this is something i came up with just now. instead of having rabbit holes at all, they can make every place "open" but they can use something to make a sim disappear into a certain part of it to go to work. this could work really well for something like a restaurant, although it would be better if our sims could be a waiter/chef or a host. instead of something fancy with all of that in the base game they could just make a diner to start out with. and just have an npc running the place. and when they make a more upscale ep, they could add in the restaurants and all of those careers. i feel like all of the rabbit holes could work similarly. with ep's they could add in those 'open building' careers. what are your thoughts on this? and your ideas?

Nice avatar!

How about no rabbit holes at all, and the sim just runs through a simple looping AI for the job? It would be boring to watch, but a helluva lot less boring than rabbit holes.
For example, sims in business sit at a desk and appear to shuffle papers, makes phone calls, walks to a conference room and sits at the conference table for awhile with other sims and makes gesturing motions as if in a meeting, then walks around for a bit, repeats. A chef would be in the back of a restaurant and appear to be cooking, but will move around to different areas to appear busy. Or even simply walking around the workplace would give the impression of being busy. Your sim could then visit these various workplaces and even interact with other sims when they are "working". The sim would take a break (putting the AI on hold) and then as soon as your sim stops interacting with them, the AI will continue.

I'm thinking like how it's done in a Bethesda game like Skyrim and Fallout where people appear to be busy at their jobs. For example, in Skyrim you've got the blacksmith who will go work on one machine, then move onto another. In Fallout, scientists will walk around and occasionally look at clipboards and appear to be inspecting equipment. Player character can interrupt them at any time, and once interaction is over, they continue their work AI loop.

How about all careers are conveniently located "in the city" from the distant terrain so they will all be bound for the highway? Neighbourhoods are pretty small, they better save the space and use it for playable activities like OFB businesses, hobbies, recreation and entertainment.

I'd be good with every idea suggested so far

i want just some of the habit holes, because there are some activities really boring to perform that doesn't add any interesting gameplay (example: school, university class, job).

The problem that I have with rabbitholes is the same problem that I have with doors in Skyrim. If multiple characters/sims want to enter a door, they have to do it one at a time. When I went to go retrieve the Jagged Crown and I had to team up with about eight Imperial soldiers, the game became a thing of patience.

I hate rabbitholes for three reasons:

1. Sims enter them single file and one at a time. If you have more than 5 children and teens in your neighborhood, this becomes a problem. I've had children in my household be forced to stay out PAST CURFEW because the sims entered/exited one at a time.
2. It reduces some cool careers to text-based RPGs.
3. You can't control what goes on at them. I think it would be great if you could ask a sim to come home from school with you or vice versa or spend time doing other tasks.

There is at least one class that is not a rabbit hole. Boring as it may be, it is far more interesting than a rabbit hole. They should have done them all like that, and you can at least watch, or not watch, and it also opens up the door for minor interactions your sim could perform during the job. For example, the non-rabbit hole class lets you have your sim sleep or take notes. I would have also liked if they added a few disruptive activities to annoy the professor and potentially get kicked out like chatting during class or play with cell phone. A chef could have some new minor interactions like "kick it up a notch" where the sim adds extra ingredients to the pot and improves job performance or "spit in pot" which could have a percent chance of getting the sim fired. You could ignore the sim at work like you do a rabbit hole or watch, it'd be up to you.

Really? I think rabbit holes are fantastic! One of my biggest complaints with TS3 was that it didn't have enough rabbit holes. They should make every lot a rabbit hole! Even the park, our Sims could just dissapear into thin air & we choose what they do from that drop-down menu! Heck, forget about build/buy mode, they should make the Sims' houses rabbit holes as well! You know what, forget about controlling Sims all together! They should make the game "The Rabbit Holes 4" and allow us to design & simulate the day-to-day life of a rabbit hole! We could be a community rabbit hole, a residential rabbit hole, the possibilities are endless! And here's the swinger: the people that use these rabbit holes are actually the AI from Sim City 2013! And they should also require always-on DRM so I can always know how my friend's rabbit holes are doing! And think of the DLC they could include! Instead of the Sims 4 store, it would be the Rabbit Hole Store! They would sell stop signs & porch lights to beautify our rabbit holes with. And they should make a Katy Perry Sweet Treats world that would include 2 candy-themed premium items for our rabbit holes, all for the low, low price of 17,000 Rabbit Hole points. And it could all be available on launch day! Scratch that, the DLC would come out the day before launch! And the entire thing would be sponsored by Diesel! I can already imagine adding Diesel billboards to my rabbit holes to make them look even better. This could be the greatest rabbit hole simulator ever! Man, I can't wait for 2014! :D

I could do without rabbit holes, thanks.

Ambitions and later expansions proved rabit holes were worthless. You can do your jobs right in a fully playable building. Id love to eat and do the "Dating Game" again as well.

HEre are some ideas:

-Work: make them just like Ambitions jobs. Fully open buildings where you can do tasks and such.
-School: As shown in University with the student center, there was a classroom that was fully open and you can watch the lectures and take tests. Same should apply for school.
-Dining: As with TS1 and TS2, TS4 should have open food places where you can dine, chat, play the dating game, etc.
-Movies: Add tons of theater style seats and a giant screen, there is your movie place!


NO MORE RABBIT HOLES!!!

Get rid of open world, when a sim leave current lot, give choice for a phased solo senario when you want to control a sim at work/cafe/school (and also give option to use a dropdown box to choose an attitude), after your sim finish his senario, revert back to previous lot, and that sim is uncontrollable for a certain amount of time (as the time you spend outside the lot).

Rabbit hole is fine, you don't want routines over and over again (and it is unrealistic to simluate 300 sims in the neighborhood all doing something at the same time, you will end up NPC sims rushing to your location as TS3), lack of interaction when you want them is the problem.

And this is the future of the series. If TS1 and TS2 had fully open buildings, later games should too. I can understand jobs i guess, but food places and such? no. I cant stand rabbit holes. It makes me feel handicapt while playing.

Thanks, I really needed a laugh.

I think first of all, we need to know how this series will work. I tend to play many families, so following each and everyone of them to school and work, would be tedious.

Unless there's an EP like OFB or Uni or even a Superstar/Magic, then I don't mind a few rabbit holes. However, anywhere that Sims can meet each other like parks, shops and restaurants, I want to see what's going on. Having a menu giving me options is pointless and lazy!

I want a game to play and watch.

I basically believe that some rabbit holes are open and others, however, will still be locked. Would like to see restaurants, bookstores and others stuff working again as normal lots

Hm. I love the idea of a looped AI at work, but I don't think everyones system could handle that. I know if you weren't on the lot it wouldn't be happening, but say you had 6 people in the music career; you'd have to be able to space them out so they weren't all inside each other. Considering routing in TS3, I can't see that working too well...

I do think we need rabbit holes, though. I play massive families, and when they go to school and work is when I have a break and get the unemployed sim to clean the house. I tried most AMB careers when it first came out, and they're great, but only if you're just controlling one sim.

But, an open restaurant and a theatre would be nice. I'm not fussed about the shops (grocery, books) because I can't imagine it being too exciting in there, but I NEED dating interactions. There are tons of poses so you can simulate a date in a story, but what if I just wanted to play?
I mean, you get invited on dates, but the date tends to take you somewhere inappropriate (like the graveyard! What's with that?!), so it'd be nice if there were locations that were set for the NPCs and townies to choose for dating situations.

Personally I believe everything should open and it should be a choice if you want to control your Sim or not during work or other places. I'm quite the opposite; I tend to play with a few Sims. In TS3, watching the whole building,reading text after text and not seeing them is boring to me. funny as it may sound, I want to be in the moment with my Sims.


I also think that is should every work,shop,etc... should have a combination of basic features. Like AMB, OFB, Freetime/hobbies and TS3 Uni and turn it into something new so it wont be an exact replica of those EP's. Plus NPC's Could be added too;making sure to not forget an auto pilot system where you don't have to control your Sim.AI has to be really superb in the end.