What Sim character trait is most important to you, and why? «12...Next Go

Nate_Whiplash1

What is the one trait that you find yourself using the most, and how does it affect your gameplay?

Most of my games are just for fun and laughs, and so I love the "erratic" trait. I will place Blarffy, Drago and Uni at points in and around the property, and it's great fun to watch my Sim go out and tell them a story, try to cheer them up, or just yell at them. Or sometimes they will just tell a story to the weeds...

Calico45

Not to derail the topic, but I do not find any trait impactful enough to draw me to it. I typically use athletic, creative, and genius for story telling, though. (They are incredibly bland, I admit. They basically just give random emotion buffs, so are arguably some of the worst choices, but again they are for story telling. Pretty much all traits feel aesthetic only for story telling.)

I admit I like the ideas behind the childish trait for playing with toys, but it does not extend to more developed things like voidcritters and still seeing the monster under the bed. Erratic is probably one of the more interesting treats, but it still ends up as random emotion buffs a lot of the time. The talking to random things is a nice touch, but not really impactful in my gameplay.

Things like jealous and loves family I usually only notice as a negative emotion buff. Sometimes which make little to no sense when they occur. Same with snob, etc.

Honestly, that is part of why I feel we do not typically get too many new traits. They all function fairly similarly, so distinguishing them becomes difficult.

RememberJoy

I love to put the paranoid trait on my vampires, it just seems to fit them.

I also like squeamish, self-absorbed, and the new freegan trait.

SimAlexandria

Good and family oriented traits

StrawberryYogurt

I only use the traits as far as a technical thing most of the time. Like I may have sim who I have a set "story" for but the hobbies or career i want them to have is going to be my choice for the traits. Like I may be 'writing' a story about a girl backpacking and traveling from town to town to find herself but I chose genius as one of the traits just to build handiness skills. I have to make up my own personality and i chose traits based on skill/hobby most of the time.

SimsLady2000

I like the genius trait.

Nate_Whiplash1

Some of you said that you pick the traits to fit the role or scenario, and I agree (especially if your Sim is to have a career or major hobby).

I too like the squeamish trait, it can be fun. Childish is also fun with adult Sims, especially if you put a dollhouse in the front yard--sometimes they will break away from what they're doing to go play dolls lol

ChadSims2

Active and family oriented are my most used traits but sadly they really don't do anything to change game play.

So_Money

I usually hit randomize since it hardly makes a difference in gameplay.

popstarsley

I use a mix of Athletic, Good, Ambitious, Romantic, Cheerful, and Bro probably 90% of the time.

LiELF

I like most of the "negative" traits like Squeamish, self absorbed, paranoid, erratic, mean, etc. and I use the Evil trait a lot. I mean, it's not really that evil, unfortunately. But I still like it.

QueenSaraphine

I don’t really have a favourite, it all depends on what story I’m going for.

But for some reason I always struggle finding traits, none of them makes me feel like my sim is unique. And I don’t know what types of traits I’m looking for I just feel bored by the ones we have? God I sound so privileged, like materialistic sims complaining about the tv size when you already have the biggest tv 😅

Nate_Whiplash1

I'm really surprised that some of you said that the traits don't really make a difference in gameplay. Depending on the traits, I notice a marked difference. For instance, I gave one teen Sim the lazy trait--she was always taking naps, wouldn't do chores unless forced to, failed school, and hated exercise. And another I gave mean and hot-headed traits--he would pick a fight at the bar without any prompting from me.

Would you guys agree though that we should be able to have more traits? I don't think 5 (or 4 if it's a teen) is enough

Calico45

Nate_Whiplash1 wrote: »

I'm really surprised that some of you said that the traits don't really make a difference in gameplay. Depending on the traits, I notice a marked difference. For instance, I gave one teen Sim the lazy trait--she was always taking naps, wouldn't do chores unless forced to, failed school, and hated exercise. And another I gave mean and hot-headed traits--he would pick a fight at the bar without any prompting from me.

Would you guys agree though that we should be able to have more traits? I don't think 5 (or 4 if it's a teen) is enough

I don't know about your other Sims, but pretty much none of mine consistently clean without the neat trait, even with good character values. I guess it does as advertised and the dishes might be bugged again (no one washes dishes in my game autonomously if they have a queue of actions), but I have played a maxed out negative character values and negative trait Sim and it was not that impactful beyond the career mini choices which are still eh.

Also, if their energy is low ALL of my Sims choose to nap somewhere rather than sleep properly. I don't understand. I have to go wake them up and have them lie down properly. So, that experience does not feel unique to a lazy Sim. As for failing school... Well, I am not sure how you played but it is super easy not to if you maintain homework, etc. If you left it all autonomous I have A students that will not do homework autonomously.

Anyway, even those little things of neat Sims being clean and mean Sims doing mean things really do not have much of an impact because that is the extent that they go. They were based around emotions rather than overarching things. Compare it the Sims 3 personality system and traits to see how gameplay driven traits can be. 4's on the other hand... They all feel a lot like the same puppet that I have to imagine a personality for. I usually play large families and it is ridiculous how many similar actions I have to cancel between six Sims with wildly different traits (and more than your base CAS ones because I have played them and they have aspiration ones and different aspirations for the matter). The best thing I have found to make unique Sims is the vampire powers and weaknesses, because they all can have a unique mix.

musteni

The traits matter so little. I pick them based on what moodlets I want my sim to have. Maybe I want them to struggle a bit and feel emarrassed/sad/tense. For sadness I could pick vegetarian for example because they're easy to make sad. Another thing I consider is storytelling purposes and what suits their character. A trait that's most important to me is probably loner, because at least it works making sims tense or embarrassed.

Wintermute

Creative is my favorite, I suppose, as it makes building moneymaking skills like painting and writing progress so much more quickly. I also like Genius quite a bit, if for no other reason than I like intelligent people in real life.

DoloresGrey

I also randomize since the traits have no impact.

Cavapoo_King

Self absorbed ( itis funny. )

Camkat

I randomize them unless I've got a specific sim in mind and I'm creating them from scratch in CAS. However, I do agree that the traits mean and do very little. There are a few small interactions as mentioned but mostly they don't have much of an impact in their day to day lives. They're mostly there to remind me what personality they should have play out in my imagination.

All sims born in game get random. That's just my rule.

PieceOfPrincess

Foodie. I just can't stand poor quality meals.
But other than that I make everything at random or what goes best with the story lines.

CAPTAIN_NXR7

For my main guy I always make sure his Handiness skill is at level 10, plus I cheat and give him the 'Handy' reward trait so he can give most objects an instant upgrade (or repair) without needing to collect and use parts. I just need him to be technically advanced as he's always on some kind of action adventure. Which brings me to my favorite trait:

Loves the Outdoors.

I love the outdoors myself, so my sims tends to spend a lot of time in nature as well: in the jungle, walking/jogging around the neighborhood, or the woods, fishing and gathering stuff. I also use the 'Foraging' mod by Brazenlotus, which I think is a really great asset to my game play and I hope we get something like this in TS4 one day. It's great for my survivalists.

My 2nd favorite is Hothead and then usually something creative. I guess because I identify with those the most...although I never ever play as my sim-self. That's a whole other dimension I'm not willing to step into.

I do think that the traits/personality system needs a bit (huge amount) of work as it doesn't always function as something that should be more in-depth and unique to my sims.

Mareah

I do like some of them. My sim has the lazy trait and i noticed that makes her like napping while sitting on chairs lol. As for washing the dishes by herself, she does it sometimes and maybe even more than the others, all of them can be so lazy when it comes to dishes even if they dont have the trait. Some traits i dont really notice and can end up forgetting my sim has them.

Simpatsyann

LiELF wrote: »

I like most of the "negative" traits like Squeamish, self absorbed, paranoid, erratic, mean, etc. and I use the Evil trait a lot. I mean, it's not really that evil, unfortunately. But I still like it.

I have an evil sim married to an erratic sim and they’ve burned their relationship down to the ground and then built it back up again half a dozen times with no help from me 🤣

I have a mod that allows for more than three core traits and I enjoy setting them up to give my Sims what I consider a more well rounded personality. There’s a few I avoid unless it’s for specific reasons (like hates children or klepto) but others I enjoy a lot that others don’t seem to like, such as bro.

Nate_Whiplash1

While I will disagree that traits don't have an impact on gameplay, I will say that they should be stronger, and have more influence on the actions they take

An evil sim married to an erratic sim--I'll bet that's entertaining to watch!

AnnLee87

I usually pick the social ones. Outgoing is the most used for me, then cheerful or romantic and creative or genius. I don't like what most of the others do. Some traits have annoyances or ticks that bug me. I don't want my Sims to get tense because they need to dance or program or whatever. If I am creating a Sim for a rag to riches I give them loves outdoors because they are going to be outside for a while and then a micro home and so on.

Babykittyjade

I mainly use all the negative evil traits for non main character sims just because I want conflict and drama, though it doesn't make a big difference I still use them.

For my main sims they usually end up with the childish trait probably because I'm childish myself 😅😅😅 love toys, games, dollhouses etc etc so I love to see sims doing the same and enjoying it. I wish they would extend on this trait more. They cannot do enough childish things.
Hotheaded Is a close second just because I like to see them get bent out of shape 😂
And paranoid is my last favorite. Love the idles and buffs and how they feel safer in basements lol