Forum Announcement, Click Here to Read More From EA_Cade.
Breaking Down Job Types
stilljustme2
Posts: 25,082 Member
Seems to be a bit of confution about the different ways of making money in the Sims. I'm going to try and give my analysis of the different work types -- if anyone has any corrections, feel free to chime in.
Traditional Jobs
Set Work Hours: Yes
Homework (tasks to do outside of work): Yes
Pension (on retirement when you hit Elder): Yes
Categories: Base Game careers (including Athletic and Business)
These are the standard jobs that shipped with the game (plus two that were patched in later). You go to work, you come home, you work on skills or do other tasks, you take care of needs and get a good night's sleep for the next day. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Active Jobs
Set Work Hours: Yes
Homework:: ?
Pension: Sometimes
Categories: Get To Word jobs (Doctor, Scientist, Law Enforcement), Acting
With these, you still have set work hours, but you have a choice of following your Sim to work and guiding them through a series of tasks, or you can send them on their own while you focus on another Sim in your household. I don't remember if there are tasks you have to do after work or only if you send them on their own.
Acting is a little bit different. Like the active careers, you can follow your Sim to the studio and have them do a series of interactions or send them alone. But there's no set salary -- they get paid by how well (or not) they perform their tasks. And there are assignments that are done when they aren't on set -- anything from practice guitar (for a musical role) or work on certain types of acting or hang out with the co-stars and director.
Semi-active (work from home)
Set Work Hous: Sometimes
Homework: Sometimes
Pension: Yes
Categories: CL jobs (Critic, Politician, Social Media), Gardening (Seasons), Military (Strangerville)
These sort of combine the first two categories. You can either send your Sim to a traditional rabbit hole, or you can have them work from home. If you choose to have your Sim go to work, they'll head off-screen to the rabbit hole, work the standard work hours, then come home to an at-home assignment. Or you can have them work at home and they'll get one or two tasks they have to perform before the start of the next work day; for politicians it might be to recruit voters, for military March Around or Give Orders, etc. Once you're done with your assigned task that's it for the day -- you have the rest of the day free to build necessary skills or just go do something fun. But you still have the rabbit hole option if you just need to ditch your Sim for the day to spend time on other household members.
Gig-based employment:
Set work hours: No
Homework: No
Pension: No
Categories: Freelance (upcoming patch)
This is a "pay as you go" system. You do your stuff, you get paid (or not) and such. Like the acting career you choose the job you want, and your pay is determined by well (or poorly) you perform those jobs. If you want to take a few days off to explore the jungles of Selvadorada or do some fishing in Granite Falls, no problem, just do it. You can even still make some money while on vacation -- pack along your laptop or digital sketch pad and take a couple of gigs when you've got some downtime after your day of leisure. No boss yelling at you. It's not as secure as a regular job -- there's always the chance your work will be rejected, or you might have to edit it to make it a bit better. And with no pension you might have to work till Grimmy comes to get you rather than enjoy a relaxing elderhood with the grandkids.
Ministry of Labor
Set Work Hours: No
Homework: No
Pension: No
This is for every other way of making money that doesn't fall into one of the existing categories. Maybe you want to be an Indiana Joese who makes money by finding and selling relics, crystals, metals etc. Or maybe you want to spend your days fishing and selling your catch. Or just write books or paint without the pressure of an actual job or even a gig. This at least gives your Sim a job-title so when they're talking to new Sims they don't hve to admit that they're just a lazy bum, but they sound Important.
Traditional Jobs
Set Work Hours: Yes
Homework (tasks to do outside of work): Yes
Pension (on retirement when you hit Elder): Yes
Categories: Base Game careers (including Athletic and Business)
These are the standard jobs that shipped with the game (plus two that were patched in later). You go to work, you come home, you work on skills or do other tasks, you take care of needs and get a good night's sleep for the next day. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Active Jobs
Set Work Hours: Yes
Homework:: ?
Pension: Sometimes
Categories: Get To Word jobs (Doctor, Scientist, Law Enforcement), Acting
With these, you still have set work hours, but you have a choice of following your Sim to work and guiding them through a series of tasks, or you can send them on their own while you focus on another Sim in your household. I don't remember if there are tasks you have to do after work or only if you send them on their own.
Acting is a little bit different. Like the active careers, you can follow your Sim to the studio and have them do a series of interactions or send them alone. But there's no set salary -- they get paid by how well (or not) they perform their tasks. And there are assignments that are done when they aren't on set -- anything from practice guitar (for a musical role) or work on certain types of acting or hang out with the co-stars and director.
Semi-active (work from home)
Set Work Hous: Sometimes
Homework: Sometimes
Pension: Yes
Categories: CL jobs (Critic, Politician, Social Media), Gardening (Seasons), Military (Strangerville)
These sort of combine the first two categories. You can either send your Sim to a traditional rabbit hole, or you can have them work from home. If you choose to have your Sim go to work, they'll head off-screen to the rabbit hole, work the standard work hours, then come home to an at-home assignment. Or you can have them work at home and they'll get one or two tasks they have to perform before the start of the next work day; for politicians it might be to recruit voters, for military March Around or Give Orders, etc. Once you're done with your assigned task that's it for the day -- you have the rest of the day free to build necessary skills or just go do something fun. But you still have the rabbit hole option if you just need to ditch your Sim for the day to spend time on other household members.
Gig-based employment:
Set work hours: No
Homework: No
Pension: No
Categories: Freelance (upcoming patch)
This is a "pay as you go" system. You do your stuff, you get paid (or not) and such. Like the acting career you choose the job you want, and your pay is determined by well (or poorly) you perform those jobs. If you want to take a few days off to explore the jungles of Selvadorada or do some fishing in Granite Falls, no problem, just do it. You can even still make some money while on vacation -- pack along your laptop or digital sketch pad and take a couple of gigs when you've got some downtime after your day of leisure. No boss yelling at you. It's not as secure as a regular job -- there's always the chance your work will be rejected, or you might have to edit it to make it a bit better. And with no pension you might have to work till Grimmy comes to get you rather than enjoy a relaxing elderhood with the grandkids.
Ministry of Labor
Set Work Hours: No
Homework: No
Pension: No
This is for every other way of making money that doesn't fall into one of the existing categories. Maybe you want to be an Indiana Joese who makes money by finding and selling relics, crystals, metals etc. Or maybe you want to spend your days fishing and selling your catch. Or just write books or paint without the pressure of an actual job or even a gig. This at least gives your Sim a job-title so when they're talking to new Sims they don't hve to admit that they're just a lazy bum, but they sound Important.
Check out my Gallery! Origin ID: justme22
Fun must be always -- Tomas Hertl (San Jose Sharks hockey player)
Fun must be always -- Tomas Hertl (San Jose Sharks hockey player)
2
Comments
A thing I noticed about police officers is that they cannot get promoted while getting sent to work on their own. I sent one who was ready for promotion (full bar and all requirements fulfilled) to work on his own for a couple of days in a row and he never got promoted. Might be a glitch, though.
Thanks for the input! Do the active careers have other requirements that need to be met, like certain skill levels? I've noticed in other jobs that I'll have a full bar but if I haven't fulfilled the other requirements (like reaching a certainl level of Charisma in the Military career) I won't get promoted.
Fun must be always -- Tomas Hertl (San Jose Sharks hockey player)
It's basically just a placeholder type job "title" -- if you play rotationally it should keep your other households from being pulled into NPC jobs like mixologist or food stall workers (in the early days of the game, my YA Sim who had just moved out of the house was out looking for Mr. Right (or at least Mr. Right Now) and her mom was the mixologist at the venue which was a bit of a romance killer.) So you could have your stay at home parent have a "job title" of Domestic Engineer. I think it was added with the GF patch.
Fun must be always -- Tomas Hertl (San Jose Sharks hockey player)
I think some people commented that when they retired from acting they didn't get a pension, so I was basing my thoughts on that. Plus, I think pension is based on the salary/job level you were at when you retired, and gigs can really vary in pay so it could be hard to determine a pension.
Fun must be always -- Tomas Hertl (San Jose Sharks hockey player)