GasBandit
Staff member
Sims 4 is, of course, an impressively complex social interaction engine. But it's not perfect. In order to leave some "game" in there for the player, there's still some things sims just won't seem to do for themselves.
How active a role should I take to address these deficiencies?
Options would be:
1) Completely passive observer - no matter how many toilets clog or aspirations go ignored, I will only watch and document the failings of the AI. After all, hardship and adversity can be entertaining to watch, too, right?
2) Mostly-hands-off administrator/troublefixer - In Rimworld, I barely had to interfere with the individual pawns at all, outside of combat situations and structure planning/construction. Mostly it was sufficient to set policy and let people do their thing, though there were little exceptions that made me have to take an active role from time to time. In Sims 4, this would mean I'd only intervene for things that generally don't take care of themselves, like broken appliances.
3) Active motivator - However, HFA2, for example, required me to exert a great deal of control over the toon I was playing for that day, as without direction, he or she would literally stand around doing absolutely nothing - AI only controlled the characters whose day it was NOT. So, I had to step into the role of the character, and for the most part, I played the toon how I thought it would play itself, in context - generally only taking actions and making decisions that would be consistent with that character's behavior when I was not controlling it. Granted, I had to go a little above and beyond in a couple instances (cough STEINMAN). This option means that if I see a sim neglecting their aspirations, or something else that I think is a failing of the AI that contradicts the wants and established behaviors of a sim, I will take steps to get the sim back on track.
4) ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL (harbinger style) - This option means I will do whatever suits me, in the interests of making a more interesting story happen. I will make you flirt. I will make you fight. I will cause drama. YOU WILL BE MY PUPPETS. DANCE FOR MY AMUSEMENT! This was, more or less, what I had to do for Darkest Dungeon: Halforums edition - because there was really no "personality" to go with things other than name, class choice, and color scheme. Everything that happened was a direct result of my own choosing, not any consideration for that the characters would do.
So, my question is, what do you guys think should be my level of control in this?
How active a role should I take to address these deficiencies?
Options would be:
1) Completely passive observer - no matter how many toilets clog or aspirations go ignored, I will only watch and document the failings of the AI. After all, hardship and adversity can be entertaining to watch, too, right?
2) Mostly-hands-off administrator/troublefixer - In Rimworld, I barely had to interfere with the individual pawns at all, outside of combat situations and structure planning/construction. Mostly it was sufficient to set policy and let people do their thing, though there were little exceptions that made me have to take an active role from time to time. In Sims 4, this would mean I'd only intervene for things that generally don't take care of themselves, like broken appliances.
3) Active motivator - However, HFA2, for example, required me to exert a great deal of control over the toon I was playing for that day, as without direction, he or she would literally stand around doing absolutely nothing - AI only controlled the characters whose day it was NOT. So, I had to step into the role of the character, and for the most part, I played the toon how I thought it would play itself, in context - generally only taking actions and making decisions that would be consistent with that character's behavior when I was not controlling it. Granted, I had to go a little above and beyond in a couple instances (cough STEINMAN). This option means that if I see a sim neglecting their aspirations, or something else that I think is a failing of the AI that contradicts the wants and established behaviors of a sim, I will take steps to get the sim back on track.
4) ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL (harbinger style) - This option means I will do whatever suits me, in the interests of making a more interesting story happen. I will make you flirt. I will make you fight. I will cause drama. YOU WILL BE MY PUPPETS. DANCE FOR MY AMUSEMENT! This was, more or less, what I had to do for Darkest Dungeon: Halforums edition - because there was really no "personality" to go with things other than name, class choice, and color scheme. Everything that happened was a direct result of my own choosing, not any consideration for that the characters would do.
So, my question is, what do you guys think should be my level of control in this?
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