I rarely build when compared to time in gameplay.
I will build out of necessity or to make something that suits my sim character that I can't find easily on the gallery. Now and then I can get inspired and build for hours. Like I built a (Dr/Vet) office/house recently for a sim based off a Stardew Valley character, because I want to use it in my game. I was surprised to see later how long I had been building/decorating and enjoying doing it.
I don't mind redecorating or changing the inside of a house though and can find that fun to do at times... again it's linked to how I want to play/see my sims and I'm not just going in for the love the decorating.
Since this poll is basically linked to the release of the interior decorator pack, I'm pretty sure I'm going to enjoy doing room gigs now and then especially since it will be directly linked to live gameplay. It's at a wait and see but excited to try stage.
I love to build and I love to play. Building in Sims 4 is a joy; it is so much easier than in previous Sim games. I've turned into a builder, even though I am not very good yet. I feel I am getting better, though! I am constantly renovating the premades, and I mess with most of the lots I download, too.
I seem to go through spells where I build a lot for a while, then I'll switch to playing again, and only go into BB to make tiny adjustments.
Most of the building I do involves fixing the wonky geometry that crops up in some pre-made building design and confuses the bajeebers out of my poor sims. It's not as bad as Sims 3 (those sims would get their knickers in a twist if there was an object even tangentially in the way of the pathfinding AI's calculation that, thankfully, Sims 4 sims seem more than capable of going around or, if they decide to clip just for a laugh, through), but sims really don't like 45-degree angles, like, at all. So I'll go into build mode and square off any room or hallway that asks sims to go on the diagonal.
When I try to build actual buildings, they look rather...Soviet. Not in terms of building material (I hate Brutalist architecture with the burning fury of a supernova, so you'll never see concrete anywhere in my simworld), but in terms of the stack-a-prole housing common to communist countries (and Western housing projects in places like the US and Britain) during the cold war.
(he/him)
And remember this above all. Our Roman gods are watching. Make sure they are not ashamed!
My NBA site, Pace and Space
It makes me want to scream in frustration every single time, that probably answers the question? When I do spend a lot of time in build mode, it's not because I'm enjoying myself, but because it just takes that long to find matching swatches, or I'm trying to cheat my way around things that aren't working as they should.
Just yesterday, I tried to build an underground lava disco next to the volcano in Sulani, but every time I closed a room in a space that had platforms, the entire platform would raise itself for no reason, and when I was finally done and sent a sim there to playtest the lot, the disco ceiling had disappeared, creating a hole in the ground, even though it was still there when I left, so yeah... So much for TS4 build mode being easy and intuitive and no trouble at all.
Right now, it's like 80% of the time it's gameplay, 19% of the time I'm changing my Sims' outfits on CAS, 1% of the time I'm trying to build something. I depend on the gallery for everything like houses, restaurants etc. If I try to build a house, they end up like boxes and I don't know where to put things and I don't know how to design a room, my brain hurts just trying to decide what to do in a single room.
Honestly surprised how equal these threads are, I was expecting 70% yes here and 30% yes there but it's mostly equal so far
Was your theory that most Sims 4 players prefer building because the live mode gameplay is lacking and most Sims 3 players prefer live mode because the gameplay is more detailed and complex?
Not only that, but it’s no secret that building in TS4 is just overall easier than in TS3. In 4 you can place any sized house on any size lot, in TS3 you can’t and I hate that. But there are other things in 4 that make building easier.
I thoroughly enjoyed building in Sims 3 but being on console was so limited. With Sims 4, I am finally free to design!!! My biggest challenge though is to reign myself in. I always tend to build bigger and fancier (thus more expensive) than the last house. So I have been working on building starter homes and getting better at it!
But yeah, though I miss some options available in Sims 3 (of course we all miss options from previous games), I really love building in Sims 4. So much less (oxymoron) restrictive! Imagination overdrive engaged!
I started out in Sims building really terrible looking houses but practice makes perfect, so they say...that is until I hit the Sims 3 roofs. They completely stymied me. When Sims 4 came along, building became easy peasy, especially the roofs.
Now I spend most of my time doing the 50/50 thing, building then playing.
In my house, dog hair sticks to everything but the dog.
Of course, some features are easier to handle than TS3 in building, I still don’t understand the building system in TS4 and I feel building is harder than TS3. I build the houses for my sim families in TS3 but I mostly download from gallery or make the square box shaped houses in TS4. The hardest part in building is that you cannot partly remove the ceiling or floor tiles easily. You have to make another small room to remove them and this makes me frustrated. You can remove the tiles one by one with hammer in TS3, you don’t have to make another small room to remove the tiles. Also sometimes, adding fence in backyard is very confusing.
I love building and build/buy content has a huge impact on what packs I buy and when I buy them. Then again, I also spend a lot of time in CAS. I think I'm just very creative/design oriented, and I sometimes get bored with live mode.
Building is alot of fun for me. I used to download off the gallery alot when i first started playing, but when I started building, I found I had alot more fun using my own lots. Nowadays I only use the gallery if I need a bit of inspiration to play off of.
It helps though when Im in the right mood to build. If Im not in the mood, then Im just building a box and then deleting it over and over and over. When the mood strikes though, I can easily get lost in it for hours. Though there will be times when Im like in the middle of gameplay "oh hold on I need to build this sim a house real quick"
I have a bad habit of leaving builds unfinished. I have TOO MANY unfinished projects that just keep piling up! And I keep telling myself "no more building new things until you finish something!" But then Im like "but, my sims need this! I'll finish those lots I SWEAR." Maybe one day I'll finish my projects that have been on the backburner for like 2 years. (Lol no)
It’s important enough to me that it’s one of the top reasons I don’t go back to Sims 2 or 3.
I have bought one pack (StrangerVille) just for the build items. But there are many other packs that have lovely build items that I’ve ignored. I am much more interested in what gameplay they have. (No, I didn’t buy Vampires for the bb because I don’t want vampires in my game. No, I didn’t buy Dream Home Decorator.)
I love building in The Sims 4. The build tools are so intuitive and I feel like they're more user-friendly than in the previous games of the franchise. Except for the roofing, of course. I miss auto-roofing.
Yes, buidling is one of my favorites things to do in the game, i also love to create characters and create stories. The game has a great creative potential
I only enjoy building very urban commercial buildings with a lot of life and grit, but without the option to build multiple lot types in one lot, my builds don't function. It's frustrating we don't have a feature that was available in Sims 2.
I am mostly a Live Mode player though. I like to play in the public lots I've made. When I do feel creative and try to build a house, it's often unfinished and I download assets to frankenstein together and complete my build. I only really finish commercial lots but I don't feel like building more of them due to the after mentioned limitation.
Honestly surprised how equal these threads are, I was expecting 70% yes here and 30% yes there but it's mostly equal so far
Was your theory that most Sims 4 players prefer building because the live mode gameplay is lacking and most Sims 3 players prefer live mode because the gameplay is more detailed and complex?
Mainly just the popularity of build mode, everyone seems to love building these days and people buy packs just for build mode rather than live mode. At least from what I've seen nobody really cared about the furniture packs they released in 3 and most people don't have those stuff packs. Plus Sims YouTube has moved almost entirely away from playing the game to just build videos these days when it used to be like 3/4 live mode and 1/4 building
No. It's majority gameplay for me, followed by CAS and Build mode when necessary (and I never actually build, just download from the gallery and decorate when I have a new household to move somewhere, once things are in place I tend to not change them that much).
Occult Simmer (All Occult All The Time)
Female Simmer from Australia (she/her)
I had one of my Sims marry the Grim Reaper & now they have a lot of kids.
Comments
I will build out of necessity or to make something that suits my sim character that I can't find easily on the gallery. Now and then I can get inspired and build for hours. Like I built a (Dr/Vet) office/house recently for a sim based off a Stardew Valley character, because I want to use it in my game. I was surprised to see later how long I had been building/decorating and enjoying doing it.
I don't mind redecorating or changing the inside of a house though and can find that fun to do at times... again it's linked to how I want to play/see my sims and I'm not just going in for the love the decorating.
Since this poll is basically linked to the release of the interior decorator pack, I'm pretty sure I'm going to enjoy doing room gigs now and then especially since it will be directly linked to live gameplay. It's at a wait and see but excited to try stage.
By the end of TS2, I was enjoying playing the game as well.
I was a huge builder/player/story maker with TS3.
I play more than I build with TS4 and hardly tell any stories.
Probably because I have less time these days, but I still enjoy building.
I seem to go through spells where I build a lot for a while, then I'll switch to playing again, and only go into BB to make tiny adjustments.
When I try to build actual buildings, they look rather...Soviet. Not in terms of building material (I hate Brutalist architecture with the burning fury of a supernova, so you'll never see concrete anywhere in my simworld), but in terms of the stack-a-prole housing common to communist countries (and Western housing projects in places like the US and Britain) during the cold war.
And remember this above all. Our Roman gods are watching. Make sure they are not ashamed!
My NBA site, Pace and Space
Just yesterday, I tried to build an underground lava disco next to the volcano in Sulani, but every time I closed a room in a space that had platforms, the entire platform would raise itself for no reason, and when I was finally done and sent a sim there to playtest the lot, the disco ceiling had disappeared, creating a hole in the ground, even though it was still there when I left, so yeah... So much for TS4 build mode being easy and intuitive and no trouble at all.
Something wicked this way comes!
I don't use MCCC.
So thank you builders.
But yeah, though I miss some options available in Sims 3 (of course we all miss options from previous games), I really love building in Sims 4. So much less (oxymoron) restrictive! Imagination overdrive engaged!
Now I spend most of my time doing the 50/50 thing, building then playing.
It helps though when Im in the right mood to build. If Im not in the mood, then Im just building a box and then deleting it over and over and over. When the mood strikes though, I can easily get lost in it for hours. Though there will be times when Im like in the middle of gameplay "oh hold on I need to build this sim a house real quick"
I have a bad habit of leaving builds unfinished. I have TOO MANY unfinished projects that just keep piling up! And I keep telling myself "no more building new things until you finish something!" But then Im like "but, my sims need this! I'll finish those lots I SWEAR." Maybe one day I'll finish my projects that have been on the backburner for like 2 years. (Lol no)
I have bought one pack (StrangerVille) just for the build items. But there are many other packs that have lovely build items that I’ve ignored. I am much more interested in what gameplay they have. (No, I didn’t buy Vampires for the bb because I don’t want vampires in my game. No, I didn’t buy Dream Home Decorator.)
I am mostly a Live Mode player though. I like to play in the public lots I've made. When I do feel creative and try to build a house, it's often unfinished and I download assets to frankenstein together and complete my build. I only really finish commercial lots but I don't feel like building more of them due to the after mentioned limitation.
Mainly just the popularity of build mode, everyone seems to love building these days and people buy packs just for build mode rather than live mode. At least from what I've seen nobody really cared about the furniture packs they released in 3 and most people don't have those stuff packs. Plus Sims YouTube has moved almost entirely away from playing the game to just build videos these days when it used to be like 3/4 live mode and 1/4 building
Female Simmer from Australia (she/her)
I had one of my Sims marry the Grim Reaper & now they have a lot of kids.