No, sorry, I can't relate; I have never gotten bored of playing the Sims.
I have played since 2001 starting from TS1, then 2004 started playing TS2 and played it for a long time (I skipped TS3, because it just isn't to my liking), and since August 2017 I've been playing the Sims 4, and I enjoy it very much.
During these all years of playing The Sims, I have had some breaks but the breaks were never because of getting bored of the game, the reasons for those breaks were because of having computer issues or for being too busy IRL that there was no possibility to play.
Of course I still have some small breaks from playing, but that is also because of being busy IRL or because it's good to have breaks from being on the computer and to do something else like reading books etc., but it's never because of being bored of the game.
And I love playing the Sims 4 vanilla, without any mods or CC, so there are also players who enjoy the game as it is. (In TS2 I did use a lot of CC, but no mods; TS4 is perfect for me as the way it is, I don't need any CC or mods to my game).
It’s very individual in how we experience the game, for some players it's normal to get bored of playing the game, and for some players it's normal to not get bored at all.
Hopefully you'd find inspiration and would be able to still enjoy this game, but if not, then that's ok, maybe then it'd be time to quit playing
"Where words fail, music speaks" ~ Hans Christian Andersen ♥*♥*♥ My Gallery ID: Aaleyn
When Sims4 was first released I had that problem. But as more packs came along, and some mods I find invaluable, I am now playing every day, the way I did with Sims2 and even Sims3, in which I had a love/hate relationship. Find a Sim you love and create their world. Use a few mods to fill in the gaps. Don't force yourself to play, if you just don't feel like it on any given day, don't play. It's not something you must do. Other than that, I can't think of any other pieces of advice.
I think a sandbox game like The Sims depends a lot on our personal creative energy to be fun, and sometimes that’s just not there. Life gets in the way, we’re tired, stressed or distracted. A break often helps get the creative juices flowing again. So does changing up how you typically play. Nothing says we have to play all the time. I take breaks frequently or just do basics until my creative energy revives and I feel inspired again.
I feel that way for a week or so, then I get obsessed again and have lots of fun playing. So it depends on the day. Also depends on what save I'm going to play.
@cyncie I relate completely to your point about creative energy. I'm always tired and often stressed at this time of year, and my creative energy meter is running very low right now. I haven't felt much like playing lately. I know it's a phase, though, and before long I'll be very much in the mood to fire up TS4 again.
I think a sandbox game like The Sims depends a lot on our personal creative energy to be fun, and sometimes that’s just not there. Life gets in the way, we’re tired, stressed or distracted. A break often helps get the creative juices flowing again. So does changing up how you typically play. Nothing says we have to play all the time. I take breaks frequently or just do basics until my creative energy revives and I feel inspired again.
So much this! If I'm tired or unfocused, I just can't play Sims, especially in gameplay (sometimes I can redecorate a house). That's time for doing something else.
EA CREATOR NETWORK MEMBER — Want to be notified of patches, new Broken Mods threads, and urgent Sims 4 news? Follow me at https://www.patreon.com/luthienrising.
@cyncie That makes a lot of sense actually. I've been doing bad mentally for a while now and am constantly stressed. When I think about it, the times where I'm most stressed is where I find myself not having as much fun with TS4 (or other sandbox type games for that matter) as I did otherwise
I know the feeling. I often can't play TS4 if I'm stressed about something, even if I wanted to play. Playing just requires too much and I feel like I can't relax and get into the story, because I'm stressed about other things and need to keep my mind in those things. Sometimes it makes me a bit sad, but I have learnt to do other things then and wait for better simming days
Recently whenever I play the sims I don't really have a lot of fun, it doesn't matter whether I'm building, making sims or actually playing, none of it feels fun. But at the same time I do want to play. Like there will be days where I don't really feel like playing anything else but the sims, but then when I boot up the game I just sit there switching between doing different things because nothing sparks joy.
Basically my question is; does anyone else feel this and, if so, what do you do about it? This game has been my favorite game for 7 years now and it makes me sad that I'm not enjoying it very much anymore.
I think it could be the draining part of the game, the sims don't go to work on their own unless you're playing their household and when your sims take a vacation, other sims from your sims neighbor show up jogging like their traveling with your and it seem like you're not getting a break from the city your sim stay in.
Everybody has those moments with any game. I have a few times over the years. For me if gameplay gets boring I tinker in CAS creating sims, or I start building or redecorating. In your case where all of it feels old and stale, I find stepping away for 2 or 3 days or even a week or two helps recharge me. If you do step away for a few days find some activities that distract your mind so you don't think about the game at all, block it out. If I can totally block it out of my mind, I usually find that after only a couple of days I'm feeling the itch again.
Another thing I'd suggest is take a break from playing and read the stories in creative corner. You may find that somebody is doing something with their game that you never thought of and it may inspire you to pick the game up and try something similar.
Don't let it trouble you, we all go through this at some point. You'll find your love and passion for the game again.
Well, I am rolling now.
I haven't played seriously since January.
As I said before, I have major goal that I am fairly excited about, and that is to build my Master Save full of custom lots and CAS sims.
But, I want my CAS sims have been played to a point where there is a history to everyone and it will feel like Sims 2, where the world seems like it was going on before you entered it.
My CAS sims were aged down to toddlers, given parents, and I am playing them up and through University.
It's been fun, but the problem is it's feeling repetitive and more like a chore.
I am playing a new custom dorm though, so there is that.
I have been playing Britechester up to now, so this is new.
I am playing teens through Prep-school for Uni.
I have a lot of sims in rotation and this is the second batch of six teens prepping for uni.
They rotate between 2 terms of Uni in groups of three.
I have edited half the Dormies so far. One of my chores to do to finish Uni prep.
They have set about building the rocket ship. This was supposed to be for my sims, but it's okay.
Tomorrow is Saturday for them, so I will have my sims finish it. They also still have to do all the upgrades for it.
One dormie using the desk, but a nice touch to this room is the moving shadows from the wind turbines I placed on the roof.
Unfortunately the dormies are so involved with the rocket ship, they are neglecting their needs.
My sims don't have enough relationship points with them to ask them to take a shower.
So I better spend the weekend getting to know the dormies.
I have periods like that with all games - part of ASD is thewhole hyperfocus thing, so I'll play non-stop for days or even weeks, and then feel a burnout. Combine with depression and I'll have days where I don't feel like watching/reading/listening to/playing anything but will do so either way just to make time pass. Finished a self-designed challenge yesterday (that I'll share once I can make posts of my own) and during the last day of that sim, I just wanted it to be overwith.
Made the choice to not play it again until after the new pack is out, just so that I willactually feel like playing it, and not do it just to see what it's like.
It gets better, it always does, but you never know how long it'll take, no matter how many times you've been through it sadly.
I know the feeling. I often can't play TS4 if I'm stressed about something, even if I wanted to play. Playing just requires too much and I feel like I can't relax and get into the story, because I'm stressed about other things and need to keep my mind in those things. Sometimes it makes me a bit sad, but I have learnt to do other things then and wait for better simming days
I'm just the opposite, I find the game distracts me from the stress. And sometimes I just build, that's also very relaxing to me.
I know the feeling. I often can't play TS4 if I'm stressed about something, even if I wanted to play. Playing just requires too much and I feel like I can't relax and get into the story, because I'm stressed about other things and need to keep my mind in those things. Sometimes it makes me a bit sad, but I have learnt to do other things then and wait for better simming days
I'm just the opposite, I find the game distracts me from the stress. And sometimes I just build, that's also very relaxing to me.
Also it brings me down from violent games.
After a dungeon crawl with some very powerful foes in Skyrim, as well as avoiding some extremely powerful modded dragons, The Sims feels relaxing.
Can definitely relate, and it's made worse by the feeling that the game is going to spring a surprise on me sometime soon like when aliens abducted my sim and gave me an alien baby to play with. Will my current sim who enjoys her mean and loner traits too much manage to develop more than just an acquaintance with someone? I end up wasting time playing routine sim days to see if something actually happens.
Eventually I manage to stay off the game for a couple of days during which I think of new things to put my current or new sims through. I have recently managed to resist the urge to buy yet more packs for my periods of boredom and burnout.
I think most of us get bored sometimes playing this game. It doesn’t hurt to take a break or change up your play. I mostly play rotationally with aging off most of the time. I don’t use mods or CC. I started a new Scenario save awhile back and it is rotational too. I like using the simple living lot trait, and many of my sims have a garden of some kind. If I get tired of one family I go to another, my households are all pretty different. I have a frog fanatic that happens to be my first household off the grid, who has simple living on the lot, he also has a lot of camping equipment. I actually just finished the scenario, but I will still use him. I am having fun making ( and downloading ) homes and community lots for my scenario save. I enjoy making a new scenario household every once in awhile, I have given some of them careers I haven’t played before. They have new or different clubs etc. I’m hoping they will update babies soon,
Yeah I'm in a lull of complete lack of interest. Which is a bit annoying in one sense, as I had started working on the hugest mansion, and now designing each room and finishing the garden feels like a huge chore, but I want to finish it and upload to the gallery.
I have returned to full time work in the last 12 months, so I don't have all the near-constant time on my hands that I had in the earlier part of the COVID pandemic.
I don't even know when I last posted in this forum, tbh. This is the first time I've logged since I don't know when.
To some extent everyone has to understand. We don't play 24/7 every day of our lives. We have things to do, take breaks, play and do other things for entertainment, etc. No matter how much we love the Sims or 4.
More specifically, it is true that to some extent 4 has been a test of my personal patience: it doesn't keep my attention as long; it took it longer to become varied enough for me in comparison to previous entries; it is still missing things from old games and QoL updates to make it better; it somehow has made my favorite content no longer my favorite (pets and casters); I've had to adapt my playstyle from a largely live mode focused player to a player with evened out time between all three portions to stay engrossed. There is more, but 4 does have some things I would return to it for now. There was a long time when it didn't.
So I definitely understand a general dissatisfaction, especially when my Sims morale was broken back around Batuu. It has since been healed to a pretty tepid neutral, but part of my healing and coping with 4's weaknesses generally was all about playing other things instead when it couldn't hold me.
I do understand you mean something more specific than just not wanting to play 4. You mean something along the lines of having a great idea or even a knee jerk urge, so you load up the game and either your inspiration just doesn't flow or what you end up with isn't fun. To me that is a sure sign you need a break from it. A miserable one, mind you, and it is hard to scratch those Sims like itches without it. Even though some more life sims are being made, I can probably count on my fingers how many games allow me to control a customizable family/neighborhood. However, it can be done.
So I broadly encourage you, play other games. There are 3 other mainline Sims games, and some spin offs console or PC. If those don't work either, give Origin (I don't recommend this one so much), Epic, Steam, or GOG a browse. Origin I know you have because Sims; Epic flashes their Fortnite cash so you can pick up some freebies; Steam has the best sales and reach in my opinion; GOG has DRM free games if committing to another launcher is too much; and if you're console they have the digital stores you know. If all else fails, entertainment is far more varied than games. I bet 4 will be a lot more fun after all that.
Since Sims is my special interest I'm really obsessed with it. But even I have these times, where I just don't have the energy to play the game. It can be weeks to months that I don't play. But the longer the pause is the more I get the longing to play again.
My playstyle is very specific. I have a few familys I'm very attached to, I've played them for years now. I want to spend actively every second of their Simslife with them. I want them to have their best life possible. So for example I spend hours, weeks or even months (in real life) planning one event like a wedding - searching for the perfect cc dress and hair or building the most beautiful location for them. Also planning, where they are going to spend their honeymoon and preparing everything there for them, like the honeymoon rental, the local restaurants, a Spa, a pool ect.
When the day of the wedding finally comes, I'm so so so excited!!!
I micromanage everything and everyone, because I can't stand it when Sims do random stuff that doesn't fit the situation. So free will is always off. I just love it, when everyone sits together while eating or dancing around the dancefloor. (and at a wedding there can be like 16 Sims I have to control!)
Almost every second I hit the pause button to capture the moment of my Sims for a Screenshot. I love having tons of memories of every second of my sims lifes.
Plus, I'm kind of a storyteller on the german forums. That is also a huge portion of my playstyle. I play a few days and then I write the storys of my Sims down and show my favorite screens that I made.
I feel, when I write down the storys of my Sims afterwards I re-live these special moments once again and on top I can look back whenever I feel like reminiscing.
I enjoy this playstyle the most, but it is HARD WORK! So naturally at times I am exhausted and my creativity needs a break. Then I step back.
Sometimes, like right now, I have a few stories in my mind I want to play because they will be so much fun. But I just can't get into the game because at the same time it feels like so much work to play these stories out without losing my mind over Sims not doing what I imagined
I soooo wanna play at the moment, because I am VERY excited to finally play the story that has been in my mind now for the last months, but at the same time I'm just not ready for this amount of work that it involves. Plus I have to update my mods, and that is another thing that keeps me waiting. Because soon there will be another patch.
So, I'll wait for the patch next week...maybe after that - at last - I can play the lovely story I have made up. In the meantime maybe I can finish the asian restaurant that I have been building. It was based after a real life restaurant we went to a few weeks ago.
Now I will stop rambling, because I just noticed how long this message has become... lol
It's a stress reliever for me too, but I do get burnt out and take breaks for a while. Other times I've taken breaks I've played other games for a while then decided to come back to simming by going back in time (I guess that's what you'd call it) I'll play TS2 or Medieval and then get the bug to play TS4 again. Because I played previous Sims games I've become kind of a thrill/drama seeker. I miss random events like the meteor showers landing and hitting your sim in TS3, or someone leaving something burning on the stove and everything goes on fire. Keeping my mind busy is stress relieving, so I like to manage a lot of sims, with things happening everywhere. Sometimes I feel I have to chase down that excitement. I do use mods, I have one that makes fires spread old Sims style, I also use Bienchen's mod that doesn't give your sim a warning for repairing things. They sometimes get zapped right on the first attempt. That still makes me jump. So I guess when households get too harmonious and drama free I get a bit bored but I always come back to it after a break.
I think it can also be good to realize that we don't always have to be creative and implement great ideas when playing The Sims 4. We are seeing so much in The Sims community where people are making all sorts of creative things, building mansions and castles and doing legacy challenges. When Maxis tweets about something people are all reacting.
I think it's fine if you just want to boot up the game and play the BFF household in their standard house and just buy a pack because you would like to try something out, we don't have to strive to be creative all the time.
I built a small shop a couple of days ago in The Sims 4, it doesn't look great at all but darn it, it's mine and I enjoyed building it.
Comments
I have played since 2001 starting from TS1, then 2004 started playing TS2 and played it for a long time (I skipped TS3, because it just isn't to my liking), and since August 2017 I've been playing the Sims 4, and I enjoy it very much.
During these all years of playing The Sims, I have had some breaks but the breaks were never because of getting bored of the game, the reasons for those breaks were because of having computer issues or for being too busy IRL that there was no possibility to play.
Of course I still have some small breaks from playing, but that is also because of being busy IRL or because it's good to have breaks from being on the computer and to do something else like reading books etc., but it's never because of being bored of the game.
And I love playing the Sims 4 vanilla, without any mods or CC, so there are also players who enjoy the game as it is. (In TS2 I did use a lot of CC, but no mods; TS4 is perfect for me as the way it is, I don't need any CC or mods to my game).
It’s very individual in how we experience the game, for some players it's normal to get bored of playing the game, and for some players it's normal to not get bored at all.
Hopefully you'd find inspiration and would be able to still enjoy this game, but if not, then that's ok, maybe then it'd be time to quit playing
I've never been much of a builder so currently that's what I'm doing. Learning how to build better by renovating nearly every lot in each world.
S3 simblr: http://simplysimming.tumblr.com/
S4 simblr: http://simlogic.tumblr.com/
http://www.getfreeebooks.com/star-trek-original-series-fan-fiction-trilogy/
Tales From The Myst
The Blue Moon Jukebox
Exie hay, cavero, mabza meeah vendarzo.
Yevsas mairzeemo!
So much this! If I'm tired or unfocused, I just can't play Sims, especially in gameplay (sometimes I can redecorate a house). That's time for doing something else.
I think it could be the draining part of the game, the sims don't go to work on their own unless you're playing their household and when your sims take a vacation, other sims from your sims neighbor show up jogging like their traveling with your and it seem like you're not getting a break from the city your sim stay in.
Tales From The Myst
The Blue Moon Jukebox
Another thing I'd suggest is take a break from playing and read the stories in creative corner. You may find that somebody is doing something with their game that you never thought of and it may inspire you to pick the game up and try something similar.
Don't let it trouble you, we all go through this at some point. You'll find your love and passion for the game again.
I haven't played seriously since January.
As I said before, I have major goal that I am fairly excited about, and that is to build my Master Save full of custom lots and CAS sims.
But, I want my CAS sims have been played to a point where there is a history to everyone and it will feel like Sims 2, where the world seems like it was going on before you entered it.
My CAS sims were aged down to toddlers, given parents, and I am playing them up and through University.
It's been fun, but the problem is it's feeling repetitive and more like a chore.
I am playing a new custom dorm though, so there is that.
I have been playing Britechester up to now, so this is new.
I am playing teens through Prep-school for Uni.
I have a lot of sims in rotation and this is the second batch of six teens prepping for uni.
They rotate between 2 terms of Uni in groups of three.
I have edited half the Dormies so far. One of my chores to do to finish Uni prep.
They have set about building the rocket ship. This was supposed to be for my sims, but it's okay.
Tomorrow is Saturday for them, so I will have my sims finish it. They also still have to do all the upgrades for it.
One dormie using the desk, but a nice touch to this room is the moving shadows from the wind turbines I placed on the roof.
Unfortunately the dormies are so involved with the rocket ship, they are neglecting their needs.
My sims don't have enough relationship points with them to ask them to take a shower.
So I better spend the weekend getting to know the dormies.
Soo... I am back in The Sims for now.
Finished a self-designed challenge yesterday (that I'll share once I can make posts of my own) and during the last day of that sim, I just wanted it to be overwith.
Made the choice to not play it again until after the new pack is out, just so that I willactually feel like playing it, and not do it just to see what it's like.
It gets better, it always does, but you never know how long it'll take, no matter how many times you've been through it sadly.
I'm just the opposite, I find the game distracts me from the stress. And sometimes I just build, that's also very relaxing to me.
http://www.getfreeebooks.com/star-trek-original-series-fan-fiction-trilogy/
Also it brings me down from violent games.
After a dungeon crawl with some very powerful foes in Skyrim, as well as avoiding some extremely powerful modded dragons, The Sims feels relaxing.
Eventually I manage to stay off the game for a couple of days during which I think of new things to put my current or new sims through. I have recently managed to resist the urge to buy yet more packs for my periods of boredom and burnout.
I have returned to full time work in the last 12 months, so I don't have all the near-constant time on my hands that I had in the earlier part of the COVID pandemic.
I don't even know when I last posted in this forum, tbh. This is the first time I've logged since I don't know when.
More specifically, it is true that to some extent 4 has been a test of my personal patience: it doesn't keep my attention as long; it took it longer to become varied enough for me in comparison to previous entries; it is still missing things from old games and QoL updates to make it better; it somehow has made my favorite content no longer my favorite (pets and casters); I've had to adapt my playstyle from a largely live mode focused player to a player with evened out time between all three portions to stay engrossed. There is more, but 4 does have some things I would return to it for now. There was a long time when it didn't.
So I definitely understand a general dissatisfaction, especially when my Sims morale was broken back around Batuu. It has since been healed to a pretty tepid neutral, but part of my healing and coping with 4's weaknesses generally was all about playing other things instead when it couldn't hold me.
I do understand you mean something more specific than just not wanting to play 4. You mean something along the lines of having a great idea or even a knee jerk urge, so you load up the game and either your inspiration just doesn't flow or what you end up with isn't fun. To me that is a sure sign you need a break from it. A miserable one, mind you, and it is hard to scratch those Sims like itches without it. Even though some more life sims are being made, I can probably count on my fingers how many games allow me to control a customizable family/neighborhood. However, it can be done.
So I broadly encourage you, play other games. There are 3 other mainline Sims games, and some spin offs console or PC. If those don't work either, give Origin (I don't recommend this one so much), Epic, Steam, or GOG a browse. Origin I know you have because Sims; Epic flashes their Fortnite cash so you can pick up some freebies; Steam has the best sales and reach in my opinion; GOG has DRM free games if committing to another launcher is too much; and if you're console they have the digital stores you know. If all else fails, entertainment is far more varied than games. I bet 4 will be a lot more fun after all that.
Same for me. When I'm stressed, the game distracts me from the stress,
so the game is also a great stress reliever to me, it's relaxing.
My playstyle is very specific. I have a few familys I'm very attached to, I've played them for years now. I want to spend actively every second of their Simslife with them. I want them to have their best life possible. So for example I spend hours, weeks or even months (in real life) planning one event like a wedding - searching for the perfect cc dress and hair or building the most beautiful location for them. Also planning, where they are going to spend their honeymoon and preparing everything there for them, like the honeymoon rental, the local restaurants, a Spa, a pool ect.
When the day of the wedding finally comes, I'm so so so excited!!!
I micromanage everything and everyone, because I can't stand it when Sims do random stuff that doesn't fit the situation. So free will is always off. I just love it, when everyone sits together while eating or dancing around the dancefloor. (and at a wedding there can be like 16 Sims I have to control!)
Almost every second I hit the pause button to capture the moment of my Sims for a Screenshot. I love having tons of memories of every second of my sims lifes.
Plus, I'm kind of a storyteller on the german forums. That is also a huge portion of my playstyle. I play a few days and then I write the storys of my Sims down and show my favorite screens that I made.
I feel, when I write down the storys of my Sims afterwards I re-live these special moments once again and on top I can look back whenever I feel like reminiscing.
I enjoy this playstyle the most, but it is HARD WORK! So naturally at times I am exhausted and my creativity needs a break. Then I step back.
Sometimes, like right now, I have a few stories in my mind I want to play because they will be so much fun. But I just can't get into the game because at the same time it feels like so much work to play these stories out without losing my mind over Sims not doing what I imagined
I soooo wanna play at the moment, because I am VERY excited to finally play the story that has been in my mind now for the last months, but at the same time I'm just not ready for this amount of work that it involves. Plus I have to update my mods, and that is another thing that keeps me waiting. Because soon there will be another patch.
So, I'll wait for the patch next week...maybe after that - at last - I can play the lovely story I have made up. In the meantime maybe I can finish the asian restaurant that I have been building. It was based after a real life restaurant we went to a few weeks ago.
Now I will stop rambling, because I just noticed how long this message has become...
I think it's fine if you just want to boot up the game and play the BFF household in their standard house and just buy a pack because you would like to try something out, we don't have to strive to be creative all the time.
I built a small shop a couple of days ago in The Sims 4, it doesn't look great at all but darn it, it's mine and I enjoyed building it.