Update 13/04/17: It turned out that the purpose of this thread isn’t clear, so to get rid of all confusion – I’m not asking for an advice as I do like my playstyle, I’m just wondering what other players think about skills and if they feel the same as me after maxing them out, or maybe they never try to do that?

As some of you might know, I like my sims to max out all skills. They start as toddlers and as teens they’re able to get several scholarships for skills, and they can finish skills off at YAs (I haven’t done much of that exact plan yet, as I play a lot pre-mades and CAS sims, so none of my born in game sims have grown up to YAs yet, but given that I don’t let my sims age to elder and die, I can max out sims that start as adults too). It’s even faster with aliens (I make their learning rate 3x faster than humans), two alien kids of Curious brothers aged up to teens recently and they aren’t very far from maxing out the skills. I know it might seem boring, but it isn’t for me, my actual problem is that when a sim gets their last skill point I then pause the game and start wondering “OK so now what?”. I normally get them to learn the skills such as physiology if they haven’t before, develop a badge, go on dates, visit community lots, go on a holiday and so on, so it’s not that they have literally nothing to do (and they also can do those things before they’re done with skills, it’s not that they’re skilling with no breaks at all), but there’s still that kind of void when there isn’t a skill to build. I like the hidden painting skill, as it doesn’t have a set level so my sims can paint and there’s still that feeling of progress, but I wish there were more skills, the best would be so many that it’d take ages before maxing them out so I’d just focus on certain few that fit a sim the most. I know there are mods that slow the skilling process, but it’s not the same as having more skills to choose from, 7 is such a tiny amount; it’d be great to have a pool of 100 or something and then I could choose 10-15 for a sim and have them busy all the time, without that vague void feeling because of not making a progress. I normally don’t play much with sims who have skills maxed out and no children to raise, unless I have certain plans for them, such as a business to run.
So, do you feel that something is missing when your sims max their skills out? Do you bother with skills at all?

I am having the same predicament-so I've decided to focus more on the overall 'hood than individual sims. I'd say next you ought to max out a few careers, and start a few business empires . The sim in my profile pic (still a child) has maxed out everything, sold a masterpiece, I made her a witch after aging her up and maxed out her ltw, and then I made her get abducted by aliens and learn teleportation.
(How's world domination? Or 'hood domination rather XD)

I did very much prefer the expanded skills of TS3 over the silly "badges" system in TS2. And some of the TS3 skills were pretty awesome, though others were pretty silly or just badly-made. But I guess in TS2 we gotta work with what we have. I currently don't even have OBF so my potential badges are quite limited, but I do have AL, so I've got the possibility of raising the magic skill. I haven't done much with AL witches, but do sims actually want to increase their magic skill? I think the main reason I prefer skills to badges is that there are so many fulfillable wants as a sim maxes out a skill, but with badges there are only 3 possibilities. It's a lot harder to keep a sim at a good aspiration level while they're raising a badge to gold.

But the AL magic skill does make me wonder...if we can have that one extra skill, why can't we have more? Perhaps some werewolf-specific skill? Or a vampire one?

Unless a sim's LTW is to max all skills, I don't usually actively nudge them in that direction; I'm the type of player who works primarily off what my sims want.

I randomize skills with the SimBlender for fresh CAS Sims. Children develop naturally. I develop as much as I can for toddlers and children. College is where it's at for skill building, but now that I have mods for faster college that may not be the case, so I will change that to teen years being for most skill building.

Course that depends on if I actually care. Most times I don't

No, because then I would be in the predicament that you said you were in

So I have some rules to who skills. Maybe you might like this, maybe you won't.
Motivation levels. As soon as a sim becomes a toddler I add up their motivation points. Neat points + activity points minus playful points.
So say sally is 5 neat, 3 active and 7 playful she would be 5+3-7. 1 point.
This would make her an average sim. I would set her as a toddler so she could not gain more than 3 in any skill. As a child she will be set to allow 5 in any skill, as a teen she will be allowed 8 since that is needed for a scholership. However because she is average she must either roll a want to gain a skill point, do so autonomously. I have a few mods that help sims do things more autonomously than vanilla game. Now this is also contingent on her family. Say her parents are bright over achievers, they are allowed to encourage her to see if they can raise her from being average to above average. Over achieves may also ask average sims to come and play chess or do other call over activities. They are extra bright so they have powers of persuasion. Average sims are 1 to 7 points.

Sims scoring 8 and above are bright over achievers. I set them at skill level of 5 as a toddler, 7 as a child and 10 from teenhood on. They skill all the time, wants or not.

Low motivated sims are those who are 0 or below. These sims I do hands off. So I supply the toddler toys and set the skill level to 2. Then its their choice. I hope it's not the toilet but if it is, it is. I have very few low motivation sims so it isn't too hard to do. As kids they get 5, teens 8. because they need a chance to gains scholarships even if they don't get there. Then 10 and above from YA.

The game offers lots of badges, painting skill, dancing skill, AL skills, vacation skills/award pictures, collectables. So if you really want them all to fill the skill meter so young, I guess moving onto those would be the next thing.

Yes I do move onto those, I plan to get all the vacation mementos for at least one sim (however that’ll be after ages because I need to rebuild [and build new] lots in vacation areas, I’m not going to play in those ugly Maxis ones, and they basically don’t have plants at all I need at least one hotel and at least one community lot to start playing). I still can enjoy playing maxed out sims, like now I do enjoy playing with Ophelia Nigmos and Johnny Smith, but I do pause more often and for longer to wonder what interaction I want to choose for them at a certain moment.

I wouldn’t like limiting skills, because I prefer sims to have high skill levels and max out their job (that’s mandatory for all sims I play, as well as having best grades at school and uni [and every born sim goes to uni]), and I’d think “now what?” while choosing an interaction, because I couldn’t make them skill if they already reached the limit. So I don’t have that much trouble with long-term plans (if I don’t have any I just don’t play a certain family for some time until I randomly get an idea for their future), but with choosing an action at a certain moment, just like with Johnny and Ophelia – I have lots of plans for them, but before I get to realise them I need to choose something for them to do and it’s not always easy.

And I do play with the whole hood, however some families can wait for ages for their turn, as I mentioned the Curious children already became teens, sims that were teens in Strangetown initially already finished uni, but I haven’t played Beakers at all. And because of me developing those sims so much the game goes really slowly, especially given that I also spend time building. Sometimes I can’t play families I want because I either need to build/remake their house or build/remake a community lot they’re supposed to visit.

I think that the problem is that you're playing Sims 2 as if it was an RPG, where the goal is to get the highest level and finish the game. You can't finish the game in Sims 2; it's a sandbox.

Try not forcing all your sims to reach the highest levels of everything. Let them tell you what they're interested in.

I would hate to have all sims be the same, same grades, same skills. I use to but I like it more now that I have variety. But if that is what you want then those other skills, badges etc are what you will have to aim for next. Don't forget the collectables-digging and beach treasures.

I have a lot of businesses so badges, stars and making money there is often my goal over skill points. If a teen has already got enough skills for uni I move onto having them do a portfolio piece. So do up a free time car, paint a picture, write a novel, grow an excellent quality produce. it's still a goal but a different one, because I am more goal oriented than most people here. Probably 1/3 story 2/3 goal orientated.

I tend to only play a day or two then move on. I like everything to be in sinc as much as possible. If this house had a toddler age I move on to be sure the next house also ages on so they can go to school together.

The only times I really have trouble deciding what to have a sim do next is when the sims themselves are refusing to want things they can have. Even when a sim's maxed out all skills, they'll still want things; I'm pretty sure it's impossible for a sim to actually achieve nirvana.

You can have tiny cozy houses without heaps of foot stomping.

Yes I like goals, and despite maxing out the same skills sims don’t seem the same to me somehow, each one seems unique for some reason (even if I choose the same activities for them). I don’t really like changes, especially given that I do like my playstyle and I can spend whole days fulfilling the goals and plans I imagined for my sims, the only problem is that void feeling with no skills left (and badges and the rest don’t give me the same feeling as skills, there’s just something great about skills themselves to me). TS2 with TS3 skill system would be a perfect sims game.
I like other types of games too, for example with a set story to follow, but I can’t create my own goals like in sims games and play in my hoods until they’re doomed.

How about randomizing the skills once filled so you can keep going with the skilling?

That’d feel somehow unfair for my sims, they spent so much on gaining all the points that I’d feel just mean to them, they don’t deserve such treating I guess I should think a bit differently about other activities and somehow regard them as some kind of progress towards bigger goals, even if it’s not directly related to it. Sometimes I can focus on those things and delay skilling a bit, for example Buzz Grunt repairs cars in his free time, because he took a loan from shrubs to renovate his house and there’s still a lot to pay (I’m talking about Inge’s mortgage shrubs). Many pre-mades with a shrub loan repair cars, but not as many as him (I normally make them stop after maxing out the mechanical skill, but he keeps going, and rolls a want every day to do that).

I don't think I ever had a sim max all seven skills before. I usually only have them focused on skills that match their personality/interests or work. I find it kind of funny whenever Claudius tries to cook and ends up burning the spaghetti and imagine his husband telling him "Why don't you go fix the leaky shower, I'll get dinner ready for the kids." I like how my families usually end up complement each other like that even if I don't plan it that way. If someone in the family can't do something then someone else can. Though I can say from experience I find having all my sims do well at nearly everything does get dull to me so I do what I can to avoid it. For instance If my child sims don't roll the want to do homework often I simple won't have them do it until their somewhat close to danger of being taken away. Then I will have a parent or other family member use the "help with homework" interaction and say that's them putting their foot down.

Hobbies.
Vacations.
Run businesses.
Run charities.
More farming.
Knowledge Sims go to the Unemployment office in my hood one day a week to teach skills to other Sims.
Social Sims give Christmas and other welfare parties for the poor.
And all of them may adopt another kid or two.
Rich Sims have to be involved in charity - from stuffing their inventories with things they can give as gifts to using Pescado's money order to help when there is a family in real trouble.
Add a poor Sim to the family.

I must have the opposite playstyle. My sims can go for days without skilling until something reminds me to check their promotion needs. Even then not everyone goes to the top of a career. Plus, watching them sit there and read a book is so boring. I also like it that one person with an interest in cuisine might have the highest cooking points and some sims just stay bad at it. XD Because of my aging off playstyle I have skill limits for younger age groups and slower skilling, so I don't end up with 10 skill point toddlers. If they don't need a skill point or want one, then I usually say screw it and let them mess around. XD

Very few of my sims skill by reading a book. I have toddler toys covering each skill, then kids and teens go to my schools with other skill objects like golf putters and the chocolate maker and the new wooden puzzle. Soon I will have a learning centre for all ages.

My Unemployment Office is a learning center with all the relevant objects.
It also has hobby stations, so some Sims can even make some money there.
And it has a kitchen where the Sims working for charity serve meals to the others (who are supposed to be poor and unemployed ).
It also has computers, so they can look for jobs.
To keep this working, of course, the unemployed do not get jobs quickly

Of course you could just reset all the skills (as if they've lost their memory) and start all over again.

My playstyle is that the pixels don't actively skill unless it's one they need for work. Otherwise, they do as they like.

I suggested randomizing and they said that would feel unfair, removing them all would be worse.

I role play my sims. Some of them (usually Knowledge) are the type of person who would want to have their nose in a book skilling all the time. The biography of Oberon Summerdream in Veronaville seems to imply that he's like this (which is driving his neglected wife to become interested in the neighbors ). Others sims will have other priorities related either to their aspirations or their personality. Lazy and/or sloppy sims are likely to be less interested in constant skilling.

Sometimes OCD is helpful. I haz rules about skilling. If the sims don't fulfill those rules, they don't skill. They start every morning by being directed to fulfill a want (if possible) and gain a skill. This is what they are to do until their job ride comes. I max motives at 7 a.m. to make my life easier. I go down the line of everyone in the household and assign them their want and their skill. They do it or not. It's their life. If, for example, I've told Sarah to call a friend and study cooking, and later I find her relaxing on her bed daydreaming about the big promotion she's (not) going to get, that's her problem. She wants the promotion, she needs to take some responsibility for doing the work.

Lecture done, I await either notification of some skill completion or the arrival of transportation. If I get notification, I go to that sim and direct him to to satisfy his needs, starting food hunger and down the line. Anything along that line that needs taking care of, I send him off to do it. After I line up all the needs in his queue, I fill the rest with 1) something that needs to be completed for his LTW, 2) fulfillment of a want, and then 3) another skill. I do this for all the rest of the sims in the house at the same time. Then, they're on their own and I just watch, till someone goes to work or comes home, or I receive notification of another skill completed. Any sim who drops things from his queue is free range till it's time to line up more tasks. He's not done the work for his skill, he doesn't get a promotion. He dropped out of queue the shower task, he can just stink. Whatever.

Sometimes I hate it because I really want them to excel. I'm their mommy, after all. But it's their lives and they're grown little simmies. If they want to remain at the bottom rung of the job (which is sometimes good in Monopoly where jobs are assigned and most people hate their daily occupation), so be it.

You should max only a few skils based on their priotized personality trait and/or highest interest subject? For example, a sim who like fashion should either max cleaning, learn sewing (if you have Freetime) or just the barber badge by opening a store.

If goal-directed play is what you need, it sounds like it's time to experiment with new goals. You aren't at the mercy of the game for that - you can invent them. Define sets of sims who ought to be intimate friends and make it so, for instance.

Try to define what it is about gaining skills that is so satisfying for you, that the other game-set goals lack, and then perhaps you can find a way to add that quality to other activities, or invent a goal that scratches the same itch.

You don't necessarily have to choose their next interaction, you know. You can let them do for themselves for awhile, see if you can get engaged with a different part of the game.