Aging

Hejix

Aging is always a big deal for me. It changes the dynamic of your family. And worst, they're gonna loose their signature look! (And accessories, muscles, beard, etc.!)

So, I go over their outfits one more time, review their goals in life, etc. then... Prepare for the worst, lol. I even went to the point I started a new save just to save some patterns and stuff so my sims would look a bit like their younger selves.

Sometimes, I change their hair so they don't look too much like elders.

I get mad at townies for looking so wrong! But I don't have the patience to give them all makeovers...

So, what do you do when your sim age?

JoAnne65

Indeed, give them that makeover. I don’t mind though, I like the dynamic of change. The focus of my game slowly changing from heir to next heir.

IreneSwift

I give my sims a new, more mature look.

Satanu_Reeves

I usually reverse aging with in game options such as life fruit or young again potions.

Mikezumi

I miss the muscles when my sims become elders but, apart from that, I love my elder sims. I use a lot of age converted clothes so my elders are not limited in what they can wear and can generally keep a similar look to what they wore before. I rarely let mine go grey but I do fade their hair colour a little. Jordan, the red haired elder, once had hair as bright as his son in the front row.

bekkasan

I am not fond of how EA/Maxis treats elders in game, especially considering how elder I am getting!

I adjust hair and clothing based on what their lifestyle was like. I keep my cc skins which helps a bit. I don't mind if they were not athletic that they get a bit stout, but if they were athletic I don't want the big ole pot belly showing up. I hate that the muscles shrink up! I try to ignore as much as possible the chewing the cud look and most certainly don't take pictures when the game makes them do it. Not how I want them remembered! In one save I kept one sim an adult and aged him with CAS changes with the wrinkles and slowly graying hair and added to his adult time with MC to keep him looking more like his athletic, but aging self.

I don't let my sims that I have made die. That is not fun for me. I play to escape the realities of life and just have fun. I have a folder full of elder sims that I've sent to the great nursing home (library) over the years and transferred to that folder. Some have been resurrected in CAS as a new sim aged down.

Sigzy05

I want my elders to look like elders, and they really look like them in TS3. In TS4 you see all kinds of elderly using all sorts of tops and mini skirts it's kind of annoying.

IreneSwift

I am also among those who don't how they did elders. Most elderly people I've known in real life don't look like that until sometime in their 80's, long after they're retirement age. So I sometimes use a long adult stage and short elder stage. But then I don't like that they have to wait so long to retire and be able to do the things elders get to do in the game.

Mikezumi

I also don't care for default elders but, I guess, it's the same with all life stages. It would require a much more complex game to depict aging in all stages (or many more life stages) in a more realistic way. Fortunately with CC and mods you can customize to a degree what you think your elders should look like.

I consider myself an elder, although I would probably place myself on the "just retired" end of the elder spectrum. With the use of CC skin and clothing, I am satisfied with my simself, as long as she is wearing sleeves as I am not yet spindly limbed. I think there are mods to change the walk style of elders as well although I haven't looked into it.

Hejix

Gradual aging would be cool. A bit like young adults becoming adults. Or the pregnancy. The belly grows everyday!

I once did a scientist that had hair that greyed out as time went by. It would be fun it is was gradual and automatic.

I don't mind elders, I love them and I am always curious how they face death. Did they have a fulfilled life? But looking like 80 right away is indeed annoying.

It's just that the change is so drastic... Just like baby to toddler to teen to adult... Gasp!

igazor

I'll just leave this here then in case anyone wants some...
http://modthesims.info/d/517293/age.html

IreneSwift

@Hejix Yes, those changes are drastic too, but you forgot the child stage between toddlers and teens. LOL! Which brings to mind that I dislike that children in the game have to eat in high chairs, be put to bed in cribs by their parents, and be carried everywhere right up until they're school-aged, just as much as I dislike that sims can't retire until they're stooped and feeble. I understand why they probably would have considered that a pre-schooler stage would entail too much more programming if they had ever thought of doing one, but I don't want my sim kids to have to go to school until they're six years old, and I also hate how little they can do for themselves, and how much extra work they are for their parents than three to five year old children are in real life (and how much of a hassle it is for me).

IreneSwift

I'd like to know where that mod is that changes elders' walk. I could live with the rest of the elder's characteristics at a younger age if they walked normally.

My father died recently at the age of 87, and he only needed a cane or walker for the last 2 or 3 years of his life (20 years after he retired), and that was from side effects from some of the medications he was talking, not from normal aging. My Mom is 86, and she still walks the same as she always has, at least at home, where she knows her way around. Out in public, she walks more hesitantly, but that's only because she's blind from corneal dystrophy, not because of her age.

Hejix

Haha, yes, I forgot the child part! I understand they went for a simplified version of life, in sims 4, they even tossed the toddlers away for a while. Still... Indeed, toddlers need less attention after a while, but to compensate, babies are a lot less job in Sims than in real life? ;P

Thanks for the mod @igazor I try to play vanilla... But maybe one day...

@bekkasan nursing home, the library, good one!

@Mikezumi I like your sim self. I saw your signature. Made me grin. Your sim is wayyyy too enthusiastic.

I must admit that sometimes, my elder sims don't turn too different from their younger self, so it's nice. But I ditched so many games because the teen looked too generic or the adult too weird or the elder too pathetic and I couldn't work with it. ;(