I make use of the holidays in seasons, but the way they've been made in the pack is pretty generic anyway. Aside from the holidays, my games are mainly secular.
It might be fun to try a cult though. Once I have Get Famous maybe I will try to create a cult following for one of the stars.
My Sims fast for three days in summer and celebrate with a Grand Meal once it is over. It is a religious activity, but a fun event to be thankful with others.
@AlbaWaterhouse Umm... no. Who said anything about forcing anyone to do anything, chica..? With all due respect, please re-read my comment. Unless I'm mistaken, gender is honored as a part of the core programming going forward and yet it has no formal basis in biology. Such is merely a social construct, much like race. Even so, it is still included without expansions or stuff packs. So why not religion?
Hope this comment doesn't trigger the PC police. Shalom and namaste.
I love what some folks in this thread are doing with faith and religion in their games. @Paradiseplanet, really like how much thought and time you put into it, based on your screen shots.
IRL, I'm agnostic, but was raised by an atheist. It is a point of real annoyance to me that I was raised without any faith at all. I went through a period where I looked into many different faiths trying to find...I dunno, something, because I do believe...just am not sure what I believe. I take a similar approach to it in my Sims games, skirt the edges but not much more than that. I have a holiday with fasting, I have the attend a ceremony added to a few holidays, etc. But that's about it.
Anywho, I have to give the dev team props for at least giving a nod to the spectrum of religions out there when they do come a little close to addressing faith and religion, like with the holiday traditions for Seasons. And while I would like to see them do more with it, I understand why they don't...so many religions and beliefs IRL that no matter what they added, and how delicately they did it...some people would be angry. While that is true of just about anything they do, religion is one area where it is particularly damaging to corporate reputations if you offend people. Sort of the same reason why it's just not something you should talk about in the workplace IRL.
Okay, I've said this before and apparently it bears repeating. Albeit with sufficient clarification.
Spirituality is fundamental to the human experience. The search for meaning, purpose and enlightenment-- even in a purely secular sense-- transcends the mundane, and in a very real sense defines the individual. The fact the we live in a world which is increasingly hostile and dismissive towards matters of a spiritual nature, does not alter the reality of the human experience.
That said, no offense to anyone, but the "fantasy" argument is something of a catchall cop-out in this context. No, the Sims is a simulation, comical though it may be. Thus, as regards religion, attempting to extract or exclude this element of humanity would be as ridiculous as doing the same with music, sexuality or even basic language. To insinuate that recognition of basic truths of the human condition is somehow non-progressive is like a lifeguard allowing a swimmer to drown because he doesn't want to touch the victim inappropriately. Backing up now so as not to broach issues of political propaganda. Suffice to say, we have somehow reached a point where "tolerance" somehow translates to "taboo". One where varied opinions are confused or equated with offensive material.
Again, I love this franchise. I feel it could be a unifying force across the extended human family worldwide. But to do so, it will need to embrace cultural identities in their entirety. And yes, by default that would include faith. Spirituality. And religion, even if nondenominational or atheistic. From a gameplay perspective, such would only enhance the experience, even if generic customizable templates of faith are used over real religions, and even if the player is given the option to shut off the functionality. That said, I find it rather interesting that users have never been able to disable or opt out of sexual identity or orientation, another cardinal aspect of individual personality. I mean, isn't that kinda "forcing" the issue of sexuality on a user who may identify as asexual..? Just saying.
We are the human race and we deserve more, EA. It is 2018 after all.
Gave you an awesome vote @rabidgummibear, Hope my post right before yours didn't come off as disagreeing with you. I totally agree with your viewpoint; I'm just also aware that we're at a place where societal norms and expectations mean it doesn't make good business sense. Doesn't mean I agree with society though. Tolerance and open-mindedness would be a breath of fresh air in the world.
I need to post a quick reminder to please be extra careful of The Sims forum rules and keeping this thread on topic! This isn't a discussion on whether or not faith or religions should be in The Sims but rather a conversation about how you would integrate faith into your Sims game.
This is a very important distinction to be aware of. If this discussion becomes about religion/faith/spirituality it will break the forum rules on discussing flamebait topics (such as religion, politics, gender debates, etc) and we would need to close this topic and moderate members for breaking that forum rule.
Up until now, this discussion has done a great job on staying on topic, I'd ask you to please remember this forum rule going forward if this is a discussion you'd like to have.
Thank you,
Lanna
New Simmers, take a moment to read through this thread.
The Help Center is hosted on Answers HQ. Check out EA_Mage's thread on why.
Please post all Sims 4 Bug Reports, Technical and Gameplay issues in the AHQ Sims 4 Section.
@Stormkeep Gave you a big bad awesome too, my brother. Gonna keep quiet now.
Oh by the way, my brother! Just so you know, that post right after yours was done without refreshing my page. It wasn't addressed at you personally; it was rather an extension of the preceding post. I didn't even see that you or anyone else had typed anything at that unplumly hour until Iogged back in just now. Shalom and namaste always!
[EA_Lanna: Merged posts to limit double posting/spam and removed line referring to moderation per the forum rules...please read them.]
In the Sims 2 I had a themed neighborhood that was a mix of medieval and old west (it's...a long story), and a church developed as an important part of that neighborhood's "culture". Originally I just had a chapel in the graveyard, then I built a church for looks and decided it was the "private school", and as more medieval stuff entered the picture I decided that teachers and doctors would be monks/nuns... More grew from that, including an order of "knights" who were the leading politicians, judges, and soldiers, and a uni Greek house that was modeled on a monastery, with a chapel, refectory, and quarters. (Young Sims had to join this house to qualify as knights, monks, or nuns.) I used a mix of native and custom objects, and it became more markedly Catholic as the years went on, complete with stations of the cross in the chapel, and images of Mary and other saints in Sims' homes. This same neighborhood also had a "Jewish" population, as well as ethnic enclave of people who used Persian names, and names drawn from Shia culture. They didn't participate in the church institutions, but were otherwise unremarkable. I put "Jewish" in quotes because again, their only distinction was that they didn't participate in the church culture, so their kids were homeschooled (homeschooling was the norm in this neighborhood, with the exception of "private school" kids), and they couldn't become monks or knights. That didn't mean they weren't leading citizens: one of the 'Persian' sims was in my pretend village council, and a close ally of one of the factions in the neighborhood.
I've never tried to incorporate religion into Sims 3 or Sims 4, partially because I don't have control over the neighborhood. I also haven't played Sims 4 for long enough to want to try a lot of variants, whereas when I made that really intricate neighborhood above, I'd been playing Sims 2 for at least six years. My holidays are all named to match the western traditional calendar, with the exception of Thanksgiving which I call "The Big Game" just for laughs. (I removed gnomes and adding sports-watching as a tradition.)
My dream is to create a Sims 3 downtown facsimile of Brooklyn replete with miniature neighborhoods for my Chinese, Latino, Black, Indian, Irish, Italian, and Arab sims. I want to fill in the city block with bodegas, pawn shops, groceries, takeout joints, delicatessens, pubs, places of worship, etc and theme every one to the appropriate heritage on ALL levels. In fact, I really want the night clubs to be filled with sims from their particular ethnic group, allowing me to explore the active destruction of racial and/or religious barriers. But that's tough to do because there are no real cultures or races that divide the sims socially to begin with per se. What the plum, right?
The good news is I find that there is plenty of custom content to emulate most religious iconography. The bad news is the lack of animations and interactions which even imply devotion to such. Seriously. You can't even find custom animations for this purpose. As @Stormkeep mentioned, at least in a collective sense, there is an explicit lack of interest in the subject matter these days, from both a business perspective and the consumer mindset. As such, I sometimes I use the Contemplate self-interaction with my Native American sims (I'm Choctaw myself) just to sit cross-legged on the ground and you do have the Meditate option. But the former requires the Brooding trait and the latter results in the sim floating around like an extra-terrestrial or something which could obviously be interpreted as kinda offensive on some levels.
@Stormkeep mentioned he was agnostic. Well, I really think that would be the easiest to incorporate into the game with the existing options. Sometimes I make my artsy sims look at religious paintings or sculptures to pretend they are actually doing something a lot deeper, namely contemplation of the higher powers. (No, not EA... actual gods) In fact, a lot of the "protests" that my hippie sims hold at city hall are about achieving greater life time happiness, another tangent which is easily angled towards faith and religion.
That said, you guys may find the following useful for your medieval religious pursuits...
A simmer named Pamela Rhayra extracted the evangelism animations from Sims Medieval which you can play in-game thru the now famous animation player by cmomoney.
And of course, here are some quality places of worship by Wimmie to mesh with your neighborhoods. If you have the University Life expansion, you might try using the podium like I do and lecture on the merits of religion, the lack there of or anything in between.
I'm a Christian but I don't really use religion in my games. Sometimes I'll loosely use the "Good" trait to signify someone who is religious. The problem is time flies so fast in the game it's hard to find time to add something else the schedule while still keeping the Sims feed, watered, working, sleeping, etc.
Seriously though, the closest thing I had to a religion was a club/cult full of sims who ate nothing but grilled cheese sandwiches and believed other food was evil.
Someday, I'd like to try a whole 'Gods Among Men' kind of story with my Divines, but atm I'm far too lazy to commit to it. I have given some of them some divine makeovers for GF though lol.
Let's be honest, most of the world believes in a higher power, so not including religious aspects is discriminatory. However, they should be expansion packs and each pack needs to be developed by people who are that faith and strong in that fact so that they are accurate. I don't care what century we're in. God is real. God is relevant. God is Truth. And I'd like to tailor my game (I left for years because of the lack of faith-based aspects, which is strange, when you have ghosts.) to fit my faith. I've only been back a day and it's already bothering me again.
I do not put religion into my game per say. At least not the religions that are in real life. I feel since I am making the sims do my bidding that I am their god/goddess and I rule what they do. I do not put in churches but do put in wedding parks etc. My sims do not have to marry most actually just live together. I would really love it if a sim could "jump a broom" and be married, along with the regular marriage in the sims.
I myself had a wedding where in the 70's was outside and we had an ordained (maybe) "friend" do the wedding. We also had a fun ceremony where we did in fact "jump the broom."
I like to use different traditions in the game but unless you use the props your sims are not married. So I have to improvise.
I use the trait a lot that has my sims needing to have more than one partner. Would love if they really could do polygamy I would have the females marry a lot of guys just to change things up a bit.
I do not use the vampire pack if I can help it. I would not know how to do it justice and do it right and one time I played the game and I play in rotation and by the time I got back to the first rotation most of my sims were vampires so I am done with that.
I would love to see witches and magic in the game. That would be another form of beliefs in my game. but still would not adhere strictly to what is stereotypical of what a "witch" is to some of the world. I like all forms of the earth religions.
Paganism and Buddhism, and all other sorts of religions I usually just evolve them into one. I have no real restrictions on what my sims can and cannot do in the game. But if a few seem bent on meditating to a statue of Buddha then I am good with that. Also if they are meditating to a flower garden or a park bench I am good with that also. Basically it is just a game and I play it as such going with the limitations and the quirks of the game.
Yes. I have used the attend service for some of the holiday criteria. @SheriGr I'm right there with you. Believe it or not, my Global Superstar has been engaged twice (to the same female Sim) but when she moved into his sister's home with him, they slept in their own beds on different floors. Erik has never woohooed. I play my Christian ethics and I have a blast. Also, Erik has a Pristine Reputation. He's a genuinely nice guy.
I do, Catholicism, a little bit of Judaism and Greek Legends, and a little bit of daemon worship.
I built two Cathedral, The Cathedral of Briarwood, Modeled after Reims Cathedral, and it is a place where a lot of the stories unfold, many weddings, funerals. I try to have my sims visit every Sunday, But I do have fun decorating it, unfortunately I already took down the Christmas Decor. Maybe Easter I'll deck it out with flowers.
But the faith is a little bit more laid back than it is in real life, more tolerant and less judgemental as it should be in real life.
the St Louis Cathedral for New Orleans
It's a museum of Sorts, it houses the Dead, Behind the alter, I use an Urn to be the Tabernacle, and Jesus roams, the Cathedral.
Bishop Carlos Navarro, before he became bishop when he was young he dreamed of building his own cathedral,
and when the City of Briarwood was established he quickly seized the opportunity, and designed and funded the construction of the Cathedral of Briarwood himself.
Priests: Father Anthony, Father Peter, and Father Matthew are priests,
Brother Lucas, Samuel, and Brother Michael
Sister Mary, Sister Teresa, and Sister Victoria
I was hoping for an Adventure Pack where I could store more ancient artifacts.
"Chalice/Goblet of Life" - grants the drinker immortality/eternal youth
but there's still time for that, in a Sorcerer's and Werewolves GP
In other places like Forgotten Hollow, I built an inverse copy of the Cathedral of Briarwood, Same set up, Darker tones, in Ruin.
this is where My Daemon (Vampire) and Hopefully in the Near Future, Dark Sorcerer, Does his dark deeds. Just down the hill from his Castle.
@JeffersonAddie I'm not sure what ghosts have to do with faith. Or indeed, why it would be discriminatory to not include religion, since faith is an active choice made by an individual and not a scientific occurrence like seasons. (Given that religious people can't even come to a definite conclusion about what is accurate within their own religion, I don't think your suggestion would be feasible either. Plus, who will decide what religions to include?) However, I do think it's quite possible to create various spiritual activities within the game and tailor them to your liking. There is probably also some mod available to make it even more realistic.
Anyway, no, I personally don't have any interest in religious aspects in Sims4. I like doing the yoga and meditation aspiration, but mostly because it's funny when my Sim can levitate. I've noticed there are some candles and outfits that seem vaguely religious, and sometimes I may use them because they look good, but I don't know anything about their actual use.
To answer the title of this topic - no, I don't. If it was implented in the game the means and gameplay to develop/support an imaginary religion, I think that would be a lot of fun to mess around with. Most likely, I would want to create a Watcher-based religion since I play the game and direct my Sims' lives. But I personally don't feel that real life stuff belongs in a Sims game. That because I seperate game and reality and like it so.
Origin ID: Nindigo79
A smile is the prettiest thing you can wear
Time enjoyed is never time wasted
I pretty much always have my sims be Christians, but I haven't technically included it in the game yet. I mainly just focus on trying to have my sims interact with other sims in a way that glorifies God :)
Comments
It might be fun to try a cult though. Once I have Get Famous maybe I will try to create a cult following for one of the stars.
Hope this comment doesn't trigger the PC police. Shalom and namaste.
IRL, I'm agnostic, but was raised by an atheist. It is a point of real annoyance to me that I was raised without any faith at all. I went through a period where I looked into many different faiths trying to find...I dunno, something, because I do believe...just am not sure what I believe. I take a similar approach to it in my Sims games, skirt the edges but not much more than that. I have a holiday with fasting, I have the attend a ceremony added to a few holidays, etc. But that's about it.
Anywho, I have to give the dev team props for at least giving a nod to the spectrum of religions out there when they do come a little close to addressing faith and religion, like with the holiday traditions for Seasons. And while I would like to see them do more with it, I understand why they don't...so many religions and beliefs IRL that no matter what they added, and how delicately they did it...some people would be angry. While that is true of just about anything they do, religion is one area where it is particularly damaging to corporate reputations if you offend people. Sort of the same reason why it's just not something you should talk about in the workplace IRL.
The Winters family Tree --- My Mods
Spirituality is fundamental to the human experience. The search for meaning, purpose and enlightenment-- even in a purely secular sense-- transcends the mundane, and in a very real sense defines the individual. The fact the we live in a world which is increasingly hostile and dismissive towards matters of a spiritual nature, does not alter the reality of the human experience.
That said, no offense to anyone, but the "fantasy" argument is something of a catchall cop-out in this context. No, the Sims is a simulation, comical though it may be. Thus, as regards religion, attempting to extract or exclude this element of humanity would be as ridiculous as doing the same with music, sexuality or even basic language. To insinuate that recognition of basic truths of the human condition is somehow non-progressive is like a lifeguard allowing a swimmer to drown because he doesn't want to touch the victim inappropriately. Backing up now so as not to broach issues of political propaganda. Suffice to say, we have somehow reached a point where "tolerance" somehow translates to "taboo". One where varied opinions are confused or equated with offensive material.
Again, I love this franchise. I feel it could be a unifying force across the extended human family worldwide. But to do so, it will need to embrace cultural identities in their entirety. And yes, by default that would include faith. Spirituality. And religion, even if nondenominational or atheistic. From a gameplay perspective, such would only enhance the experience, even if generic customizable templates of faith are used over real religions, and even if the player is given the option to shut off the functionality. That said, I find it rather interesting that users have never been able to disable or opt out of sexual identity or orientation, another cardinal aspect of individual personality. I mean, isn't that kinda "forcing" the issue of sexuality on a user who may identify as asexual..? Just saying.
We are the human race and we deserve more, EA. It is 2018 after all.
Shalom and namaste.
The Winters family Tree --- My Mods
I need to post a quick reminder to please be extra careful of The Sims forum rules and keeping this thread on topic! This isn't a discussion on whether or not faith or religions should be in The Sims but rather a conversation about how you would integrate faith into your Sims game.
This is a very important distinction to be aware of. If this discussion becomes about religion/faith/spirituality it will break the forum rules on discussing flamebait topics (such as religion, politics, gender debates, etc) and we would need to close this topic and moderate members for breaking that forum rule.
Up until now, this discussion has done a great job on staying on topic, I'd ask you to please remember this forum rule going forward if this is a discussion you'd like to have.
Thank you,
Lanna
Oh by the way, my brother! Just so you know, that post right after yours was done without refreshing my page. It wasn't addressed at you personally; it was rather an extension of the preceding post. I didn't even see that you or anyone else had typed anything at that unplumly hour until Iogged back in just now. Shalom and namaste always!
[EA_Lanna: Merged posts to limit double posting/spam and removed line referring to moderation per the forum rules...please read them.]
I've never tried to incorporate religion into Sims 3 or Sims 4, partially because I don't have control over the neighborhood. I also haven't played Sims 4 for long enough to want to try a lot of variants, whereas when I made that really intricate neighborhood above, I'd been playing Sims 2 for at least six years. My holidays are all named to match the western traditional calendar, with the exception of Thanksgiving which I call "The Big Game" just for laughs. (I removed gnomes and adding sports-watching as a tradition.)
My dream is to create a Sims 3 downtown facsimile of Brooklyn replete with miniature neighborhoods for my Chinese, Latino, Black, Indian, Irish, Italian, and Arab sims. I want to fill in the city block with bodegas, pawn shops, groceries, takeout joints, delicatessens, pubs, places of worship, etc and theme every one to the appropriate heritage on ALL levels. In fact, I really want the night clubs to be filled with sims from their particular ethnic group, allowing me to explore the active destruction of racial and/or religious barriers. But that's tough to do because there are no real cultures or races that divide the sims socially to begin with per se. What the plum, right?
The good news is I find that there is plenty of custom content to emulate most religious iconography. The bad news is the lack of animations and interactions which even imply devotion to such. Seriously. You can't even find custom animations for this purpose. As @Stormkeep mentioned, at least in a collective sense, there is an explicit lack of interest in the subject matter these days, from both a business perspective and the consumer mindset. As such, I sometimes I use the Contemplate self-interaction with my Native American sims (I'm Choctaw myself) just to sit cross-legged on the ground and you do have the Meditate option. But the former requires the Brooding trait and the latter results in the sim floating around like an extra-terrestrial or something which could obviously be interpreted as kinda offensive on some levels.
@Stormkeep mentioned he was agnostic. Well, I really think that would be the easiest to incorporate into the game with the existing options. Sometimes I make my artsy sims look at religious paintings or sculptures to pretend they are actually doing something a lot deeper, namely contemplation of the higher powers. (No, not EA... actual gods) In fact, a lot of the "protests" that my hippie sims hold at city hall are about achieving greater life time happiness, another tangent which is easily angled towards faith and religion.
That said, you guys may find the following useful for your medieval religious pursuits...
A simmer named Pamela Rhayra extracted the evangelism animations from Sims Medieval which you can play in-game thru the now famous animation player by cmomoney.
http://www.mediafire.com/file/be9pxoglxz5ko1d/anim_unlockV3+MEDIEVAL.rar
http://modthesims.info/d/441682/animation-player.html
And of course, here are some quality places of worship by Wimmie to mesh with your neighborhoods. If you have the University Life expansion, you might try using the podium like I do and lecture on the merits of religion, the lack there of or anything in between.
https://www.thesimsresource.com/downloads/details/category/sims3-lots-community/title/old-stone-church/id/1217734/
https://www.thesimsresource.com/downloads/details/category/sims3-lots-community/title/romantic-wedding-church/id/1241312/
Hope that helps! Shalom and namaste.
Saying "not to be rude", then blatently being rude does not excuse rude behavior.
Seriously though, the closest thing I had to a religion was a club/cult full of sims who ate nothing but grilled cheese sandwiches and believed other food was evil.
Origin i.d.: erimurphey
Not gonna happen
You can still, however, tailor your game to suit your faith as you say.
I'm an atheist but I do have churches, Muslim and Jewish families in my game...
I myself had a wedding where in the 70's was outside and we had an ordained (maybe) "friend" do the wedding. We also had a fun ceremony where we did in fact "jump the broom."
I like to use different traditions in the game but unless you use the props your sims are not married. So I have to improvise.
I use the trait a lot that has my sims needing to have more than one partner. Would love if they really could do polygamy I would have the females marry a lot of guys just to change things up a bit.
I do not use the vampire pack if I can help it. I would not know how to do it justice and do it right and one time I played the game and I play in rotation and by the time I got back to the first rotation most of my sims were vampires so I am done with that.
I would love to see witches and magic in the game. That would be another form of beliefs in my game. but still would not adhere strictly to what is stereotypical of what a "witch" is to some of the world. I like all forms of the earth religions.
Paganism and Buddhism, and all other sorts of religions I usually just evolve them into one. I have no real restrictions on what my sims can and cannot do in the game. But if a few seem bent on meditating to a statue of Buddha then I am good with that. Also if they are meditating to a flower garden or a park bench I am good with that also. Basically it is just a game and I play it as such going with the limitations and the quirks of the game.
@SheriGr I'm right there with you. Believe it or not, my Global Superstar has been engaged twice (to the same female Sim) but when she moved into his sister's home with him, they slept in their own beds on different floors. Erik has never woohooed. I play my Christian ethics and I have a blast. Also, Erik has a Pristine Reputation. He's a genuinely nice guy.
http://www.getfreeebooks.com/star-trek-original-series-fan-fiction-trilogy/
I built two Cathedral, The Cathedral of Briarwood, Modeled after Reims Cathedral, and it is a place where a lot of the stories unfold, many weddings, funerals. I try to have my sims visit every Sunday, But I do have fun decorating it, unfortunately I already took down the Christmas Decor. Maybe Easter I'll deck it out with flowers.
But the faith is a little bit more laid back than it is in real life, more tolerant and less judgemental as it should be in real life.
the St Louis Cathedral for New Orleans
It's a museum of Sorts, it houses the Dead, Behind the alter, I use an Urn to be the Tabernacle, and Jesus roams, the Cathedral.
Bishop Carlos Navarro, before he became bishop when he was young he dreamed of building his own cathedral,
and when the City of Briarwood was established he quickly seized the opportunity, and designed and funded the construction of the Cathedral of Briarwood himself.
Priests: Father Anthony, Father Peter, and Father Matthew are priests,
Brother Lucas, Samuel, and Brother Michael
Sister Mary, Sister Teresa, and Sister Victoria
I was hoping for an Adventure Pack where I could store more ancient artifacts.
"Chalice/Goblet of Life" - grants the drinker immortality/eternal youth
but there's still time for that, in a Sorcerer's and Werewolves GP
In other places like Forgotten Hollow, I built an inverse copy of the Cathedral of Briarwood, Same set up, Darker tones, in Ruin.
this is where My Daemon (Vampire) and Hopefully in the Near Future, Dark Sorcerer, Does his dark deeds. Just down the hill from his Castle.
My Mood:
Anyway, no, I personally don't have any interest in religious aspects in Sims4. I like doing the yoga and meditation aspiration, but mostly because it's funny when my Sim can levitate. I've noticed there are some candles and outfits that seem vaguely religious, and sometimes I may use them because they look good, but I don't know anything about their actual use.
A smile is the prettiest thing you can wear
Time enjoyed is never time wasted