This is something I've been doing for quite a while and with the imminent release of the University pack, I thought it might be an interesting time to ponder this one in more depth.
We haven't had an *official* hobby pack since Sims 2, where Freetime brought in a variety of activities and 10 different hobbies. However, I've been using the expanded skills in Sims 4 to create the hobbies for my sims and most of them fit very nicely into one of the original ten categories from Sims 2.
Arts & Crafts
• Painting
• Photography
Cuisine
• Baking
• Cooking
• Gourmet Cooking
• Mixology
Film & Literature
• Acting
• Writing
Fitness
• Fitness
• Wellness
Games
• Video Gaming
Music & Dance
• Dance
• DJ
• Guitar
• Media Production
• Piano
• Singing
• Violin
Nature
• Archaeology
• Flower Arranging
• Gardening
• Herbalism
Science
• Logic
• Robotics
• Rocket Science
Sports ~ No specific skills but activities instead
• Basketball
• Football (Soccer)
Tinkering
• Handiness
• Programming (?)
I've missed off a few, I know but these are the ones I'm currently using in my game (in the case of some, will be when the new pack release) plus some, like the Selvadoradian Culture, didn't quite fit into those categories. So with each new pack that adds new skills, I'm adding to the list of hobbies.
I also use the club system from Get Together to create hobby groups and that's where things like the bowling can come in.
So I was wondering if anybody else uses the skills and clubs, or any other method, to provide their sims with hobbies?
*All my mods can be found on The Daily Plumbob*
Comments
Music and Dance:
Games:
Film and Literature:
I really hope we get more hobbies and skills in the near future. I would especially love knitting/sewing and embroidery so my sim can make cute little decorations, toys, blankets, and warm clothing for his loved ones. Origami, dominoes, horse riding and fencing would be perfect for him too. I would also love more hobbies/activities for younger sims, particularly ballet.
Far fetched but I feel like fitness could be broken down further: some sims are into boxing, others like rock climbing or martial art.
Handiness has a sorta sub category in sculpting, both wooden sculptures and pumpkin carving (clay isn't linked to handiness, but still fits. Although I wish we could bake the result and keep it forever).
Same with logic, could be interest in astronomy or chemistry, could be chess aficionado.
Skills covering broad subjects have several hobbies within them, and that helps me with making sims even more unique.
And not a skill (it's not dependant on herbalism I think ?) but one of my sims is really into entomology with Outdoor Retreat. Plus walking sticks make adorable pets for kids.
If only spawners weren't limited to Granite Falls. Making interesting gameplay niche is the surest way to ensure your players forget about it.
@happyopi It's funny because I often break down the skills in my head to give more customised hobbies to each sim. Like you say, most can be broken down to provide extra hobbies. You've got some lovely suggestiosn there
I do have hobbies for some of my sims, but I use it more like defining interests than to actually build skills. In my online residents registry I programmed the script to consider each sim's skills and traits etc, and then to suggest a hobby for them based on all that. Of course a sim can choose whatever hobby they like, one point of a hobby might even be to do something new and different.
Wow, that's quite a lot of detail you've built up!
Thanks! I always made lots of notes for my sims games, so I figured I could just a well organize it in a script. Most info is simplified, like I only count reaching level 5 of a career as a promotion, and skills are updated only when someone in the household has a birthday, etc. Wish the game would have these kind of registries, though. It gets tedious to visit each and every household to check on details.
I think better than hobby pack they would do adding some talent system.
I do think that there's almost too much already in the game for a whole hobby pack, but I would really like the toy making and sewing activities back, so hopefully they'll fit in with another theme.
Too many skills in the game??! Never! There literally are so many different activities people pursue in real life and Sims needs to mimic that as often as they can. Skills are one of the best things for any Sims game. They give you variety and flavor for each character you make. The best ones are those that have good progression as you rank up and give you progressively stronger benefits from the prior step. Anyway, long story short, I don't think there can ever be too many skills in the game!
I understand not everyone owns all the packs or Get Together, so a hobbies pack could be handy for them. I'd be fine with just more things to do and skills.
Like, instead of a hobbies pack, we could have bands added to the game in a Showtime time of pack, sewing could come in an elders pack, canning could come in a Farming pack etc.
I’ve started putting mini representations of the hobbies up on shelves in their bedrooms (especially kids and teens) to remind me. It helps use up extra cash too when you put a second grand piano in the house just for looks. My sims are always swimming in cash.
I wish more lots on the gallery had more nooks carved out for activities. There’s a lot of great builds but some of the decor is just for show.
I try doing this too, decorating their room to match a hobby. It is still hard to remember the next time I play their house.
Maybe all we need is a mini hobby-tab in the sim UI, where we could just write their hobby? Like the Job registry feature allows us to describe a CC job. If I could easily see their hobby (if any) when in game, it would attach more to their personality as it might affect some of their choices in life, even.
I really miss the Interests they had in TS2. Whatever they did back then, affected what they would talk about to others. What they did/talked about most often, would easily become their top interest, and seeing their highest interests would be useful when finding them a hobby.
Like I mentioned about about Free Time, hobby enthusiasm would be a great feature to bring back. I am glad you mentioned the conversations they had about their hobbies in TS2 because I'd like to see that back again in a hobby pack too. It really does add another layer when you can actually see your sims discussing hobbies they enjoy. I love that. I think most simmers would be gleeful if they announced a hobby/Free Time pack and it would sell well.
There is a foosball table that came with Get Together.
I really miss Playing Catch. And the Frisbees that came with Uni in TS3, I think it was. They were just so easy to keep in the Inventory and do anywhere, with another Sim. The keepie-uppie game that is coming in DU will be good, but that game is just for one Sim. Edit: Oops, I was thinking keepie-uppie was for one Sim, but I saw two Sims playing it together in Deli's vid! It looks great.
Things like the knitting, sewing etc would be wonderful, especially for any stay-at-home mums or dads (or grandparents, come to think of it).
icemunmun has made a few other objects, with skills, that could also be included as hobbies, if you're not averse to CC:
Canning ~ comes with 10 level skill in canning.
Candle Making ~ comes with a ten level skill in candle making.
Nectar Making ~ once again, a 10 level skill in nectar making.
Knitting/crochet projects are very portable and I don’t want to be stuck at a table while doing it. There should be a project bag that can go in one’s personal inventory so they can knit anywhere. There should also be a cabinet for their stash. Can you tell I am a knitter? 😆
And of course whatever they make should look good and make sense, too.
All of this please and thank you.
My personal hope for this is that knitting/crochet will come with craftable items of some sort, either ones added to CAS for that household or scarves or hats that a Sim could have in their inventory and choose to wear.
Love the idea of a stash cabinet (probably tells you what state my own yarn stash is in lol)
But definitely hope it's something they can do anywhere they can sit down. I'm not holding out hope that it'd be something they can do standing up, that's hard enough in real life, but couches, chairs, beds, lounge chairs etc should be an option to sit and do yarn things.
I haven't seen the yarn bombed statue yet! I'm glad to know it looks right