As it stands, I'm getting pretty tired of my sims having the same conversations over and over just to raise their relationship status. It feels so unrealistic... So that got me thinking. What if we were to have a whole lot more of those "limited time only" conversation options that were introduced with the movie pack (like how you can talk negatively or positively about a movie for a time after you've watched it). They added a handful more of these when Dining Out was released, but why not for life events already in the game?

Weddings, Family, Etc.

When a couple gets engaged, why not have the option for the couple to talk to friends about wedding plans, or even second thought about tying the knot? Then, after the wedding, let the newlyweds relive their best day for a week or so by chatting with friends about how it went off, such as positive reactions to the food and entertainment, etc. (And perhaps if you talk about your happy day with a sim once too often you might make them sad that they're single, or angry to have to hear about this wedding over and over! Same thing for the birth of a child... If your pregnant sim talks to a childless/single sim with the loves kid trait or the family aspiration, maybe they'd be super happy for you, or maybe they'd get sad... how exciting not to know which would happen!)

Then, after the wedding, why can't the newlyweds have a period where they could tell each other their thoughts about starting a family, and if they don't have the family trait, there's a random chance that your new spouse might be against having kids, or even just frightened by the responsibility that having kids brings. If they don't have kids right away, the option to discuss having kids could come up again around the transition from young adult to adult, or upon achieving the top level in your career.

AND parents, grandparents and siblings should also be able to brag about their family members when something good happens to them, like good grades, a wedding, a birth, a promotion, purchasing a venue, etc. It was so odd playing with a young couple that invited their parents over and they couldn't share the news of their engagement with them, AND when they did share the news about their pregnancy, the grandparents and aunts/uncles didn't react any differently than a random stranger. It would be nice if sharing the big news gave those relatives a relationship boost with the newborn instead of being a complete stranger at birth.

OR, perhaps a grandparent/aunt/uncle who has the "hates kids" trait would trigger the opposite reaction, and they could complain to friends and family about the pregnancy or the new baby. (And maybe that act builds a negative relationship with that baby, even before it's born, so when that "hates kids" adult tries to care for the baby, it cries!). Imagine if this would work with kids and teens as well. Maybe your kids aren't so thrilled with the news that your sims are having another child, so why not have a random chance that your kid gets either angry or sad upon hearing the news (and perhaps a teen receiving the news that their parents are pregnant again might get embarrassed, after all, they've learned what Woo Hoo is by asking around...) AND, maybe those upset kids could then either come around by sharing their concerns with their parents, siblings and grandparents, by their reassuring response to their worries. OR they could work on building a negative relationship with their new (or unborn) sibling by complaining about the pregnancy/baby to friends and family. AND, if they did get a negative relationship with their baby sibling, they could then have the option to tease (playful) or even pinch (mean) the baby to further that negative relationship.

Speaking of family, after an engagement (note, there should be an engagement/bachelor[ette] party, plus a baby shower option like there was in Sims 3) or a wedding or the birth of a baby, why not have an event similar to the "house warming party" that triggers new neighbors to come over when you move into a new house. Except this event would trigger your closest friends and your immediate family members to come over to congratulate newly engaged couples, or newlyweds or the newborn baby.

Of course, if we're talking marriage, we also need to mention divorce and remarriage. Of course, I think kids/teens might already get sad/angry when their parents divorce, but are they able to talk to their friends about it in the weeks right after it happens? I don't think so... And what about when that divorced or widowed parent remarries? How great would it be to have an option to chat with their friends about whether they're happy or upset by this development. (And speaking of that, both kids and parents really should have the option to talk about the death of a family member with their friends/family for a time after the death -- it simply isn't healthy to keep that all bottled up!). AND, there should also be other timed dialogues that crop up the first time they see mom/dad kissing their new boyfriend, and the remarriage, AND their feelings about step kids moving in. And what about when mom has a new baby with her new man? Is your sim kid gonna like that half sibling? Maybe, maybe not... How fun not to know!

Of course relationships aren't the only place where these limited time conversations could be a lot of fun...

Careers, Businesses and Big Purchases

This could work for careers, too, like being able to chat with friends about your new job or promotion, about your boss and coworkers not just with those coworkers but with friends, etc., like shortly after getting the new job or promotion.

And lets not forget about buying businesses. If I just bought a store or a restaurant, you can bet that I'm going to be telling all my family and friends about it. So why can't that be an option in the game, where a business owner has the option of talking to their friends and even strangers about their store/restaurant, and then the next time you open for business you have a chance that those people you've chatted up will show up as customers.

And how about new purchases? If you move from a tiny house on a small lot to a bigger house on a bigger lot, wouldn't you want to brag about it until all your friends had heard the news? Or if you got a brand new TV or some other impressive purchase like a pool or a slip-n-slide, wouldn't you talk about it before the "new car" smell wore off? And if you shared the news about some cool new purchase, how great would it be if that friend then called up one day to invite himself and a few friends over for an event to enjoy that new purchase, similar to a new neighbor housewarming party.

Events and Accomplishments

Of course, events like that and all those little goals you complete, they're worth bragging about, too, aren't they? Say your sims just got back from a long vacation in the woods, why not tell all your friends about it during the few days after you get home? Maybe you could even share your vacation photos with them during that time, too. AND, if you had a blast, wouldn't you recommend that your friends take a similar vacation? And if you'd just had a successful (or not so successful) weenie roast, wouldn't you brag to or commiserate with your friends? Same thing goes for when you learn new skills or achieve new goals/aspirations. Why not have a limited time option to throw a congratulations party when you accomplish something (at the location of your choice, rather than at whatever location your coworker chooses when they invite you out after a promotion). If you maxed out your dance skill, maybe friends would come over (similar to the housewarming) for a mini dance party, or a dinner party if you maxed out one of your cooking/baking skills. Or, if you chose to throw a longer, more formal affair (with the option to win yourself a party trophy), perhaps you would have the timed option of bragging about your newly maxed out skill at the event.

On a similar note, after you watch TV, whether it be sports, action, comedy, etc., we should be able to chat about that "new" show for a while after watching it... And in talking about that TV show, you'd raise your skills a bit (athletic for sports/action, comedy for comedy, etc.)

THIS would be so great for parents and their kids, to have fresh conversation options available for a time when events happen. Like they could scold their kids for teasing/pinching the new baby. And there are plenty of other ideas for timed conversation options between family members. For instance, what if kids/teens could ask for an allowance after they completed some chore around the house (and that allowance would simply add $5-10 to the household budget). And if a kid/teen hadn't done their homework by 9pm, perhaps the parent would have the option to tell their child to go do their homework and the child would immediately do it (or purchase new homework to do, if they'd lost theirs somewhere). And what if that kid were a slob (with or without the trait)? Why not have the option for parents to tell their kids to do chores (automatically triggering them to perform them... or NOT if the kid is angry, sad, etc.), such as telling a kid to clean the table or pick up their toys, or a teen to garden or clean their dirty bathroom. This could also work in a roommate situation, where one could tell the other to clean the house, and that would trigger a timed conversation option for both roommates to be able to complain about their roommate's messiness to their friend., etc.

And for those rebellious teens, we really need a curfew again. NOT that they couldn't still go out, but if they get caught by a cop (aka anyone working in the detective career), they'd get sent home immediately where their angry parents would be waiting to ground them (meaning they COULDN'T go to other lots or friends' houses by themselves for a week or so). To make it even more fun, perhaps the game could alert you when a "detective" showed up on scene so that your teen/child sim would have a shot of running away and staying out of the detective's line of sight before heading home. And perhaps begging forgiveness and/or doing chores would chip away at that grounding so you could shorten it if you wanted to...

AND that would trigger a happy or playful moodlet, and for a time after that successful sneaking out, they could brag about it to friends.
I'm sure there are tons of other options that I haven't thought of, but even if they just added a few of these the game would be much more fun. It would be so nice knowing that I just might see some new things for my sims to chat about from time to time, dependent upon what's going on in that sim's life. OR maybe if they get caught too many times in one week, maybe they're taken away for a day or two as they spend time in juvie. (I'd like that same option for criminals, too, if they do something like get caught stealing, they'd go away for a while, like they did in Sims 3, AND if you switched over to playing a detective, you just might see that caught criminal show up in your jail, rather than just NPCs!)

This wouldn't be too difficult to incorporate into the game, would it? Especially since they've already got a system for it with the "talk about movie" options already in the game?

If only...