There have been lots of debates for past sims games between "realism" and "fantasy". Some people have always wanted a super realistic sims game, which includes hookers, drugs, and cancer. Some people don't want it to be super realistic due to the fact that they play The Sims to get AWAY from that stuff.

Just a list of some topics I've seen people talk about

Deadly diseases such as Cancer & HIV
Recreational drugs
Prostitution
Sim mothers not "snapping" back into perfect shape right after having a baby
The ability to kill other sims

Would you rather The Sims 4 take a darker, more realistic approach? Personally, I'd rather not deal with all that crap in my game. I don't play the sims for deadly diseases, drugs, and hookers.

the trouble is, in order to have that degree of realism in a game, you have to have a very niche market to pander to...and sims doesnt really have a niche market. it tries to go for anyone as young as possible to anyone as old as possible, and tries to please them all. so you really cant have stuff like that in a game that really little kids might be playing, but i doubt your average 20/30 year old would want to play a totally-kiddified version of the game either, where nothing bad EVER happens.

extremes are therefore only feasible when you have a specific audience that youre trying to hook with those extremes. i would count drugs, hookers, murder, and HIV as extremes.

personally, i prefer the sims as it usually is...if someone wants creepy/crazy/questionable content, they can make it or download it for their own usage without having to alter everyone elses' game.

I'm of the idea that questionable content should be voluntary. If you want it, download it or mod it. Base game and expansion packs should be able to be marketed as they've always been.

(And I totally thought that this thread was about how realistic a sim should look from the topic title...)

Tis the sims, not GTA! Can't you get all of this anyway through the use of third party mods and CC? If they really want to make their games darker, they should just get mods and CC instead. The sims will never become rated mature, it's just...impossible

No thank you, I like my sims to be unrealistic, while being realistic within their own world. So for me aliens in sims is realistic, things like real medical conditions no. I play sims to get away from my aliments, I don't need pixels with horrible conditions as well.

So confused....from the title I thought we would be talking about the look of TS and the world. This was so left field. But to answer you this is not a M rated game it's T (for teen) and even that isn't right cause EA/Maxis makes it for every age. If you can use a PC/PS/Xbox this game can be for you. So that type of realism would never work, not to mention it would fit the overall game. People can use mods if they want that. But it's just and new GENERATION of TS. Not THE SIMS GONE WILD! But to each his own.

I like The Sims being a crazy almost-fantasy-esque playbox. If I need something darker I can usually find a mod for it or come close enough. But otherwise I'd prefer the Sims series to remain the escape from all the nasty crap of IRL that it has been for me since TS1's release.

I wouldn't mind sim mothers not reverting back into perfect shape right after a baby...

This should probably be titled, "Realistic details vs Unrealistic realistic details" or is that too confusing? xD Like I'd like more realistic details (i.e. I mentioned being more aware of the environment and more active parenting in another thread), but not all realistic details.

Like the realism I want is an open world where sims can go shopping in stores and a public transportation system. Higher education options to all adult stages available in the actual neighborhood. Ability to juggle more than one job. Money having more value by making things realistically cost money (i.e. public transportation, higher education) and some sims realistically not being able to afford everything (Work as a courtesy clerk in a grocery store? Actually riding a bike to work or walking because you can't afford anything else) A class system because of the newfound value in money. Owning and running businesses. Owning properties. A banking system.

Crime would be interesting, but I don't expect anything more than larceny in the Sims. Anything more is just not realistic for a rated T game. EA/Maxis either has to make a completely new game or another company has to step in and make one (which would probably prompt EA to do the same, if it were popular enough). Likewise with more adult avenues for careers.

Diseases I can get behind as well, but like crime, doubt anything we can't directly control in a rated T game. In the Sims 2 it was ridiculously hard to die of disease naturally, but it was possible. It was really up to the player. HIV would be too hard to control and cancer is too random. If sims can't be randomly struck by meteors anymore, a random, possibly uncontrollable disease is definitely out. Again, it would make interesting gameplay in another game, but not this one.

That said, maybe we could bump crime and disease up a little to meet in the middle? Have colds and pneumonia again, but likes fires and drowning, give players the option to end the scenario easily or let it get out of control (i.e. not letting sims rest/take medicine to make them sicker). For crime, maybe allow mugging? Kind of like the Unsavory Charlatan, but with any sim. If they get caught a sim can chase/fight them or call the police to ID them. If not... free simoleons? Thief career that's more in line with ike the Ambitions careers (so your sim doesn't become have to become an international crime lord), and not so nitty gritty.

Well I do think it could be a little darker, sims medieval has about the right tone.

It includes alcohol and gambling for example, and allows sims to be addicted to it. Sims can also kill each other.

Problem that I currently have with the sims is, its too easy for them to be succesfull. Too easy to have a good life. I'd really want sims to be able to hit rock bottom, so it will be more satisfying to help them pick up their life. It shouldnt be fixeable in a single sim day.

For that I'd want to see alcohol in the game as something sims can have an addiction to. Drugs wouldnt be right, but alcohol could be used for it. The ill effects should be shown of course, sims that used alcohol could not be able to use cars for example.
Aside from that, they could stumble around, act a bit crazy but might also throw up in the toilet, say things to sims they wouldnt otherwise say and could pass out somewhere.

Aside from alcohol, I'd also want to see more filth in houses. Putting several slob sims in a house should really mean it turns into a mess really quick. Sims hanging around in dirty clothes, dirty dishes everywhere, stains on the couch and bed after they ate spagetti there, dirty table, dirty counter, a broken window because one of them is a daredevil and thought it would be fun to play with a football indoors, a smelly dog running around that does his business in the hallway and chews up the furniture, the grass growing tall in the front yard because nobody ever mows it, and clutter laying all around, as well as dirty clothes.

Aside from being slobs, one of them could have an alcohol addiction, spending the money of his poorly paid job on booze while another is too lazy to even get a job and could just hang around in front of the television all day. Maybe the third sim living there could be some crazy paranoid street preacher who doesnt have a real job either.

Now that would be a household I'd want to play as. And it should not be too easy to get these three sims to get their act together. They are slobs after all, they will leave a mess if you dont tell them to clean it up. You'd need to tell them to put on clean clothes after theirs got dirty. The lazy sim wouldnt be putting in any extra effort and would need to be pushed in his newfound job to not get fired. The street preacher would need to find the right job where he wont get kicked out for his paranoia. Working as a journalist could be great for him, but at the hospital or police station he could be fired for his erratic behaviour.

Speaking of jobs, as someone who is having a lot of difficulty getting a job, I feel it is too easy for sims. If they want a job, they always get hired. Appearantly any job is suitable for them as well since they can do anything.
I'd like to see the possiblity of them not getting hired. A single skill point in the appropriate skill could be required, to show they have potential. Aside from that, there could be a limit to many job positions. The local restaurant wouldnt need fifty waitresses.

And aside from this, sim traits could make them unsuitable for certain career paths, or could keep them from advancing beyond a certain point.
A clumbsy sim wouldnt be able to become a surgeon, a coward would simply refuse to apply for a job at the graveyard, good sims could be unable to get into any criminal activities, and insane sims could be even more limited in career choices for obvious reasons.
It would add a new layer to the game, encouraging players to put more thought into what jobs your sims get. Getting them the right job. Not every job should be right for them.

I play my game "realistic" ways, such as English signs, not Simlish signs, realistic jobs such as writers, directors, designers, not tomb raiders, travellers, vampire slayers etc.
But I don't think "drug, prostitution, serious disease" is REALISTIC.
It's too dark for a game which becomes famous for its "quirkiness, humour and fun" like The Sims.

Anyway, I play me game with drug/prostitutes/serious disease/pedophile/ hitman mods. I love to have mods for that but not in the base game.
Through "adult mods" it's a win-win situation for both kinds of players : family core and hard core.
Everyone's happy.

But they're only pregnant for 3 days. If 1 day = 3 months, then you'd only see their post-birth shape for about 5 human minutes.

Is it terrible I'd like my sims to be able to kill other sims? *looks around tentatively*

I'm not a horrible person, but sometimes.....just sometimes, there is a sim I'd enjoy seeing gone....and being able to get one of my more unhinged sims to be able to do the job, would be nice.

*shrugs*

Other than that, I am not too keen on real diseases. Would anyone be? There's nothing entertaining about that, but I would like to see more sim-like illnesses.

I dunno, there's plenty of mums who take months or years to regain their pre-baby figures. My tummy's still a bit wobbly almost nine years later.

I've wished for a long time that there was drugs and more alcohol and negative behavior in my Sims 3 game. And I think that could be possible through a behavior type module that you drop into your game if you want it. But the big stumbling block is that it would be EA doing the implementing and I'd probably hate what they did. And then the shitty Negative Behavior Module would have to be modded to make it work right and I don't even know if that will be possible for Sims 4. So maybe it's better to just not go there.
I would like the game to have more muted colors in general and a grungier look as far as textures and decor. But I wouldn't like more objects to get dirty as far as gameplay where they'd have to cleaned by a sim if it meant that a major part of the day was spent cleaning.

It's not so much the darker elements, as how they would be implemented that worry me. This is EA we are talking about, after all.

Just as an example, let's say they add random pickpocketing to the game. On Monday, your sim gets his pocket picked on the way to work, lose $300. On Wednesday, fishing all alone at at deserted lake his pocket is picked again, lose $257. On Friday, your sim gets his pocket picked while at the bookstore, lose $40. On Saturday, your sim gets his pocket picked while swimming, lose $589. Basically anytime your sim leaves the lot, there is a potential for pickpocketing. Judging by the implementation of the attraction system and social groups, this could rapidly get annoying, and less realistic than if they leave the darker elements out completely.

Okay...*sighs* So, this isn't about the quality of the Sims themselves? Gotcha.

I am indeed one who'd prefer more realism in my Sims games. But, as posted above by a fellow simmer, The Sims will never be rated above Teen...unfortunately.

I, myself, wouldn't mind some realistic deaths (car accidents, store robbery, brain aneurysms....) and realistic story progression.

Never really understood how often I have read about The Sims being Teen rated? The Sims 3 is rated 'M' MATURE

(Content is generally suitable for ages 17 and up. May contain intense violence, blood and gore, sexual content and/or strong language)

The Sims 3 is rated by the ESRB as T, not M. The exact description off the official TS3 website is
"Comic Mischief
Mild Violence
Sexual Themes".

Please don't post incorrect information as though it were fact. There's enough trouble with opinion being presented as fact.

You don't see that big T on your copy and if not a copy when you look at the cover online. It's in the bottom corner.

The fact is on my copies of The Sims 3 the rated is 'M' - recommended for mature audiences - so I don't consider my post incorrect.

Where to you get your games from and what to you have in yours that we well I don't?

Nope all my copies are rated 'M' (Ep's, as well) just goggled the cover and I can see where you are coming from, all the pictures I see have got the 'T' but mine are not? Odd?

LOL Must have a raunchier version!

Maybe it has something to do with the rating standard per country?

But as I said my front covers have M 'Sexual References' and on the back 'Recommended for mature audiences' so the Teen reference was confusing from my end.

@ NormaJean Pics or didn't happen.

I'd probably enjoy a darker, grittier sims game myself. Hookers and killing? Could be fun. There could finally be real consequences for sims that are mean to my mob boss sim. I mean, my mafioso sims just didn't seem particularly threatening when the worst they could do to someone is fight them in a big dust cloud.

That said, those things would seem very out of place in The Sims games we know and love. They've always been cartooney, light-hearted, quirky, with silly humor. It wouldn't make sense to put those kinds of things into the standard "The Sims" series. Maybe a spinoff series, like they had Urbz and Sims Medieval. There could be a separate M-rated sims spinoff series ("Simz in da Hood" comes to mind), which would have its own gritty, realistic style complete with dark and crude humor.