Close-Knit and People Person Lifestyles: Let's Talk

Keidra

(Sorry if this isn't in the right place but it's not really a discussion, so I feel like it better belongs here.)

-lies down-

I get the idea of this one, but this is sort of one of those situations where it feels like, Hmm, this is like real-life, but in a game it doesn't really hold up. Four is the threshold for these. Less than that, you're getting Close-Knit, more, you're getting People Person. I have two problems with this.

Firstly, four is a really low number. I have more than four friends. I hate people. I REALLY hate people. It sort of feels like CKPP is tuned to make every Sim in the world that leaves his house at least once a week into a people person because it is SO easy to get. It is WAY too easy, especially with how well Sims get along in general, but that's a topic covered in a million other places.

Secondly, it counts family members. -holds head- Re-read that. It counts family members. This feels like a real hard smack in the face to legacy and legacy-style players, because if your Sim has two parents and one sibling that they live with, chances are, they're friends with them. That's just how the game works. And that's 3 friends right there, boom.

I have a large family. I get along with all of them, even the ones that really grate my nerves, because that's what family does (I'm Mexican... yeah). I'm not going to ruin my entire life because one of my 12 cousins annoys me, but that doesn't make me into people. I still hate people, you know?

So two suggestions here. One, review the number of friends it takes to reach PP and maybe think about raising it, because it's just skewed really badly in PP's favour right now. Two, please stop counting family in this somehow. Please. I don't want a whole family of people persons by default just because their parents decided to have three kids and not two. Thanks.

Oh, one more thing, the lifestyles themselves make a distinction between friend and good friend but there is no real distinction in the game as to what lends to what. I wonder if maybe good friend shouldn't count for PP either. Having a strong friendship built over a long period of time with someone doesn't really make you into people, either. I think maybe this one's root issue is oversimplifying this. Anyway, this one was just a stray thought I don't have anything solid for.

Auroraskies

I agree, especially about counting family, and also children, which I find creepy.

I tested out the pack and world in a new save, and had my lone household sim only socialize with their lover and the old couple that are premades in Mount Komorebi, which got them the Close Knit lifestyle.

Story Progression gave the opportunity to give the old couple advise on having a baby, which I said yes to, to see if it would happen; it did.

When my sim were at their house, helping keeping the baby fed and clean and amused, they reached friendship level with the baby, and as a result had a lot of angst moodlets adhering to the lifestyle and subsequently lost it.

A friendship is mutual affection between equals. Feelings of care and warmth are not the same. I find it creepy when the distinction between adults and underage are not recognized. I know the game call them all friends, which is fine, as long as it doesn't start a whole identity crisis within the adult sim who then cannot 'balance' their lifestyle, as the moodlets said, among other things.

Chazzzy

Once I play with my Sims for a while, they always get the People Person. One person got Indoorsy and Techie but that’s it. I haven’t seen anyone with any of the other lifestyles. I sorta wish they were easier to get so I could try them all out.

somewhsome

I fully agree. Four friends and you are a people person?? It's not a lot for real life, and for Sims it's a ridiculously small amount. Especially since I can't play with mods that slow down relationship gain, because they conflict with sentiments.

AyKooChao

This is exactly why I’m disabling them when I get the pack. I mostly play with larger households, and I don’t want all my Sims to be people people just because they get along with their parents and two siblings.

They should change this. I think Close-Knit should require up to 5 good friends with over 80% friendship (close enough to be best friends), while a People Person should need at least 10-15 friends (for reference, the third milestone of the Friend of the World aspiration requires 12) but no more than three good friends. These should only include unrelated Sims.

Wonder if someone could make a mod for this? (Not that anyone should have to.)

Auroraskies

Yes, family relations should only count if chosen to be Best Friend Forever.

izecson

Ok I get it you hate people.. lol jk

Back on topic, just like I mentioned in another post. People Person is too common lifestyle and very easy to acquire, I don't think your sims need to be friend with another sims for the point to counts, even an acquintance with some of them is enough and this turn to be quite troublesome because Sims in Sims 4 tend to devalue a privacy where they just decide to join a conversation no matter whether they already know your sims or not, even when your sims already have someone with them and this in turn make those sims an acquintance of your sims.

AprilDawn

I agree - my sims couple both got close knit - they were best friends with another couple so all was good, but then just accidently getting friends from being out - they both got very strong tense moodlets for having too many friends - the only way to get rid of it was to actually use mean interactions on the accidental friendships until they went down to acquaintances! I then realized they counted family members so if they have children - they will be tense constantly and lose the close knit eventually. And what of a family that has many children - they would either never be able to get close knit or they would have to not like some of their children or each other!

Auroraskies

Yes, and you can't be mean to babies in the game. (Which I like).

And while a good method to correct a mistake, it is not that fun to have to do.
It's not really a lifestyle if making new friends are that easy either; and that the lifestyle disappear so quickly if acted once or twice in opposition to.

Keidra

I am testing a mod for it at the moment. My skills aren't good enough to filter for family, but I think it should only count friends for pp and for testing it's at 14 but I'm thinking 8 or 10.

Anyway, I don't really like having to mod a game to enjoy it, either. So I'm hoping EA thinks about this one. It just annoys me because most of my sims have family members, it's almost impossible for me to prevent them from getting people person, and for many it makes no sense. Many of the other ones are also hard to unlock in my game, but I consider that a different issue.

Mareah

It would be better if they just upped the number from four because like you said that is too low, and then counting family wont be an issue too since you still need to befriend lots of others as well. I am still thinking of a number, how about 15? it might sound hard but if your sim has a bigger family then it would be even easier.

Keidra

I don't think family should count even if they up the number. I feel like people person should be something that's deliberately pursued, and counting family members feels like cheating it because it gives a notable disadvantage to those that don't do family play. Not counting family and keeping the number around established levels (Friend of the World's, for instance) is the only way I can think of that will make it fair to both kinds of players.

pearlbh

I agree completely. I have a loner Sim who is also a people person. Four is ridiculous, and I agree, they should up that and/or not count family.

QueenMercy

Honestly it just shouldn’t count the people they just live with either. “Wow, you don’t have an bad relationship with your housemates? You’re such a socialite.” It sucks that this lifesyle seems like one you’d have to try to avoid. Like what a pain for anybody who kept the friends they made for that child aspiration.

Here’s a mod that raises the cap to 10: https://www.patreon.com/posts/se-people-person-44304992

PrivateSim_1

I agree with you all. I currently have a mother and father sim in emotional meltdown because they have four children, and like them. They are climbing the walls with stress due to losing their close knit status. Previously I was annoyed enough by every Sim ending up a people person but this is beyond ridiculous.
It's a pity that EA never listens nor learns from their mistakes.

telemwill

The close knit lifestyle doesn't bother me as much. My Sim who got this and later lost it was only stressed for a bit , and when she lost it, the message stated that maybe it was time to move on to something else (better?).

It does bug me when loners get the people person lifestyle because they either have a large household or talked to one person outside of it. This one definitely needs balance.

FanPhoria

I completely agree. Are there any mods to fix this?

Edit: It's occurred to me as well how odd it is that there's no space in between the 2 lifestyles--3 or less friends is close knit, 3 or more is a people person. And I agree completely that 4 seems WAY to low for a people person, but also, why isn't there something in the middle that's just...normal? And doesn't earn a lifestyle? Like, I'd be more okay with "close knit" being as low as 3, tho I wouldn't mind it being as high as 5 or 6 either (not counting family and household), but if it is at 3 that doesn't mean people person has to be triggered at 4. Maybe people person is earned when you have 5, 6, 7, maybe even 8 or 9 friends (outside of family and household), and then if you have whatever is between you just wouldn't earn a social lifestyle. That would make more sense to me. Not everyone is one or the other, and having the break be at 3/4 with no space in between doesn't really make sense to me.

Anyway, just some thoughts I had. Again: anybody modded for this yet????

Okay, sorry to edit agin and keep harping on this, but I'm just super tired of my loner sims getting the people person lifestyle after making a 4th friend--especially when 2 of them are usually Father Winter & the Flower Bunny (side note--shouldn't talking to the flower bunny be greyed out as a holiday task for loners anyway??) I really think these social lifestyles need a total revamp.

First, family members, household members, & special NPCs like the flower bunny and father winter (and I would argue the hermit in granite falls as well) should never count toward the friend count for the purposes of lifestyles.

And second, 3 is really far too low a number for how the sims works, and I still think there should be some space between the 2 lifestyles as well. So, for new numbers I propose (and these of course would not include those I suggested should be excluded, so bear that in mind):

Close knit would be five or fewer--still pretty low, but a little more reasonable considering how easy it is to accidentally make friends in the game from any old thing.

People person wouldn't kick in until somewhere between ten to fifteen friends--less than what's needed for the friend of the world aspiration, but still pretty up there. No one with 4 friends should be considered a "people person."

And then the space between (6 to 9 or 14) wouldn't earn you a lifestyle at all.

I also kind of think other things should be tuned to take into account, like how often a sim introduces themselves, initiates conversations, throws/attends parties, plays group games involving 2pr more other sims, and makes call/accepts calls to chat, that sort of thing. But if that's too hard, I think the above basic changes would be enough to make it not a complete farce.