Okay, maybe it’s just my personal playstyle and isn’t really “wrong” but I simply can’t seem to stick with my Sims
I’ll come up with a bit of a backstory, character type or game feature I want to try. I can spend hours, even days, creating the actual Sims and then building/furnishing their home. I play them for a bit, very frequently post about it here on the forums and then something happens I get, well not quite bored but sort of disinterested
Sometimes immersion breaking things like bugs happen. Sometimes game updates outright break the save. Other times the Sims get into a rut. Maybe they’ve gotten married and they’re no longer poor and then somehow it’s not as much ‘fun’ so a new idea arises. All the Sims seem rather similar despite their different traits, appearances and interests.
So yeah, I don’t quite know what I’m doing “wrong”. Any ideas would be much appreciated.
I am exactly the same, I constantly stop and start.
Yep I am also in the same boat. Over the time I learned that best approach is to have all of them in the same save. Sometimes i revisit later, sometimes I incorporate them into my new story. And because I have some history with them I like them over time even more. If I for some reason want to/need to restart whole save I actually copy all of the families and sims I like the most to my new save and just continue. I will turn off aging for everyone but my current family or sims who are directly participating in the story.
The other thing to keep me interested is to make several goals and challenges for my sim stories. I take existing challenges and tweak the rules to my liking, sometimes I even combine them together. For example teen runaway + rags to riches + legacy challenge.
I am a rotational player with numerous sims in the same save and I flip households whenever I want to because I am playing various characters. I also have certain families that I like a lot. That's a great style of play and you can absolutely do that but I think there is another answer to your question as well. You are asking about what to do when you get to the middle of an established household in an established game. Even rotational play, any player can run into moments like that and you have gotten some great advice. I would say there's another way to handle it as well.
Some advice:
You like starting things out and setting them up but you need mid-story action. So, make something happen when you get to that point in your story. Use the tools available in the game for that. They have too much money? You can lose some of it; you can use the Money "cheat" to erase money from the household. It's called a cheat but it can be editing to add concepts to your game. An investment could go bad. A character could develop a shopping addiction and spend on frivolous objects or just burn money in the fireplace if you have Get Famous. A child of the family could decide to waste all the money or you could go for a Johnny Zest approach and start over with a relative who was abandoned.
You can come up with other mid-story events or plotlines. I am doing that in my own game. I personally don't mind having some wealthy sims though not all of mine are, I don't get bored when they are well-off. I do have the need for mid-game plots to add to the game. I've done some online research about it and sometimes I just come up with what I want to do next during gameplay. You could make a list of possible mid-game events or mini challenges and then randomly pick from them. I might end up doing that sometime.
Things that I do mid-game to make things interesting include traveling with sims, learning a new skill, adding a pet, adding a child/parenthood, having a party or event, making new friends, making up some drama between sims or just going out to different lots in the world. They do seasonal activities. They go out to my custom lots in the game. They run into different characters both good and bad. You can make or download from the gallery new lots and spaces for them to visit. You could have them develop their personalities more. When you think of an idea of what to do, follow it. Be willing to change the way things are in the game.
Here are some mid-story plots that are in development in my game just as examples of ideas:
- A boy, now a YA, who had a criminal mother was raised by his kind aunt and then made his own way in the world. His childhood sweetheart whom he married is much wealthier than him. Together they want to move to Chestnut Ridge because they both love horses & the outdoors and they want to start a life together where they will both be accepted from different backgrounds. His mother will come back into his life to try to reconnect but she is also a greedy woman and she may try to beg her son for too much money. He needs to figure out whether to let her back into his life and how to not let her take advantage of him or interfere in his happiness and independence. He is also dealing with how he loves his wife but he does not fit in socially with her family and friends. This YA and his wife are some of my favorite characters, so they are fun to play with. To make it more interesting, his mother is going to try to to take advantage of him but he will handle it by being compassionate and then knowing when to detach from her. Still, he will spend his whole life looking to give his children the relationship with a parent that he always wanted. He has the "big happy family" aspiration.
- A military family in StrangerVille is going to be reposted to Mt. Komorebi. They will need to learn new customs and start all over while respecting and learning the traditions of their new home. I will build my own Japanese restaurant on an empty lot that any of my sims can use.
- Two neighbors in Willow Creek are competitive with each other. They work in the same field. One of them actually received a message that he has been blocked at work by the other and he needs to deal with it in some way in order to progress in his job going forward. The one blocking him is a low-level celebrity with a similarly ranked wife who is a professional critic. These neighbors are from very different cultural backgrounds. The one who seems like he is on top is actually struggling to fit in. They need to learn to get along or else the one who is blocked is going to stagnate in his career. He is not a young man and already had a mid-life crisis seeking creativity. Both families are pretty happy and stable but there are underlying conflicts. The man who feels trapped may end up shocking his family by changing his career or pursuing a hobby they didn't expect. Something needs to change in this situation because the person who is blocked at work won't want to stay that way.
- In another household, they seem to have it all. The father rose from poverty to be really wealthy and is near the end of his life in a mansion. His beloved wife has passed away. Now, he has three older teens who are about to become YAs. One daughter, Valeria, has always been his favorite. She is so confidently smart and he has always been closest to her. She is "perfect" but she often feels socially lonely and does not know how to have fun. The second daughter, Ileana, struggles at school but is incredibly popular and charismatic. Everyone loves her. She has a devoted boyfriend who can't wait to marry her but she isn't sure that is what she wants. She dreams of being a famous actress in Del Sol Valley and settling down too early will trap her in a life that she doesn't want. Their brother, Javier, was unlucky. He inherited unflattering looks and has always struggled with his weight. No one is interested in him romantically but he is a nice person. He is often telling jokes and using comedy to deal with his social awkwardness, so he is actually well-liked by many people but he has low-self esteem. Still, he is a great guitarist and wants to join a band. Will he always be the awkward brother or will he find a life of success in which people appreciate him? (He would really like a Bands Pack). How will this family change as they grow up? Their father will not live forever and they are all about to go out on their own paths. Javier might end up being the most interesting character because his future is less predictable, but they will all be enjoyable to play.
The point of bringing these examples up is that something is going to need to happen to each of these households when I play them. There's action waiting to happen, so I should let it happen and go from there. You probably have mid-story plot events that you can add to your game to keep things interesting. Don't be afraid to actually do those things. Let tension happen. See what unexpected pathways for your game open up. Things can get a lot more interesting from the mid-point of the game.
If you just don't like a certain household, it is fine to switch to another and start over. Find characters that you like. If you don't like them, you can stop playing them or you can make a specific character that you don't like leave your game. They can get divorced or just decide to leave and start over somewhere else. That is reason enough for a change. A character that you like who wants a change is an interesting character.
Some of them were started to check out mods/updates, but I got so involved (can't help but fix Sims & Houses), and I end up playing them too long to just get rid of.
Some were started because I wanted to play a Scenario without involving established Sims. Then couldn't leave when I finished.
Some were because I had an issue with a Sim/house, which later resolved but, again, I couldn't get rid of it.
Some were because I just started a new save when downloading a new EP.
Mostly, it's because I really enjoyed the gameplay with TS3 (although I have a bunch of saves there, too!) and with TS4, it's the building and fixing EA builds that keeps me interested. And as time goes on, my building improves so...
Nothing wrong with you - we all play differently, that's all!
I don't think you're doing anything wrong, but maybe one of the reasons I don't play like you do is because I am more interested in the next generation than the original. I don't make backstories for my CAS sims, I concentrate on creating what will be the backstories for their children. This is why Sims 2 and 4 are way more addictive to me than SIms 1 was, because raising the next generation and seeing what stories I can create for them is what hooks me.
But if you werent supposed to start over as often as you feel like, they wouldn't have made it possible to make so many new saves. If creating the sims and setting them up is fun for you, there's no harm in doing the fun part over and over and ignoring the rest.
I will just add that there is nothing wrong with making a lot of saves. I gave you the type of advice I did because you came in asking and seeming like you want a change. You can definitely keep starting up new saves but if you want to do things differently, I think that is the point of the other advice on this thread. In my case, I just pointed out that once things start to feel too settled, you can make a change in the story or the household that keeps things interesting for you.
If you like doing polls, you could even poll on here for some mid-game ideas.
I think really liking your characters is an important part but sometimes characters go from uninteresting to ones that you like a lot if you keep playing them.
@NRowe
Like others have suggested, I plsy rotationally. I play a household till I get bored or tired of playing them and move on to another one on the same save.
I don’t know how many packs you have, but I always pick up new packs as they come out which gives me more game play options. If there are new types of lots, I will add some to my save. When I first started I would also add a new household with a new pack. I play with aging normally turned off. If a new career or hobby comes with the pack I would focus a household on some of the new things.
I would make all of my households different. Like I have a household of 4 single sims in one household. A household with a Mom dad, teen and child in another household. One household might start with 4 young adult brothers and sisters, that break off later but still visit each other. Another household has 2 parents with 2 children, and 2 sets of Granparents that break apart into different households at some point.i have a single Adult with a child, or multiple children. I might have one family with a toddler, another family with an infant. One family might be a Grandaughter living with her Grandmother. I might have 2 significant others without a family. And I also have single sims living by themself, of with a friend.
Give your sims different jobs and different hobbies. Don’t forget little things like making penpals and collecting postcards. Don’t forget to use the club system if you have get together. Even kids can have children’s clubs or teens can have teen clubs. You can make a chess club or art club, etc.. Have your rotational family’s make friends with some of the others. Take pictures with friends. If you have Moschino stuff or Get to work, you have a lot of backdrop options. Send you sims on a vacation to have fun. Send a special Sim or Sims to to Silvadorado if you have Jungle adventure. If you have growing together add likes and dislikes to sims. If you have an artist send him or her out to paint pictures to sell them, same thing with a photographer. I have a photographer with a Buisiness that others visit to buy picture for their homes.
There are just so many things you can do to enrich your game. Download new lots, make new lots. Make new sims. Change the clothes your sims have on, change their hairstyles, send them to community lots on dates. Use different lot challenges. There are just lots of different things to do.
I have multiple saves, between my PS4 and PC. PC has the base game, and only the holiday download and Romantic Garden when it was free. My PS4 version almost has all the packs that I wanted on it.
Back to the point is that Sims 4 can be a bit boring at times, and I can burn myself out on it. If you feel like you are burnt out on the Sims, you can do something else. Doing something else for a bit can maybe help with the boredom, and maybe you can go back to your saves with a clearer mind.
However, if you also feel bored with the family, try to switch things up to appeal to you. The difference between my PC version and PS4 mostly is I usually just have one family, but I will eventually follow that one family through generations. For my PS4, I make multiple families, and am a rotational player with them or just click on them randomly. Also, not all my families are the nuclear family with a dad, mom, and kids. Maybe switching up the dynamic a bit may help as well.
Another thing that makes me interested is putting my favorite characters in the game. I have normal saves with Sims I create, some with nothing but characters I like, and some that are a mixture of both. If I get bored with my normal sims, I may switch over to a character to break it up.
Sometimes I don't play the game, and just look at the gallery for some ideas, as well as playing in the CAS, because I am just getting ideas.
Also, I will make Sims based on other games I play, and make a Sims version of them.
Comments
I am exactly the same, I constantly stop and start.
Over the time I learned that best approach is to have all of them in the same save. Sometimes i revisit later, sometimes I incorporate them into my new story. And because I have some history with them I like them over time even more. If I for some reason want to/need to restart whole save I actually copy all of the families and sims I like the most to my new save and just continue. I will turn off aging for everyone but my current family or sims who are directly participating in the story.
The other thing to keep me interested is to make several goals and challenges for my sim stories. I take existing challenges and tweak the rules to my liking, sometimes I even combine them together. For example teen runaway + rags to riches + legacy challenge.
Some advice:
You can come up with other mid-story events or plotlines. I am doing that in my own game. I personally don't mind having some wealthy sims though not all of mine are, I don't get bored when they are well-off. I do have the need for mid-game plots to add to the game. I've done some online research about it and sometimes I just come up with what I want to do next during gameplay. You could make a list of possible mid-game events or mini challenges and then randomly pick from them. I might end up doing that sometime.
Things that I do mid-game to make things interesting include traveling with sims, learning a new skill, adding a pet, adding a child/parenthood, having a party or event, making new friends, making up some drama between sims or just going out to different lots in the world. They do seasonal activities. They go out to my custom lots in the game. They run into different characters both good and bad. You can make or download from the gallery new lots and spaces for them to visit. You could have them develop their personalities more. When you think of an idea of what to do, follow it. Be willing to change the way things are in the game.
Here are some mid-story plots that are in development in my game just as examples of ideas:
- A military family in StrangerVille is going to be reposted to Mt. Komorebi. They will need to learn new customs and start all over while respecting and learning the traditions of their new home. I will build my own Japanese restaurant on an empty lot that any of my sims can use.
- Two neighbors in Willow Creek are competitive with each other. They work in the same field. One of them actually received a message that he has been blocked at work by the other and he needs to deal with it in some way in order to progress in his job going forward. The one blocking him is a low-level celebrity with a similarly ranked wife who is a professional critic. These neighbors are from very different cultural backgrounds. The one who seems like he is on top is actually struggling to fit in. They need to learn to get along or else the one who is blocked is going to stagnate in his career. He is not a young man and already had a mid-life crisis seeking creativity. Both families are pretty happy and stable but there are underlying conflicts. The man who feels trapped may end up shocking his family by changing his career or pursuing a hobby they didn't expect. Something needs to change in this situation because the person who is blocked at work won't want to stay that way.
- In another household, they seem to have it all. The father rose from poverty to be really wealthy and is near the end of his life in a mansion. His beloved wife has passed away. Now, he has three older teens who are about to become YAs. One daughter, Valeria, has always been his favorite. She is so confidently smart and he has always been closest to her. She is "perfect" but she often feels socially lonely and does not know how to have fun. The second daughter, Ileana, struggles at school but is incredibly popular and charismatic. Everyone loves her. She has a devoted boyfriend who can't wait to marry her but she isn't sure that is what she wants. She dreams of being a famous actress in Del Sol Valley and settling down too early will trap her in a life that she doesn't want. Their brother, Javier, was unlucky. He inherited unflattering looks and has always struggled with his weight. No one is interested in him romantically but he is a nice person. He is often telling jokes and using comedy to deal with his social awkwardness, so he is actually well-liked by many people but he has low-self esteem. Still, he is a great guitarist and wants to join a band. Will he always be the awkward brother or will he find a life of success in which people appreciate him? (He would really like a Bands Pack). How will this family change as they grow up? Their father will not live forever and they are all about to go out on their own paths. Javier might end up being the most interesting character because his future is less predictable, but they will all be enjoyable to play.
The point of bringing these examples up is that something is going to need to happen to each of these households when I play them. There's action waiting to happen, so I should let it happen and go from there. You probably have mid-story plot events that you can add to your game to keep things interesting. Don't be afraid to actually do those things. Let tension happen. See what unexpected pathways for your game open up. Things can get a lot more interesting from the mid-point of the game.
If you just don't like a certain household, it is fine to switch to another and start over. Find characters that you like. If you don't like them, you can stop playing them or you can make a specific character that you don't like leave your game. They can get divorced or just decide to leave and start over somewhere else. That is reason enough for a change. A character that you like who wants a change is an interesting character.
Some of them were started to check out mods/updates, but I got so involved (can't help but fix Sims & Houses), and I end up playing them too long to just get rid of.
Some were started because I wanted to play a Scenario without involving established Sims. Then couldn't leave when I finished.
Some were because I had an issue with a Sim/house, which later resolved but, again, I couldn't get rid of it.
Some were because I just started a new save when downloading a new EP.
Mostly, it's because I really enjoyed the gameplay with TS3 (although I have a bunch of saves there, too!) and with TS4, it's the building and fixing EA builds that keeps me interested. And as time goes on, my building improves so...
Nothing wrong with you - we all play differently, that's all!
But if you werent supposed to start over as often as you feel like, they wouldn't have made it possible to make so many new saves. If creating the sims and setting them up is fun for you, there's no harm in doing the fun part over and over and ignoring the rest.
If you like doing polls, you could even poll on here for some mid-game ideas.
I think really liking your characters is an important part but sometimes characters go from uninteresting to ones that you like a lot if you keep playing them.
Like others have suggested, I plsy rotationally. I play a household till I get bored or tired of playing them and move on to another one on the same save.
I don’t know how many packs you have, but I always pick up new packs as they come out which gives me more game play options. If there are new types of lots, I will add some to my save. When I first started I would also add a new household with a new pack. I play with aging normally turned off. If a new career or hobby comes with the pack I would focus a household on some of the new things.
I would make all of my households different. Like I have a household of 4 single sims in one household. A household with a Mom dad, teen and child in another household. One household might start with 4 young adult brothers and sisters, that break off later but still visit each other. Another household has 2 parents with 2 children, and 2 sets of Granparents that break apart into different households at some point.i have a single Adult with a child, or multiple children. I might have one family with a toddler, another family with an infant. One family might be a Grandaughter living with her Grandmother. I might have 2 significant others without a family. And I also have single sims living by themself, of with a friend.
Give your sims different jobs and different hobbies. Don’t forget little things like making penpals and collecting postcards. Don’t forget to use the club system if you have get together. Even kids can have children’s clubs or teens can have teen clubs. You can make a chess club or art club, etc.. Have your rotational family’s make friends with some of the others. Take pictures with friends. If you have Moschino stuff or Get to work, you have a lot of backdrop options. Send you sims on a vacation to have fun. Send a special Sim or Sims to to Silvadorado if you have Jungle adventure. If you have growing together add likes and dislikes to sims. If you have an artist send him or her out to paint pictures to sell them, same thing with a photographer. I have a photographer with a Buisiness that others visit to buy picture for their homes.
There are just so many things you can do to enrich your game. Download new lots, make new lots. Make new sims. Change the clothes your sims have on, change their hairstyles, send them to community lots on dates. Use different lot challenges. There are just lots of different things to do.
Back to the point is that Sims 4 can be a bit boring at times, and I can burn myself out on it. If you feel like you are burnt out on the Sims, you can do something else. Doing something else for a bit can maybe help with the boredom, and maybe you can go back to your saves with a clearer mind.
However, if you also feel bored with the family, try to switch things up to appeal to you. The difference between my PC version and PS4 mostly is I usually just have one family, but I will eventually follow that one family through generations. For my PS4, I make multiple families, and am a rotational player with them or just click on them randomly. Also, not all my families are the nuclear family with a dad, mom, and kids. Maybe switching up the dynamic a bit may help as well.
Another thing that makes me interested is putting my favorite characters in the game. I have normal saves with Sims I create, some with nothing but characters I like, and some that are a mixture of both. If I get bored with my normal sims, I may switch over to a character to break it up.
Sometimes I don't play the game, and just look at the gallery for some ideas, as well as playing in the CAS, because I am just getting ideas.
Also, I will make Sims based on other games I play, and make a Sims version of them.