[Update]: The base version of The Sims 4 is now entirely free-to-play on both PC and consoles.

In an effort to make the Sims world a more interesting place, The Sims 4 will be adding Neighborhood Stories as a part of the upcoming November 30th update. To put it quite simply, the goal behind Neighborhood Stories is to breathe life into non-active Sims by giving them the ability to change, attempt new things, have a baby, and so forth.

The initial implementation of Neighborhood Stories will be quite simple, though the team is already looking to expand the idea by taking pointers from The Sims 3's well-received Story Progression system. For now, however, neighboring Sims will independently consider changing their current career, having a baby with their partner, as well as hanging out with other Sims and perhaps even forming deeper friendships.

Unsurprisingly, you as the player will also have some influence on the lives of your neighbors. As such, you will be able to trash talk one Sim to another in order to potentially ruin their friendship, try to convince two Sims to try to form a romantic relationship, try to encourage an unemployed Sim to find a job, or even just try to have someone divorce/dump their romantic partner. A fairly basic set of options, but even so I'm fully expecting this to make each The Sims 4 world just a bit more unique and exciting.

While you wait for the whole thing to arrive, you can read more about Neighborhood Stories over at The Sims website.