I'm fine with alien abductions in my game. To me, it's just another silly quirk that you can expect with the Sims games. When I want an abduction to happen, I'll use the observatory and make sure my Sim has high logic skill. It can sometimes take a few tries to make it work, but overall it doesn't take too long - who knows, maybe I'm one of the lucky ones.
Looking back though, I do think there could have been a better way to implement toggles. I've never been a fan of using objects as toggles, and I prefer toggles that I can change as and when I like in the settings menu. For the most part, I think the developers are starting to do that a lot more these days, which I'm grateful for, but I highly doubt they'd go back and change toggles for older DLC.
Sims 4 Wish List:
> Option to toggle on/off random townie generation.
> Turn vacation worlds into residential worlds.
> Option to purchase separate worlds or a world pack.
Why don't people take responsibility for their choices and not buy a pack if there is something in there they know that might trigger them? Instead of expecting the world to change for something that offends them (for whatever reason) why not say no to a pack you know has something in it that is extremely affecting the person?
No one is forced to buy a pack they know that contains elements of gameplay they will dislike. Ever. Free will for humans to decide what is best for them or not.
By adding toggles to a life simulator in many cases you remove the surprise and the feeling that life is full of valleys and mountains and is not perfect no matter how hard we try to avoid it.
I'm sorry to disagree with you, but abductions were ruined years ago by those who felt it was forced woohoo on their Sims. I have no idea how they decided the male Sim getting pregnant was by woohoo but they did and so complained about it and it was almost removed down to zero chance of the Sim getting pregnant by an alien. I can honestly say zero in my game after that nerfed patch.
The Sims was famous for coding the game in a way that the player had control of what actually happens in more ways than one. These are called 'triggers' by how you play the game. Yes, doing things in the game such as dating one from the bar will cause the Sim to get abducted.
Or working in the Science career....it's the whole purpose of the Science career and Area 51 science lab.
There are ways to avoid the abductions by getting the satellite and turning it on..it worked before the nerf patch, even if the player caused the abductions by working in the Science career and other things like being friends with one or playing as one, maybe it's broken if it's not working for you and should be reported as a bug.
Mods can cause things to be more often than they are normally in a vanilla game. Because the vanilla game was nerfed years ago as far as alien babies go. The whole point of the abduction by the way.
We have to take ownership of our choices in life in my opinion and no matter how much I want a CAS item and or chair etc. being the old age I am I can skip packs that annoy or 'trigger' me because I don't expect the world to flip over for me and change their choices when it's me who is the problem not the packs if anything is too much for me to play in my old age. Wisdom should come with age, and responsibility.
It's not fair? What if I asked for cars to never be added or 'toggled' because someone I loved died in a car wreck? Should the whole 'game' be toggled? Life isn't fair but you knew the gameplay before buying a pack. What's not fair is for the entire mechanics of a game to change to fit a few who might refuse to take ownership of their choices.
Life is harsh.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
@MissSweetViolet
I haven’t read all the comments but the problem as I see it is that something is put into your body without your permission. That can easily give the wrong perspective on consent. As @SuperCoolRachael suggests, a pop-up that gives you the choice is a big difference. They can still make it quirky, and this can even provide more game play. And yeah I agree, society is changing all the time. Respectful discussions can make us all more aware even of the things we don't need to deal with in ourself.
@MissSweetViolet
I haven’t read all the comments but the problem as I see it is that something is put into your body without your permission. That can easily give the wrong perspective on consent 2021. As @SuperCoolRachael suggests, a pop-up that gives you the choice is a big difference. They can still make it quirky, and this can even provide more game play. And yeah I agree, society is changing all the time. Respectful discussions can make us all more aware even of the things we don't need to deal with in ourself.
A popup to ask if an abduction would be ok? How mundane that sounds.
I'm not unsympathetic to people's feelings however, every thing in any game can be requested to be removed because it's offensive to someone, somewhere.
For example in many people's cases, Perhaps parents or siblings or grandparents and or Sims should be removed, too, since so many don't have parents or siblings and or friends and can be triggered by not having any parents or the grandparents or parents died, and that is very heartbreaking, perhaps the game should not generate parents with kids in the bin and or have townies who are old who could be a Sim's grandparent somewhere in the game, and or any children in the game since some people can't have kids and on and on.
It's amazing how much I can remove if I feel offended or Sims shouldn't have romance if a person's loved one died and it hurts too much to see love birds in a game when there is no one for the lonely person who is still grieving.
Perhaps particular foods should be removed since I can no longer eat them, though I used to love them, and or perhaps, OR should be removed or any other vacation spot since some people are no longer able to travel and it's depressing to watch Sims enjoy themselves on vacations. Or Sims shouldn't be able to go outside without a toggle since so many can't get out in the sun anymore for skin cancer reasons, and it's hurtful to watch Sims enjoy sunshine like at the beaches and or pools.
Or perhaps the fake cars should have a toggle as I said since so many might have known a loved one who died in a car crash and seeing those cars only remind them of it. I'm serious. Or perhaps thin Sims should be removed or toggled not to generate since so many suffer with obesity and are reminded if they were bullied and or compared to a thin person in their life time and it's too hurtful to see thin Sims in a game knowing they will never reach their goal of weight. Toggles for everything. It's really too bad life doesn't have any toggles isn't it.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
Hi @Cinebar
I just wanna say that I didn’t read your comment above, so nothing in my comment is directed at you or someone else. It’s just my opinions. I think it’s possible to do something interesting with the pop-up (not just do you want this yes / no. I think the user I tagged suggested a fun idea. Or maybe your sim meet an incredible charming alien and you can get multiple options on how to proceed, Idk)
But I can really see your point that it’s annoying when a lot of things are removed from the game. I also want consequences in the game, I myself am not fond of the sims being in this always happy mode (the creepy smiles lol! ).
Hi @Cinebar
I just wanna say that I didn’t read your comment above, so nothing in my comment is directed at you or someone else. It’s just my opinions. I think it’s possible to do something interesting with the pop-up (not just do you want this yes / no. I think the user I tagged suggested a fun idea. Or maybe your sim meet an incredible charming alien and you can get multiple options on how to proceed, Idk)
But I can really see your point that it’s annoying when a lot of things are removed from the game. I also want consequences in the game, I myself am not fond of the sims being in this always happy mode (the creepy smiles lol! ).
You know, some people skip Pets EPs because they had a dog they really loved and it had to be put down and it's too heartbreaking to try to bring that dog's likeness back in a Pets ep. I just think people who buy games should look at what is in a game, and decide whether they want the pack or not and let other people have their fun instead of trying to fit the game to an idea that because something hurts or offends them it should be toggled out of a game. Games are good place to learn perseverance and adapt and overcome our sensitivities to life. I'm in no way insensitive to someone who may have been abducted but the bottom line is this...aliens aren't real. Period. It's not sexist in my mind for a male to be abducted and get pregnant because that's on the border of fantasy because biologically males can't get pregnant. That's why it's on the borderline of absurd and funny. We don't have to project ourselves into everything we see and do in this life, and quite frankly I feel it's very unhealthy to do so.
It's the same old arguments even in TS3, when people purchased supernatural ep then complained they wanted the zombies toggled out of the game. The excuses were they wanted the werewolf but not the zombies eating plants but the moon setting controlled all of that. They could play the pack (it's assets) and not have werewolves and or zombies or anything else, and just use the CAS assets etc. if they set the moon settings, but no that wasn't good enough they needed supernaturals toggled out of the game though they could control this themselves. A mod isn't a cheat but a script that can also turn off any part of a game. It's why people loved The Sims because developers were mod friendly to some content being unlikeable to others. Mods are the answer in my opinion, and not developers who have to go back and toggle off the main features of a pack.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
I still want to know why this is triggering now, but wasn’t when the pack first released ages ago, but nobody will answer that question so I think this whole issue is a load of horse feathers.
OP, even though I don’t Own Get to Work yet, I support your request for a toggle. If I got GTW I would like to have a “no aliens” option when I’m starting a new save - not for the reasons you mentioned, but simply because I don’t like aliens. In general, I wish all the elements of the game the community is divided about should have on/off toggles, rather than the game being nerfed to please just one side.
I see The Sims less as a game and more as a create-your-own game kit, and every change that allows the players to fine-tune the rules of their own game even more, without interfering with the other players’ experience, is a good thing IMO.
OP, even though I don’t Own Get to Work yet, I support your request for a toggle. If I got GTW I would like to have a “no aliens” option when I’m starting a new save - not for the reasons you mentioned, but simply because I don’t like aliens. In general, I wish all the elements of the game the community is divided about should have on/off toggles, rather than the game being nerfed to please just one side.
I see The Sims less as a game and more as a create-your-own game kit, and every change that allows the players to fine-tune the rules of their own game even more, without interfering with the other players’ experience, is a good thing IMO.
You will still have aliens in the game and in lots of places if you also have GT installed.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
I still want to know why this is triggering now, but wasn’t when the pack first released ages ago, but nobody will answer that question so I think this whole issue is a load of horse feathers.
I still want to know why this is triggering now, but wasn’t when the pack first released ages ago, but nobody will answer that question so I think this whole issue is a load of horse feathers.
Maybe because people are new to the game and only recently found out about alien abductions.
I also want a toggle simply because I like having options for different save games.
If GTW were an alien pack, I can see the argument against a toggle. But aliens are just a small part of the pack. I can see someone wanting to buy it for the active careers or retail system but not for the alien abductions. They have been adding toggles for the past few years, and I don't think the gameplay has suffered for it. Maybe they should revisit some of the older packs to add a few more.
Also, people complained about alien abductions frequently when the pack was released. So many people complained that alien abductions were nerfed. A toggle would have been a much better solution. A slider, even, with frequent/few/no alien abductions would have stopped the complaints and made everyone happy.
To all those complaining "why didn't people speak up earlier?" well... probably there were more pressing issues with the pack when it first came out. Also, and most importantly, sensitivities change as time passes. Both for individuals and collectively. And a lot has a been going on the topic of consent in the years since GTW came out. So I can see why people would bring it up now and not then - also, toggles are more of a thing now, they have been used for a few packs already.
I remember when I played TS2 I thought male pregnancies as a result of alien abduction were "aww! cute!". Then TS3 came along and I thought it was "cool!" (=another alien baby for my collection)". Then after a long hiatus I started playing TS4 for the first time earlier this year, and when it happened again my reaction was "Oh! The joke is still going on. Ok." immediately followed by "this is going to age like milk..." I'm not bothered by it, personally, but I can see how this is a bit problematic and ultimately in poor taste.
Remember back in 1981, in Raiders of the Lost Ark, how it was endearing that the protagonist had had sexual relations with his supervisor's minor daughter? Go back in time a few more decades, and it was hilarious to see an advert in which a husband spanked his wife. Go further back in time (not much) and people were willing to pay good money to point and laugh at those with deformities and disabilities.
Sensitivities change. Male sexual assault is still at the butt of many crude jokes, and stigmatised both legally and in society. As people (some sooner, some later) slowly become more aware of the complexity of the world outside their own tiny bubble, they are going to realise this sort of joke are not actually funny in the least, just lame and in poor taste. Like humour based on hitting men in their crotch (does anyone at all still find that remotely funny?)
I'm personally not too bothered by the alien abductions but I don't see why a toggle would be such a terrible idea. We can disable storms (which IMHO are a central element of the Seasons pack), so if some people want to disable the abductions (which are not a central feature of a pack devoted to work and shops), they should be able to do that. I just fail to see how this is taking away fun from those who enjoy this particular feature. I think it is a more reasonable option than nerfing the game. The latter is probably the only thing sure to make everyone unhappy.
Personally, I doubt they'll realistically invest on a toggle for the GTW pack, so those who oppose it can take it easy and relax. But I do think if the devs go ahead with TS5 and decide to include alien abductions resulting in a pregnancy, they will probably have to present them in a slightly different way. The more time passes, the more sensitive people are going to be to scenarios like that.
For me, the Sims games are about storytelling. As a storyteller, I want the ability to turn different kinds of scary events on or off at will. This includes things like vampire invasions and alien abductions.
I do not want to tell the same story with every household I play. For one household I may want alien abductions to happen frequently, and with their next door neighbors' household I may not want them to happen at all. I want to have control over this event, because I want to tell different stories with different households.
The existing "toggle" for blocking alien abductions (the satellite dish) is not really sufficient because it is part of a gameplay sequence. The same goes for the garlic for warding off vampires. True toggles are controls that the player has over the way the game works without having to go through a gameplay sequence to get them.
Lot traits have been in the game for a long time, and I've always wondered why they were never implemented as a player directed way to block or heighten the chance of these kinds of random events. We were given lot traits for other scary/bad events such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and ghosts haunting the lot. Having those lot traits made the events happen. Not having the traits blocked the events from happening completely. This seemed like a good method for giving players control.
So why were we not given lot traits for vampire invasions and alien abductions? This would have been an awesome tool for storytellers as well as an easy method for players to avoid events that they don't want to see.
I am hoping that the new lot challenges will be used to do this (that vampire invasions and alien abductions will be made into lot challenges in the future), because choosing which bad or challenging things do or don't happen on individual lots seems to be what the lot challenges are meant for, and it would truly offer an easy way for players to have choice about what kind of story they are telling.
The "wild foxes" lot challenge causes wild foxes to come onto your lot and steal your chickens. If you have this lot challenge enabled, you then have gameplay methods of stopping them. The same should be done for vampires and aliens. You enable their attacks by choosing the lot challenge, and then have gameplay methods of trying to block them. If you choose to disable the challenge, the attacks would stop so you could tell a different story if you want to.
The sims games are supposed to be "you rule" for the players. This should include giving players easy to use controls that allow us to specify what kinds of events can and can't happen, so that we truly can tell whatever kind of stories we want.
I still want to know why this is triggering now, but wasn’t when the pack first released ages ago, but nobody will answer that question so I think this whole issue is a load of horse feathers.
@Pamtastic72 and anyone else who is wondering this same question... It's not triggering "now". It has been triggering all along, from the very beginning, for some people. It's just that when something has happened in your life that causes you a lot of emotional distress, it can be very hard to talk about it publicly. Or even to talk about it at all. Especially if you know that many people are going to be unsupportive of your struggle.
Sometimes it takes a very long time for people to feel comfortable about speaking up.
I still want to know why this is triggering now, but wasn’t when the pack first released ages ago, but nobody will answer that question so I think this whole issue is a load of horse feathers.
@Pamtastic72 and anyone else who is wondering this same question... It's not triggering "now". It has been triggering all along, from the very beginning, for some people. It's just that when something has happened in your life that causes you a lot of emotional distress, it can be very hard to talk about it publicly. Or even to talk about it at all. Especially if you know that many people are going to be unsupportive of your struggle.
Sometimes it takes a very long time for people to feel comfortable about speaking up.
When people complained about it before those complaints centered around the frequency of the occurrence and not around comparing it to assault. Those complaints only just started in about January of this year after this had been a pack feature for 6ish years. Then as you said it was nerfed. In fact it was nerfed so hard you have really work at triggering it. I have saves that are over 2 years old where it has never happened once.
Abuse survivor here. I have no issues with toggles being added to the game, if it means certain aspects of gameplay don't get nerfed entirely. I do; however, take issue with folks who think they can speak on behalf of abuse survivors and/or who seemingly act as if abuse survivors are in a perpetual state of passive victimhood and have no agency of our own.
As an abuse survivor I can research any game packs I might be considering buying, and make an informed choice as to whether or not there is content there that may be triggering to me. I can then make the decision, for myself, as to whether I purchase that pack or not.
If I do encounter triggering content that I wasn't previously aware of I can also then decide how I respond to the feelings that content might engender. I may not have had any choice in regards to the abuse itself, but I certainly have the choice now as to how I deal, or cope with certain triggers - and that may include deciding to work through difficult emotions bought up during gameplay (with the knowledge that it is a game, so it also provides a safe environment to explore different coping mechanisms), or deciding that the trigger is too much and disabling that particular pack.
What I don't need, nor appreciate, is a bunch of White Knight types thinking they are helping me by riding in on their trusty steeds to protect me from the big, bad horrible game world, as if I have no will, agency, voice, or self determination of my own. It's infantilising, it's patronising, and it completely discounts the hard work I've done to move from 'victim' to survivor.
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.
The point of the Science career is to be involved with aliens and create things that thwart those aliens and or help your alien such as the ray gun or whatever it was called. For you to discover most of the Sims at the lab are aliens. What is the point of playing the science career if you remove the reasons people fear aliens? I mean really just to go to work and work on stuff and never use it and or find out why it was necessary? I'm sorry, but I feel this is just another attempt at pc and why those of us old enough to remember humor still love The Sims and TS2, and even Ts3. TS4 has way too many hang ups. Sanitized life is not a life simulator but a dress up game. I don't play Barbie anymore. If I'm triggered by life then I need to speak to someone, seriously, before I would be too ill to function. There are offensive things everywhere, the point of life is to deal with it. Some hairstyles in TS4 could be offensive since a dead relative used to have that hairstyle. I might request particular hairstyles be removed. I know all this is harsh, but life is harsh, and what we do with it is the point, we don't expect others to conform to our ideal life by removing everything that can offend.
Why toggles are a bad idea, because they remove the surprise of life in a life simulator in this case fantasy. If I set the game to allow or not allow alien abductions then dang that is a spoiler isn't it and I just found out if there were a toggle that I can expect an abduction....that is what The Sims never was, spoiled by letting the player know what will happen. The Sims was about Murphy's law, what can happen will happen. Whatever can go wrong will go wrong. That is why those games remain above TS4's pc, childish gameplay.
And no, I'm sorry, I'm really tired of Maxis going back and changing the packs I did buy. No, to toggles and popups that changed what I did like and did buy, or give me a refund once they remove or alter the very features why some of us buy this stuff.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
I’m console player and I can assure that cheats are possible on console just like on PC and reset a sim is an option, no issues here.
But to stay on topic: I play vanilla game and I can assure OP that abductions requires specific triggers and even those don’t mean sim will get abducted 100%. Thing that works for me when I want an abduction is befriending an alien npc or interacting with them in any way. Getting high friendship and for example woohoo with them means certain abduction in my game the next day. Alien Tuesdays in bars also works well. Even my scientist was left alone for a very long time until there was “strange guests” event at work and suspected alien infiltration of the laboratory. To put it short: there are activities that triggers abductions and I think it should stay that way without more nerfing etc. It’s great for storytelling as aliens need to see you are interested in them and pursue their attention. Like having rocket on the lot, searching for the truth using telescope, befriending sims that glow lol and entering scientist career because that ensures you will meet aliens at some point. I also like that it makes aliens a little bit villain-like, but not in serious dark tone. I think people who complain they have constant abductions even today are involuntarily triggering abductions by talking to aliens in disguise or taking scientist career knowing that the very pinnacle of this career is to meet aliens at Sixam. Not getting sims involved with aliens and their business means 100% sim will not get abducted in mod free game.
Also the male pregnancy is a joke of UFO craze that swept around the world many years ago when people believed they were kidnapped and experimented on and some believed got pregnant from it. It was ridiculous and so the alien pregnancy in the sims is fittingly ridiculous too. To even compare it to real life abduction and abuse is pretty long stretch and I find it doing disservice to real life tragedies as it trivializes them in my opinion. Going this road we should for example delete any violence (although aliens are not violent in sims, mind you) from movies and video games because people experience violence everyday in all places around the world. And those are movies and games with serious topics not quirky little jokes like alien abductions and male pregnancy. I think bunch of players need to chill out and find other hobbies than tracing second, third and fourth meanings in innocent video game.
But at the end of the day, I don’t think aliens will ever be updated, although I will be super happy if proved wrong. I like aliens very much and they need improvements, but not nerfing abductions or making them optional. It’s the element of mystery and surprise, probably the only one left in the Sims 4. Alien home world Sixam should be made livable (at least that one lot without using cheat) and they should be given a little more special interactions, as of today they have less abilities than mermaids which makes me sad.
Someone mentioned this would be good to remove the abductions because it's not consented.
If we go that route then Maxis should remove any flirtations in the game, too, since they are in the same realm of sexual harassment in some circles, today.
Especially, like when Sims run up to your Sim and start flirting and or start singing to them or whatever it may be. Let's just have by default all things off and no free will for townies and or our own Sims so nothing can happen without player consent.
No flirting, no woohoo, no Sims having a baby without a popup to ask the player if that's ok, even when try for baby was chosen.
No Sims in town ever becoming flirty since that leads to them becoming flirty with our Sims, nerf that, it's not polite.
No first kiss, since it's a minor teen, sometimes, have to get Sim parent permission first, go find them and ask if your Sim or the townie Sim can kiss your Sim teen.
No deaths at all, since it's horrific in real life. Need a popup to ask the player if it's ok they die now. (MySims is a good game without that).
No bills since it's hard on people who can't afford to pay their bills they incurred.
No fifty changes of clothes, because some people can't afford in real life to have that many new outfits, it's insulting to the homeless.
No crying by Sims since it's hurtful in real life when people cry.
No emotions because we have all been angry and said things we shouldn't have said to somebody, arguing is rude. Debates should be staged instead to let the townies vote over which Sim has the more persuasive arguments. No tense mood because some suffer with anxiety and it's not funny in real life when it's bad so a Sim with a tense mood is insulting to those who suffer with anxiety.
No more Sims kissing other Sims out of their control because that's not consent for the other Sim. That's the player playing god with other Sims' lives. You don't own them you shouldn't be able to use them like that.
No dating because it's invasive to the townie Sim and or your Sim has to meet requirements that were not ask if it was ok to talk to them ten times.
Yes, this may all seem like a sarcastic list of things (and there are hundreds more) but if we are going to take off the rose colored glasses and conform to this absurdity then let's take them all the way off. MySims is a good game for those who don't want a life simulator but unfortunately the server is no longer working.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
It just needs a simple tick box in the game options. Those who don't want alien abductions can uncheck it, much like temperature effects on Sims with Seasons.
Currently the alien abductions and illness system are what's holding me back from buying Get to Work. I've found a mod to turn off the illness, but have not found one to turn off alien abductions (I don't use script mods so if someone has found a mod, that's not a script mod, to turn off alien abductions, please tell me). If EA added a way to turn off alien abductions then i would buy Get to Work as I like the other features that the pack brings.
It just needs a simple tick box in the game options. Those who don't want alien abductions can uncheck it, much like temperature effects on Sims with Seasons.
Currently the alien abductions and illness system are what's holding me back from buying Get to Work. I've found a mod to turn off the illness, but have not found one to turn off alien abductions (I don't use script mods so if someone has found a mod, that's not a script mod, to turn off alien abductions, please tell me). If EA added a way to turn off alien abductions then i would buy Get to Work as I like the other features that the pack brings.
They did. It's the Satellite. They did, it's don't get a job in the Science career. They did, it's the don't woohoo an alien. They did, it's a don't become friends with aliens. They did, it's the don't go to the bar on Tuesdays when it's alien night. They did, it's the don't build a rocket in your yard. They did, it's the don't go to alien world. I mean how many ways do you guys need to avoid abductions.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
Comments
Looking back though, I do think there could have been a better way to implement toggles. I've never been a fan of using objects as toggles, and I prefer toggles that I can change as and when I like in the settings menu. For the most part, I think the developers are starting to do that a lot more these days, which I'm grateful for, but I highly doubt they'd go back and change toggles for older DLC.
No one is forced to buy a pack they know that contains elements of gameplay they will dislike. Ever. Free will for humans to decide what is best for them or not.
By adding toggles to a life simulator in many cases you remove the surprise and the feeling that life is full of valleys and mountains and is not perfect no matter how hard we try to avoid it.
I'm sorry to disagree with you, but abductions were ruined years ago by those who felt it was forced woohoo on their Sims. I have no idea how they decided the male Sim getting pregnant was by woohoo but they did and so complained about it and it was almost removed down to zero chance of the Sim getting pregnant by an alien. I can honestly say zero in my game after that nerfed patch.
The Sims was famous for coding the game in a way that the player had control of what actually happens in more ways than one. These are called 'triggers' by how you play the game. Yes, doing things in the game such as dating one from the bar will cause the Sim to get abducted.
Or working in the Science career....it's the whole purpose of the Science career and Area 51 science lab.
There are ways to avoid the abductions by getting the satellite and turning it on..it worked before the nerf patch, even if the player caused the abductions by working in the Science career and other things like being friends with one or playing as one, maybe it's broken if it's not working for you and should be reported as a bug.
Mods can cause things to be more often than they are normally in a vanilla game. Because the vanilla game was nerfed years ago as far as alien babies go. The whole point of the abduction by the way.
We have to take ownership of our choices in life in my opinion and no matter how much I want a CAS item and or chair etc. being the old age I am I can skip packs that annoy or 'trigger' me because I don't expect the world to flip over for me and change their choices when it's me who is the problem not the packs if anything is too much for me to play in my old age. Wisdom should come with age, and responsibility.
It's not fair? What if I asked for cars to never be added or 'toggled' because someone I loved died in a car wreck? Should the whole 'game' be toggled? Life isn't fair but you knew the gameplay before buying a pack. What's not fair is for the entire mechanics of a game to change to fit a few who might refuse to take ownership of their choices.
Life is harsh.
I haven’t read all the comments but the problem as I see it is that something is put into your body without your permission. That can easily give the wrong perspective on consent. As @SuperCoolRachael suggests, a pop-up that gives you the choice is a big difference. They can still make it quirky, and this can even provide more game play. And yeah I agree, society is changing all the time. Respectful discussions can make us all more aware even of the things we don't need to deal with in ourself.
LIFE STRUGGLES PACK
A popup to ask if an abduction would be ok? How mundane that sounds.
I'm not unsympathetic to people's feelings however, every thing in any game can be requested to be removed because it's offensive to someone, somewhere.
For example in many people's cases, Perhaps parents or siblings or grandparents and or Sims should be removed, too, since so many don't have parents or siblings and or friends and can be triggered by not having any parents or the grandparents or parents died, and that is very heartbreaking, perhaps the game should not generate parents with kids in the bin and or have townies who are old who could be a Sim's grandparent somewhere in the game, and or any children in the game since some people can't have kids and on and on.
It's amazing how much I can remove if I feel offended or Sims shouldn't have romance if a person's loved one died and it hurts too much to see love birds in a game when there is no one for the lonely person who is still grieving.
Perhaps particular foods should be removed since I can no longer eat them, though I used to love them, and or perhaps, OR should be removed or any other vacation spot since some people are no longer able to travel and it's depressing to watch Sims enjoy themselves on vacations. Or Sims shouldn't be able to go outside without a toggle since so many can't get out in the sun anymore for skin cancer reasons, and it's hurtful to watch Sims enjoy sunshine like at the beaches and or pools.
Or perhaps the fake cars should have a toggle as I said since so many might have known a loved one who died in a car crash and seeing those cars only remind them of it. I'm serious. Or perhaps thin Sims should be removed or toggled not to generate since so many suffer with obesity and are reminded if they were bullied and or compared to a thin person in their life time and it's too hurtful to see thin Sims in a game knowing they will never reach their goal of weight. Toggles for everything. It's really too bad life doesn't have any toggles isn't it.
I just wanna say that I didn’t read your comment above, so nothing in my comment is directed at you or someone else. It’s just my opinions. I think it’s possible to do something interesting with the pop-up (not just do you want this yes / no. I think the user I tagged suggested a fun idea. Or maybe your sim meet an incredible charming alien and you can get multiple options on how to proceed, Idk)
But I can really see your point that it’s annoying when a lot of things are removed from the game. I also want consequences in the game, I myself am not fond of the sims being in this always happy mode (the creepy smiles lol!
LIFE STRUGGLES PACK
You know, some people skip Pets EPs because they had a dog they really loved and it had to be put down and it's too heartbreaking to try to bring that dog's likeness back in a Pets ep. I just think people who buy games should look at what is in a game, and decide whether they want the pack or not and let other people have their fun instead of trying to fit the game to an idea that because something hurts or offends them it should be toggled out of a game. Games are good place to learn perseverance and adapt and overcome our sensitivities to life. I'm in no way insensitive to someone who may have been abducted but the bottom line is this...aliens aren't real. Period. It's not sexist in my mind for a male to be abducted and get pregnant because that's on the border of fantasy because biologically males can't get pregnant. That's why it's on the borderline of absurd and funny. We don't have to project ourselves into everything we see and do in this life, and quite frankly I feel it's very unhealthy to do so.
It's the same old arguments even in TS3, when people purchased supernatural ep then complained they wanted the zombies toggled out of the game. The excuses were they wanted the werewolf but not the zombies eating plants but the moon setting controlled all of that. They could play the pack (it's assets) and not have werewolves and or zombies or anything else, and just use the CAS assets etc. if they set the moon settings, but no that wasn't good enough they needed supernaturals toggled out of the game though they could control this themselves. A mod isn't a cheat but a script that can also turn off any part of a game. It's why people loved The Sims because developers were mod friendly to some content being unlikeable to others. Mods are the answer in my opinion, and not developers who have to go back and toggle off the main features of a pack.
I see The Sims less as a game and more as a create-your-own game kit, and every change that allows the players to fine-tune the rules of their own game even more, without interfering with the other players’ experience, is a good thing IMO.
You will still have aliens in the game and in lots of places if you also have GT installed.
It is. Complete garbage!
Maybe because people are new to the game and only recently found out about alien abductions.
I also want a toggle simply because I like having options for different save games.
Also, people complained about alien abductions frequently when the pack was released. So many people complained that alien abductions were nerfed. A toggle would have been a much better solution. A slider, even, with frequent/few/no alien abductions would have stopped the complaints and made everyone happy.
I remember when I played TS2 I thought male pregnancies as a result of alien abduction were "aww! cute!". Then TS3 came along and I thought it was "cool!" (=another alien baby for my collection)". Then after a long hiatus I started playing TS4 for the first time earlier this year, and when it happened again my reaction was "Oh! The joke is still going on. Ok." immediately followed by "this is going to age like milk..." I'm not bothered by it, personally, but I can see how this is a bit problematic and ultimately in poor taste.
Remember back in 1981, in Raiders of the Lost Ark, how it was endearing that the protagonist had had sexual relations with his supervisor's minor daughter? Go back in time a few more decades, and it was hilarious to see an advert in which a husband spanked his wife. Go further back in time (not much) and people were willing to pay good money to point and laugh at those with deformities and disabilities.
Sensitivities change. Male sexual assault is still at the butt of many crude jokes, and stigmatised both legally and in society. As people (some sooner, some later) slowly become more aware of the complexity of the world outside their own tiny bubble, they are going to realise this sort of joke are not actually funny in the least, just lame and in poor taste. Like humour based on hitting men in their crotch (does anyone at all still find that remotely funny?)
I'm personally not too bothered by the alien abductions but I don't see why a toggle would be such a terrible idea. We can disable storms (which IMHO are a central element of the Seasons pack), so if some people want to disable the abductions (which are not a central feature of a pack devoted to work and shops), they should be able to do that. I just fail to see how this is taking away fun from those who enjoy this particular feature. I think it is a more reasonable option than nerfing the game. The latter is probably the only thing sure to make everyone unhappy.
Personally, I doubt they'll realistically invest on a toggle for the GTW pack, so those who oppose it can take it easy and relax. But I do think if the devs go ahead with TS5 and decide to include alien abductions resulting in a pregnancy, they will probably have to present them in a slightly different way. The more time passes, the more sensitive people are going to be to scenarios like that.
I do not want to tell the same story with every household I play. For one household I may want alien abductions to happen frequently, and with their next door neighbors' household I may not want them to happen at all. I want to have control over this event, because I want to tell different stories with different households.
The existing "toggle" for blocking alien abductions (the satellite dish) is not really sufficient because it is part of a gameplay sequence. The same goes for the garlic for warding off vampires. True toggles are controls that the player has over the way the game works without having to go through a gameplay sequence to get them.
Lot traits have been in the game for a long time, and I've always wondered why they were never implemented as a player directed way to block or heighten the chance of these kinds of random events. We were given lot traits for other scary/bad events such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and ghosts haunting the lot. Having those lot traits made the events happen. Not having the traits blocked the events from happening completely. This seemed like a good method for giving players control.
So why were we not given lot traits for vampire invasions and alien abductions? This would have been an awesome tool for storytellers as well as an easy method for players to avoid events that they don't want to see.
I am hoping that the new lot challenges will be used to do this (that vampire invasions and alien abductions will be made into lot challenges in the future), because choosing which bad or challenging things do or don't happen on individual lots seems to be what the lot challenges are meant for, and it would truly offer an easy way for players to have choice about what kind of story they are telling.
The "wild foxes" lot challenge causes wild foxes to come onto your lot and steal your chickens. If you have this lot challenge enabled, you then have gameplay methods of stopping them. The same should be done for vampires and aliens. You enable their attacks by choosing the lot challenge, and then have gameplay methods of trying to block them. If you choose to disable the challenge, the attacks would stop so you could tell a different story if you want to.
The sims games are supposed to be "you rule" for the players. This should include giving players easy to use controls that allow us to specify what kinds of events can and can't happen, so that we truly can tell whatever kind of stories we want.
@Pamtastic72 and anyone else who is wondering this same question... It's not triggering "now". It has been triggering all along, from the very beginning, for some people. It's just that when something has happened in your life that causes you a lot of emotional distress, it can be very hard to talk about it publicly. Or even to talk about it at all. Especially if you know that many people are going to be unsupportive of your struggle.
Sometimes it takes a very long time for people to feel comfortable about speaking up.
When people complained about it before those complaints centered around the frequency of the occurrence and not around comparing it to assault. Those complaints only just started in about January of this year after this had been a pack feature for 6ish years. Then as you said it was nerfed. In fact it was nerfed so hard you have really work at triggering it. I have saves that are over 2 years old where it has never happened once.
As an abuse survivor I can research any game packs I might be considering buying, and make an informed choice as to whether or not there is content there that may be triggering to me. I can then make the decision, for myself, as to whether I purchase that pack or not.
If I do encounter triggering content that I wasn't previously aware of I can also then decide how I respond to the feelings that content might engender. I may not have had any choice in regards to the abuse itself, but I certainly have the choice now as to how I deal, or cope with certain triggers - and that may include deciding to work through difficult emotions bought up during gameplay (with the knowledge that it is a game, so it also provides a safe environment to explore different coping mechanisms), or deciding that the trigger is too much and disabling that particular pack.
What I don't need, nor appreciate, is a bunch of White Knight types thinking they are helping me by riding in on their trusty steeds to protect me from the big, bad horrible game world, as if I have no will, agency, voice, or self determination of my own. It's infantilising, it's patronising, and it completely discounts the hard work I've done to move from 'victim' to survivor.
Female Simmer from Australia (she/her)
I had one of my Sims marry the Grim Reaper & now they have a lot of kids.
Why toggles are a bad idea, because they remove the surprise of life in a life simulator in this case fantasy. If I set the game to allow or not allow alien abductions then dang that is a spoiler isn't it and I just found out if there were a toggle that I can expect an abduction....that is what The Sims never was, spoiled by letting the player know what will happen. The Sims was about Murphy's law, what can happen will happen. Whatever can go wrong will go wrong. That is why those games remain above TS4's pc, childish gameplay.
And no, I'm sorry, I'm really tired of Maxis going back and changing the packs I did buy. No, to toggles and popups that changed what I did like and did buy, or give me a refund once they remove or alter the very features why some of us buy this stuff.
But to stay on topic: I play vanilla game and I can assure OP that abductions requires specific triggers and even those don’t mean sim will get abducted 100%. Thing that works for me when I want an abduction is befriending an alien npc or interacting with them in any way. Getting high friendship and for example woohoo with them means certain abduction in my game the next day. Alien Tuesdays in bars also works well. Even my scientist was left alone for a very long time until there was “strange guests” event at work and suspected alien infiltration of the laboratory. To put it short: there are activities that triggers abductions and I think it should stay that way without more nerfing etc. It’s great for storytelling as aliens need to see you are interested in them and pursue their attention. Like having rocket on the lot, searching for the truth using telescope, befriending sims that glow lol and entering scientist career because that ensures you will meet aliens at some point. I also like that it makes aliens a little bit villain-like, but not in serious dark tone. I think people who complain they have constant abductions even today are involuntarily triggering abductions by talking to aliens in disguise or taking scientist career knowing that the very pinnacle of this career is to meet aliens at Sixam. Not getting sims involved with aliens and their business means 100% sim will not get abducted in mod free game.
Also the male pregnancy is a joke of UFO craze that swept around the world many years ago when people believed they were kidnapped and experimented on and some believed got pregnant from it. It was ridiculous and so the alien pregnancy in the sims is fittingly ridiculous too. To even compare it to real life abduction and abuse is pretty long stretch and I find it doing disservice to real life tragedies as it trivializes them in my opinion. Going this road we should for example delete any violence (although aliens are not violent in sims, mind you) from movies and video games because people experience violence everyday in all places around the world. And those are movies and games with serious topics not quirky little jokes like alien abductions and male pregnancy. I think bunch of players need to chill out and find other hobbies than tracing second, third and fourth meanings in innocent video game.
But at the end of the day, I don’t think aliens will ever be updated, although I will be super happy if proved wrong. I like aliens very much and they need improvements, but not nerfing abductions or making them optional. It’s the element of mystery and surprise, probably the only one left in the Sims 4. Alien home world Sixam should be made livable (at least that one lot without using cheat) and they should be given a little more special interactions, as of today they have less abilities than mermaids which makes me sad.
If we go that route then Maxis should remove any flirtations in the game, too, since they are in the same realm of sexual harassment in some circles, today.
Especially, like when Sims run up to your Sim and start flirting and or start singing to them or whatever it may be. Let's just have by default all things off and no free will for townies and or our own Sims so nothing can happen without player consent.
No flirting, no woohoo, no Sims having a baby without a popup to ask the player if that's ok, even when try for baby was chosen.
No Sims in town ever becoming flirty since that leads to them becoming flirty with our Sims, nerf that, it's not polite.
No first kiss, since it's a minor teen, sometimes, have to get Sim parent permission first, go find them and ask if your Sim or the townie Sim can kiss your Sim teen.
No deaths at all, since it's horrific in real life. Need a popup to ask the player if it's ok they die now. (MySims is a good game without that).
No bills since it's hard on people who can't afford to pay their bills they incurred.
No fifty changes of clothes, because some people can't afford in real life to have that many new outfits, it's insulting to the homeless.
No crying by Sims since it's hurtful in real life when people cry.
No emotions because we have all been angry and said things we shouldn't have said to somebody, arguing is rude. Debates should be staged instead to let the townies vote over which Sim has the more persuasive arguments. No tense mood because some suffer with anxiety and it's not funny in real life when it's bad so a Sim with a tense mood is insulting to those who suffer with anxiety.
No more Sims kissing other Sims out of their control because that's not consent for the other Sim. That's the player playing god with other Sims' lives. You don't own them you shouldn't be able to use them like that.
No dating because it's invasive to the townie Sim and or your Sim has to meet requirements that were not ask if it was ok to talk to them ten times.
Yes, this may all seem like a sarcastic list of things (and there are hundreds more) but if we are going to take off the rose colored glasses and conform to this absurdity then let's take them all the way off. MySims is a good game for those who don't want a life simulator but unfortunately the server is no longer working.
Currently the alien abductions and illness system are what's holding me back from buying Get to Work. I've found a mod to turn off the illness, but have not found one to turn off alien abductions (I don't use script mods so if someone has found a mod, that's not a script mod, to turn off alien abductions, please tell me). If EA added a way to turn off alien abductions then i would buy Get to Work as I like the other features that the pack brings.
https://youtube.com/channel/UCaj9o4hycNSPy8U1Ip0OCFA/videos
They did. It's the Satellite. They did, it's don't get a job in the Science career. They did, it's the don't woohoo an alien. They did, it's a don't become friends with aliens. They did, it's the don't go to the bar on Tuesdays when it's alien night. They did, it's the don't build a rocket in your yard. They did, it's the don't go to alien world. I mean how many ways do you guys need to avoid abductions.