In recent months, The Sims 4 has been ramping up its login reward events and limited-time challenges. Login rewards are what they sound like: Hop into the game for a certain number of days, and unlock a series of exclusive in-game items for free. Limited-time challenges work similarly, but require players to complete specific actions in-game to earn XP, which can then be redeemed for exclusive loot.
The problem here is twofold. I’m sure plenty of Sims players hop into the game daily, but for many Simmers, myself included, The Sims 4 is not a game you play every day. It’s a game you play daily for a week or two, spending hours creating the perfect Sim and building the perfect house for them to live in, before interest fizzles out and you stop playing for a while. Then a new base-game update comes out or a new DLC drops, and you jump back in to see what’s new… only to discover that you’ve arrived too late to finish the current login rewards event or limited-time challenge.
The other issue is more recent. Limited-time challenge events now include rewards that can only be redeemed if you own a specific DLC pack. For example, the current Lost Legacies Event — a limited-time challenge event meant to promote the upcoming Royalty & Legacy expansion pack — includes all kinds of cool rewards. But even if you earn enough challenge XP to unlock all the loot, you likely won’t be able to access it all unless you own all of the game’s 100+ DLC packs, which cost nearly $1,600 USD if you’ve bought every DLC at full price upon launch and paid for the $40 base game at launch. (The base game is available for free now, but that wasn’t always the case, and those who paid full price were never offered a refund.)
Take, for instance, the Glittering Fairy Princess Gown, which players can unlock by earning 1,100 XP in the Lost Legacies Event. It’s just a dress. Any Sim can wear it, it’s not an exclusive item meant only for Fairy-Sims. But for reasons I cannot comprehend, even if you unlock it, you will not be able to access the item in-game unless you purchase the $40 Enchanted by Nature expansion pack.
Even more baffling is the Draped Memorial Display Table reward, which can be unlocked for a mere 320 Event XP. It’s a table. You put stuff on it. It is not an item restricted to Sims who are employed as a Reaper, but once again, if you unlock it, you won’t actually be able to use it in-game unless you shell out $40 for the Life & Death expansion pack.
I’m all for in-game events and free stuff, but The Sims 4 is going about this all wrong. Hello Kitty Island Adventure has hosted plenty of limited-time events with exclusive loot, and while I’m not a fan of the FOMO elicited by time-limited events in games that are largely about decorating (shout-out to Nintendo for never attempting this with Animal Crossing: New Horizons), I do appreciate the fact that once you’ve unlocked something in Island Adventure, it’s yours to keep, no additional DLC purchase necessary.
Limited-time events may inspire players who haven’t touched The Sims 4 in a while to hop back into the game, and while I find events like this rather frustrating, I get it. It increases engagement and ups the current player count. But making limited-time event rewards pack-exclusive is both irritating and downright greedy. What’s the point of luring players in with the promise of free loot if some of the best loot on offer isn’t actually free? Besides, giving players a little taste of an expansion for free might even incentivize some of them to buy it.
