The following information was collected from The SimWatch list-serve. See http://www.egroups.com/group/SimWatch for full details. No credit is given as to the contributor. The following suggestions were sent to the SimWatch list-serve as to how to improve The SIMs. * Weekends * Ability to visit other houses * Ability to go to work * Pets * Slow game down * Use actual calander with days, months, years * Cars to drive * Bikes to ride * Telecommuting (working at home) * Ability to put things on a diagonal wall * Ability to put objects on floor tile where wall cuts it in half diagonally * Ability to move and/or rotate the entire house * Ability to move a house to a different lot * Ability to turn off disasters like being robbed or fires * Windows for Angles Walls * Ability to choose what you want Sims to cook * Teens should age into adults * Ability to re-arrange items in a Sims task list ------------------------------------------------------- I would like to see an answering machine.. now i guess its kind of a spoiler because something special always happens when you answer the phone and having an answering machine would make it too easy... but its just that that dang phone always rings at exactly the wrong time; e.g., when all yer sims are working or sleeping or in the shower... almost like real life. ------------------------------------------------------- Why can't pets be family members? The pet is created like a family member, at the beginning of the game. You get to choose cat or dog and a fur pattern (skin)... maybe even be able to choose from a few models (large, medium, small pet). If it's at all possible, pets could also be purchasable during the game, and you'd have to raise them properly for three days, much like a child, though less rigourous, or the humane society takes the pet away. After three days, the pet would become a normal member of the family, an adult if you will. They would have all the same status bars as normal people too (Energy, Hunger, Comfort, Hygiene, Fun, Social, Room, Bladder). However, they wouldn't be commandable like regular characters. Their status bars would be kept up through interaction by the characters. Maybe another explanation would be easier, using the status bars and how they would relate to the sims and the animals themselves. ENERGY: Just like regular characters, except it depletes faster, even faster for cats. Ever notice that animals sleep ALOT and cats sleep all the time?!? They would be better rested when you bought them new beds to sleep on, instead of the floor (maybe three levels of beds just like sims). This would be something the animals did themselves. HUNGER: The animals would have to be fed, by a command when clicked on by a character. This would cost money, and come from the fridge. Also, maybe it would be possible to feed them those notorious leftovers? COMFORT: Maybe this wouldn't be needed for the pets, although it would be replenished by sleeping in a bed. HYGIENE: This would deplete VERY slowly. Maybe this is also a bar that wouldn't be needed for the pets. FUN: Toys of course, and interaction with their owners. Better toys means more fun. Reply - I agree with you, but I think dogs should have hygeene bars and depending how often and how long you let your dog outside it should go down. It could be replinished by giving him a bath yourself for free, but making the hygeene bar go up slowly. To fully repilinish the hygeene bar quickly you could send him to the vet. This would be accesed by the telephone. Dogs would have skills like stamina, strength, coordination, and obedience. Stamina and strength would be increased by walks and jogs or beeing let out. Coordination would be increased by playing fetch or something like that. Obedeence would be increased by teaching him yourself or by sending him to a halfday school. SOCIAL: Interaction with the owners and other pets. ROOM: This might not be needed, but it could be incorporated through better floors (for dogs) and better counters or windows (for cats). BLADDER: Self-explanatory. The cat would need a litter box, of course. The owner or gardner would clean up the dog mess. Of course there are advantages to having a pet. Increased fun, comfort, room, etc. Also, dogs could scare away burglars, whereas cats provided all the same benefits (aside from scaring away of burglars) without as much cleaning up after as the dogs. ------------------------------------------------------ This person wishes friendship was implemented differently: How many people dislike the "friendship" capabilities? I find that I tend to stop as soon as I need more than two or three friends in order for a family to advance and go back to inventing families and building houses. Philosophically, I think the concept is really flawed and will cause TheSims not to be taken as seriously by educational groups as SimCity was. The flaws? In the first place, astrology is absolutely discredited as any sort of serious guide to one's life, and yet TheSims uses astrology! It is the most serious flaw in the game. The other flaw is "needing" friends for advancement. This to some degree teaches exploitation of people and that one cannot advance through merit alone. (Though this is actually true, simply having friends at random does not help one "up the ladder". I believe that should be removed from game to make it more accurate. (People who like Sims games don't like to be removed TOO far from reality in such matters...) I feel that the friends business is the worst part of The Sims. Making friends is too tedious, and the friendship points are not done well. For another, "fun" points do not go up when one is talking to friends. If this isn't happening, why should the person have friends at all? As to the way the friendship points are calculated: One gets very few points for hospitality -- friends come in and eat food whether invited or not, which is certainly impolite, at least at the beginning. They are boors in the bathroom, and go into children's rooms and bathrooms where children are, which is even worriesome. They should ask. There are not enough choices as to actions, and they are not very easy to manipulate. For example, the game suggests that one should not keep the guests on their feet, but there is no option to sit and talk. The visitor can join you in certain activities but then you seem to get few friendship points. I suggest that there not be a link between friendships and advancing in one's job. That is unrealistic and gives young people the wrong idea for the reasons for friends. Friendships should be simply handled as a social need... Perhaps a new "bar" is needed... one that would be for friendships. In that event they would have to add yet another one to balance the display :-) Further without weekends it is very difficult to handle friendships. Also without further activities available, such as inviting someone to a party or to dinner it gets very boring. Another unrealistic thing is that they handle interactions only on a one-on-one basis. Yet children tend to play in small groups if there are enough people around... Could we have a question on how friendships should be handled? ------------------------------------------------------- with the games popularity and a new expansion pack already on its way; maybe now is the time to get out some things i'd like to see in the future (i know almost none of these are in the expansion pack that i know of; so maybe there'll be a second one?) I would like to see kids grow up. Because children can't make money and they can't go off and get married and live real lives and that gets annoying after a while. I would also like to see my sims do things that really create babies... after all the crap i put them through i think they deserve it. and i'm sure theres a whole lot of perverts out there that want to make the sims 'mate' all week long with the adult patch installed and hey, theres a whole other demographic the sims will appeal to! and i think sims should be able to buy their own cars; and maybe be late for work once and a while (with docked pay of course) and maybe to pay for these cars they could take out loans, we've all played simcity; i think maxis knows a thing or two about the calculations involved. and i think maids should steal; not objects because this would get *really* annoying, it already is with the thieves because even if they get caught you don't get your stuff back; and they don't tell you what they stole so if you're in a big house you have to look around to see what you're replacing. they should maybe steal small amounts of cash? and you should be able to combat this by placing little cameras around the house (ooh! another object!) also maybe a nanny service should be added. simtime goes by way too fast and some of us shouldn't be let near real kids let alone sim ones... call it an easy way out for those of us who just don't know what we're doing there and feel we're too young to learn ------------------------------------------------------- Oh do I have a list of things I'd like to see SOMEONE create for the game! Air conditioners was a good idea, and so was the Sim911 call, but I want things like shutters to help decorate the outside of the houses, and having the sims have to have check-ups (just like getting the mail...a certain amount of time goes by and they have to have a check-up which of course costs money). What about inlines or skateboards or bikes for the kids to play with, and having a babysitter in with the services (it could be an expensive nanny when the baby is around and a teenager when it becomes a simkid). I'd like candles (and an increased use of going up in flames if the sims weren't careful), and a knick-knack shelf to decorate with. How about video games that attach to the TV, entertainment center, or a VCR? Coffee tables for the living rooms, hutches for the dining room, a stationary bike to exercise on (or a stairmaster or a treadmill), a clock-radio for the bedroom (or at least a digital clock), and a counter with stools for the kitchen. Washers and dryers and ironing boards could be used to boost hygenie scores...they keep taking baths but put on the same dirty clothes they've been in for days! Beepers and answering machines could make things interesting. But what I want right now is bunk beds for the kids. And if you want to make it realistic, the kids could even fight over who gets the top bunk! ------------------------------------------------------- Something I'd like to see in an expansion pack: A "Vandal." The vandal is a neighborhood child who shows up late at night, like the burglar, and tramples flowers and spraypaints your house's exterior walls. The result is a lowering of outdoor Room ratings and property values, until you replace the flowers and "Clean Up" the graffiti or call the Repairman to do it (repainting in Build Mode won't do it -- that would be too cheap and easy). If you call the cops fast enough to catch him, you get restitution from the perpetrator of $100. ------------------------------------------------------- Floating toys for the pool. ------------------------------------------------------- Skylight so that rooms with no windows can have light. ------------------------------------------------------- Slide for the pool. ------------------------------------------------------- Curtains and blinds for the windows. -------------------------------------------------------