It’s all so boring.

Jess_Kimba · January 15

I have played the same way for years: make a legacy sim, they buy a starter home, grow and sell plants to make money, renovate their home, find a partner, have a baby, get bored, make a new legacy sim…

I thought I should try something else to see if it might be more fun. I made a backpacker sim who would live in each world and do everything you can do before moving to the next world.

There is so close to *nothing* to do. In some worlds - like Del Sol - literally nothing. Walk around, dig stuff up, harvest lemons, talk to random people. Sulani seemed fun but I played with the dolphin a couple of times and then realised that cleaning up the island was a rabbit hole event. Most of the maps are uninteractable set dressing, the few items you can click on have max two animations and outcomes, the interesting ideas turn out to be rabbit holes and pop up text boxes. It feels intentionally designed to be as lacklustre and empty as possible.

Also, why the heck are virtually all of the community lots lounges, empty parks, museums and libraries? How aggressively dull and useless.

It’s all so boring. I’m so bored. What the heck do you guys do to make gameplay fun?

EnkiSchmidt · January 15

Playing with more than one household keeps me invested. Most of the time I play rivals and frenemies. If you think you can be impartial, it is fun to see who can reach a goal (like reach the top of politics) the fastest. That way it's no longer you versus the game, but sim Vs. sim.

Or play ALL sims. Marry them until only one couple remains - which surname will win? (I tried this twice, but didn't finish.)

Simmingal · January 15

I have the opposite problem where everything sounds fun so I'm finding it hard to stick to the thing I'm in the middle of

but yeah applying some sort of story/goal and maybe playing multiple households in one save cause then when you are bored with household 1 you can play with household 2 instead and also you'll have more interesting sims to interact with when everyone is not just random sim to you

mightysprite · January 15

It sounds like maybe the legacy style of play is not for you, if you get bored when the first baby comes along.

There's a lot more to explore...
You could explore friendships and maybe some interpersonal drama if you like that sort of thing
You could build a particularly unique environment using a large lot or a few lots that are very close to each other
You could play a scenario
You could use one of these story starter kits to get going https://simscommunity.info/news/the-sims-4/story-starter-kits/
You could have a sim be interested in one of the many, many possible crafting paths... freelance illustration, fabrication, juice fizzing, gourmet cooking, programming, knitting, there are so many... and follow it as far as possible
You could create an occult sim, spend some time developing them solo, and then come up with a possible new setting, new career, or new other sim(s) to meet that would be a fun/unusual challenge
You could have a sim own and develop a business, like a store or a vet clinic or a restaurant-- that is an opportunity you can have more fun with if you're not playing a legacy game, because you're with the sim at work so much and not home with any babies

As far as the boring lots are concerned, I honestly think a lot of the lots in basegame and in older packs are purposely boring, so that players will be motivated to improve them. More recent packs they collaborated with builders and made more interesting and detailed lots to start with. (Like the library in Moonwood Mill, compared with every other library in the game.)
A lot of the more interesting lot types came with packs, too, and they try not to make packs depend on each other too much, so if you want nightclubs or restaurants or arts centers or anything else that came with a pack to exist in worlds that didn't come with the pack, you have to add them yourself (and decide what to delete in order to add them).
If you have any of those more interesting lot types I highly recommend adding them to your other worlds

aaronrulz · January 15

I am not an occult player but when I was bored once with the Sims, I decided to make a spellcaster and have her complete both aspirations that came with Realm of Magic. It was really fun to mix it up and do something different. I'm thinking of doing the same with Vampires soon.

simgirl1010 · January 15

You may want to take a look at the following threads to see what other simmers are doing in their game. Maybe you'll find some inspiration. 🙂

https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/888255/what-happened-in-your-game-today/p1335

https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/975327/what-happened-in-your-game-today-the-non-serial-story-version#latest

We also have some wonderful storytellers who share their gameplay in the Stories, Legacies, and Challenges forum.

https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/categories/the-sims-4-stories-and-legacies

ETA: This article on transforming your boring gameplay might be helpful.

Sims 4 Random Number Generator: Transform Boring Gameplay!
https://simscommunity.info/2023/10/29/sims-4-random-number-generator/

Lenny_Ogg · January 15

The Sims 4 is very 'sandboxy'. It mostly leaves it up to the player what they make of the game and how much fun they have.
This is an advantage for some. I really appreciate the freedom I have in this game. I can do almost anything I imagine.
But for others this leads to boredom. And this is totally ok.
If you don't find a way to have fun in the Sims 4 with all the suggestions made above - maybe this is just not the kind of game for you?
There are many genres of games that 'take you by the hand' and lead you through with stunning stories and quests.

Ellupelluellu · January 15

Jess_Kimba wrote: »

Also, why the heck are virtually all of the community lots lounges, empty parks, museums and libraries? How aggressively dull and useless.

If no new community lot type in pack where world came with, those have to be basegame community lots .

Edit: said above already, but I'll leave it

simgirl1010 · January 15

One of my favorite things is downloading new community lots from the Gallery. Simmers have so much creativity. I have one library in my game. The one that came with the base game.

ETA: Also you may want to let us know which packs you have.

FreddyFox1234 · January 15

Maybe if you've been playing it for years you really have explored everything and you've reached that point where there just is nothing fun or exciting any more and you've run out of ideas. In which case it's probably time for a break at least - or a completely different kind of game.

I think I've got the opposite problem: just so much in the game I feel I haven't even started to explore properly. I'm hoping this game will be around long enough for me to feel I've done it justice

ETA: To be fair, I feel the same way about Sims 2 and Sims 3. Always so much more to do...

Aaleyn · January 15

Playing rotationally, many different households, is what keeps me happy and enjoying this game.

I enjoy the variety: when playing many households, I can play different types of households (single sims, couples, families in different sizes, friends or relatives living together etc.),
and I can play in different houses and apartments, in different worlds,
playing different aspirations,
different careers or have some of my sims own and run restaurants or retail stores, etc.
I have so much to do and to explore with my many different households, that I never get bored

And what I really love also is that my many households are interacting with each other: they are family members, relatives or friends, so they are often spending time together.
I'm also using the Club -feature from Get Together -pack, to have my sims to form different clubs, to spend time together and to do different activities etc.

I also love building and decorating, and I love to have my sims live in beautiful houses or apartments (I don't like my sims to live in hard conditions and to not have a nice home - I personally don't enjoy the Rags to Riches -style gameplay or such similar, but I often do this way: I first have my sims have their "perfect home", and then I set their funds with the "Money" -cheat so that they then need to earn money to pay the bills etc.; although sometimes the bills can be high and I might need to use the "kaching" -cheat to handle the bills but I try to avoid that if possible).

I also like to have many different types of community lots, and I love to build those as well.
It's great to have different types of lots for my sims to visit and enjoy spending time, for example: Restaurants, Bars, Cafés, Nightclubs, "Bowling places" (which are set as a Bar or Lounge), Concert venues (set as a Café, Bar or Lounge), Movie Theaters/Cinemas (set as a Bar or Lounge), Arcades, Arts Centers, Retail lots, Spas, etc., - The more options the better for me and my sims

SheriSim57 · January 15

Yes, I play rotationally too, and many of my rotational sims know each other and are friends. Of course the more packs you have, the more variety there is as there are more lot types and more things to do.

I’m taking a bit of break and not doing much with my main rotational save and my scenario save till they fix not being able to change lots from residential rental back to something else ( For Rent ). I’m playing a practice save, so not investing a lot into it till they fix the problems for rent is causing me, I don’t want to corrupt a 9 year old save, currently I’m downloading some others lots and looking at them, in a practice save, checking out Tomorang, finding not much to actually do there unless you call rabbit holes playing the game …, lol, ( I don’t ).

But, before getting For Rent I was having a lot of fun with the horses, moving sims to new houses, giving some of them horses, having them practice for tournaments and exploring other worlds with horses, while at the same time carrying on full time careers.

I also started playing an infant ( with growing together ). I was having a blast raising the infant. With the growing together expansion infants can learn to do so many things. Then when the new Chefs hustle stuff pack came out the mother would go off and do some part time work selling food.

If you have Get Together you can make clubs. I have family clubs, friend clubs, skilling clubs, children’s clubs. If you have the bowling kit you can have bowling clubs and things like that. With just about each new pack you can make new clubs, or new things to do in clubs. My daughter in her game has clubs set up at many lot types, so when she visits there are certain types of people there.

With Get to work I had a fun time playing 3 sims in different families moving them up in their careers ( one in each of the 3 different active careers ). I also have some retail shops, a bookstore sims can buy books from, a grocery/bakery store sims can buy produce and other things from, a store with different items in which I play the owner running the store. A photography store which is fun as I take my photographer to other worlds to take pictures to sell in their store to other sims in my rotation. Moschino stuff also lets you have models come over to have photo sessions

I have an artist that lives in San Myshuno ( city living ) that is trying to become famous ( Get Famous ). I plan on him opening a shop fairly soon (Get to work ) where he can sell paintings to my other rotational sims, like my photographer does. He also has a baby, is having problems with the babies mother, and has found a new girlfriend, all while being a hot headed individual.

I have a musician that likes to go out and play in San Myshuno too ( City living ), while working on his skills. Then you add, having him in a club with friends ( Get together ) who visit each others homes, joke and talk to each other, watch movies (movie stuff), or go to a bars together to eat and socialize. He also has a girlfriend that he goes off and does things with, like going to a nightclub ( Get Together ).

I have a DJ (Get Together ), in one of my households ( 4 person household ), that goes off at night to make money at a night club. He has a girlfriend that is becoming famous ( Get Famous ), and he invites her over, where the other sims in the household can get to know her. In the same household I have a sim who does the basegame job or trendsetter ( the Fashion job ), , she often goes to family events with her brothers and sister as well, or seeks out mentor date.( I won’t go on about her sister who is now a top level Scientist , of her brother who is a top boss criminal, or her …. Lol ).

I have another household where the baseball player
(Basegame athletic career ) and his girl friend in social media ( City Living ), are both trying to become famous ( Get Famous ), and they are working on developing a vacation lifestyle by going on vacations, when they are off. they love active things like skiing ( Snowy escape ), riding jetskii’s in Sulani ( Island living ). While sharing posts on social media.

And this is just a small sampling of my different households. I didn’t mention, my farmer ( Cottage Living ), my archeologist (Jungle Adventure), or many of my other sims, like a single father, a daughter who lives with her brother and father and has a teenage son, a Granmother who is raising her child gradaughter, and I could go on and on, about different famiIies. I Have collected all the packs and kits over the years so there are lot of things to do.

Emphasizing, with a lot of packs there are a lot of things to do. And, I don’t even use Mods or CC, which a lot of people do.

The new lot type that comes with Eco lifestyle is fun to set up too.

If you are bored of playing, go in and change up lots, make some new sims to share and use, make some new lots to share, or download and look at others lots. I can literally spend hours looking at lots on the gallery.

Oh and I forgot to mention many people like doing challenges too. And scenarios can be fun too.

And, if none of the stuff helps, take a break from the game. I’m sure many of us do that from time to time.

Babykittyjade · January 15

When I first started out I did the boring ol' legacy play as well because I thought that was the only way to play. Now I don't even remember the last time I played traditional boring raise a family get a job. 😅
At some point I decided to take advantage of the sandbox and now there's too much to do and not enough time to do it. For the last few years I've been rotating between like 4 or 5 or my favorite families with aging off. I come up with my own storylines and controversies and play them out between the households.
Current playing a fantasy style royal family who is at odds with another kingdom. They find a spellcaster girl who holds the secrets and powers to save or destroy the kingdom. (Based on another story I'm writing for fun in real life).
I have guards and butlers, maids and knights.
The royal family also makes the laws other sims have to abide by.
Having horses is so perfect for this! I had a royal family for a while now and they were really missing horses. I may or may not end up doing a love story from there and having a wedding with the wedding pack.

Then last time I played I switched households and went partying with my party loving celebrity playboy vampire who is living in a rental mansion. It also gave me a chance to play with my infant and toddler he adopted. I'm still plotting a baby shower before I make the adoption official but I have yet to get around to it.

Some other households are living in apocalyptic conditions trying to survive off the grid and build shelter. I entertwine all of my sims lives one way or another and often swap sims between different households in order to make certain things happen and play out different stories,or control how I want their outings to go.

Some days are just CAS days, some are building days, some are just having sims have a good time with objects and eachother at the park.
Investigating strangerville with your own twist to the story is always fun! So many options...

LeucosiaX · January 15

I think everyone feels this way. It's such a open gameplay- which is what I love about it, but it can get dull. You make your own challenges sometimes.

I do feel like when a new pack comes out, and I don't get it, the game feel more boring- and I know it's not me, but it's like not so generative and feels empty. Not sure if it's the developers making you want to buy the new pack, as there is always an update right before. Perhaps slows down because not wanting conflict with anything. At the moment, For rent broke my get to work retail system.

I have often found fun in mods. Just the customization of the game to me keeps me amazed.
Then again Also have found the mods boring when I dont know the real gameplay, and I take them out searching for the real gameplay. I can also find things I never did or even realized where in the game.

But ultimately, the game is not Grand theft auto in anyway shape or form--- or anything even close , (but with mods, ... you kind of can...). It's a kind of slow pace cozy gameplay. Really the game is a build simulation, and if you're not into that, you will probably will not like it. I love 3d modeling and architecture. Some have asked me if I recommend this game, who live a much more fast paced life, and I need warn them, it's very slow pace. If you're looking for a running, shooting action game this is not it. It's not a conventional video game.

It's unique and specific for what it is and I think genius for those who get it. I can complain it's too slow pace. Like if I didn't have to sit through long loading screens, would I be finished playing with it. Really it gets quite insulting. It takes a certain kind of determination to withstand such.

The true beauty of the game is you make your own world and live in it. It amazing me and I live how they use the technology but it leaves a lot to be desired. I think it is by design. But often I find there is always a mod to make it more fun.

crocobaura · January 15

I find that worlds are what you make of them. Yes, they usually come only with base game lot types, but there is nothing stopping you from adding other lots and improving the ones that are present. Fun lots that are adapted to the world and that you enjoy visiting can bring so much new gameplay. Whenever there is a new pack released I always revisit my community lots and consider if there is any way to improve them and make them more versatile with the new content. A simple bar is boring, but you can add to it a bowling alley or a karaoke machine, or a dance floor, and you can build three different bars that will feel different whenever you visit them. You can build themed cafes and restaurants and even parks and make them feel different from one another so it doesn't feel like a chore when visiting community lots. Also, there's so many ways to earn money in the game, why limit yourself to just growing plants? Also, try to take prompts from the game. If a festival is in town, gather a few sims and visit it. If your sim wants something, try to help them fulfill their want. If they want to go mountain climbing and you give them a baby instead or a chicken, of course it's not going to be fun for them and then you are going to complain that there's nothing to do and it's boring.

PandoraTO · January 15

When I get bored with regular legacy play, I like do a challenge that will force me to change things up in some way. For example, when I first started playing TS4, I was a severe micromanager. I was almost always controlling every action of every sim in my household. But it got kind of exhausting. Doing the Asylum Challenge forced me to give most of the sims in my household absolute autonomy. I wasn’t allowed to touch them at all, even if they were burning down the asylum! It taught me that it can be fun to just let my sims go about their business and not pause every 5 seconds to queue up more interactions for everyone. I enjoyed that challenge a lot. Maybe doing a challenge would get you interested again.

DaWaterRat · January 15

I find "normal" legacy play a little bland too. Fortunately, I have several expansions and years (decades even) as a Game Master for TTRPGs; Right now, I'm in my third attempt at a Seven Stories legacy (they're attempts because for each of the previous ones, I had technical issues - the first time, an update caused major mod breakage, and the second time it was my computer that died) where rather than having a "success" based goal, each generation is put through one of the Seven Basic Plots - Facing the Monster (Strangerville) Rags to Riches (City Living), Tragedy (Get Famous), Voyage and Return (Originally Realm of Magic, this time probably Journey to Batuu), Redemption (Any, probably focus on Base Game), Comedy (High School years/Discover University), and The Quest (either Jungle Adventure or Snowy Escape, depending on the status of certian bugs when I get there.) In most of these cases, the pack I'm using for it isn't actually required, but it's the one I plan to use.

Some of these, I know the game is going to fight me on, but I'm ready for that.

So I'm going to agree that maybe you should look beyond what you think is how you "should" play the game and try to come up with ways to make the game fun for you. There really is no wrong way to play this game, as long as you find a way to have fun with it.

logion · January 16

It depends, I played the game a lot back when it was released, I remember doing different challenges, creating different households etc. but now I tend to take breaks from it instead.

The Sims 4 can actually be pretty demanding to play as it requires you to create a lot of things yourself, like those community lots you mentioned. I don't really enjoy building that much, but I like creating sims.

There is nothing wrong with taking a break and play something else, other games might not feel like the sims but they can still offer escapism and entertainment and also don't require you to create things so you can instead focus on getting into the different game mechanics of what you are playing or the story that the game wants to tell.

The Sims 4 is not a bad game, but it has been going for almost 10 years and there have not always been a lot of focus on developing the game mechanics or the worlds you play in.

But that is something that you can find in other games.

amber_ilumire · January 16

I’d love to know how other players keep their game fresh. I’ve recently realised that I tend to default to the same old stories and routines and though I don’t think I become bored with my game that often, I’ve been feeling nostalgic for the older games like TS2 which made sims’ lives way more difficult and unpredictable in comparison. I’m trying to think of what I could do to keep my play more interesting.

How do you add drama to your storylines? What are your favourite curveballs to throw at your sims when they’ve gotten just a bit too comfortable with their lives? My game needs a bit more flair!

musteni · January 16

I play rotationally and download interesting community lots from the gallery. Sometimes I also build or edit lots. Then I like to write stories about my sims. These things help with keeping the game interesting

Edit: Oh btw I agree with @logion about TS4 being a demanding game, I definitely find it takes a lot of effort from me.

SheriSim57 · January 16

musteni wrote: »

I play rotationally and download interesting community lots from the gallery. Sometimes I also build or edit lots. Then I like to write stories about my sims. These things help with keeping the game interesting

Edit: Oh btw I agree with @logion about TS4 being a demanding game, I definitely find it takes a lot of effort from me.

I love looking at lots too, and finding just the right one for a certain spot and then tweaking it for my sims use. Some I build because I can’t find quite what I want, but I download so many fantastic lots!

ZelexPower2PC · January 16

I felt the same with sims 4 being boring. I prefer playing the sims 3 but I realized a couple things. Whether it was intentional or due to laziness or greed, I think Sims 4 is meant more for creating then playing.
In the beginning I played like I was waiting for the game to tell me what to do and I got bored very quickly. It is very common for video games to tell you what to do next with quests/objectives.
But the game gives you options for change, which lot of games are very linear and don't provide such options.
Later I branched out and tired creating sims, adding and subtracting to the town, started setting up pre-saves and other things. I tired building for the first time, which I enjoyed more than I thought I would. I started to enjoy it as I created rather played it. And I still haven't tired many things I seen other people do, Like challenges, rotations, etc. So, I think the "gameplay" of sims 4 is to create your own little world.

Mykalaply · January 16

I feel the sims 4 is boring at times. i now follow a storyline that i make up with different families and although I prefer playing the sims 3 this play style brings drama...

rudolpha · January 16

I have 26 games that I play in rotation (and rotate 2 families in each save, 52 families). All of my sims have different goals and it's exciting when some of them actually finish one of them. I've tried a couple of scenarios and tend to keep the families in game after. I micromanage all the NPCs in game to a limited extent and like marrying them off and having kids (though I need to cheat on this). My played sims are spread out through all the worlds and most are in either downloaded homes or homes I've renovated and decorated myself (love decorating). I've downloaded many different lots my sims visit (restaurants, spas, etc.). Used to play on long and have just switched to normal aging. It was boring as I had two many toddlers growing too slowly. I keep pictures and short bios on each family in a Word file and also keep Word files of what my sims families are doing and what they want to accomplish.

Umbreon12 · January 16

Never played a Legacy save, nor do I plan to. I feel that I would lose interest pretty quickly if I tried.
Instead, I have multiple saves with different ideas in case I feel bored with one save. They usually have multiple families, so I can play in rotation, or play with whoever I wanted that day.
Anyway, try switching it up, I have some saves where I create one family, but give them kids and teens, I may move the teens out to live on their own for different gameplay. I also change the dynamic of a family, I have the typical husband and wife with kids, but then I may have a family with a single mom, a single sim in general, or have a step parent move in later on.
I do have Sims I create that aren't really based on anything, but I have created Sims based on series I like. For me, it makes it more fun, I tend to make canon versions, and non canon versions, and move them all in the same save. It is amusing to me to have ten Elsa sims in the Realm of Magic.
If you are too bored, you can take a break from the games for a bit. The game play in Sims 4 is one where we can make the drama ourselves, which is not bad, but most of it is in our control. The Sims 2 and Sims 3 threw in random things that could switch things up, or ruin the path for our Sims so we had to adapt sometimes to that.
That said, I do enjoy the Sims 4, but switching it up, and taking breaks, may help you come up with new ideas.

JAL · January 16

For me, personally, I enjoy the game more if my sims aren't so linear and happy all the time. This is not always easy, as the game tends to gear towards the 'happy forever after' kind of play, which means bad things almost never happens. There are a few things I've done to change this:

I once started out with a really disadvantaged sim. Single mother, wanted to be a chef, worked nights and needed a nanny for her toddler. 90% of her pay check ended up going to the nanny and she really had to struggle with being awake and present with her wild toddler during the day, then working nights, getting only a few hours sleep each night. By the time she made it through her rough patch and started living for real, I was incredibly attached to her.
This time around I'm playing (a version) of the decades challenge. As things happened in history, things happen in game, and my sims has to deal with war, depression, pandemics... with a roll of the dice bad things happen from time to time and I am challenged to play out the consequences. I also found that writing the story for others to read keeps me entertained.

If you are not opposed to mods, there are several which will keep things happening in your sim lives that you are not in control over. I've not tried too many of these yet, but have considered them.

I hope you find something that is fun for you.

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It’s all so boring.

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