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So can we have a proper teenage life stage now pls?
TOLKIEN
Posts: 1,594 Member
Toddlers have arrived and everybody is in love as they present not only a unique life stage; but one many feel an importance to family dynamic.
Toddlers have, if nothing else shown how each life stage is not equal and now truly how broken the teenager life stage is (as a simple cookie cutter of the adult life stage).
No this is not a height issue, because regardless if you were taller then your mother at 14 - you still LOOKED, behaved and dressed like a teenager. The teenagers in the Sims 4 DO NOT act, look or have unique animations or interactions (besides do homework) that define them as anything else other then a young adult life stage.
But teenagers are NOT young adults, not only by legal definition but by mental development and social interaction.
As a life stage itself there are so many unique elements to it and for example why so many people hated being in highschool vs adulthood. Or relive their teenage years as glory days. Yet none of those elements are present for Sim teenagers to experience. With the addition of emotions I truly do see a lost opportunity here for the Maxis team to explore the teenage life stage for the Sims 4.
Plus outside of CAS I'm hard pressed to tell teenagers apart from adults and (while YES) a shorter height would help here - more then anything I feel unique interactions, animations, social cues and emotional based animations would do more to make them stand out.
While I understand that the Sims 4 team wanted to save on resources and the idea of cross sharing clothes makes sense, teenagers I believe SHOULD have unique clothing options too (at least that represent some clothing unique to their life stage). Take a basic school uniform, if I dress a Sims 4 teen in it and a Sims 4 adult - they look near identical - thats fine but you don't see adults walking down the street in school uniforms - unlike teenagers. So locking a unique outfit or uniform to a life stage does make sense and no is not some kind of "restriction" either (plus cheats could unlock them too) anymore then unique outfits for toddlers or children are.
Outside of that I feel unique interactions, behaviors and animations (beyond pranks - but things like playing with the fridge door in Sims 2) that make teenagers as UNIQUE in the sims 4 as toddlers - well I'd like to see that happen now pls.
Please make teenagers great again!
Toddlers have, if nothing else shown how each life stage is not equal and now truly how broken the teenager life stage is (as a simple cookie cutter of the adult life stage).
No this is not a height issue, because regardless if you were taller then your mother at 14 - you still LOOKED, behaved and dressed like a teenager. The teenagers in the Sims 4 DO NOT act, look or have unique animations or interactions (besides do homework) that define them as anything else other then a young adult life stage.
But teenagers are NOT young adults, not only by legal definition but by mental development and social interaction.
As a life stage itself there are so many unique elements to it and for example why so many people hated being in highschool vs adulthood. Or relive their teenage years as glory days. Yet none of those elements are present for Sim teenagers to experience. With the addition of emotions I truly do see a lost opportunity here for the Maxis team to explore the teenage life stage for the Sims 4.
Plus outside of CAS I'm hard pressed to tell teenagers apart from adults and (while YES) a shorter height would help here - more then anything I feel unique interactions, animations, social cues and emotional based animations would do more to make them stand out.
While I understand that the Sims 4 team wanted to save on resources and the idea of cross sharing clothes makes sense, teenagers I believe SHOULD have unique clothing options too (at least that represent some clothing unique to their life stage). Take a basic school uniform, if I dress a Sims 4 teen in it and a Sims 4 adult - they look near identical - thats fine but you don't see adults walking down the street in school uniforms - unlike teenagers. So locking a unique outfit or uniform to a life stage does make sense and no is not some kind of "restriction" either (plus cheats could unlock them too) anymore then unique outfits for toddlers or children are.
Outside of that I feel unique interactions, behaviors and animations (beyond pranks - but things like playing with the fridge door in Sims 2) that make teenagers as UNIQUE in the sims 4 as toddlers - well I'd like to see that happen now pls.
Please make teenagers great again!
Post edited by TOLKIEN on
55
Comments
After school activities would definitely help! If they did a University pack, perhaps teens could have special things to do there. They need something that's just for their stage. (Other than the temp jobs) (also, why can't adults have temp jobs?)
Things like theater, debate, sports...
I'd like special parties or prom... you think they could do these as a "festival" type thing at university? If we figure the university campus as a world that can be used by different sims/ages...
I'm expecting some form of university from the Maxis team an while yes a "game pack" would make sense, I'd much prefer to see a expansion pack that includes two new neighborhoods - a university campus and a elementary school/high school/daycare neighborhood (since often they are placed close together at least in my area). Schools outside of university have been a big request for some time and it would be a shame not to see them finally explored now.
Outside of that, I could also see a seasons/generations type expansion combination working that not only included further teenager events, interactions, ect but ones that tie into various seasons like prom.
That being said I'd like to so some basic defining elements added (via a patch or two) to the base game for teenagers, for ALL sim players to enjoy. An expansion or game pack should not be required to define teenagers as a unique life stage, anymore then if they had sold toddlers as an expansion (if you follow).
I'm not saying that prom, ect be base game - simply that unique interactions or animations, even emotional cues be added that make teenagers unique as a life stage for all. The rest like prom, ect could certainly come from expansions or gamepacks and I think many would agree.
Again you could unlock clothing for adults via even if its just a filter in CAS - I'm simply saying that especially for neighborhood sims unique clothing options would help tell teenagers apart from adults. While clothing choices do speak to the maturity of the individual or simply style - there are unique clothes LIKE school uniforms that take on a whole other meaning too between adults vs teenagers.
In my experience you see an adult female dressed in a highschool girl uniform has nothing to do with school pride for example lol. Either its a way to get attention, something for the bedroom or its halloween.
In complete contrast my girlfriend back in high school HATED her uniform for many reasons AND the attention it brought her from adults on top of that. I certainly didn't see it as anything else but a way of conformity AT that age either if I had to wear one.
More then anything it would help DEFINE a teenager if they had unique filtered clothing, because even if you completely disagree with "restrictions" you can't tell me that you haven't confused teens with adults in the sims 4 because they literally look the same. Clothing filters would simply help make them stand out.
Like when you see a sim dressed in a unique teen outfit then you know - oh thats a teen. Instead of trying to hit on them until you realize certain interactions aren't available because they aren't adults. Regardless filters would allow players like you to "remove" said restrictions if telling sims apart isn't an issue for you.
Its all about options. No two players play the Sims the same I get that, but the game could use more visual ques besides interactions to tell teenagers apart from adults and clothing would be an easy one.
Maxis has already said they won't touch height because doing so would require all new animations and they don't have said resources/budget to do that. Regardless of the "clothing issue' I truly feel its interactions, animations and teenager "life events" (like prom, ect) that would really make teens stand out in their current form. Otherwise honestly it doesn't feel any different then playing an adult and changing the height really doesn't define being a teenager especially when some are 6'2 in real life.
Along the lines of teen aspirations I also believe that elders should have elder aspirations, because that's the time of their life where they're settling down, already have a family, and just wanna live the rest of their lives peacefully, or crazily, depending on the sim you make of course. Some elderly aspirations could include something like Party Like it's 1999 Aspiration, See the Legacy Aspiration, Ambitious Worker Aspiration, etc. With the recent toddlers, I'm optimistic about some kind of Generations expansion pack.
Ideas on how to improve babies.
I can, however, see why those awkward social encounters that I experienced as a pre-teen could be difficult to convey. I am not the least bit disappointed with toddlers so far, so if this is the quality that's in store, I would love to see Maxis/EA give it a good thought.
This was my only real complaint with the game - about to die from happiness!!!
*cough* Sorry I'm a little slow on news around here...(usually play in offline mode, updating right now)
My Sims 4 Random Legacy- When a goddess of chaos decides to meddle with a family. Check it out!
Ideas on how to improve babies.
Preteens if added would be like how Sims 2 teens have acne be more aware about appearance, like in Sims 3 have moodswings or temper tantrum, get grounded, pull pranks, have celeb crushes on a popstar "borrow" older sisters/brothers things still play voidcritters with kids or fuss with them.
I dress my sims myself, I know who the townies are. I would not want filters or rules for clothing. At all. I prefer it as it is right now, if you do not wish for YA's to wear specific items you can remove them. The only thing would be like the "career-clothes" if your child or teen attends a special school.
Curfew only if it is optional to implement, I have far to much fun with my kids and teens to lock them away. Then if I decide that some family doesn't let the kids out then I can arrange that. I would the preset be that kids behave as they do now so my kids have friends out when they go to the park in the evening.
More interactions for teens? YES!!
More rules and restrictions? No thank you, that is just constricting and not how I want to play.