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What does #FixThePersonalities look like to you?

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  • PlumbeebPlumbeeb Posts: 619 Member
    Adding more traits in general
    I'm open to all kinds of personality improvements, but the most important thing for me is more traits to choose from.

    I think there should be a minimum of 2 or 3 traits added with each expansion and game pack. Perhaps 1 for stuff packs, depending on the theme.
    Sims 4 Wish List:
    • > Option to toggle on/off random townie generation.
    • > Turn vacation worlds into residential worlds.
    • > Option to purchase separate worlds or a world pack.
    • > Sleepwear kit.
    • > Atomic age kit.
  • RememberJoyRememberJoy Posts: 1,138 Member
    A combination of 2 or more above (please explain in comment)
    Adding more trait slots
    - This one isn't as big a deal for me since technically sims can already have more than 3 traits earned through completing aspirations and buying them with the points they earn. As there are currently not that many traits to choose from, I'd only want this expanded if they also expand the amount of traits they give us.

    Adding a personality point system like Sims 2
    - This one interests me and I'd love to see what they could do with a system like this, but I do think it's a bit ambitious to add to the game at this point. Maybe a future game.

    Adding a myersbrigg/ennegram/personality test system
    - As above, adding a personality test system at this point would be difficult, but I honestly would love to one day have such a system in a sims game.

    Adding more traits in general
    - More expansive traits, yes. Traits like child of the ocean and green fiend are too specific to the expansion they come with, but traits such as paranoid or self-absorbed stand better on their own and I'd love to see more of them.

    Not making emotions as powerful
    - I like the emotions, but they could use some adjusting. I am currently using the mod Meaningful Stories along with mods that change some of the emotions such as feeling board instead of tense with low fun and embarrassed instead of tense for low hygiene. If they could just include these in the game, I could lighten my mod folder a bit.

    Improving the moodlets in some manner
    - I suppose this fits in with the above, since all of the moodlets are tied to emotions.

    Improved whims
    - Whims are fairly useless at the moment and I never use them. An overhaul of this system connecting them better with traits and other possible systems (see below) would breathe new life into the game and I would start to incorporate them into my stories again.

    Other
    - What I would really like to see is a series of systems either in updates or in new expansions that would give you more control over what your sims do autonomously: hobbies, likes/dislikes, fears, etc.
    - A new fear emotion would also help keep sims from just feeling tense all of the time and could be introduced with a new fear system. Instead of almost every sim getting tense during a thunderstorm, sims with the fear of thunderstorms would be afraid and run to hide under the covers or in a closet. Sims who fear vampires would faint or run away when seeing one feed, sims who fear water would never enter pools or the ocean on their own and might be more likely to drown. A system like this could more easily be added to the current game as it wouldn't require changing as much as a new points system would.
    - A hobby system would basically be the same thing as a likes/dislikes system and would allow you to pick which skills/activities your sims would pursue/avoid autonomously. With this system you could select three skills a sim would do on their own (and maybe gain more fun from), and a couple skills they would avoid doing. The only problem here is this may clash with the hobby traits, but I bet they could find a work-around.
  • CynnaCynna Posts: 2,369 Member
    edited August 2020
    I would love to see the return of interests. It would be nice if interests were influenced by magazines, books, television, conversations, and performing certain activities. Interests should wane over time if a Sim doesn't foster it.

    In order to encourage more individuality, in CAS, it would be great if players could roll for at least three interests that a Sim would be averse to. When a Sim starts out averse to a particular subject, passive means of gaining interest (television, conversations) won't work for them. Instead, they'll actively avoid the subject or activity. Changing their mind should take a concerted effort and, even then, they won't love a subject, but they'll learn not to mind it so much.

    A system like that could make Sim interactions much more interesting.

    I would also love to see an attraction system. What a person does and does not admire in a potential partner could reveal a lot about their own personality. In combination with a system for interests, life, love, marriage, and child-rearing could become much more compelling.
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  • DrWrightDrWright Posts: 29 Member
    I want to make characters from TV, books, and movies. The personality system needs at least enough detail that I can create reasonable personality and have it behave like it might from it's source character.
  • TamakiSakura84TamakiSakura84 Posts: 543 Member
    Other (Please explain in comment)
    First of all, we need a fear emotion. Then I'd start adding in ideas that worked in TS2 and TS3.

    TS2:
    • wants & fears
    • fury
    • chemistry (turn-on/turn-off)
    • memories

    TS3:
    • wider variety of traits
    • traits actually influence behavior
    • favorites

    I'd make aspirations work similar to TS2, except you would choose them like in TS3.
  • DevSims91DevSims91 Posts: 469 Member
    A combination of 2 or more above (please explain in comment)
    I loved sims 2 where you had personality points and aspirations I felt like I could actually make different sims I’d of liked more slots you could put the personality points into and more aspirations (but adding secondary aspirations was a game changer for me).

    I honestly loved sims 3’s traits and aspiration system that was almost perfect (my sims always got the same goals and I hated that once you completed an aspiration for your sim you couldn’t pick a new one.

    A combo of the sims 2 system and the sims 3 system would be ideal, also overall the emotions please.
  • texxx78texxx78 Posts: 5,657 Member
    Not making emotions as powerful
    For me it means making emotions less powerfull in a way in which the sims autonomous acts are more related to their traits than to their emotions.

    I think that we, real people, don't act the same when we have the same emotion. For example, when a gloomy person is angry he/she will act differently than when a mean person is angry.

    In sum, i think that traits should be more important than emotions. But the game has that upside down imo. Atm trait behaviours lead to emotions and all sims deal with emotions in the same way...
  • IvyeyedIvyeyed Posts: 358 Member
    A combination of 2 or more above (please explain in comment)
    Adding more trait slots

    Once you improve traits to mean something, sure, but traits need to do more to impact autonomy and AI decisions instead of just manipulating emotion before more of them is all that useful.

    Adding a personality point system like Sims 2


    This I would love, though it feels more like a solution for the next game than this one. It would be hard to add this back in now without it making a bit of a mess with current saves. I’ve always thought the best system would be a combo of traits and points/sliders. You have points for things that are going to applicable to everyone - everyone falls somewhere on a scale of cleanliness or boldness or flirtiness - that will apply to almost any life. Then you can pick traits that are outside those universal spectrums - stuff like Never Nude from TS3 or phobias or general quirks.

    Adding a myersbrigg/ennegram/personality test system

    I’ve never found these useful in real life, but as far a gaming systems go, I think they could have some applications I wouldn’t mind. Feels like it would be easier to add in to the current game than personality points, though I don’t know why.

    Adding more traits in general

    Again, you have to make the traits actually matter to a Sims AI first.

    Not making emotions as powerful

    It’s not so much about their power as that they’re doing all the lifting instead of traits. Right now most traits are more along the lines of “This trait causes an emotion to happen more often or under specific circumstances and then the emotion determines the Sims AI choices”. Since all emotions are universal, it makes all sims feel the same. Instead it should be “this trait causes them to react to this emotion like this”, so the emotion is a factor, but the trait makes the choices based on that factor. Basically right now it goes Trait -> Emotion -> Decision, and it should go Emotion -> Trait -> Decision.

    Improving the moodlets in some manner

    PLEASE. People have already brought up Meaningful Stories, which is a great start. Changing their power and how quickly they shift. But like traits they should affect AI directly, certain (not all! but some!) moodlets should as well. Like if the “grieving” moodlet is there, even if they’re not sad, there should be autonomous actions taken with that. And they should interact with traits as well. Sims with different traits should make different choices in response to a moodlet just like they should make different choices in response to an emotion. The traits should be different in how moodlets and emotions matter to that sim.

    Improved whims

    PLEASE. Individualized by traits and also based on relevant current circumstances!

    Other

    Memories. Not just for us to look at, but that matter to the sim.
    Sometimes I stream.

    This EA account is shared between two longtime roommates. The one most likely to be writing here is me, the taller of the roommates, whose opinions do not always represent the opinions of the shorter roommate.
  • DuskregnDuskregn Posts: 40 Member
    A combination of 2 or more above (please explain in comment)
    More trait slots bc nobody's personality can be reduced to just three shallow traits, more/better traits bc "neat, bro, loves the outdoors" isn't a personality, yeet certain traits like loves outdoors/cats/dogs etc into a preferences system like they should've been, and trait weights/sliders like ts2 so i can differentiate between eg. a normal loner sim and a social anxiety sim
  • kemowerykemowery Posts: 370 Member
    A combination of 2 or more above (please explain in comment)
    I'm not saying they should just bring back the personality system from TS3 ... but basically they should. There's probably a few things they should change. I was messing around with TS3 the other day and while I'm not about to go back to it from TS4, I really liked picking my sim's personality. Lots of traits, the ability to choose favorite music, food, and color, etc. Throw in a "choose what you're attracted to" feature like in TS2, and they'd be on the right track for sure.

    I'd also like, as long as we can pick favorites for our characters, the ability to choose--or maybe they're included as part of some traits--favorite or disfavored activities. So maybe the computer is the highest fun item on my lot, but one of my sims is a technophobe, so it has a fun penalty for them, or maybe they're a runner, so if they find themselves with nothing to do and enough energy on their meter, they'll consider going for a jog to be a way more fun option than playing blicbloc. (And while hydration is important, only the most hydration obsessed sim should want to get a glass of water as often as the sims do.)
  • BluelleBluelle Posts: 327 Member
    A combination of 2 or more above (please explain in comment)
    More traits, like all the ones we had in TS3. Remember brave and rebellious? Unlucky?

    Wants and fears, turn-ons and turn-offs, zodiac signs (just for fun, they don't need to impact personality, it just adds detail) favorite color, favorite food, favorite music genre. All these things make a sim more unique.

    The default emotion should be 'fine' and not 'happy'. I've always hated that.

    Improved emotions. In particular the rankings of emotions. By that I mean that a family member's death shouldn't give the 'sad' moodlet for only a couple of days and it shouldn't be outweighed by some positive buff like 'good environment'.

    A better memory system. For example again, a family member's death should leave a dark imprint on a sim's memoryline. Now and again they could get a sad buff of something like 'remembering a passed loved one' or something. Like, traumatic and sad things (as well as happy things) shouldn't be erased in a couple of days. The sims should remember big moments.

    Realistic reactions. Especially towards cheating and divorce. A kid whose parents are getting a divorce shouldn't be just hopping along like nothing's happening, they should be affected by the situation. A sim who catches their partner cheating on them should be furious and/or sad and refuse to talk to the cheating sim for some time or something, rather than just forgetting about it in 2 seconds. My sim cheated and was able to charm their partner back in a matter of minutes.

    Speaking of wants and fears, I think they should replace the whims. In TS2 they were like, 'cheat on your spouse' or 'have a fight with someone' whereas in TS4 it's like 'buy a chair' or 'compliment someone'. It's so shallow and boring and does nothing for impact, meaning or story telling.
  • BluelleBluelle Posts: 327 Member
    A combination of 2 or more above (please explain in comment)
    Also -- the traits we've got in TS4 are lowkey highkey kinda lacking?

    Like why is vegetarian a trait? Being a vegetarian is not a personality trait, hello?

    Neither is cat lover or dog lover. We've only got 3 slots so I personally believe that being a lover of cats or dogs should be reserved for 'hidden' traits, like the ones you learn while in game from behaviour. So should bookworm and dance machine.

    These are some of my most memorable traits from TS3:
    - Adventurous
    - Over emotional
    - Unlucky
    - Easily impressed
    - Excitable
    - Coward and brave!!!
    - Absent minded
    - Insane. Oh god, this one was so funny.

    'Creative' wasn't an umbrella term for all things artsy in TS3. We had 'artistic' for painters and 'virtuoso' for musicians.

    What happened to TS4? Why did they do what they did when it could've been so much better? It's been almost 7 years for Christ's sake.
  • Remy_GenevaRemy_Geneva Posts: 142 Member
    Other (Please explain in comment)
    I chose other because I think it's unlikely that systems from previous games will make a return. If they did I think they would be heavily modified to fit with how TS4 works now after so many packs and updates.

    The real problem with the sims in TS4 is that everything is just thrown under traits. Couple this with having only 3 trait slots, and there not being many traits to chose from. It becomes difficult to define each sim. It isn't reasonable to expect characters to be distinct (as per EA advertising) when personality traits, interests, other lifestyle stuff are just smushed together.

    So if I choose hobby or lifestyle based traits like, cat lover, foodie etc I have little or no room for traits that define who the sim is as opposed to what the sim likes to do.

    Here are the things I think are needed to improve the game.

    likes/dislikes and hobbies/interests
    The club system already does something like this. Maybe it could be used for individual sims to define their behaviours (which is something I think we really need).

    attraction system and friendship system
    Attraction could be based on likes/dislikes, hobbies and physical characteristics like beards, glasses etc. An opposites attract type of thing would be fun too, where sims could woo other sims even if they are opposites. Friendship could be the same but without the physical stuff.

    more trait slots
    this alone won't fix the problem

    cas relationships
    uncle, aunt, step sibling/parent, cousin, fiance, custodian/gaurdian etc

    emotions
    Tone these down, add in afraid/scared/fear, the make emotions not be something that just switch at the drop of a hat. keep them mainly neutral unless something important is happening.. Honestly, I don't like the emotion system I thing it's a good example of an idea thats better in theory than in practice.

    whims
    At any given time sims will be in certain states like; cooking, swimming, on a date, painting etc. Each of these states should determine what type of whims can appear. a random selection of whims is fine as long as they are directly tied wto what sims are doing at the current time. In my opinion this game has a bunch of oversights and this is a glaring one. Hiding whims solves nothing.

    memories
    I'm not 100% sure but, I think they mentioned relationship statuses between sims. This isnt directly memories but I think it's better than what we currently have.

    story progression
    They seem to be trying it out in some form with the lastest expansion.

    I know there are many people who are happy with the current state of the sims so hopefully the developers can create a dynamic system that does not force players to play one way.
  • TheSpotted_CTheSpotted_C Posts: 293 Member
    A combination of 2 or more above (please explain in comment)
    An actual constructive feedback thread! Lol.

    I don't have a problem with things as they are now in Sims 4 - nothing overrides my own creative construction of who my sims are and I don't get bored easily. That being said, I'd be down with improving whims and making traits have more of an impact on emotions/actions in game (not too much, just a little - I don't want sims making a bunch of moves that I don't want them to make). I like that they consolidated traits in Sims 4 and think having only 3 traits would be fine to most people if they did what @Camkat suggested here:
    Camkat wrote: »
    We need emotions to not override traits in all instances. In some instances it does make sense, but not for all cases so the emotions need a lot of tuning. A focused room shouldn't override grief of a spouse dying. Emotions should be more connected to traits rather than objects. Objects can still play a role, but it plays too much of the role right now.


    Traits need to carry more weight for everything. My creative sim should go to the easel to fill their fun need, not the video games on the computer. The video games are appropriate fun for a geek sim though. That's not to say they can't have fun doing other things, but they should have more fun doing something that is related to their traits. Same with sims interacting with other sims with opposite traits to theirs. Everyone shouldn't always just love everyone else. People don't get along sometimes. That's a fact. I'd like my sims to have that in their lives too.

    This would be great, and same thing with whims - all sims shouldn't just randomly roll that they want to play in the rain or rake leaves because it happens to be raining or it's fall. They can, but maybe tweak how often this happens based on their traits. Goofballs and childish sims should be more likely to roll play in the rain. Neat sims should want to rake leaves in the fall. Lazy sims should never lol.



  • gothprincess4evergothprincess4ever Posts: 2,130 Member
    A combination of 2 or more above (please explain in comment)
    Pretty much a combination of the Personality system of The Sims 2 (Wants and Fears and so on) and deeper, more meaningful traits.
  • ScobreScobre Posts: 20,665 Member
    edited September 2020
    A combination of 2 or more above (please explain in comment)
    Fixing emotions to be overlapping like this:
    Inside-Out-Emotion-Combos.png

    Five trait slots, inherited traits from being a hybrid supernatural Sim, and I actually preferred the Sims 1 and 2 personality point system.

    Having a memory system and having it effect their personalities would be nice to have too. Also preferences with love and friends would be nice to have too.
    “Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.” –Helen Keller
  • Winifred_WillowWinifred_Willow Posts: 423 Member
    Adding a personality point system like Sims 2
    I would love to see sims autonomously behave like their traits: snobby be snobby, mean be mean, evil be evil and so on with related idle behavior. It's nice and all with the topics related to a sim's traits but that doesn't count as a personality. The player has to pretend their sims have personalities and there is no spontaneity and surprise with the game play. I remember playing TS3 and my sim who was a diva started acting like one and it was hilarious. Half the time I didn't even have to direct the household I was playing because they were just doing their thing and being entertaining. Also it would be nice if the sims with different traits would be drawn to related items for their fun needs instead of everyone in the household heading to the stereo or computer every single time. Don't get me wrong, I love the game but it needs some serious tweaking.
  • tatselktatselk Posts: 519 Member
    A combination of 2 or more above (please explain in comment)
    Adding more trait slots + Adding more traits in general + Improved whims + Not making emotions as powerful. Basically, the Sims' personalities should outweigh their moods in determining their behaviour (eg whims that the Sims get, how the Sims react to events/other Sims).
  • blockhart93blockhart93 Posts: 56 Member
    edited September 2020
    A combination of 2 or more above (please explain in comment)
    I like the idea of a Myers Briggs personality system. That would be really cool; I also want to see more traits and improved traits. The traits actually did something in sims 3 in sims 4 they seem alil watered down, but I think that's because obviously with this game they tried to make the sims more "life-like" by giving them powerful emotions. But emotions + personality + specific interest would be way better
  • BeardedgeekBeardedgeek Posts: 5,520 Member
    A combination of 2 or more above (please explain in comment)
    Better emotions (and Fear) plus mandatory negative trait(s) that actually matter.
    Origin ID: A_Bearded_Geek
  • amberlunezamberlunez Posts: 52 Member
    A combination of 2 or more above (please explain in comment)
    I feel like the traits are very one-note. I find that after playing for years, I automatically give most sims the same traits over and over and over, because half of the traits end up either being a nuisance or being pointless. More than anything, the traits don't currently give the sims personalities - they just change their moods and whims. They don't really affect anything in a meaningful way. I would think that a sim who is family-oriented, for example, would be a little sadder for a little longer when their parent, like, dies in front of them. I say keep the traits, but add more to it - zodiac signs was a cute touch! Doesn't have to be that, but something that gives them actual personality. Likes and dislikes, turn-ons and turn-offs, personality traits by degree (kinda like they used to have, but not with such a limitation on points). It would be cool to be able to add points to each trait to assign different degrees of personality to each sim instead of just being like 'ok this person's entire personality is based off of being family-oriented, liking cats, and liking to be outside.'
  • JokubasJokubas Posts: 100 Member
    edited September 2020
    Personalities are an interesting topic for me. I tend to almost exclusively micro-manage my Sims (and usually only play one because of that), so in some ways it doesn't matter that much to me. On the other hand, part of the reason I got into the habit of doing that is because I never felt like I could trust my Sims to take care of themselves or fit their personality, and I don't just mean in Sims 4.

    When it comes to improving the personalities in the Sims 4, the first and easiest thing I'd do would add at least one more Trait slot. I hate feeling like I'm picking only the absolutely most relevant traits and having to leave any other element of their character by the wayside.
    Ivyeyed wrote: »
    Since all emotions are universal, it makes all sims feel the same. Instead it should be “this trait causes them to react to this emotion like this”, so the emotion is a factor, but the trait makes the choices based on that factor. Basically right now it goes Trait -> Emotion -> Decision, and it should go Emotion -> Trait -> Decision.

    This is a really good point and really obvious now that you made me think about it. That would still require a pretty big overhaul, but it might be an easier one to manage since it's re-contexualizing features that are already in the game instead of replacing the entire thing.

    Optimally, I'd like a layered system. Have a streamlined system where you pick a handful of more generalized traits that give you a good variety of possible personalities without being too complex, while also giving the optional ability to tweak specific reactions, where you can dive in and essentially customize a personal AI for each Sim (in other words, something like an "always, sometimes, never" option for absolutely every action in the game).

    Looking at the things that bug us the most might also be a way to identify the biggest weaknesses in the current personality system. One thing mentioned already that bugs me is how often any of my Sims will immediately go to the computer to increase their Fun, no matter what their personality is. Even as a gamer myself this really annoys me. Exacerbating this is how the quality of an object easily overrides its context. Again, playing games on a high-end computer is always going to be better for a Sim than a lesser item for something they're actually into. It makes sense from a gamey, progression perspective, but it dilutes the personality of the characters.

    Another pet peeve of mine is how important the Social need seems to be across the board. I get it, "humans are social animals" and all that, but it always feels like it falls fast, builds slowly, and absolutely devastates your Sim if it gets low, unless they're specifically a Loner. Usually I deal with the need by telling my Sims to socialize with their co-workers (which is the one Social option that's super efficient for some reason), but this isn't even good enough for Sims who only work on weekends unless I want them to still be miserable once a week. What makes it even more noticeable is that, unlike most Needs, Sims never seem to take it very seriously with their autonomous actions. Instead of seeking people out or inviting people over, they'll just chat over the internet, which is almost uselessly bad at building the meter. Alternatively, they'll insist on talking to someone when they should do doing something important, and suddenly that action will take several times as long to finish because it seems they can't actually talk and act at the same time (they just alternate what feels like every thirty in-game minutes). Coordinating more involved interactions between Sims requires a lot of micro-managing over a long period of in-game time for very narrow gain, and I shouldn't have to micro-manage them staying in touch with their best friends. I usually don't even bother dealing with my Sims' friendships because of how much of a hassle it is to have them actually treat each other like friends.
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