How To Improve on a Good Thing: Sims Addition Part I

Yes, this is the Founder of a family.

Sims 4 is coming out in 2014 and everyone (who is interested) is speculating about what changes will happen in the game. Every generation of Sims has improved, in some ways, from the previous generations. Though, to be honest, there were some things about 2 that were really better than 3. Things like graphic quality and stability are a must and hopefully they won't put out the games until these are achieved. To me, though, it is the fundamental motivations behind play that need to be strengthened if the Sims brand is going to continue.

I started thinking about what I love about the Sims and, at the same time, what truly bores me about the game. I love building houses and decorating them. I love making stories. I love creating sims and watching them live their lives. I like that they can have children. AND . . . I get bored with skilling them, making them work, and all the little crap you have to go through to make that happen.

The reason I get bored with all of that is because there never seems to be all that grand of a reward at the end of it. So I get a trophy? I get some unlocked outfits? If I get to the top of Director, I get . . . a chair.  A CHAIR? Really? I don't give a crap what this chair does, it is still a chair!

Sims needs better rewards and better stakes. It needs to have stronger consequences, and, because this is a game that can last for generations where time plays out on the whole world, it needs to have some things that are generational consequences.

I think the main thing I would like to see in 4 is a stronger emphasis on family and legacy. One of the best and most popular non-official aspects of Sims is the concept of the Legacy Challenge. Started by a player, the challenge set up rules for seeing a family line through ten generations. Points were awarded for various things. Many sim players tried it and the best of them succeeded in telling some of the coolest stories I'd read in a long time.

I really thought that after Sims 2, the game producers would get the hint and really build up the strength of the family. After all, the very FACT that you can breed generation after generation of sims is one of the coolest features of the game. Possibly more than anything else, this is what draws people to Sims and one of the things that always will.

In Sims 4, the developers could really restructure the family dynamic and make it into something very strong. They could use it to be the foundation of how the game and the sims themselves were structured. Here are some possible ways to do that.

Founder Focus. Every sim family starts with a founder, that first sim that you create to get the ball rolling on what the family could be. The founding Sim is always unique because it is the place where you as the player have the most choices. When you start a new game, you have the option of choosing an already made sim or creating your own from scratch. (You can also opt for starting in an already made family, but in that case, you could be allowed to designate someone within that household as your Founder).

The designated Founder Sim could be altered in 4 to where he or she played a significant role in the future of the family. For one thing, the game could make sure the last name stays as the Founder's last name (a thing the game has a problem with sometimes). But that shouldn't be the only thing the family keeps.

I'll get more into how Personality Traits should be altered in a later post, but part of that change should involve the Founder. Every generation that follows should have at least two personality traits that were part of the original Founder's traits. It ensures that the Founder's legacy truly does continue in the family.

The same should hold true for the physical appearance of the Sims. Each following generation should contain at least one trait from the Founder. Her nose, his hair color, her eye shape, his jawline. Something that ties these sims back to the one who started it all.

But connecting both personality and physical traits to the founder, the family begins to take on a stronger definition. "Ohh, that's the Jones family, freaky black eyed weasels." Your family now has a defining characteristic about them, that allows you both to play off of and demonstrate individuality by contrasting to. "Even though Cordelia Jones look shifty just like the six generations before her, she wants to live a life of honesty." That kind of thing.

I would also like the Life Time Wish expanded upon to include Generational and Legacy wishes. The Founder could set goals for the family to fulfill "Take over Riverview." "Destroy the Crumplebottom Line." "Tend to this tree in the back yard." The family could receive benefits or penalties depending on how well they fulfilled these goals.

One of the later additions to the game that I found both vexing and entertaining has been the concept of Reputation. While Sims 3 only added Reputation in terms of relationships, I would like to see 4 expand it to be something along the lines of Family Reputation. Each family member can either help or harm the reputation (gives good parties, adds to Family Rep/blows up people's cars, detracts from Family Rep).

Reputation would have a dramatic effect on family members. If the family's rep is bad, members might not be able to get promotions or date certain people. They might be less likely to get promotions. By comparison, families with good reps (or perhaps those with a reputation for being evil) might have things come to them in an easier way. Again, the Founder would have a unique situation in that they would begin the game with no Family Rep (meaning they neither benefited nor suffered because of it) and would be the one to begin to shape what that reputation would be.

This post is getting superlong so I should end it. Tomorrow I'm going to pick up where I left off and talk about how generations past the Founder could affect the direction of the family, then maybe get into some other areas. In the meantime, yes, I know I'm geeking about something. On the other hand, I'm rather happy and less sarcastic and stabby than I have been.