PC Gamers Sims 3 Game Guide: Family and Aging
Sims 3: Your Family
The Sims 3 takes The Sims to another level of entertainment for the series and sets up the future for further additions as well. In The Sims 3, you can either begin single, enter the world with a custom family, or you can join the premade existing families.
Adding family and friends to your new Sim’s life is as easy clicking on the Add a Sim button to begin building a new Sim. You can choose to work in any age group, from toddler to elder, and build up a massive clan or just decide on a simple couple beginning life in Sunset Valley.
The fastest way to grow your new Sim family is to have a child. Once you have created two Sims of adult age and the opposite sex, you can choose to have them “hook-up” and have a child together. The basic laws of genetics still apply and you can expect your physical attributes to be passed on to your child.
To create a child using two adult Sims of the opposite sex, select the “Make a Child” option, which will bring up a window with all of your available adult Sims. Choose the parents for your child from the available choices and the child will appear below. You can chose the age of the child (with exception to young adult, unless you have created or aged your couple), as well as flip through the different combinations of what the child will look like.
After you have created a second Sim or variety of Sims, you can begin assigning the relationships between the Sims. You can choose a basic designation of ‘housemates’ for the relationship between two Sims, but if you decide not too designate, the game will assign one for you. You can choose to make two adult or young adult Sims spouses (different genders isn’t a requirement for spouses in The Sims 3) and assign younger Sims, like teens or children, to siblings.
Sims 3: Aging
In The Sims 3, your Sims will age as they do in real life. Your Sims go through a number of different stages of virtual life like being a baby (if your couple gets pregnant and gives birth) to being a teenager, each stage lasts a certain amount of days in the game, before you go onto the next stage.
- Baby: 2 days
- Toddler: 7 days
- Child: 7 days
- Teen: 14 days
- Young Adult: 21 days
- Adult: 21 days
- Elder: 16 days
How you created your Sim family determines where you get a baby or not. Couples that have just gotten married and get pregnant will be rushed to the hospital for delivery, where - just as in real life - the baby’s gender is unknown until birth (although, with the use of some Sims 3 tricks, you can determine not only gender, but how many babies you’ll have). You can also name your baby - or babies - and watch as the happy family returns home.
If the aging process is taking too long, you can speed it up by buying a birthday cake. The game will remind you when a Sims birthday is coming up, but if you want that child to be a teen already, get a birthday cake from the shop and then throw a party. You can also keep your family from growing old completely by turning off aging in the options menu.
When your Sim gets to be elderly, they will be greeted by the friendly face of Death and taken to a happier Sims place. As in real life, the family will mourn, but you can try and ease the pain by providing them with a funeral and trips to the graveyard to help cope. Sadly, the Sims 3 does not have the memory feature of Sims 2, so the remaining family may soon forget about your Sim’s passing.