I’ve gotten into a manageable habit with my Sims obsession - it used to be that I could sit down of an evening and start playing, and then suddenly the hours have gone by and I’ve got nothing else done other than topped the career path of a specific character. Nowadays, I dip in regularly but only for a short period of time, and it’s a nice way to play - a quick visit, a few directions here or there, see you again this time tomorrow.

While I’ve enjoyed lots of aspects of the recent expansion packs (discussed in part 1), there are always lots of ideas of what could make for good expansions to the game going forward. The internet is crammed full of people and their ideas, and here I’m just going to add my voice to the shouting crowd. I’m confident none of this will come to pass, but it’s always good to get ideas down on digital paper.

Work/life balance

One of the better expansion packs to my mind was an early one that allowed for you to participate in certain careers. Rather than sending your Sim off into the great unknown and waiting patiently for them to return, you get to head with them to the science lab, the hospital or the movie studio. There are only a few careers you can do this with, however, and I think there’s scope for a lot more here. It adds a lot more gameplay, as you’re with your Sim for many more hours of their day, and get to directly influence how well they do at work - get all the mini tasks and be in line for promotion, or slack off and while away the day otherwise occupied.

There are so many careers out there to be explored: running a hotel, managing a factory, driving a taxi, firefighter, journalist, lifeguard, personal trainer, being a musician in an orchestra, to name just a few.

On vacation

There are more and more locations to visit for holidays within the Sims world, and a couple of them have a great deal to explore (the jungle, the woods, the snowy mountains). But I think there could be more added to the vacationing system. Just as I’ve mentioned running a hotel as a career, why not make staying in a hotel an option, and have various tasks and activities you can do and complete along the way. Or one of those holiday villages with many group activities you can get involved in (spot of Sims archery, anyone?) And for the younger characters, maybe a summer camp could be a fun excursion.

Professional sports

As an extension of the careers idea, why not have sports as a world to be explored. Your Sim could decide they want to become a tennis player, for example, train for it, participate in tournaments, earn money, upgrade equipment and coaching staff, get better and better and rise up the rankings. Or a baseball star, hoping to get picked by a good team, and help them to championship success. There are so many sports out there, and they could all build to the Simlympics that only come round every so often.

Making music

Another combination of the above could be exploring the world of music and being in a band. You can write songs and play instruments in the Sims, you can licence those songs to the world and earn a bit of money. But there’s a whole system that could be structured around being a legitimate music artist. Having a back catalogue, releasing singles, gaining fans, going on tour, getting more famous, releasing albums, appearing at festivals (also festivals could be a pack all to itself), becoming an absolute megastar.

Explore the world

As I mentioned in the previous post, my real desire would be the ability to move about the town without having those loading screens. Travelling around the entire neighbourhood is just so realistic and freeing, it really gives you a grounding in the reality of living in a specific area. You have to take the time to get somewhere, it doesn’t just load and then dump you in the new place. I’m sure there are technical problems that stop this happening, and at this point in The Sims 4 lifespan, there’s probably too much history to make this happen, but it’s my one great wish.

It’s fun to think about what the Sims could do, it’s such a great base game to kick off from. There are elements of the above throughout but all of them can be revised and improved upon, built out to provide yet more entertainment. Either way, it doesn’t sound like we’ll be getting bored soon, the team have a roadmap for the forseeable future… so here’s to the next 25 years of The Sims, sul-sul!