Nor should a ghost EVER be culled. Their end in family play has to be my decision - not the games - once they are a ghost. My family style requires any Sims that dies before their old age comes back. I like my old aged sims to also complete the lifetime want of the golden grave stone - unfortunately for us - another missing thing from even Sims 3 (and 4) and another reason Sims 2 did the sims part of the game best.
My game is all about the family and every generation. My sims 2 legacy generational style is the Alphabet Legacy which is 26 generations. I do not play single sims. My game is not about dating and parties or jet setting all over creation or me people. My game is not about mods or cheats - my sims earn everything on their own with no short cuts. Sims reach the full potential of every single life stage - with no skimping. Every skill both seen and hidden to every stage matters and my sims complete them all. They care very little about what is going on in the world around them - and everything about the family. They play together, they vacation together. The whole family knows their friends and the whole family has to love a young sims prospective mate. I am not into drama. I let my sims experience all the drama they can handle off at college. College is very important to my sims families and all the kids go to college, earn their degrees before they have any jobs. No sims 2 or 3 teen in my game has ever had a part time job because I am too busy making them true family members and not just another sim that lives in a house like roommates or something. Even at college my young sims will call their mom, their dad, and various siblings just to say hi - I loved that in Sims 2 and why I love Sims 2 college the best. But even in Sims 3 I run things pretty much the same way.
My sims play all the games the game offers, builds all the things they can build using what ever the game offers from robot benches machines to flower shop machines - you name it and my sims start learning to use it and master it as soon as they are old enough. Every child and teen age sims I have are very close with their younger siblings usually bfs before the toddler is a child. Even with the infant the relationships are as high as possible. Sims 4 takes that all away and does not care the child in the house hates their very existence of the new baby - never mind offer zero ways to build any relationships which I work hard to build in my Sims 2 and 3 games.
Also in my game the ones that own businesses is the elders - no other age has a business - as my sims have careers up until they retire as an elder, then the elders go in partnership and start a business of some kind. But my game as you see is just about family - nothing else is important to me but what happens with in the family and all the future generations. You can see how badly Sims 4 has abandoned every aspect of the Sims for me.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
Oh, that is interesting Writin Reg. Your hairstyle ends up on my Sims a lot... Anyways I believe family style play means lots of toddlers and lots of child based activities. I could write more, but I don't want to bore you. ;)
I liked the way it happened in TS2. When relationships drift, you don't rush up and hug people. You're not as intimate at that point. I thought it was more realistic in TS2. And if the relationship got low enough the teens would run away from their neglectful parents. There was a touch of realism and consequences to the player actions, something people complained about and has been eliminated since TS3 making it no longer a game, but a dollhouse.
And anyone can do that in TS4, it isn't just family. The Sims will hug right after being furious with the other. And I just seen this yesterday, girl caught boy cheating, she had no option for romance, but he had them all. She accepted everything even though she was angry and sad about it. That may be some cool story making tool for those of you that play that way, but to me that just made the whole situation seem pathetic. That's not the reaction I wanted to see. And they all do it. Angry and laughing and hugging all in the same breath.
I loved that in TS2 as well. When an angry sim would refuse most socials apart from chat or apologise when they were furious with another sim. When relationships had deteriorated to the point that they were furious, or, they barely knew each other anymore and it was hard to even ask them personal questions let alone run up and hug them.
One of the things ( amongst many ) that used to annoy me about TS3 was the fact that sims would hug, chat, and even woohoo when they were mad at each other. It always felt like such a gimp to me, like no thought whatsoever had been put into that part of the relationships and interactions. It seems like TS4 has just another letdown in that regard, for people like me who prefer a slightly more realistic approach rather than rainbow approach. There was no cold shoulder, no real consequence for cheating on your spouse or partner. Half the time they would stand there and not even care if your sim did it. It's disconcerting that they still don't seem to have gotten in right this time either.
I never had a teen run away. My sims always had strong family ties and they were close, but there were times they got furious, and most of the time without any direction at all. Before I was familiar with the game, I once too a bouquet of flowers out of my sims inventory and put them on a table as decor. It was then that I could read the attached note, so I had my sim do it. It was the love letter thing that comes with the flowers on a date, and it was from another sim she'd gone out with before she had married.
Anyhow, the next moment there was this odd noise, and my sims husband came up and began yelling at her. I was really mystified as to what the problem was at first. His picture in her known sims list was all red, and he wouldn't talk to her barely at all until the timer on the "furious" emotion had lasped and he rejected every romantic or even friendly social apart from a few minor chat and apologise socials.
I would like to see that kind of thing back again, rather than this free love even when spitting mad approach.
I would love to see that type of depth back into the characters. The problem that I see is that there are too many people (obviously the way I feel about it is outnumbered) that want rainbows and sunshine and for everything to go their way. In TS3 they had already crippled the character development in that way. It was not about you having to manage the relationships, but instead manipulating them to suit your "story". There is a big difference in the type of gameplay you can get out of the experience and that is almost always why people called TS3 sims robotic (aside from their weird stiff facial expressions).
But for me, there is an absence of actual simulation in this game. It was already on a slippery slope during TS3, but simulation is now just a forgotten feature at this point. There is so much that can be added to each individual character by actually simulating their reactions to thing and making them meaningful to the set of traits they have. When I put 2 sims together that have contrasting traits, I want to see them actually butt heads and not get along. But in TS4, it's just empty. They do whatever you tell them to do and it's almost impossible to make another sim reject a social that you made your sim do.
--I had one teen run away once and it was one of my favorite families. I was heartbroken about it. Then one day I traveled to the park with the rest of the family and a little pop-up said my run away was spotted. There was a minigame involved. You had a certain amount of time to get the relationship high enough to make the kid come home. Unfortunately for me, I didn't make it on time (couldn't find him, apparently he was hiding) and lost my poor sim. Only to find that he would come back the day before he aged up. Another very awesome thing I noticed was that his parents were both distraught over the ordeal, but his little brother that disliked him very much had a happy memory about it. And that right there is why TS2 was so very special and why it is important to include natural reactions and actual simulations in the game. This was a scenario that the game provided, I didn't have to use my imagination or manipulate pictures. And it drew me into the story so much that I remember it almost 10 years later.
WOW. I never even knew that existed in the game. Now that's the kind of depth I'm talking about. Time to play a little Sims 2...
In fact this reminds me of Sims Freeplay, where there are little mini games attached to sims fishing or wood carving. Mini games don't add depth to a life simulation game for me. And I think this is the hard part for the creators. What adds depth to one player, breaks immersion for the other. What's considered robotic by one is considered realistic by the other. there just is no pleasing us I guess
I wasn't referring specifically to the mini-game when I said "depth." I'm talking about the entire scenario. Teen runaways, spotting them in a park, having a chance to talk them into coming home...calling the police to report? Wow. If a child is taken by foster care in the sims 3, they are deleted. *Poof* Gone.
Relationships are so positive in the Sims 3 (and 4) that I don't think you'll ever see a teen runaway. (If that's even a possibility.) Also, the way I understood it, the mini-game is mostly a timer. To me, that says you have a certain amount of time to retrieve your child and repair the relationship. That, by itself, wouldn't break immersion for me. Freeplay mini games are garbage compared to Sims 2.
I've been wondering this for a bit after having a discussion with someone over what they'd consider family play is and he said it completely depends on a person's perspective and what they'd classify as something family related, which got me thinking, the term family play doesn't just have to imply the interactions between various life stages, things like socialisation, parties and even something like playing Chess could be seen as family play to someone's perspective. For example, someone whose family parties allot can see the Partying aspects of The Sims games as Family Play, whilst others look towards socialising with family members or just plain interactions with them. So really anything that can be done with the whole family could be classed as family play to different people respectively. So tell me, what do you fellow Simmers define as 'Family Play'?
I think that this would be over-generalizing.
Family-play is NOT about casual sex, drinking alcohol, random partying, dancing in bars, or taking "selfies."
What family-play means in the Sim games is marriage, growing a family, taking care of domestics, careers, birthday parties, and giving care to elderly parents. It involves family trees and carrying on the bloodline into new generations.
There is No family-play in The Sims 4. It's party college-play with children on the side. It is so linear and connect-the-dots, it is difficult to inject family-play into it.
I think a lot of the replies in this thread have shown that is false.
I disagree.
Most of the replies are speaking of playing with a family which is not the same as family-play.
????? Playing with a family IS family play...because..you know...you're playing with....a family....and more often that not they're interacting with each other....so how is that not..family play?
...
I am sorry that you are so confused. The objective is to apply a meaning to Family-play as it relates to those who are missing family-play. Playing with a family or something considered a family does not promote the activities that are important to those who desire family-play style of playing. So, my expression was to say that family-play focuses on the family activity rather than play that contains a family.
But then what constitutes as family activity? Eating dinner together? Going to the park together? Birthday parties? Family invited to weddings? If there is a clear cut definiton for "family play" and "family activity", then what is it? As far as this thread shows, many people define family activity as something completely different from someone else's definition. So again, both of these end up being subjective terms. And if it relates to those missing family-play, what about those who're completely content with the family-play in the game? Are they not considered "true" family players because they aren't missing it?
I don't think there is a clear-cut definition. I think that some people are content to simply "play with a family," while the rest of us are looking for depth. We are looking for interactions that have more meaning and that create deeper bonds.
I liked the way it happened in TS2. When relationships drift, you don't rush up and hug people. You're not as intimate at that point. I thought it was more realistic in TS2. And if the relationship got low enough the teens would run away from their neglectful parents. There was a touch of realism and consequences to the player actions, something people complained about and has been eliminated since TS3 making it no longer a game, but a dollhouse.
And anyone can do that in TS4, it isn't just family. The Sims will hug right after being furious with the other. And I just seen this yesterday, girl caught boy cheating, she had no option for romance, but he had them all. She accepted everything even though she was angry and sad about it. That may be some cool story making tool for those of you that play that way, but to me that just made the whole situation seem pathetic. That's not the reaction I wanted to see. And they all do it. Angry and laughing and hugging all in the same breath.
I loved that in TS2 as well. When an angry sim would refuse most socials apart from chat or apologise when they were furious with another sim. When relationships had deteriorated to the point that they were furious, or, they barely knew each other anymore and it was hard to even ask them personal questions let alone run up and hug them.
One of the things ( amongst many ) that used to annoy me about TS3 was the fact that sims would hug, chat, and even woohoo when they were mad at each other. It always felt like such a gimp to me, like no thought whatsoever had been put into that part of the relationships and interactions. It seems like TS4 has just another letdown in that regard, for people like me who prefer a slightly more realistic approach rather than rainbow approach. There was no cold shoulder, no real consequence for cheating on your spouse or partner. Half the time they would stand there and not even care if your sim did it. It's disconcerting that they still don't seem to have gotten in right this time either.
I never had a teen run away. My sims always had strong family ties and they were close, but there were times they got furious, and most of the time without any direction at all. Before I was familiar with the game, I once too a bouquet of flowers out of my sims inventory and put them on a table as decor. It was then that I could read the attached note, so I had my sim do it. It was the love letter thing that comes with the flowers on a date, and it was from another sim she'd gone out with before she had married.
Anyhow, the next moment there was this odd noise, and my sims husband came up and began yelling at her. I was really mystified as to what the problem was at first. His picture in her known sims list was all red, and he wouldn't talk to her barely at all until the timer on the "furious" emotion had lasped and he rejected every romantic or even friendly social apart from a few minor chat and apologise socials.
I would like to see that kind of thing back again, rather than this free love even when spitting mad approach.
I would love to see that type of depth back into the characters. The problem that I see is that there are too many people (obviously the way I feel about it is outnumbered) that want rainbows and sunshine and for everything to go their way. In TS3 they had already crippled the character development in that way. It was not about you having to manage the relationships, but instead manipulating them to suit your "story". There is a big difference in the type of gameplay you can get out of the experience and that is almost always why people called TS3 sims robotic (aside from their weird stiff facial expressions).
But for me, there is an absence of actual simulation in this game. It was already on a slippery slope during TS3, but simulation is now just a forgotten feature at this point. There is so much that can be added to each individual character by actually simulating their reactions to thing and making them meaningful to the set of traits they have. When I put 2 sims together that have contrasting traits, I want to see them actually butt heads and not get along. But in TS4, it's just empty. They do whatever you tell them to do and it's almost impossible to make another sim reject a social that you made your sim do.
--I had one teen run away once and it was one of my favorite families. I was heartbroken about it. Then one day I traveled to the park with the rest of the family and a little pop-up said my run away was spotted. There was a minigame involved. You had a certain amount of time to get the relationship high enough to make the kid come home. Unfortunately for me, I didn't make it on time (couldn't find him, apparently he was hiding) and lost my poor sim. Only to find that he would come back the day before he aged up. Another very awesome thing I noticed was that his parents were both distraught over the ordeal, but his little brother that disliked him very much had a happy memory about it. And that right there is why TS2 was so very special and why it is important to include natural reactions and actual simulations in the game. This was a scenario that the game provided, I didn't have to use my imagination or manipulate pictures. And it drew me into the story so much that I remember it almost 10 years later.
WOW. I never even knew that existed in the game. Now that's the kind of depth I'm talking about. Time to play a little Sims 2...
In fact this reminds me of Sims Freeplay, where there are little mini games attached to sims fishing or wood carving. Mini games don't add depth to a life simulation game for me. And I think this is the hard part for the creators. What adds depth to one player, breaks immersion for the other. What's considered robotic by one is considered realistic by the other. there just is no pleasing us I guess
I wasn't referring specifically to the mini-game when I said "depth." I'm talking about the entire scenario. Teen runaways, spotting them in a park, having a chance to talk them into coming home...calling the police to report? Wow. If a child is taken by foster care in the sims 3, they are deleted. *Poof* Gone.
Relationships are so positive in the Sims 3 (and 4) that I don't think you'll ever see a teen runaway. (If that's even a possibility.) Also, the way I understood it, the mini-game is mostly a timer. To me, that says you have a certain amount of time to retrieve your child and repair the relationship. That, by itself, wouldn't break immersion for me. Freeplay mini games are garbage compared to Sims 2.
Did she really just compare a linear quest game to the king of simulation? Wow
I liked the way it happened in TS2. When relationships drift, you don't rush up and hug people. You're not as intimate at that point. I thought it was more realistic in TS2. And if the relationship got low enough the teens would run away from their neglectful parents. There was a touch of realism and consequences to the player actions, something people complained about and has been eliminated since TS3 making it no longer a game, but a dollhouse.
And anyone can do that in TS4, it isn't just family. The Sims will hug right after being furious with the other. And I just seen this yesterday, girl caught boy cheating, she had no option for romance, but he had them all. She accepted everything even though she was angry and sad about it. That may be some cool story making tool for those of you that play that way, but to me that just made the whole situation seem pathetic. That's not the reaction I wanted to see. And they all do it. Angry and laughing and hugging all in the same breath.
I loved that in TS2 as well. When an angry sim would refuse most socials apart from chat or apologise when they were furious with another sim. When relationships had deteriorated to the point that they were furious, or, they barely knew each other anymore and it was hard to even ask them personal questions let alone run up and hug them.
One of the things ( amongst many ) that used to annoy me about TS3 was the fact that sims would hug, chat, and even woohoo when they were mad at each other. It always felt like such a gimp to me, like no thought whatsoever had been put into that part of the relationships and interactions. It seems like TS4 has just another letdown in that regard, for people like me who prefer a slightly more realistic approach rather than rainbow approach. There was no cold shoulder, no real consequence for cheating on your spouse or partner. Half the time they would stand there and not even care if your sim did it. It's disconcerting that they still don't seem to have gotten in right this time either.
I never had a teen run away. My sims always had strong family ties and they were close, but there were times they got furious, and most of the time without any direction at all. Before I was familiar with the game, I once too a bouquet of flowers out of my sims inventory and put them on a table as decor. It was then that I could read the attached note, so I had my sim do it. It was the love letter thing that comes with the flowers on a date, and it was from another sim she'd gone out with before she had married.
Anyhow, the next moment there was this odd noise, and my sims husband came up and began yelling at her. I was really mystified as to what the problem was at first. His picture in her known sims list was all red, and he wouldn't talk to her barely at all until the timer on the "furious" emotion had lasped and he rejected every romantic or even friendly social apart from a few minor chat and apologise socials.
I would like to see that kind of thing back again, rather than this free love even when spitting mad approach.
I would love to see that type of depth back into the characters. The problem that I see is that there are too many people (obviously the way I feel about it is outnumbered) that want rainbows and sunshine and for everything to go their way. In TS3 they had already crippled the character development in that way. It was not about you having to manage the relationships, but instead manipulating them to suit your "story". There is a big difference in the type of gameplay you can get out of the experience and that is almost always why people called TS3 sims robotic (aside from their weird stiff facial expressions).
But for me, there is an absence of actual simulation in this game. It was already on a slippery slope during TS3, but simulation is now just a forgotten feature at this point. There is so much that can be added to each individual character by actually simulating their reactions to thing and making them meaningful to the set of traits they have. When I put 2 sims together that have contrasting traits, I want to see them actually butt heads and not get along. But in TS4, it's just empty. They do whatever you tell them to do and it's almost impossible to make another sim reject a social that you made your sim do.
--I had one teen run away once and it was one of my favorite families. I was heartbroken about it. Then one day I traveled to the park with the rest of the family and a little pop-up said my run away was spotted. There was a minigame involved. You had a certain amount of time to get the relationship high enough to make the kid come home. Unfortunately for me, I didn't make it on time (couldn't find him, apparently he was hiding) and lost my poor sim. Only to find that he would come back the day before he aged up. Another very awesome thing I noticed was that his parents were both distraught over the ordeal, but his little brother that disliked him very much had a happy memory about it. And that right there is why TS2 was so very special and why it is important to include natural reactions and actual simulations in the game. This was a scenario that the game provided, I didn't have to use my imagination or manipulate pictures. And it drew me into the story so much that I remember it almost 10 years later.
WOW. I never even knew that existed in the game. Now that's the kind of depth I'm talking about. Time to play a little Sims 2...
In fact this reminds me of Sims Freeplay, where there are little mini games attached to sims fishing or wood carving. Mini games don't add depth to a life simulation game for me. And I think this is the hard part for the creators. What adds depth to one player, breaks immersion for the other. What's considered robotic by one is considered realistic by the other. there just is no pleasing us I guess
I wasn't referring specifically to the mini-game when I said "depth." I'm talking about the entire scenario. Teen runaways, spotting them in a park, having a chance to talk them into coming home...calling the police to report? Wow. If a child is taken by foster care in the sims 3, they are deleted. *Poof* Gone.
Relationships are so positive in the Sims 3 (and 4) that I don't think you'll ever see a teen runaway. (If that's even a possibility.) Also, the way I understood it, the mini-game is mostly a timer. To me, that says you have a certain amount of time to retrieve your child and repair the relationship. That, by itself, wouldn't break immersion for me. Freeplay mini games are garbage compared to Sims 2.
Relationships in Sims 3 are as positive as you want them to be
I do like the sound of a runaway possibility for teens though. But I couldn't find anything about a minigame on the internet? Just that you had to call the police and they'd bring the teen back. You could make your teen run away by yourself in Sims 3 of course and I think that might explain why some love the game and others say it misses depth: it's heaven for story tellers but you have to come up with a lot yourself, create your own storylines. Sims 3 is less of a 'game' than Sims 1 and 2 I think. And you can make it as deep or shallow as you like.
Another thing: is it possible to solve a question..? You can answer one (but it clearly hasn't) and you can solve a problem (but for many people it isn't). So thanks for the cookie but I don't think anything's solved
I liked the way it happened in TS2. When relationships drift, you don't rush up and hug people. You're not as intimate at that point. I thought it was more realistic in TS2. And if the relationship got low enough the teens would run away from their neglectful parents. There was a touch of realism and consequences to the player actions, something people complained about and has been eliminated since TS3 making it no longer a game, but a dollhouse.
And anyone can do that in TS4, it isn't just family. The Sims will hug right after being furious with the other. And I just seen this yesterday, girl caught boy cheating, she had no option for romance, but he had them all. She accepted everything even though she was angry and sad about it. That may be some cool story making tool for those of you that play that way, but to me that just made the whole situation seem pathetic. That's not the reaction I wanted to see. And they all do it. Angry and laughing and hugging all in the same breath.
I loved that in TS2 as well. When an angry sim would refuse most socials apart from chat or apologise when they were furious with another sim. When relationships had deteriorated to the point that they were furious, or, they barely knew each other anymore and it was hard to even ask them personal questions let alone run up and hug them.
One of the things ( amongst many ) that used to annoy me about TS3 was the fact that sims would hug, chat, and even woohoo when they were mad at each other. It always felt like such a gimp to me, like no thought whatsoever had been put into that part of the relationships and interactions. It seems like TS4 has just another letdown in that regard, for people like me who prefer a slightly more realistic approach rather than rainbow approach. There was no cold shoulder, no real consequence for cheating on your spouse or partner. Half the time they would stand there and not even care if your sim did it. It's disconcerting that they still don't seem to have gotten in right this time either.
I never had a teen run away. My sims always had strong family ties and they were close, but there were times they got furious, and most of the time without any direction at all. Before I was familiar with the game, I once too a bouquet of flowers out of my sims inventory and put them on a table as decor. It was then that I could read the attached note, so I had my sim do it. It was the love letter thing that comes with the flowers on a date, and it was from another sim she'd gone out with before she had married.
Anyhow, the next moment there was this odd noise, and my sims husband came up and began yelling at her. I was really mystified as to what the problem was at first. His picture in her known sims list was all red, and he wouldn't talk to her barely at all until the timer on the "furious" emotion had lasped and he rejected every romantic or even friendly social apart from a few minor chat and apologise socials.
I would like to see that kind of thing back again, rather than this free love even when spitting mad approach.
I would love to see that type of depth back into the characters. The problem that I see is that there are too many people (obviously the way I feel about it is outnumbered) that want rainbows and sunshine and for everything to go their way. In TS3 they had already crippled the character development in that way. It was not about you having to manage the relationships, but instead manipulating them to suit your "story". There is a big difference in the type of gameplay you can get out of the experience and that is almost always why people called TS3 sims robotic (aside from their weird stiff facial expressions).
But for me, there is an absence of actual simulation in this game. It was already on a slippery slope during TS3, but simulation is now just a forgotten feature at this point. There is so much that can be added to each individual character by actually simulating their reactions to thing and making them meaningful to the set of traits they have. When I put 2 sims together that have contrasting traits, I want to see them actually butt heads and not get along. But in TS4, it's just empty. They do whatever you tell them to do and it's almost impossible to make another sim reject a social that you made your sim do.
--I had one teen run away once and it was one of my favorite families. I was heartbroken about it. Then one day I traveled to the park with the rest of the family and a little pop-up said my run away was spotted. There was a minigame involved. You had a certain amount of time to get the relationship high enough to make the kid come home. Unfortunately for me, I didn't make it on time (couldn't find him, apparently he was hiding) and lost my poor sim. Only to find that he would come back the day before he aged up. Another very awesome thing I noticed was that his parents were both distraught over the ordeal, but his little brother that disliked him very much had a happy memory about it. And that right there is why TS2 was so very special and why it is important to include natural reactions and actual simulations in the game. This was a scenario that the game provided, I didn't have to use my imagination or manipulate pictures. And it drew me into the story so much that I remember it almost 10 years later.
WOW. I never even knew that existed in the game. Now that's the kind of depth I'm talking about. Time to play a little Sims 2...
In fact this reminds me of Sims Freeplay, where there are little mini games attached to sims fishing or wood carving. Mini games don't add depth to a life simulation game for me. And I think this is the hard part for the creators. What adds depth to one player, breaks immersion for the other. What's considered robotic by one is considered realistic by the other. there just is no pleasing us I guess
I wasn't referring specifically to the mini-game when I said "depth." I'm talking about the entire scenario. Teen runaways, spotting them in a park, having a chance to talk them into coming home...calling the police to report? Wow. If a child is taken by foster care in the sims 3, they are deleted. *Poof* Gone.
Relationships are so positive in the Sims 3 (and 4) that I don't think you'll ever see a teen runaway. (If that's even a possibility.) Also, the way I understood it, the mini-game is mostly a timer. To me, that says you have a certain amount of time to retrieve your child and repair the relationship. That, by itself, wouldn't break immersion for me. Freeplay mini games are garbage compared to Sims 2.
Did she really just compare a linear quest game to the king of simulation? Wow
Did you really just talk about me in the third person..? You can adress me directly and I'll answer Yes, I did, for me it's not the king of simulation, for my playing style Sims 2 is rather limited. And say what you want, but a minigame is very lineair The question is: was there really a minigame? Because I couldn't find a word about it on the internet, just that they had to call the police.
It is not actually a mini game but part of the rebellious teen trait. When teens with that trait get grounded for things like pulling pranks or skipping school or something on that order or going somewhere they weren't supposed to go - some are known to run a way. In the game rules about runaways once you get the notice your teen has runaway - you need to call the police, and if they find the kid that same night they bring it back, and then of course the parents is expected to punish them again. But if they are not found that night - then whether or not they ever come back is doubtful unless you happen to see them in the game somewhere and send a parent to hug on them and such and get them to come back. I have heard that happens - but I only played a rebellious teen once, they did run away, but I never got them back and never found them in the game, so who knows. The one I played was a household that came in the game - I think it was in an ep - and is the teen girl they actually showed in one of the trailers but in the trailer the police found her - just not in my game. Any born in game kids I had that got that trait I never had any of them runaway no matter how many times they got punished for something - so I can't say. I know my born in game sims all are long become BFF's with their parents - so that is probably why as the Maxis made household had a real low relationship with their parents - so I think it was more that than anything. So it is not really a mini game but part of the optional things can happen within certain different traits. The only time I saw that trait sort of interesting is when teens got to college and could join with other rebellious types - they protested a lot and pranked everybody, had some wild parties if you had a few in Greek House. They also frequently got expelled and in Sims 2 once you are expelled you are done going to college as the game turns your sim to adult. LOL.
Sims 1 had a lot of cute mini games - especially in making Magic - but I would not consider that a mini game as mini games you generally can choose to play - and this was not really something that happens in Sims 2 at will. You have to set the stage to force it to happen and the teen has to have that trait and a bad relationships with their parents.
Post edited by Writin_Reg on
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
How'd you get them to sit still long enough to take that picture?
The kids was sleeping and with hunger bar in red, then I wake up all them, but also autonomous the blonde YA and the one in bikini go to get ice-cream. The active woman also was hungry (yellow) and I manually sit her (unfortunatelly when she comes, ice cream was empty)
Family play for me is taking my single Sim & having her date until 'the one' comes along. Marriage leads to ALL life stages being available & playing the same family for many generations.
The parents in my games enjoy each life stage with their children. Babies are taken for walks & placed in swings until it's time for them to grow into toddlers. Then reading, potty training, walking & talking come into play. The toddlers play games & read books to help their skills for when they grow to children. Parents take their toddlers to the library & parks & have picnics with other families & visit the Festivals.
As children they continue to learn skills, do well in school & have hobbies. Most of my households have at least one pet as well. The children are usually the caretakers of their pets. They ride their bikes to the park, or a friends house & go to the movies, sporting events & out to eat.
Most of my families have at least 2 children, but some have as many as 5. That gets hectic, but it's still fun to try & control the household with skill building & taking care of pets.
Sometimes I start my family play with a homeless teen & help her build a successful family with many generations.
This type of family play is not available in Sims 4 -which is why I stopped spending money on it after GTW & uninstalled it.
I liked the way it happened in TS2. When relationships drift, you don't rush up and hug people. You're not as intimate at that point. I thought it was more realistic in TS2. And if the relationship got low enough the teens would run away from their neglectful parents. There was a touch of realism and consequences to the player actions, something people complained about and has been eliminated since TS3 making it no longer a game, but a dollhouse.
And anyone can do that in TS4, it isn't just family. The Sims will hug right after being furious with the other. And I just seen this yesterday, girl caught boy cheating, she had no option for romance, but he had them all. She accepted everything even though she was angry and sad about it. That may be some cool story making tool for those of you that play that way, but to me that just made the whole situation seem pathetic. That's not the reaction I wanted to see. And they all do it. Angry and laughing and hugging all in the same breath.
I loved that in TS2 as well. When an angry sim would refuse most socials apart from chat or apologise when they were furious with another sim. When relationships had deteriorated to the point that they were furious, or, they barely knew each other anymore and it was hard to even ask them personal questions let alone run up and hug them.
One of the things ( amongst many ) that used to annoy me about TS3 was the fact that sims would hug, chat, and even woohoo when they were mad at each other. It always felt like such a gimp to me, like no thought whatsoever had been put into that part of the relationships and interactions. It seems like TS4 has just another letdown in that regard, for people like me who prefer a slightly more realistic approach rather than rainbow approach. There was no cold shoulder, no real consequence for cheating on your spouse or partner. Half the time they would stand there and not even care if your sim did it. It's disconcerting that they still don't seem to have gotten in right this time either.
I never had a teen run away. My sims always had strong family ties and they were close, but there were times they got furious, and most of the time without any direction at all. Before I was familiar with the game, I once too a bouquet of flowers out of my sims inventory and put them on a table as decor. It was then that I could read the attached note, so I had my sim do it. It was the love letter thing that comes with the flowers on a date, and it was from another sim she'd gone out with before she had married.
Anyhow, the next moment there was this odd noise, and my sims husband came up and began yelling at her. I was really mystified as to what the problem was at first. His picture in her known sims list was all red, and he wouldn't talk to her barely at all until the timer on the "furious" emotion had lasped and he rejected every romantic or even friendly social apart from a few minor chat and apologise socials.
I would like to see that kind of thing back again, rather than this free love even when spitting mad approach.
I would love to see that type of depth back into the characters. The problem that I see is that there are too many people (obviously the way I feel about it is outnumbered) that want rainbows and sunshine and for everything to go their way. In TS3 they had already crippled the character development in that way. It was not about you having to manage the relationships, but instead manipulating them to suit your "story". There is a big difference in the type of gameplay you can get out of the experience and that is almost always why people called TS3 sims robotic (aside from their weird stiff facial expressions).
But for me, there is an absence of actual simulation in this game. It was already on a slippery slope during TS3, but simulation is now just a forgotten feature at this point. There is so much that can be added to each individual character by actually simulating their reactions to thing and making them meaningful to the set of traits they have. When I put 2 sims together that have contrasting traits, I want to see them actually butt heads and not get along. But in TS4, it's just empty. They do whatever you tell them to do and it's almost impossible to make another sim reject a social that you made your sim do.
--I had one teen run away once and it was one of my favorite families. I was heartbroken about it. Then one day I traveled to the park with the rest of the family and a little pop-up said my run away was spotted. There was a minigame involved. You had a certain amount of time to get the relationship high enough to make the kid come home. Unfortunately for me, I didn't make it on time (couldn't find him, apparently he was hiding) and lost my poor sim. Only to find that he would come back the day before he aged up. Another very awesome thing I noticed was that his parents were both distraught over the ordeal, but his little brother that disliked him very much had a happy memory about it. And that right there is why TS2 was so very special and why it is important to include natural reactions and actual simulations in the game. This was a scenario that the game provided, I didn't have to use my imagination or manipulate pictures. And it drew me into the story so much that I remember it almost 10 years later.
WOW. I never even knew that existed in the game. Now that's the kind of depth I'm talking about. Time to play a little Sims 2...
In fact this reminds me of Sims Freeplay, where there are little mini games attached to sims fishing or wood carving. Mini games don't add depth to a life simulation game for me. And I think this is the hard part for the creators. What adds depth to one player, breaks immersion for the other. What's considered robotic by one is considered realistic by the other. there just is no pleasing us I guess
I wasn't referring specifically to the mini-game when I said "depth." I'm talking about the entire scenario. Teen runaways, spotting them in a park, having a chance to talk them into coming home...calling the police to report? Wow. If a child is taken by foster care in the sims 3, they are deleted. *Poof* Gone.
Relationships are so positive in the Sims 3 (and 4) that I don't think you'll ever see a teen runaway. (If that's even a possibility.) Also, the way I understood it, the mini-game is mostly a timer. To me, that says you have a certain amount of time to retrieve your child and repair the relationship. That, by itself, wouldn't break immersion for me. Freeplay mini games are garbage compared to Sims 2.
Did she really just compare a linear quest game to the king of simulation? Wow
Did you really just talk about me in the third person..? You can adress me directly and I'll answer Yes, I did, for me it's not the king of simulation, for my playing style Sims 2 is rather limited. And say what you want, but a minigame is very lineair The question is: was there really a minigame? Because I couldn't find a word about it on the internet, just that they had to call the police.
Actually, when I said "king of simulation" I meant the entire The Sims series, not just TS2. I can't believe anyone would compare the PC series to Freeplay, the game that is not a simulation at all.
And I didn't see your original response and didn't feel like searching for it to quote.
Comments
Personally since it means so many things to so many people this feels like a no win situation for anyone.
I'd say family play is what makes you happy and satisfied with the game and that's different for everyone. You can count on one thing though when you ask a blanket question like that in this atmosphere it seems like a lead in for disagreements.
I doubt that anything has been solved. Some players don't want to validate the play styles of others if they don't conform to what they think. This thread proves there is no set definition to what a play style is to any given player.
In my game no one dies - permanently- except in the case of old age. For this reason ghosts matter. Also cemeteries matter, as one thing I do different from legacy rules - is once a Sim actually dies of old age - then and only then do they get moved to a cemetery - another thing Maxis left out. Nor should a ghost EVER be culled. Their end in family play has to be my decision - not the games - once they are a ghost. My family style requires any Sims that dies before their old age comes back. I like my old aged sims to also complete the lifetime want of the golden grave stone - unfortunately for us - another missing thing from even Sims 3 (and 4) and another reason Sims 2 did the sims part of the game best.
My game is all about the family and every generation. My sims 2 legacy generational style is the Alphabet Legacy which is 26 generations. I do not play single sims. My game is not about dating and parties or jet setting all over creation or me people. My game is not about mods or cheats - my sims earn everything on their own with no short cuts. Sims reach the full potential of every single life stage - with no skimping. Every skill both seen and hidden to every stage matters and my sims complete them all. They care very little about what is going on in the world around them - and everything about the family. They play together, they vacation together. The whole family knows their friends and the whole family has to love a young sims prospective mate. I am not into drama. I let my sims experience all the drama they can handle off at college. College is very important to my sims families and all the kids go to college, earn their degrees before they have any jobs. No sims 2 or 3 teen in my game has ever had a part time job because I am too busy making them true family members and not just another sim that lives in a house like roommates or something. Even at college my young sims will call their mom, their dad, and various siblings just to say hi - I loved that in Sims 2 and why I love Sims 2 college the best. But even in Sims 3 I run things pretty much the same way.
My sims play all the games the game offers, builds all the things they can build using what ever the game offers from robot benches machines to flower shop machines - you name it and my sims start learning to use it and master it as soon as they are old enough. Every child and teen age sims I have are very close with their younger siblings usually bfs before the toddler is a child. Even with the infant the relationships are as high as possible. Sims 4 takes that all away and does not care the child in the house hates their very existence of the new baby - never mind offer zero ways to build any relationships which I work hard to build in my Sims 2 and 3 games.
Also in my game the ones that own businesses is the elders - no other age has a business - as my sims have careers up until they retire as an elder, then the elders go in partnership and start a business of some kind. But my game as you see is just about family - nothing else is important to me but what happens with in the family and all the future generations. You can see how badly Sims 4 has abandoned every aspect of the Sims for me.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
I wasn't referring specifically to the mini-game when I said "depth." I'm talking about the entire scenario. Teen runaways, spotting them in a park, having a chance to talk them into coming home...calling the police to report? Wow. If a child is taken by foster care in the sims 3, they are deleted. *Poof* Gone.
Relationships are so positive in the Sims 3 (and 4) that I don't think you'll ever see a teen runaway. (If that's even a possibility.) Also, the way I understood it, the mini-game is mostly a timer. To me, that says you have a certain amount of time to retrieve your child and repair the relationship. That, by itself, wouldn't break immersion for me. Freeplay mini games are garbage compared to Sims 2.
I don't think there is a clear-cut definition. I think that some people are content to simply "play with a family," while the rest of us are looking for depth. We are looking for interactions that have more meaning and that create deeper bonds.
Did she really just compare a linear quest game to the king of simulation? Wow
I do like the sound of a runaway possibility for teens though. But I couldn't find anything about a minigame on the internet? Just that you had to call the police and they'd bring the teen back. You could make your teen run away by yourself in Sims 3 of course and I think that might explain why some love the game and others say it misses depth: it's heaven for story tellers but you have to come up with a lot yourself, create your own storylines. Sims 3 is less of a 'game' than Sims 1 and 2 I think. And you can make it as deep or shallow as you like.
Another thing: is it possible to solve a question..? You can answer one (but it clearly hasn't) and you can solve a problem (but for many people it isn't). So thanks for the cookie but I don't think anything's solved
Sims 1 had a lot of cute mini games - especially in making Magic - but I would not consider that a mini game as mini games you generally can choose to play - and this was not really something that happens in Sims 2 at will. You have to set the stage to force it to happen and the teen has to have that trait and a bad relationships with their parents.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
How'd you get them to sit still long enough to take that picture?
"We Don't Care If You LIKE The Game, Just As Long As You BUY The Game!"
I Disapprove (Naturally)
I Took The Pledge!
The kids was sleeping and with hunger bar in red, then I wake up all them, but also autonomous the blonde YA and the one in bikini go to get ice-cream. The active woman also was hungry (yellow) and I manually sit her (unfortunatelly when she comes, ice cream was empty)
The parents in my games enjoy each life stage with their children. Babies are taken for walks & placed in swings until it's time for them to grow into toddlers. Then reading, potty training, walking & talking come into play. The toddlers play games & read books to help their skills for when they grow to children. Parents take their toddlers to the library & parks & have picnics with other families & visit the Festivals.
As children they continue to learn skills, do well in school & have hobbies. Most of my households have at least one pet as well. The children are usually the caretakers of their pets. They ride their bikes to the park, or a friends house & go to the movies, sporting events & out to eat.
Most of my families have at least 2 children, but some have as many as 5. That gets hectic, but it's still fun to try & control the household with skill building & taking care of pets.
Sometimes I start my family play with a homeless teen & help her build a successful family with many generations.
This type of family play is not available in Sims 4 -which is why I stopped spending money on it after GTW & uninstalled it.
Actually, when I said "king of simulation" I meant the entire The Sims series, not just TS2. I can't believe anyone would compare the PC series to Freeplay, the game that is not a simulation at all.
And I didn't see your original response and didn't feel like searching for it to quote.