In regard to careers and body types of sims

[iamsuebert]

I don't particularly enjoy having to do "homework" to help my sim advance in his or her career. Or having to make my sims hit the gym or eat a certain way to get the target body type I'm going for to fit the personality I'm building. Games should be fun. It's getting a little too real. Your catch phrase is "play with life". That's what I feel the player experience should be. Not all of the tedious chores we all deal with on a daily basis in real life. Maybe you could cut out the mandatory work sims must do after work hours or on days off in order to advance in their careers. I would love to be able to send my sims to work and watch them bloom on their own and then spend time with family and friends after work hours. Instead of having to try to cram in "homework" when they come home. You have interactive careers as well for when players want to take part in careers. As for the weight of sims maybe you could make it so that what you see is what you get. When creating a sim players can make their body type whatever they choose to fit the personality of the sim they are building. And that is how that particular sim would remain. The same would apply for nonplayer sims. What you see is what you get. So when adopting a child or inviting another sim to move in if a player wanted to alter the body type of that sim they would only have to change it in create a sim instead of trying to squeeze in trips to the gym constantly. The other benefit of that would be that no one would accidentally end up with a sim that had become too buff because he or she kept having to go to the gym. These are things that just make the game a little too real and slightly less enjoyable. Not so much so that I wouldn't play. I love your games. Big fan. I've seen others saying the same things. Please just consider it guys. Thanks.

[SheriGR]

@iamsuebert I understand that some of these aspects can be rather grinding in-game, especially at some 'points in life'. If you don't mind, I thought I would add here a few things I o in gameplay with my sims that may address some of what you are dealing with and finding frustrating?

• If your sim begins to get too buff or too fat and you don't want to deal with workouts, you can go into the CAS and 'sculpt' the sim - press inward at the waste, for instance, to reduce waste size or muscle size on arms/legs, etc... Then...
• I normally add one or two treadmills to the lot (if two are side-by-side they can talk at the same time and increase social. Have them do a workout every day or two for a while and they seem to get into the habit. I find that many of my sims (especially if they have an 'active' trait) will get on the treadmill here-and-there on their own and maintain their form and seem to enjoy it also, after they're used to it. (At a certain fitness level they also get a 'no sweat workout' option, which is great. You can also buy the 'gym rat' reward and then they don't have hygiene decrease by working out. After these things are in place, and they don't take that long, weight tends to be a non-issue.
• I normally play with aging off, or at least until you get through the grind of completing the lower-level, more difficult career challenges.
• It helps to add other sims to the household for support and so they don't have to do/pay for so much to enjoy decent food/lifestyle/career-prep items. Hint: don't add them in the initial household. Create the roomies all as their own separate households then one-by-one add them to the household with your sim and save after adding each one. This way your new sim brings their initial $20,000 to the household, and you have the money as a group to own a decent home and get the items for it that you each need for your career/goals/comfort. 
• Have at all sims earn at least one cooking skill point so no one burns the house down because they're hungry, but I usually have a couple of sims in the household get good at cooking (and use it for a career for one sometimes) and cook a couple of big meals a day meals - add to the refrigerator and they can all just grab leftovers as needed.
• Have one or two sims get really high handiness skill (some careers use this also) and have them upgrade and fix. Some of the upgrades are really helpful.
• Get a maid. Who needs all that cleaning worry. It doesn't cost much and then you don't need to worry about any of that stuff. If you clean everything she just does not come for the day or only for what is needed, which is brief if you do some cleaning also. Have a neat sim and they will likely do most if it anyway.

[PugLove888]

@iamsuebert, the problem is is that while many people like yourself want the Sims to be a bit of a vacation from reality, many other Sims want the game to reflect reality.   EA/Maxis tries to find the balance between both.    Fantasy players like to play with Aliens, Vampires, Mad Scientists, Fairies, etc.  (I wish we had fairies in TS4!!!) , while realistic players like to play with laundry.  

Also, @SheriGR gave you some great tips on easing the repetitive burden in the game.   I will add 2 shortcuts to weight loss (which you may or may not know about already)...

1) if your Sims have enough Reward Points from fulfilling whims or from their Aspiration, then there is an Insta-Lean potion you can buy in the Rewards Store for 750 reward points.

2) if you have the Cool Kitchen Stuff SP then you can make the Taste of Diet ice cream with the ice cream machine that comes with that SP.  Eat that flavor of ice cream once or twice and your Sim should loose weight ! :eahigh_file: I'm not sure at what cooking level this flavor unlocks at, but it isn't too high, if I remember correctly. 

Likewise the Entrepreneurial , Connections, and Professional Slacker reward traits will help with a Sim's career in some way or another. You can buy these in the Rewards Store the same way you can buy the Insta-Lean potion I mentioned. 

(One of my favorite things about The Sims 4 is the ability to multi-task.  I often have my Sims eat in front of the TV while watching the Cooking Channel while talking to other Sims.  This fills their hunger bar, social bar, fun bar, while they learn the skill of cooking all at the same time! :eahigh_file: Who needs dinning room tables ?!?!? )