Okay, I know that sounds like a silly question but every time I leave off playing a game I have a reason. For example, reasons I left past games:

World of Warcraft - repetitive gameplay.
Final Fantasy XI - repulsive economy.
Oblivion Elder Scrolls - repetitive, glitches, only 1 playable char at a time, not enough social options (wife, kids, gay lover would have been nice).
Fiesta Online - repulsive inflation on irresistible p2p items needed for lvl advancement.
Rift - Low lvl cap, no end game, no dungeon finder.
My list is a mile long I'll stop here.

So why do people leave Sims?

Maybe the novelty wore off, who knows?

I'm more into simulations myself. 20 years ago I was addicted to Civilization, then Civ2, and I played my husband's Master of Orion game for a while (space colonization game).

(I just wish he hadn't lost the registration code for his SimCity 4...I wanted to make new terrains!)

Personally when I tire of The Sims, it's because I have no interest in continuing any of my storylines in any of the neighborhoods. Sometimes I just get tired of playing the same Sims but I just don't have enough interest to play other households or create new Sims. Another major reason is that I sometimes feel overwhelmed by the sheer scope of the game. It might sound weird, but occasionally the thought of playing the game puts me off because there's so much to do/play around with. With games like Kingdom Hearts 2 and Alan Wake I stop playing because they're way too long to completely enjoy gameplay, but that never really applies to TS2.

Depression loss of data. If I've been playing for a while, and then the power goes out or something and I haven't remembered to save in a while I often times don't want to play it all over again and so don't play for a bit. When my hard drive crashed and I lost everything, I didn't play at all for a couple of months.

Why do people stop playing completely? I dunno, I guess because they get bored or something. Maybe they don't get bored but just start doing something else they find more fun.

Bored with the same routine in their families? Me stop playing temporarily bcoz of that...

Also your life changes constantly this effects your ability to find time to play the game. I first got the Sims (original) just after it was released for Mac, and then bought all the expansion packs along the way. I had the time to play even though I was a student until i was a student working 2 casual jobs.... life got too busy, and I couldn't afford to replace my computer which died forcing me to give up the game. Even working as hard as I was at the time I had no spare cash gosh darn bills.
Now life is much easier (graduated and have a good job) and I'm once again able to afford Sims 2, a computer for it and some hours to be able to play
Of course when life gets busy Simming gets left alone, sometimes for up to months at a time. When life frees up a bit I play again. Because of this I'm able to maintain an avid interest in the game and when I get bored I know I can put it down walk away and come back again in a few days to be fascinated once more.
When I'm not playing I tend to trawl the web, so it is a bit of a win win situation for me! Win by playing, Win by using websites like this to make the game more interesting and meet other keen players! ^.~

I run out of interest. It's not something I have to do after all. Hmmm...

Well, I stopped playing TS1 because TS2 came out and it was a huge leap forward in the quality of gameplay. Much as I loved the first game, I've never gone back to it (though I can wax goddam nostalgic).

I stopped playing TS3 because I hated aspects of the gameplay (collecting crap for a start) and loathed some features (or lack of features) of the game such as non-progression of families, lack of story-telling and memories. There were some features of the game I liked but it was boring to play after a very short time. Boring I don't do which brings me on to:

The Sims Medieval - what a waste of money that was. Dull, dull, dull. I think the main thing that bothered me about that was not the severely curtailed sims aspects of the game (families, children, building homes, building stories, no sorry) and the ruddy rabbit holes but the fact that they sold it as open world but you had to have your sim run to different parts of the map to do things. They mostly ran along sort of green grassy roads, not through interesting landscapes or townscapes. They might as well have had loading screens. It's the only sims game I have both uninstalled and sold on (I keep hoping TS3 might get better without massive intervention on the player's part just to get it playable).

I've stopped playing because the game needed to be patched, but I didn't want to do it before buying the new SP. Then I found out the SP was not worth the money, so I thought "Fine, I'll wait for the Generations." In the meantime, I've rediscovered the beauty of literature, some movies and TV series, and listened to many albums I'd always wanted to hear. After two or three months, out of the sheer curiosity, I updated the game, redownloaded the mods, and started up the game ... only to have it crash, three times. That was the moment when I said: "Fvck it, there are better things to do."

I quit playing a week or two ago. It's too addictive! It takes up so much of my time.

I really miss it, but I'm scared to turn it on again, even for a minute or two. I feel like I would just be completely hooked again. I think I prefer games that have a proper ending, so that I know when to stop playing. The Sims is a bit like a TV series that goes on for too many years, and so I keep watching it even after I've stopped enjoying it.

Instead of playing TS2, I'm playing the new Deus Ex game, and also working on making a game of my own (something I used to do a lot more of before I started playing The Sims). I think I'm happier doing that instead.

I'm on the verge of uninstalling TS3 from my computer. It's so time consuming, and I can't open it up without feeling guilty about spending my time playing a game where people are doing cool things when I should be the one going out and doing those cool things.

Like everyone else: not enough hours in the day to play it the way I would like to. (I love building, and I fiddle with making my own CC in addition to customizing my game with hacks so I can do various types of stories/gameplay... it takes weeks just to set up one hood sometimes--and that's before I even get around to playing it!)

For me the luster of all Sims games is beginning to wear very thin.
I have been playing this type simulated game since "The Sims". I have left all simulated games many times to go play other type games, all types for months at a time.

Even with the release of S3 and TSM, I have found I am only temporarily excited about a new Sim game until I play it for about a month then the novelty wears off.

I am out growing the sims , finally, but continue to return to Sims2 when I was on the BBS or come here or other sites and someone has posted something or some piece of CC sparks my interest again. I then go build for hours at a time, or play a challenge hours at a time, probably don't finish it, then stop playing again for weeks on end, until the next time someone on a site causes me to want to try that in my game.

But the novelty of how to play the Sims, and the noob innocense has worn off a long, long time ago. And that is what makes people stop playing, because they are no longer fascinated with how things work in the game once they figure out how they do.
They move on to either start creating more (hacks or CC or just build etc.) because they understand more, or they leave the simulated game altogether.

By the time I start getting board and can't think of anything better to do both of my laptops have a habit of deciding then to some how do something which causes me to have to reinstall Sims. I am more likely to play Sims at work, then at home where I can sleep and watch Asian dramas all day.

I stop because I just get bored with it. =/

I get absorbed into something else, like reading or writing, or another game.

I like the openess of TS2, so I guess that I quit Sims when I get too much of that, when I want to play something more structured and narrative, like adventures or RPGs. Sometimes I want to be told a story instead of telling it.

Other times I just want to shoot and destroy, and I can't do that in Sims.

But I always go back to Sims. Maybe I wouldn't, if there were more sim games out there, I don't know.

The one and only reason I have ever stop playing my Sims one on one was last year ( 2010 ) three days just before Christmas time. Why ? Because my computer had turn into "Rubbish" and needed to be throw out of the window.
I was getting the blue screen of death, but before that time the computer was good from 2006 to 2010. I guess I should not complaint the computer did good for a long time.

But anyway I'll very recenly started playing my Sims again just this August 2011 for now I have a brand new "Super"computer after saving for it for so long.
So I am back at playing the Sims 2 I have never really got bored playing my Sims since I have so many "Misfits" Sims in my different neigborhood that need me to keep them in line.

Note: But this time around I have more playing control I do not play my Sims at nightime anymore, other wise I would still be playing when the sun rise.
So now I play daytime only if I have the time to do so, after all there are other things in life to do but I do love my Sims.

I almost feel like the question to explore is: How can we stop playing the Sims? I get bored, but I keep coming back. I feel like I'm in some loop that I can't get out of. Hours of my life disappear and nothing, and I mean nothing, makes as good as an escape from stresses and nasty realities than getting lost in a Sims game.

Guilt. I have so much to do in my life, and its just hard to juggle school, work, homework, and Sims all of the time. Why should I play Sims for another hour when I could be finishing some work? Still... I love my Sims, but in 20 years, or 30, will we remember the Sims 2 & 3? Will it just become a wonderful memory? *sniff*

I'm depressing to myself. Sigh.

~123blissb

I don't really stop playing. I take breaks and then come back.
I love this game too much to ever quit it (or at least in my current state of mind). If I were to die in a year, or 6 months, I would still play as much as I do. xD

Plus I have a Cockatiel that lives in my room, so I feel compelled to be in here for most of the day to keep him company.
Is that sad? >.>

I take breaks and even uninstall from time to time out of boredom with the game or being stuck so long on how I want to progress a family/hood that I just give up all together. Also I have a very active 19m old son who keeps me on my toes so exhaustion usually comes in to play. Or rather, lack of play. I would love to just hit the "pause" button on my life for a few hours one day and sit and veg out with my Sims. xD

1. Boredom.
2. Found something they like better.
3. A new version came out. (Ex. People quit TS2 in favor of TS3.)
4. Not enough hard drive space. (Was the case for me to quit TS2 in favor of TS3.)

I left last time because I became busy with other things

And I still haven't come back to playing, it's so addictive that I don't know what will happen if I proceed. I want another higher education, and I need to study a lot to pass exams, so... TS2 is way too addicting to afford playing it! I bet it's the best reason to drop a game :D

The Sims cycle is playing obsessively for like 2 months, then stopping abruptly, then getting bored one day and deciding to check on how your sims are doing, ad infinitum. I've never heard of anyone outright *quitting* The Sims. :U

the only reason I stopped played TS2 on the old computer was because it ran far too slow even with no CC.

I can go on months without playing the sims because:

Load up time: it takes nearly an hour and 40 minutes for the sims 2 to load up on my computer and sometimes I just don't feel like waiting. I have a lot of cc that i love so deleting isn't much of a solution

My computer: I have a really crappy computer that overheats with the most minor of actions. I open up a word document and it gets hot :-\

The real world: Work and school can get in the way

Boredom: Sometimes I get bored with the game and just need time off.