If I have too much time with a sim, it feels as if nothing he/she does really matters.
If time is short, by contrast, every click and every decision gains more importance. Opting for A means that you'll not have the time for for B anymore. This leaves sims more "incomplete" and less maxxed out. It makes the "work-life" balance more challenging. Also, it forces you to say good bye to sims you've grown accustomed too. See them age faster than you'd like. And sometimes, you'll feel sorry (I wished I had given you a better life!). This increases the emotional appeal of the game imho.
Your answer makes me want to play on normal life span.
I normally play on long, and then when I feel like the sims should start aging up I change the life span to normal or short so that their birthdays come along. I also prefer 2 week long seasons as I feel 1 week long seasons are just too short (I also go a bit crazy with the Holidays), and the long life span is perfect for the 2 week season.
I haven't tried long yet, but sure as heck don't care to try short. When I want a sim to stay at a certain age for longer, I just have them drink a potion of youth from the rewards. Now with the StrangeVille expansion, one of the 2 sims I've played the Mother Plant mission with I had him request the plant to reset his age. He was a young adult for quite a while, he needed the energy that comes with youth to raise that alien baby he popped out just days before he fought the Mother Plant.
When I actually play with aging on and I almost always only do that with legacies, I prefer normal. Because long is too long and short is too short. Normal is long enough to just have your Sim do everything in their lifetime and it's a fun challenge to try and do everything before they die. Long would be too easy and short would be impossible.
Normal. In every legacy generation, for a while, I turn it off though or set it on long to enjoy life a little. I like goal oriented gameplay but I want my sims to relax a bit too
I either play with long or aging off. I may also age up sims manually during these life spans. I also set it so other families don't automatically age up either.
I do play on long lifespan but have aging turned off for everyone except the household I play each time. I do prefer long lifespan over everything else but like few of you have said it can be hella long time so I do tend to age them up when I feel they are ready instead of waiting for nature to run its course, so to speak. For instance. the 1st set of toddlers in my main saved game are up a growth spurt even though they are not done yet with the toddler stage but they are more than ready both regarding skill gains and the Parenthood skill thing as well, so next time I start at the beginning of my rotation, these toddlers will grow up.
I used to always play aging off, or a normal life span, however I felt it was too quick. I have recently started a family and feel like with a longer lifespan, the toddlers are maxing their skills, as are the kids and really having a chance to get their desired Character Traits and it's made me enjoy the game more. My current family seems to work so it may be my new go to.
Normally I play with ageing turned off for played households so I can age them up when I want to. However for non-played usually townies, elders or sims I’ve lost interest in as background sims I have on long span.
Comments
Vlad The Dad: A 100 Baby Challenge, Vlad as ‘matriarch’ *COMPLETE*
Breed Out The Weird *COMPLETE*
I clicked Normal, my choice wasn't available and I thought it was (loosely) the combination of both.
Your answer makes me want to play on normal life span.
I normally play on long, and then when I feel like the sims should start aging up I change the life span to normal or short so that their birthdays come along. I also prefer 2 week long seasons as I feel 1 week long seasons are just too short (I also go a bit crazy with the Holidays), and the long life span is perfect for the 2 week season.
Check out my SimLit blog here: https://ageekylegacy.wordpress.com/
Follow me on Twitter @divanthesimmer
Follow me on Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/dashboard/blog/divanthesimmer
Origin ID: divanthesimmer
My Game Twitter
EA, fix the EA app & CAW EIG!
... if I don't have the "Aging Off" turned on!