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Teaching Career...... majorly dissappointed.
muzickmage
Posts: 986 Member
The teaching career was one of the main reasons I waited for the university pack to come out, while hoping it would be added.... and finally... there it was... ready for my sim to dive into. Now I admit. A bit of my dissapointment is self inflicted. Because of the GTW pack I wasn't expecting all the rabbit holes. And to not even have a better grad ceremony option.... I mean come on right? But still, I was doing well to stay mostly positive.
I signed my sim up for the Psychology Degree (to become Professor), worked through the terms and earned an A+ (Honor) diploma. And then.... eagerly got my sim into the Professor career. What a useless journey.
For starters. Level 10 of the career only has my sim working 3 days a week. And.... I guess what they say IRL is true. Teachers don't get paid much.... because my sim, as a Professor, with an honor degree in psychology, only earns 2,238 per work day... for a total of 6,714 per week.
Now of course, I can tutor students online. And what a great plan that is. It takes 3 and 1/2 sim hours of online tutoring to earn.... wait for it..... 175 simoleans. Lets ignore the fact that I can catch 500 simoleans of fish in an hour, or find hundreds in trinkets on the Sulani beach, or.... simply create and sell 1 painting for well over 1000, again, in less time it takes to tutor students online for 175. (if it only took maybe an hour for the tutoring then I wouldn't really complain)
I figured maybe go to the Foxbury campus and tutor there instead of the online thing. NO. Don't do that. I started the tutoring at 10:47am. Finished at 3:54pm, and earned.... 90 simoleans. In short... stick to tutoring online if you're going to tutor at all.
The "write scholary paper", and "plan lecture" options (computer/career/educational career) do absolutely nothing except give you something like confidence boost for a few sim hours, and the teachers portfolio is only for grading student's homework which also does nothing except build the logic skill.
And... that's it. As a professor.... I get to work 3 days a week and earn a big paycheque of NOT even 7,000 simoleans for the whole week. If the professor was able to work 4 days a week, that would have been a bit better at 8,952. Then with some quick raises, and a few bonuses tossed in, it would have been easier to accept.
I'm hoping i'm missing something. That's its not as bad as i'm thinking. If I am, please point it out to me because currently..... I am absolutely majorly dissapointed at how empty, and a complete time waster the professor career is.
I signed my sim up for the Psychology Degree (to become Professor), worked through the terms and earned an A+ (Honor) diploma. And then.... eagerly got my sim into the Professor career. What a useless journey.
For starters. Level 10 of the career only has my sim working 3 days a week. And.... I guess what they say IRL is true. Teachers don't get paid much.... because my sim, as a Professor, with an honor degree in psychology, only earns 2,238 per work day... for a total of 6,714 per week.
Now of course, I can tutor students online. And what a great plan that is. It takes 3 and 1/2 sim hours of online tutoring to earn.... wait for it..... 175 simoleans. Lets ignore the fact that I can catch 500 simoleans of fish in an hour, or find hundreds in trinkets on the Sulani beach, or.... simply create and sell 1 painting for well over 1000, again, in less time it takes to tutor students online for 175. (if it only took maybe an hour for the tutoring then I wouldn't really complain)
I figured maybe go to the Foxbury campus and tutor there instead of the online thing. NO. Don't do that. I started the tutoring at 10:47am. Finished at 3:54pm, and earned.... 90 simoleans. In short... stick to tutoring online if you're going to tutor at all.
The "write scholary paper", and "plan lecture" options (computer/career/educational career) do absolutely nothing except give you something like confidence boost for a few sim hours, and the teachers portfolio is only for grading student's homework which also does nothing except build the logic skill.
And... that's it. As a professor.... I get to work 3 days a week and earn a big paycheque of NOT even 7,000 simoleans for the whole week. If the professor was able to work 4 days a week, that would have been a bit better at 8,952. Then with some quick raises, and a few bonuses tossed in, it would have been easier to accept.
I'm hoping i'm missing something. That's its not as bad as i'm thinking. If I am, please point it out to me because currently..... I am absolutely majorly dissapointed at how empty, and a complete time waster the professor career is.
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Comments
Though now reading your post. I believe professor is the career for me!
I think their imaginations have shrunk since Sims 1 and 2.
Also, put a microphone in the student commons building to perform book readings.
It's more for immersion. The real money is in the books. My comedian sim wrote comedy books and had a group of alpha readers that she would perform readings for and would give copies of her latest book. I can see doing the same for a professor.
If you would make this in the game, The "write scholarly paper", and "plan lecture" would not give you any money straight off, but would add to your performance and would give you money that you could use to do more research (not use for your own) , it would take months to complete and it could in the end increase your pay as you do more for your university.
So yeah, I don't know if Maxis maybe wanted you to write a lot of books to increase your pay.
As I hinted towards in my initial post; if the professor careeer had the sim working 4 days per week instead of just 3, and the tutoring only took about maybe 1 sim hour to earn 175, instead of 3 and 1/2..... then it would have been a lot easier to accept.
I know it's been many years since i've been inside a university but back when I attended the professors were much more active. Maybe not all of them. I have no idea what "all" of them were doing from one day to the next, but I know my economics professor (for example) worked 5 days a week teaching multiple classes at 2 different universities. And I do recall him mentioning the odd lecture.
I don't mind adding the odd idea to enhance my professor experience, but, at the same time, If I wanted to be a writer, I would have had my sim enter that career instead.
Its the same with my sim chef. I had her write the odd cookbook. I didn't mind doing that because she worked 4 days a week. She earned fair enough pay that the cookbook was more of an added bonus, not a resolve to a bad experience. Plus she could sell food using the stalls. Then there's the idea of running around collecting new recipies. The chef career, even before the university pack, seemed active enough with enough relating ideas to make it worth achieving.
Writing books as a professor doesn't seem like an added bonus. It seems like a resolve to fix a poor career that offers very little to do or achieve. It takes so long to tutor students with very little reward or incentive to do so. I haven't figured out yet how to offer lectures. We weren't given a podium like the politicians so we can't stand in the park and lecture the passerbys.
I'm working on addon ideas. I'm not ready to give up yet. I'm searching the build/buy for items or ideas I could maybe integrate into a professor activity/career. But, i'm still completely disappointed with the fact that I have to put this much effort into making the professor career interesting. I definately wasn't expecting this career to be so empty feeling.
None of my sims actually have a level 10 job for that very reason: the work days are not enough for my taste, and playing these idle sims gets boring fast. Only really rich sims ever reach 8 or 9. I have to use MCCC to achieve that, but it's not a new problem.
Or if you have Jungle Adventure, have archaeology be one of their fields of research. Then they can go on field trips to Selvadorada and sell authenticated artifacts, which is quite profitable.
All we were given with this career is the option to tutor, either online, or at the uni world itself. The online tutoring takes 3 and 1/2 hours, and the campus tutoring takes about 5 hours, which of course is a rabbit hole. By the time you complete either idea you have to spend another 2-3 sim hours fixing the sim's need bars. All for 175 simoleans. I can earn that much simply by checking the pockets of my sim's laundry.
Yes, I agree. I can put my imagination to work and force integrate some ideas into the professor career..... such as writing books. Or, I could buy the podium from the politician career and pretend to be lecturing students about degree courses outside of the commons building. I can even invite a friend over to visit, and concentrate on the "teach" option in the conversation tabs while pretending to be given one-on-one tutoring classes. Absolutely, I can do these things. But why should I have to?
Even the Computer Science degree offers the opportunity to .... not only work, but also build and sell robots. You could have your own robotic store, or sell them at fairs. Or keep them for added interactions, and activities.
The private lawyer career, as mentioned in this thread, works 5 days a week, has to attend lectures. The Culinary, Fine Arts, and Drama degrees each opens up loads of gameplay options.
Having the professor career as empty as it is.... a career that came with a whole world built around teaching and learning.... a world of classes full of students.... its just mind boggling that I, as stated previously, have to spend so much effort in trying to make this career more interesting.
The archaeology idea sounds interesting. Though my career title is "Professor". It doesn't say... Professor of "what". Maybe I could work in an "Archaeology Professor" idea.
Thanks for the post. I'm going to give that some thought.
I don’t have problem with poor teachers (in my country people who working in shops could get more money than teachers...).
The problem is, that economics does not exist in ts4! Careers are so unbalanced that if you are focused on quick profit, you should not even waste time on regular work. Getting money is simply too easy (gardening, painting, floristry), there is no challenge. it's almost like using motherlode. It is a pity that they did not think it better and the prestige of being someone in a high position is the only reward the player will get.
Unofficial Polish Forum - simtopia.pl
Choose one subject from the Uni set up, pretend that is your Professor's main field, consider his/her personality and interests to get the package right
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> Or if you have Jungle Adventure, have archaeology be one of their fields of research. Then they can go on field trips to Selvadorada and sell authenticated artifacts, which is quite profitable.
> @muzickmage said:
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> The archaeology idea sounds interesting. Though my career title is "Professor". It doesn't say... Professor of "what". Maybe I could work in an "Archaeology Professor" idea.
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> Thanks for the post. I'm going to give that some thought.
They can also take up music and write their own adventure theme music :D
I really like your suggestions btw.
In a way I like it, that you can play a sim who supports themselves strolling on the beach selling pretty seashells or having a cute garden. At the same time I was really irritated when I got all the simoleons I needed for Uni when looking for seashells. One rare Eye of Sulani and a few lesser ones. I don't know how to balance it.
You should still be able to have a good house on a fun decorated lot even if you did not grind the game-given careers. Earlier I felt that my sims had too much money so I kept them on the lower levels of each career. However, you should not be locked into playing a game-given careers if you only want to play sims running around the world and really think it is plum to play the 9-5 grind. Yet again, I don't know how to balance it.
I usually make little rules and restrictions for myself to make the game suit me. Like modding the bills to be higher and putting a food-kiosk at each public venue. When my sims go to a public lot like a park, gym or library they have to pay for some service sims. Maybe a bartender, a food-vendor or perhaps a guitar player. It is "taxes" for my little sims and a money-sink for me with fun gameplay added.
I'm used to making little stories about things happening to my sims so I don't remember being bothered about having more freetime. That is usually when I make a personal challenge for my sims, usually in the way of building. Hm... if it was my little sim I would probably make it a challenge to build a library that was perfect for my sims. Build a little, go there and visit a few times to get a feeling for the layout and see if works ingame and slowly getting it perfect.
I wish we could raise or lower the bills and paychecks in the settings
Hm... I think I will just mod the bills to be higher. That will give my sims an incentive to get higher-paying jobs. It should also mean that the bits and bobs that I find around the map would be less worth in comparison to my sims paycheck so the job feels more relevant. If could you hike both bills and salaries up a bit in options then those who wishes the jobs to be more important could do so. Then the players who wants to play a sim who supports themselves by living in the woods selling pretty butterflies you can do so too.
I haven't purchased DU yet, but I have an old Sim that I created long ago, specifically for this exact purpose. He's currently self-employed as an "Archaeologist" but I assumed we would eventually get a teaching career, so my plan was always to make him a bit of an Indiana Jones character. So I'm not too worried about him making a lot of money as a professor, as he can still travel back to Selvadorada and scavenge artifacts to sell. Though I suppose if I wanted to make him a really accurate Indy, I would have him donate them to the school museum instead. So let's call him "Evil Indiana Jones" I guess.
Seems to be a common thread that while they are doing this they work as Teacher/Professor(s).