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How they could revamp jobs for Sims 5.
rhalius
Posts: 456 Member
I think the best approach remains to have some active careers where it would be interesting enough to see your Sim at work, as well as the ones where they just disappear.
So, with that in mind: I think the choice of career should have more impact, and choices made at work should be more than 2.
Typically, it should be 3 choices: Doing the right thing, doing the wrong or off script thing, and the passive not getting involved thing.
And based on your Sims traits, it should show their preference of what they'd want to do here. You will always get a positive buff if you pick what they want and a negative if you pick something else. Even if it turns out well, they might have regrets for not being true to themselves or if it goes wrong but is what they wanted, they'd not regret it.
And with big risks, could come big rewards. Like you could try to embezzle a lot of money but if you get caught your sim goes to jail. Yes, jail time should be a thing, a fitting punishment for crime and how long they are there would depend on their crime. This would also determine the bail money needed to buy their freedom. They could spend their whole adult life in jail if they really mess up.
Also, this gives a new interesting thing to spend money on, relatives working to obtain the money.
Sims in the criminal career would of course have a larger chance at jail time, but they also get the chance to try and break out of jail or break another sim out of jail. If it fails it means (extra) jailtime for the sim doing this though. Possibly a trait or occult state could also enable this possibility but a regular Sim who is not a criminal does not have it.
And like jail time is a constant risk for criminals, other careers could have their own associated risks and possible problems.
At an office, gossip could be possible. Your sim can spread rumours but also be the subject of them. There could at all times be two rival offices however, allowing opportunities to undermine the competitor or be hired by them instead in a job opportunity, going to a higher position.
Each office could have a success meter, which could affect the basic stock market that could be put in the game. Sims could buy a share in the company to get some of the profits. Or lose money if the company does terribly.
Joining the army should also have the risk that your Sim is send on a combat mission, they'd be gone for a few days then at least. And the pop up decisions made there have a chance of death. But high risk, high reward. If they do succeed at tough decisions, they can get the medal of honour.
Like the rival offices can affect each other, same could be with the criminal and law enforcement careers. It would affect the crime rate of the neighbourhood. Much crime going unpunished means higher chance of burglars. (who should return, seriously. Just make it optional if people are that sensitive about this.) Maybe if there's a higher crime rate there could also be some hustlers in the streets. Your Sim could also be a hustler and receive a small fine if they are caught doing that.
Politics would be one career, but there are different political parties. Your Sim could have a preference based on traits.
Could be a family oriented party, an environmental friendly party, a partying party and an evil corrupt party that's all about the money.
Could also only be one Mayor, and this could be an election even.
But what party the mayor belongs to could have some effect on the town.
Also, it should be possible for the player in the town menu to change the uniforms of all careers. Have some options there for each level of the career, and also be able to not have a uniform at all for it.
Like if you want your cops in brown uniforms, you can. Want them in dark blue, also possible. Could also change their squad cars.
And expansions can add options here, to fit with new neighbourhoods.
So, with that in mind: I think the choice of career should have more impact, and choices made at work should be more than 2.
Typically, it should be 3 choices: Doing the right thing, doing the wrong or off script thing, and the passive not getting involved thing.
And based on your Sims traits, it should show their preference of what they'd want to do here. You will always get a positive buff if you pick what they want and a negative if you pick something else. Even if it turns out well, they might have regrets for not being true to themselves or if it goes wrong but is what they wanted, they'd not regret it.
And with big risks, could come big rewards. Like you could try to embezzle a lot of money but if you get caught your sim goes to jail. Yes, jail time should be a thing, a fitting punishment for crime and how long they are there would depend on their crime. This would also determine the bail money needed to buy their freedom. They could spend their whole adult life in jail if they really mess up.
Also, this gives a new interesting thing to spend money on, relatives working to obtain the money.
Sims in the criminal career would of course have a larger chance at jail time, but they also get the chance to try and break out of jail or break another sim out of jail. If it fails it means (extra) jailtime for the sim doing this though. Possibly a trait or occult state could also enable this possibility but a regular Sim who is not a criminal does not have it.
And like jail time is a constant risk for criminals, other careers could have their own associated risks and possible problems.
At an office, gossip could be possible. Your sim can spread rumours but also be the subject of them. There could at all times be two rival offices however, allowing opportunities to undermine the competitor or be hired by them instead in a job opportunity, going to a higher position.
Each office could have a success meter, which could affect the basic stock market that could be put in the game. Sims could buy a share in the company to get some of the profits. Or lose money if the company does terribly.
Joining the army should also have the risk that your Sim is send on a combat mission, they'd be gone for a few days then at least. And the pop up decisions made there have a chance of death. But high risk, high reward. If they do succeed at tough decisions, they can get the medal of honour.
Like the rival offices can affect each other, same could be with the criminal and law enforcement careers. It would affect the crime rate of the neighbourhood. Much crime going unpunished means higher chance of burglars. (who should return, seriously. Just make it optional if people are that sensitive about this.) Maybe if there's a higher crime rate there could also be some hustlers in the streets. Your Sim could also be a hustler and receive a small fine if they are caught doing that.
Politics would be one career, but there are different political parties. Your Sim could have a preference based on traits.
Could be a family oriented party, an environmental friendly party, a partying party and an evil corrupt party that's all about the money.
Could also only be one Mayor, and this could be an election even.
But what party the mayor belongs to could have some effect on the town.
Also, it should be possible for the player in the town menu to change the uniforms of all careers. Have some options there for each level of the career, and also be able to not have a uniform at all for it.
Like if you want your cops in brown uniforms, you can. Want them in dark blue, also possible. Could also change their squad cars.
And expansions can add options here, to fit with new neighbourhoods.
Post edited by EA_Cade on
4
Comments
- Rabbit hole careers must be more proftitable than freelance crafting. In the older games "Must not have a job, can only sell produce and paint" was a legitimate rule in a challenge. In Sims 4 it is the other way around.
- All chance cards need to include an "ignore" button as in Sims 2 OR a No chance cards, please toggle.
- A crime rate that fluctuates reflecting the success of your played criminals and law enforcement sims (I don't remember who suggested this - was it you? In any case I don't claim this to be my own idea).
Jail time could be an option if there is also the option to pay a fee instead, because otherwise this would mess with storytelling playstyle. Getting my sim taken away feels too much like a punishment to me for being a bad player, whereas it should be a punishment for the sim. So unless we get fully playable prisons and military camps, what isn't going to happen, there needs to be an opt out possibility.
- Two levels of politics, municipal and global. The global tier starts with state governor and is a normal career. Municipal politicians can actually change local laws in a way that affects all played households (similar to NAPs and conservationist policies).
- A light version of the club system could be included in basegame to apply for co-workers only. Sims could join their carreer's freetime club and/or the union. Activities can be changed by mid-ranking employees or per cheat by the player. Co-workers will also help with babystitting and there might be (playable) teamwork exercises, employee of the month challenges or seminars. Or the sports team of career A could get challenged by the team of career B.
But always, you could buy your sim out of jail even if they serve a term so long that it would be a life sentence.
And cheats are easy so you could easily get them out any time you'd want.
But other jobs could also have sims spend a few days away, possibly for an opportunity. Like an astronaut going on a space mission a few days. And getting a big cash reward on return, and maybe some space item too. Could be some rare space items, minerals or such they could find on such a mission.
I don't agree with this to be honest. I think the WFH has never been implemented properly - there's little incentive to actually go out of the house.
- Rabbit hole careers must be more proftitable than freelance crafting. In the older games "Must not have a job, can only sell produce and paint" was a legitimate rule in a challenge. In Sims 4 it is the other way around.
Totally agree. Craftables make WAY too much money
- All chance cards need to include an "ignore" button as in Sims 2 OR a No chance cards, please toggle.
I have a different approach. Make an option in settings where Chance Cards either HAVE the "ignore" or DON'T have the "ignore." Players that crave challenge should uncheck the ignore option.
In an open world action adventure, most of the people and things in the world can't even interacted with or very minimally. For example, right now, I'm playing Saints Row The Third and my character is the leader of the Saints Row gang. Their headquarters are in this very fancy penthouse, but I can't even use any of the furniture in it (like I can't even sit down on any of the seats!) or interact with any of the gang to level up my social or fun skills. There's also a really nice big kitchen and dining room, but I can't even cook or eat any food or dine with my gang! What's the point of having all those nice things if my character can't even use them???
So yeah, it would be nice if game devs started combining life simulation with action games. I think that would be so next level! They can do it as an option for people who don't want to play action games of course. The action game should be an optional add-on. They can set it up as two separate games that can be played together. Imagine playing Mass Effect or The Saboteur and then coming home to The Sims to use the money they made from the action adventure missions to build and decorate their homes and to be able to relax and have fun with their neighbors and towns they live in before going on their next missions. I would really love that!
I am not sure if it always needs to be a different game though, I think they could simply expand the gameplay of the sims a bit more with some mini games letting you control your sims in new ways.
I think turn based RPG elements could be a natural fit for the sims and could work well with a revamped inventory system which is long over due.
Like when tomb raiding, there could be combat encounters. Skeletons and golems, so nothing with bloodshed.
Could be kept simple and combined with a puzzle. Like you need one sim to fight off the skeletons, and another Sim to solve a puzzle to stop the skeletons from spawning.
But there could also be turned based mini games outside of combat. Like a crisis situation where your Sims must diffuse a bomb or hack into a system within a certain time. Or maybe a dance contest.
Acting on stage could also be done like this.
Either way, all these activities would require you to gather a small group of Sims. And the more dangerous the task, the greater the reward.
Like there should be some super deadly tomb with a great treasure hoard and various magical items or such. Something you'd really need a very good plan to survive.
Like all the layers of clothing could be selected and equipped here. If you just want your Sim to take their coat or vest off, you could do it with two clicks.
Would be a whole lot of slots for clothing: Underpants, undershirt, pants/skirt, socks, shoes, shirt, blouse, vest/sweater, coat, hat/helmet, gloves. and of course jewellery could have it's own little corner in the inventory screen.
Would allow for a lot of flexibility, you can save outfits still of course, but you can also on the fly remove just parts of it. Each item could maybe contribute to a heat rating so could determine how warm your Sim is.
Items could also have special properties, like a raincoat keeping a Sim from getting wet and not all shoes being usable for rock climbing.
Could also be special items found like a radiation suit and such, or magical stuff. But sims could be limited to maybe 1 magic item to wear at a time.
Sims could also have only a few active inventory items. Like a weapon, toolbox, guitar, jetpack, etc. Would all just be the same category but a Sim could have like 4 slots here to equip stuff in they can use, everything else would be in their inventory.
Maybe what a Sim carries could be more limited too and there could be more use for containers in your Sim's house to store stuff in. Like alchemy ingredients, food ingredients (there's a fridge!) and all that, and Sims could simply grab what they need from the container if you tell them to make something that requires it.