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Divorce having a bigger impact on families: Why, how and what it should involve?
Godleyjeans
Posts: 336 Member
Back in the Sims 2, divorce wasn’t exactly a celebrated occasions, however, it wasn’t something the mechanics ignored.
If your sims broke up, it affected everyone and bad memories would occur, teens might run off, grades could plummet, birthdays would resort in ageing badly, again layering up the negative memories for sims to build themselves with.
To add to the pain, whichever parent had been dumped, they would be forced to leave the house and go off somewhere to live while the dumper stayed at home, Inviting the thrown out sim would be uncomfortable and difficult as there was the risk of the former couple getting into rows as the children watched.
This is what we need in the sims 4 after sims 3 pushed it to the back of its system and divorce became just another to happen in your household or neighbours, there was no attachment to the broken family because you had nothing to really deal with. You just broke up and as the memes say, if you wanted things to get better then your sim could just high five their way into their exes good books.
I feel like the sims 4 needs divorce to have a bigger impact, like the sims 2 but with added rabbits holes and abilities and event cards.
Divorce wouldn’t mean the dumped sim had to leave, if they own the house or feel as if they had earned the right to stay, maybe a rabbit hole court battle could ensue or your divorced sims just go off lot on a specific day and upon return, one sighed in defeat while the other appeared victorious, before demanding the keys and a dialogue box came up with the sim speaking of how they deserved to live somewhere they built from the ground up.
Custody could be similar unless the children were old enough to decide, of course their choice could be altered if the other parent had a high relationship bar to plead with them to stay, and like with Grim, there was a 50/50 chance of getting a yes or no,
Depending on the situation, parents could work it a who gets the child per week deal, altering it on holidays or birthdays, maybe even demanding more time if they feel the agreement isn’t good enough.
Again, teens could run away if their moods got too low, or the fighting between the parents became too stressful and they needed to be alone.
A lesser yet similar option could happen with pets if their owners broke up, however it wouldn’t resort in court but a hilarious calling game where whoever the animal went to, then they would stay with that sim, of course sims could bribe their pet or the pet could just walk away meaning further argument.
Obviously the sims team would have to give it some work and decide what was safe for simmers as the game having any sort of negativity has been a big no no, but I feel this would add some realism and improve story telling.
This is just an idea, so can we save the negativity and rudeness for another day please, this is about feedback and what this post is giving, is feedback.
With that, I want to hear why you WANT the feature and how it should work, what should happen and how would sims be affected by it?
I understand there are plenty of us affected heavily by divorce and breaking up of a family, but there are also many of us who know it doesn’t always have to break a family, just make some large changes within it and even expand. You decide how it works within your sims and how said sims deal with it, divorce can be a positive as much as a negative, but in sims, it can be a powerful story builder, it can make sims lives and break them, just like the real world, it can help and hinder.
So comment below, be nice to each other and please don’t stray from the topic.
If this upset you, walk away, there’s no point spreading negativity when you can do what’s best for yourself and take yourself away from what’s upsetting you.
Everyone have a nice day and I’ll be back later. Dag dag
If your sims broke up, it affected everyone and bad memories would occur, teens might run off, grades could plummet, birthdays would resort in ageing badly, again layering up the negative memories for sims to build themselves with.
To add to the pain, whichever parent had been dumped, they would be forced to leave the house and go off somewhere to live while the dumper stayed at home, Inviting the thrown out sim would be uncomfortable and difficult as there was the risk of the former couple getting into rows as the children watched.
This is what we need in the sims 4 after sims 3 pushed it to the back of its system and divorce became just another to happen in your household or neighbours, there was no attachment to the broken family because you had nothing to really deal with. You just broke up and as the memes say, if you wanted things to get better then your sim could just high five their way into their exes good books.
I feel like the sims 4 needs divorce to have a bigger impact, like the sims 2 but with added rabbits holes and abilities and event cards.
Divorce wouldn’t mean the dumped sim had to leave, if they own the house or feel as if they had earned the right to stay, maybe a rabbit hole court battle could ensue or your divorced sims just go off lot on a specific day and upon return, one sighed in defeat while the other appeared victorious, before demanding the keys and a dialogue box came up with the sim speaking of how they deserved to live somewhere they built from the ground up.
Custody could be similar unless the children were old enough to decide, of course their choice could be altered if the other parent had a high relationship bar to plead with them to stay, and like with Grim, there was a 50/50 chance of getting a yes or no,
Depending on the situation, parents could work it a who gets the child per week deal, altering it on holidays or birthdays, maybe even demanding more time if they feel the agreement isn’t good enough.
Again, teens could run away if their moods got too low, or the fighting between the parents became too stressful and they needed to be alone.
A lesser yet similar option could happen with pets if their owners broke up, however it wouldn’t resort in court but a hilarious calling game where whoever the animal went to, then they would stay with that sim, of course sims could bribe their pet or the pet could just walk away meaning further argument.
Obviously the sims team would have to give it some work and decide what was safe for simmers as the game having any sort of negativity has been a big no no, but I feel this would add some realism and improve story telling.
This is just an idea, so can we save the negativity and rudeness for another day please, this is about feedback and what this post is giving, is feedback.
With that, I want to hear why you WANT the feature and how it should work, what should happen and how would sims be affected by it?
I understand there are plenty of us affected heavily by divorce and breaking up of a family, but there are also many of us who know it doesn’t always have to break a family, just make some large changes within it and even expand. You decide how it works within your sims and how said sims deal with it, divorce can be a positive as much as a negative, but in sims, it can be a powerful story builder, it can make sims lives and break them, just like the real world, it can help and hinder.
So comment below, be nice to each other and please don’t stray from the topic.
If this upset you, walk away, there’s no point spreading negativity when you can do what’s best for yourself and take yourself away from what’s upsetting you.
Everyone have a nice day and I’ll be back later. Dag dag
5
Comments
Love your ideas!
Divorce should affect the family because in real life it does- my parents are divorced. That’s not to say it affects every family the same way of course but it bothers me that the children don’t seem to care or notice their parents have divorced. At least I don’t think they do. Sims 2 definitely did divorce best. I fear divorce won’t be expanded upon due to the happy, utopia like nature of the game.
We need this!
Family Tree
Playing Mod & CC Free
In 2 every family member got a memory even if they didn't witness the breakup. Sims involved could either get a negative or positive memory. For instance, if the Sim had a bad relationship with their spouse due to constant arguing or discovering an affair the memory would essentially be along the lines of "good riddance 🐸🐸🐸🐸" whilst if they had a high relationship when the breakup occurred it would be more along the lines of heartbreak.
Divorce should have been something expanded upon by Parenthood. Imagine how it could have done shared custody? Parents could have been judged based on how maturely they handled the divorce, making sure the kids spent time with both parents, sending the kids over for the weekend, things like that. It could have had ramifications for the younger Sims too, there could have been so many possibilities. "Oh, mum won't let me do/have this, maybe dad will." Parenting styles could have conflicted in some way in certain situations. A poorly handled divorce could have left younger Sims insecure whilst a maturely handled one could have avoided any negative ramifications.
If a sim has a family member die in the same room, they shouldn't walk out of the room, and be happy (unless they hated the family member).
I really miss the way things were done in ts2, where grudges were held. Where once you pushed a relationship to a certain point, all autonomous interactions would be mean. No more mr nice guy!
Maxis: hissssssss!
I am so sorry you lost your father so young. I don't really understand the rest of your post, though. What could be in a gamepack? Early death of spouses is already in the game. Do you want realistic emotional reactions to a variety of situations to be in a gamepack? Any overhauls to the emotion system has to be base game. It won't happen I don't think. Modders are trying to put them in, but with limited success.