Forum Announcement, Click Here to Read More From EA_Cade.

Is it just me? (Longtime Simmer and Bored)

«1
alexandreaalexandrea Posts: 2,432 Member
edited August 2019 in The Sims 4 Game Feedback
I really wasn't sure where to post this but since this section is about game feedback I figured I would post it here. Let me start by prefacing that this is not an Anti-Sims4 thread or a Sims4 bashing thread. I just really need to vent I guess.

So, to start out I've been playing The Sims since I was around 7 years old. I remember watching my sister play it and I was soooo intrigued. I begged my mom for my first Sims game and then it started.... I played a few of TS1 games, followed that up with the entire TS2 series, and the entire TS3 series. There were days where I would stay up until 2am playing the game because I was just so friggin enraptured by the game. Now it's been.. what? 14 years.... I'm 21 now and the feeling is just not the same anymore. I've tried and tried to play TS4 and honestly I still do load up the game when a new pack comes out but I'm just so bored. Even the sheer mention of a new pack doesn't excite me or spark my interest. I watch the trailers and I'm like: "Okay, I guess that's it."

Maybe it's me... Maybe I'm too "old" now, but I'd much rather be with my friends or pursue my other hobbies instead of playing The Sims. Maybe I need a fun challenge to do.... Idk. I tried to do a challenge last time but I was just so bored I couldn't even finish it. Is it just me? It really makes me sad to feel this way. I love The Sims, I really do, but it just doesn't do it for me anymore. I find myself getting frustrated when I play it rather than entertained. I was thinking about skipping the rest of this iteration and waiting for TS5.... if that even interests me.

Anybody know of ways to spark up that interest again?
p6tqefj

Comments

  • Sha2520032003Sha2520032003 Posts: 2,258 Member
    @alexandrea I understand where you're coming from. I find myself bored sometimes with TS4, but it's not just TS4, it's really any game that I play. At some point, I get tired of playing and I take a break and I play other games that hold my interest until I get bored again and switch to something else.

    But as it relates to your question regarding ways to spark interest again in TS4.....what I usually do is play different Save files with different themes or challenges & even different gameplay styles and I rotate between Saves. For example, I have two challenges that I'm playing....100 Baby Challenge and I'm doing the original legacy challenge by Pinstar with scoring. That scoring....wow, let me say that it's forced me to play TS4 in ways I've never played, experiencing different things such as completing collections, different careers, etc. For me this made the challenge fun, as I thought I had experienced everything that interested me in game, and found that I'd barely scratched the surface. I never focused on collections before & thought I didn't care, but after playing, and completing 6 collections, I'm on a mission to complete them all for those points LOL. I also have a supernatural Save.....I play rotational in that Save....it's very story based, so it allows me to be super creative & with vampires I can play a little dark and create some cool storylines. I've had the same vampire family since the Vampire GP came out, and I've added characters and grown the Save and rotational play allows me to switch things up.

    So for me, switching it up between a hard challenge like 100 baby, or family play like a legacy challenge and a rotational supernatural save keeps me from getting too bored. I find myself playing 100 baby when I'm not in the mood to do any storytelling, but then when I want some fun drama or vampire/alien/mermaid play I switch to my supernatural rotational save, where I'm not tied to any rules and can just play the way I want.
  • VamprisVampris Posts: 1,127 Member
    While this may not be great advice, but I tend to have the same feelings too. Some days I can barely stomach 5 minutes and others I end up pulling an all nighter. My interest for the game tends to pop out of nowhere and when It does I do what you mentioned "stay up until 2am playing the game because I was just so friggin enraptured by the game."

    So you can either do what @Sha2520032003 mentioned about finding a challenge to mix it up if you find yourself doing the same playthrough over and over or you can just let another game have your eye for awhile and soon you will find yourself wanting to binge sims again. Third option is to mod your game to heck, a certain violence mod (idk if the name of that mod is banned) can bring some fun or create sims based on fictional characters and have them interact in a stupid way (I literally had a house consisting of Link, a skeleton, an emo clown, and Leon while it was a zombie apocalypse. it was stupid fun)
    EMrBkJP.png
  • ListentoToppDoggListentoToppDogg Posts: 2,103 Member
    I dunno if being a longtime simmer or age has anything to do with it. TS4 is my 1st iteration and I'm older than you, yet I've been constantly finding myself bored with it. I don't now if this'll make sense, but for me the game doesn't feel like it's meant to be played for super long periods of time, for days in a row. I've started taking long breaks and coming back after a long period of focusing on other things. Maybe jut taking a break and playing for shorter time periods will help.
  • HestiaHestia Posts: 1,997 Member
    The Sims 4 is a lot more goal based rather than its sandbox immersive experience past iterations had. I played the first of its series when I was still in elementary. I still have all the games till today and I can confidently say that TS4 lacks depth in many aspects.

    It’s difficult to sandbox in an environment that seems a lot less attractive than TS1. There are rarely any random events, a large variety of NPCs, etc.
    wB2Zykl.jpg
  • LukeLuke Posts: 642 Member
    I'm turning 28 soon. I've also been playing since I was really young. I don't think we're getting "too old" ... I still go back to TS2 and TS3 and enjoy those games. I just find myself playing TS2 and wanting certain features of TS4, and some content as well. But in terms of how the infrastructure is with TS2, it just gave me so much. If I still enjoy it years later ... clearly I'm not just outgrowing it. And I genuinely gave TS4 a shot. It just doesn't measure up. There are clear inadequacies with the base game itself and it just continues to snowball whenever they release new content.


    Origin ID: Derpiez
  • NetzspannungNetzspannung Posts: 2,456 Member
    I don't think it's about age. I played TS1 with a passion and then took a 6 year break from all things Sims. Returned when TS3 had been out for over a year. I had other things in my life that interested me more and I just wasn't feeling it. I think you may be due a longer break. Definitely don't make yourself play the game if you want to do something else, that's a waste of precious time.
    If I just posted an outfit you like, I have good news - there is more where that came from!
    https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/956513/netz-a-porter-outfits-ready-to-wear-for-your-sims-no-cc-required
    Twitter: NetzspannungTS

    we all try ...
  • simgirl1010simgirl1010 Posts: 35,708 Member
    You may want to check out some of the comments/suggestions in this thread. Your advice to the OP was to take a break and come back.

    https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/948959/not-feeling-it-with-the-sims-4-anymore/p1
  • Evil_OneEvil_One Posts: 4,423 Member
    alexandrea wrote: »
    I really wasn't sure where to post this but since this section is about game feedback I figured I would post it here. Let me start by prefacing that this is not an Anti-Sims4 thread or a Sims4 bashing thread. I just really need to vent I guess.

    So, to start out I've been playing The Sims since I was around 7 years old. I remember watching my sister play it and I was soooo intrigued. I begged my mom for my first Sims game and then it started.... I played a few of TS1 games, followed that up with the entire TS2 series, and the entire TS3 series. There were days where I would stay up until 2am playing the game because I was just so friggin enraptured by the game. Now it's been.. what? 14 years.... I'm 21 now and the feeling is just not the same anymore. I've tried and tried to play TS4 and honestly I still do load up the game when a new pack comes out but I'm just so bored. Even the sheer mention of a new pack doesn't excite me or spark my interest. I watch the trailers and I'm like: "Okay, I guess that's it."

    Maybe it's me... Maybe I'm too "old" now, but I'd much rather be with my friends or pursue my other hobbies instead of playing The Sims. Maybe I need a fun challenge to do.... Idk. I tried to do a challenge last time but I was just so bored I couldn't even finish it. Is it just me? It really makes me sad to feel this way. I love The Sims, I really do, but it just doesn't do it for me anymore. I find myself getting frustrated when I play it rather than entertained. I was thinking about skipping the rest of this iteration and waiting for TS5.... if that even interests me.

    Anybody know of ways to spark up that interest again?

    Well, if you've still got the previous games... Install them and try playing them, if you find you still enjoy playing them, then it isn't that you're too old.

    But IMO the Sims really isn't what it used to be, The Sims used to be a life Simulator (which is where it got its name), there is no simulation in TS4, each action will produce a perfectly predictable and scripted reaction.

    raw
  • drake_mccartydrake_mccarty Posts: 6,114 Member
    It’s not you OP. The game has changed, do not let other people put you down for being fooled by the studio about it. So many of us were. I completely understand where you are coming from.

    I can’t play this game for more than 30 min at a time unless I’m building. More recently I can’t even bring myself to play it at all. 5 years has not been kind to the base game which was weak 5 years ago and hasn’t seen a single improvement since. So many ideas rendered useless by a game that requires my imagination to fill in trivial gaps in the gameplay that my mind should not have to waste effort filling in. It takes too much mental work to play this game, and that’s not coming from someone who’s deficient in creativity. Like for real it is exhausting keeping track of 30+ households fictional details that I made up to make them not carbon copies of each other. Perhaps it’s because of the way I play this game, but I gave up my rotations because it dawned on me that there was nothing unique happening anywhere. Same Sims with a different coat of paint, same situations, same reactions, and a lot of the time the same background Sims! This game is repetitive, and predictable. I know what a sim is going to do when they are sad, it doesn’t matter what traits they have because their sadness controls their personality.

    There are so many problems I personally have with Sims 4. I could fill this whole page, more than I already have lol. I don’t have any real suggestions for improving your experience with Sims 4. I personally am focusing my time and money on better games. Sims 4 will probably not get any better, but I do want to see if they redeem themselves with a sequel whenever that happens.
  • izecsonizecson Posts: 2,875 Member
    The Sims 4 is good for taking screenshot but not so much for gameplay, I do get bored quickly with sims 4 as well. sometime booting the game only until main menu then decided to quit because Idk what to do in the game.
    ihavemultiplegamertags
  • drake_mccartydrake_mccarty Posts: 6,114 Member
    izecson wrote: »
    The Sims 4 is good for taking screenshot but not so much for gameplay, I do get bored quickly with sims 4 as well. sometime booting the game only until main menu then decided to quit because Idk what to do in the game.

    I can relate to this so much!
  • Renato10Renato10 Posts: 472 Member
    edited August 2019
    I understand you so well! Its not you really. Its the game! I guess you still enjoy the past versions? If so its entirely related to The Sims 4. Maybe like me you see that TS4 is just doing things we saw before but with less quality. And no matter how many improvements they implemented the base game doesn't have the gameplay value the other games have. Yes they are still doing for years to come but if in 5 years the base game still feels empty and rushed its not with even more 5 years that I see things changing. This game changed a lot. I feel like the original soul is lost and what remains its the brand! The Sims nowadays just looks like a brand that sells millions but that doesn't mean that is the best. Is just popular. Its unique on the market so Im extremelly hopeful that a game like Paralives could change this situation in the future.
    Post edited by Renato10 on
  • Noree_DoreeNoree_Doree Posts: 1,470 Member
    edited August 2019
    @alexandrea I understand where you're coming from. While I know I haven't always been the nicest when it comes to playing the sims 4 I can't help but feel like there's something about it that just doesn't keep me engaged. I'm going to be 30 this year and have been playing the sims for a long time. This is truly the first time that I've ever been disengaged from a sims game. And it's concerning to me. I found that I would buy more and more thinking it would bring the part that was missing for me but it never did and ultimately I stopped buying. Even when playing with mods I could only stay entertained for a short period of time and id catch myself turning the game off and doing something else. I personally don't think it has to do with being too old for the sims series or games in general. I can pick up an old Super Nintendo game like Earthbound and replay the whole game again with the same excitement as if it were the first time and the same with the sims 1,2 and 3. But it's just something about 4 that cannot keep me engaged. I find myself easily bored. And it's sad because I enjoy the style and certain qualities of the game but it's just not enough for me anymore. There's just too much missing for me personally. I envy those who can still play this game and have so much fun with it because I try. I really do. I wouldn't keep reinstalling if I didn't want to try to love it.
    Post edited by Noree_Doree on
    "Bada su the gorn bada su the brawn bada bady oda aba donk donk donk gerbits gerbits vo gerbits".
  • CK213CK213 Posts: 20,525 Member
    I am bored because there are hardly any surprises in this game.
    In the past games you can go in wondering, "What's going to happen today?"
    In the Sims 4 it's mostly what you choose to do and the occasional fire, or broken appliance.

    My disinterest seems to be growing with each pack.
    I lost interest in Strangerville and I've already put the game aside after Island Living to play Skyrim again and Cities Skylines.
    The%20Goths.png?width=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds
  • HermitgirlHermitgirl Posts: 8,825 Member
    Well for me I'm enraptured in spurts with any game that I enjoy. I play this game while cycling through about 2 others regularly with this one getting more game time and a few more now and then. Even trying new games ... some of which are one shots. Most of my games that I return too all need some space and downtime and then I just play what pulls me in. This game I can play multiple ways but it boils down to exploring content (goals, aspirations, achievements..ect ) and to tell stories or some combination of both. Usually if I'm feeling really creative I head right for the sims because it offers the best outlet for that. If I just want to do quest or busy do this or that games that steer me.. I do those instead and they are fun too in their way.

    My advice is if you are not feeling it... don't force it. Go do something else you enjoy, play another game, enjoy another hobby. It's all good.

    Now and then I really want to play a game but nothing is calling me so for this game I'll usually try a challenge (sometimes modified by me) or read about others game play and it can inspire me to try something out. Sometimes I just fire it up and try to play a different way than whatever has gotten normal for me at that time and it can take off from there. New packs also can spur on game play for quite awhile because more ideas come to me .. like right now I'm planning out my photographer based on one of the Stardew characters for that save. She's going to get more of a life soon (hobby and career) and that's exciting to me since I've invested so much time in certain characters in that save. It spurred me to rebuild 3 character houses from scratch to replace the ones I had previously downloaded for those characters. Since I'm not a builder I was getting a kick out of being so excited building this week. So right now I'm in an "enraptured" state and sometimes it goes way too many hours a day.

    There is nothing wrong with having a life away from the sims also ;). Do what you enjoy.
    egTcBMc.png
  • SimburianSimburian Posts: 6,907 Member
    @alexandrea Go out and enjoy life with your friends. That's the priority at your age. Don't regret that you wasted your time on computer games when you can't get out easily anymore. They are things that you can pick up any time but friendships and networking at your age are things that will help you all your life. Just visit the Sims from time to time and concentrate on your real life for a while. You might start again sometime.

    As an elder I just wish I was your age sometimes. I wouldn't be playing computer games much! Good luck. :)

  • suzanna13suzanna13 Posts: 1,426 Member
    Simburian wrote: »
    @alexandrea Go out and enjoy life with your friends. That's the priority at your age. Don't regret that you wasted your time on computer games when you can't get out easily anymore. They are things that you can pick up any time but friendships and networking at your age are things that will help you all your life. Just visit the Sims from time to time and concentrate on your real life for a while. You might start again sometime.

    As an elder I just wish I was your age sometimes. I wouldn't be playing computer games much! Good luck. :)
    Great advice!
  • RavenchRavench Posts: 35 Member
    izecson wrote: »
    The Sims 4 is good for taking screenshot but not so much for gameplay, I do get bored quickly with sims 4 as well. sometime booting the game only until main menu then decided to quit because Idk what to do in the game.

    This exactly!
    I can also relate to OP very well, as I have been playing The Sims since its first iteration as well and am now finding it harder and harder to stay invested in my sims' lives. Whenever I do play the Sims 4 I mainly spend a lot of time in CAS and decorating my houses, but as soon as I hit the "Live" button I don't know what to do anymore...
    Even so, I am scared to try The Sims 2 again (my all time favourite) because I don't want it to not live up to my expectations/memories and thereby ruin our beautiful relationship :D
    I would love to be able to spend a whole day playing The Sims again without even noticing any time has passed ^^
  • VamprisVampris Posts: 1,127 Member
    CK213 wrote: »
    I am bored because there are hardly any surprises in this game.
    In the past games you can go in wondering, "What's going to happen today?"
    In the Sims 4 it's mostly what you choose to do and the occasional fire, or broken appliance.

    You right. I'm not gonna lie, but that is also a problem in the game. It's waaay too controlling, the only surprises I can think of is what you said plus vampire attacks. Which funnily enough they were going to gut that part due to a few complaining about it happening, so to satisfy everyone they made it so it hardly ever happens.
    The team seem to like making the game super safe, my sims only die because I act like an idiot with them. There are alot of second chances they give your sim before dying.
    EMrBkJP.png
  • AHolyToiletAHolyToilet Posts: 870 Member
    edited August 2019
    izecson wrote: »
    The Sims 4 is good for taking screenshot but not so much for gameplay, I do get bored quickly with sims 4 as well. sometime booting the game only until main menu then decided to quit because Idk what to do in the game.

    That's exactly what happens to me all the time. Twice in this week, I turned on the game just to turn it off again. The game's for children, not for adults who aren't easily fooled by things children would be. Think about it, people in this forum have reported leaving the game on for hours only to come back with their Sims going about their "lives" just fine. I'm also one of those people, I accidentally left my game on and came back with my Sims doing fine.

    There's no challenge, no reason to care about your Sims. They improve on their own, get along on their own, and maintain their way of living on their own. Even when they starve, they'll just pull out a fruitcake and stuff it into their mouths, giving no reason to feed your Sims at all.

    So why should we care?
  • ShaeShae Posts: 303 Member
    edited August 2019
    izecson wrote: »
    The Sims 4 is good for taking screenshot but not so much for gameplay, I do get bored quickly with sims 4 as well. sometime booting the game only until main menu then decided to quit because Idk what to do in the game.

    That's exactly what happens to me all the time. Twice in this week, I turned on the game just to turn it off again. The game's for children, not for adults who aren't easily fooled by things children would be. Think about it, people in this forum have reported leaving the game on for hours only to come back with their Sims going about their "lives" just fine. I'm also one of those people, I accidentally left my game on and came back with my Sims doing fine.

    There's no challenge, no reason to care about your Sims. They improve on their own, get along on their own, and maintain their way of living on their own. Even when they starve, they'll just pull out a fruitcake and stuff it into their mouths, giving no reason to feed your Sims at all.

    So why should we care?

    I tried this a couple of times in Sims 3, only to come back and find a sim dead from starvation or some other cause. There is ZERO challenge in Sims 4, and that makes for a very boring game.
    Just a visually impaired gamer who enjoys taking ordinary Sims and making them extraordinary.

    https://youtube.com/watch?v=WbRQP-PXDpA
  • RouensimsRouensims Posts: 4,858 Member
    edited August 2019
    I play Sims 4 every day and love it. I tried playing Sims 3, but couldn't make myself play it more than once because it just didn't pull me in. Everyone likes different things. If you're bored of Sims 4, stop for a while. You have the rest of your life to play. The real world is full of exciting things to do!
    Ooh Be Gah!! Whipna Choba-Dog? Whipna Choba-Dog!! :smiley:
  • SucomSucom Posts: 1,709 Member
    I play Sims 4 every day and love it. I tried playing Sims 3, but couldn't make myself play it more than once because it just didn't pull me in. Everyone likes different things. If you're bored of Sims 4, stop for a while. You have the rest of your life to play. The real world is full of exciting things to do!

    You're right of course. If you're bored it is best to stop for a while and yes, the world is full of exciting things to do. However, I don't think this is quite what they had in mind when they created the game. The whole idea of game creation is to pull the customers in and if it's not doing that, then the game isn't quite living up to expectations!

    For me, while I think it is very good that they have managed to create sims with emotions, it means that the player is playing someone else, rather than playing themselves. The player might feel happy but the sim is angry, or depressed, or unhappy about something that the player might not be. The mood of the sim, in other words, doesn't always match the player's mood.

    For example, I might create a family with something in mind, but as soon as I get in the game, something might happen to turn the mood of the sim in a completely different direction from what I had in mind. When this happens, my reason for playing the game (ie. what I had in mind that actually inspired me to turn on the game) diminishes pretty quickly because the family is not going down the route I planned. At this point, I lose interest. Imagination about what I might create is what inspires me to turn on the game. If that initial idea is thwarted the minute I enter the game, what reason is there to continue? I don't want to watch someone else's life play out - I want to watch my life, or the sims life that I just created, play out the way I planned. I don't want someone else's version of that life. I want MY version. And that is where the game fails me personally.

    I was in quite a good mood the other night, and turned on Sims 4 to play a couple of sims but unfortunately I forgot that my sim had not cooked anything before, being new to the game, and instantly set the cooker on fire which put her in a bad mood for a full 24 hours. Watching my newly created sim stomp about was not what I had in mind. My own mood changed as a result. This was not what I intended. Not only that, from my own perspective, I wouldn't stomp around like that after a fire. I might have some other emotion, but that's my point. I want to direct my own sim in a way that matches my idea of how a sim should react. I don't want to watch someone's idea of how my sim might react. The result is that I'm not in control. I'm just watching a movie play out of sims I don't have any control over and sims I don't feel attached to because they don't follow my own idea of how to react. This is particularly important to me and one reason why I can't attach any feelings whatsoever towards my sims. I don't like them and I don't like how they react!

    Another problem, for me personally, is that no matter what household I play, they are all EXACTLY the same. They react the same, they do the same things, and there is a limit to how many times you can watch the very same thing occur over and over and over and over again. In situations like this, I would agree. Life is too short to watch repetitive actions. There is far more to do in real life! Which brings me back to the whole point of creating a game. A game is supposed to be addictive; it's supposed to make you want to play it. That is not the case with Sims 4. It was with Sims 3 - the sims were different, and they would do exactly what you wanted them to do. Not like the sims I was playing the other night who kept fighting each other after they just got married because of some festival or something which I haven't seen before. Worse, they fought for no reason other than to satisfy the festival requirements but then they carried on laughing and talking as if nothing had happened. I'm like - What the ....?

    If they want to make sims with their own emotions, it would be better to use them for telling stories to play out like a movie. It's not really the best thing for players who want to feel attached to their sims and become involved with them on a personal level. If you can't get personal with your sims, there is no way you will feel any attachment to them whatsoever.
  • DragonCat159DragonCat159 Posts: 1,896 Member
    edited August 2019
    Not sure what's your clear on this post: actually provided feedback that "TS4 is boring" (right place), seeking for answers to be re-interest in sims again or for getting resonated

    If TS4 isn't the only sims game that makes bored, than your interest may have expired. It just happens, like with any game, you played enough of it that your interest (hobby for) slowly died and might return. It does happen, where I stopped playing and after quite some time has (week,s months or even years) my interest either returns or has of yet doesn't. If a game is engaging to keep my interesting playing more than one day try, that simply means it's good.

    From what I understood of your post, the previous three games last time you played where prior to 2014. I think you know what the problem is and how you can regain the interest back (hint: return to TS3, 2 or 1 and see that helps?) If that doesn't help, I'm sure you the interest for any/few of the four sims games will spark again naturally after time gets past when you take a break. I think this would apply to any passion-able hobby you had really, not just in gaming.
    NNpYlHF.jpg
  • OldeseadoggeOldeseadogge Posts: 4,973 Member
    It's not necessarily an age thing. I passed the big 7 zero a while back and still hugely enjoy TS2. There I can do what Sucom speaks about, create my own sims and have them live according to my plan, even when the game throws a curve ball to be dealt with. For me that game is the best for both creating (world and sims) and for depth of game play. I place TS1- the daring pioneer innovator that blew the sales charts to bits and inspired an amazing amount of 3rd party creativity (much of it on sale in game stores right along side the Sims) - just below it. I still have all my disks so just may reinstall one of these days. I discovered that game while doing a paper in grad school, followed its progress, and bought it the day it came out. Have been happily simming ever since, and with that many years of simming experience can say the problem is in the TS4 game itself. The quality stinks. How many automakers would be in business if their cars were as flawed as this 'game'? Game play, if you can call it that, is shallow and simplistic. It's pretty, but pretty goes only so far when you can't get engaged with your sims, are bored to tears, and are weary of empty promises. Life is fleeting, OP, so live it to the full.
Sign In or Register to comment.
Return to top