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Traits - A personality test
I see some simmers claim that their sims absolutely display the traits they are given in their behavior. Saying that outdoors sims will garden, arty sims will paint, etc. I've felt for a while that rather than choose activities by trait, they choose them by what we, the player, have already instructed them to do. I think my art lover should paint, so I tell her to paint and eventually she does it herself. Others say nothing makes a difference.
It's bothered me enough that I wanted to find out who was right. So I did this little test last night.
I built a house with 7 small private rooms upstairs, one per human sim. Each had a locked door and top price bed, shower and toilet. I didn't want attending to needs to interfere.
Downstairs they had 3 ways to cook - Top price oven, cauldron and outdoor grill.
Activity/Skill items :- Easel, piano, guitar, chess, laptop, PC, bookshelf, running machine, weight machine, stereo, dance floor, outdoor- Pool, bathtub, 2 sun loungers, 1 pool floaty, observatory, planted trees, seeds strewn on the floor. TV and sofa.
Brand new save, spring start, no mods installed, run for 14 days each run through.
The sims:-
Musak Player - Music lover/Squeamish/Creative
Active Bob - Active/Clumsy/Glutton
Kitty Lazy - Lazy/Childish/Dog lover
Chef Neate - Foodie/Creative/Neat
Francis Flowers -Loner/Loves outdoors/Vegetarian
Arty Farty - Art/Creative/Noncommittal
Gandalf Lol - Ambitious/Geek/Genius (Wizard)
Pituary, Mixed breed dog - Smart/Playful/Glutton
First play through. Spring start, 14 days, Complete autonomony. I didn't interfere at all. From the time they zoned in to the end of the 14 days I gave no instructions.
Chess played 0 Painting painted 0 Plants planted 0 Books read 0 Piano played 0
Highest skills per sim:
Musak - Video games 4 Dancing 3 Cooking 2 fitness 2. Times played an instrument - Played guitar twice for about 20 real life seconds. Dont get too excited though as Gandalf the geek/Genius played it more and actually got skill level 2
Bob - Fitness 4 Video games 4 Dancing 3. Bob autonomously used the exercise machines.
Kitty - Video games 4 Dancing 3 Mischief 3 (Trolltehforums) Times interacted with dog - 12
Chef - video games 5 dancing 2 cooking 2 (same as everyone else)
Francis - Video games 4 Dancing 4 mischief 4 (Trolltehforums), Times attended garden - 1 Kitty lazy also attended the garden once. Times ate meat - everytime someone made hotdogs.
Arty - Dancing 4 Video games 3 cooking 3 Times did anything creative other than cook - 0
Gandalf - Video games 6 dancing 3 fitness 3 cooking 3 Used the observatory - 1 and so did Active Bob.
Notes per this play through:-
Kittys interaction with the dog involved 'Praise' every time. This was regardless of what the pet was doing, good, bad, or just standing there. She never did anything meaningful such as feed, take outside or take for a walk. On many occasions the dog stood in front of her barking for attention and she just ignored it. The other sims also interacted with the dog, with the most being Musak, who also only did the 'praise' animation at random times. It was hard to spot as they just stand still while the action completes in their activity queue so I may have missed some interactions. I know kitty's was x12 because that portion of her aspiration completed on day 14.
Chef cleaned up 9 times. Kitty LAZY, Artsy, Active Bob and Musak all cleaned up more. Being a Neat sim she may complain about dirt but shes not more likely to do anything about it. Musak the squeamish hated cleaning up but did it the most anyway. Musak cleaned the sink when it got dirty.
Francis couldn't care less about being outdoors. He spent most of his time on the computer in the same large room as everyone else. The planted garden only needed attending twice and he did do it once. The second time he walked past the dying plants and ignored them. The lazy sim tended to them.
Bob was absolutely influenced by his Active trait and used the exercise machines every day. He also used the pool everyday, but so did everyone else.
The pool floaty was the first choice of every sim who wanted to sleep, followed by sun loungers, sofa, then top price beds. I had many near deaths to cold.
TV - everyone watched about equally with romance being the favoured channel. Childish Kitty never watched kids tv.
It's bothered me enough that I wanted to find out who was right. So I did this little test last night.
I built a house with 7 small private rooms upstairs, one per human sim. Each had a locked door and top price bed, shower and toilet. I didn't want attending to needs to interfere.
Downstairs they had 3 ways to cook - Top price oven, cauldron and outdoor grill.
Activity/Skill items :- Easel, piano, guitar, chess, laptop, PC, bookshelf, running machine, weight machine, stereo, dance floor, outdoor- Pool, bathtub, 2 sun loungers, 1 pool floaty, observatory, planted trees, seeds strewn on the floor. TV and sofa.
Brand new save, spring start, no mods installed, run for 14 days each run through.
The sims:-
Musak Player - Music lover/Squeamish/Creative
Active Bob - Active/Clumsy/Glutton
Kitty Lazy - Lazy/Childish/Dog lover
Chef Neate - Foodie/Creative/Neat
Francis Flowers -Loner/Loves outdoors/Vegetarian
Arty Farty - Art/Creative/Noncommittal
Gandalf Lol - Ambitious/Geek/Genius (Wizard)
Pituary, Mixed breed dog - Smart/Playful/Glutton
First play through. Spring start, 14 days, Complete autonomony. I didn't interfere at all. From the time they zoned in to the end of the 14 days I gave no instructions.
Chess played 0 Painting painted 0 Plants planted 0 Books read 0 Piano played 0
Highest skills per sim:
Musak - Video games 4 Dancing 3 Cooking 2 fitness 2. Times played an instrument - Played guitar twice for about 20 real life seconds. Dont get too excited though as Gandalf the geek/Genius played it more and actually got skill level 2
Bob - Fitness 4 Video games 4 Dancing 3. Bob autonomously used the exercise machines.
Kitty - Video games 4 Dancing 3 Mischief 3 (Trolltehforums) Times interacted with dog - 12
Chef - video games 5 dancing 2 cooking 2 (same as everyone else)
Francis - Video games 4 Dancing 4 mischief 4 (Trolltehforums), Times attended garden - 1 Kitty lazy also attended the garden once. Times ate meat - everytime someone made hotdogs.
Arty - Dancing 4 Video games 3 cooking 3 Times did anything creative other than cook - 0
Gandalf - Video games 6 dancing 3 fitness 3 cooking 3 Used the observatory - 1 and so did Active Bob.
Notes per this play through:-
Kittys interaction with the dog involved 'Praise' every time. This was regardless of what the pet was doing, good, bad, or just standing there. She never did anything meaningful such as feed, take outside or take for a walk. On many occasions the dog stood in front of her barking for attention and she just ignored it. The other sims also interacted with the dog, with the most being Musak, who also only did the 'praise' animation at random times. It was hard to spot as they just stand still while the action completes in their activity queue so I may have missed some interactions. I know kitty's was x12 because that portion of her aspiration completed on day 14.
Chef cleaned up 9 times. Kitty LAZY, Artsy, Active Bob and Musak all cleaned up more. Being a Neat sim she may complain about dirt but shes not more likely to do anything about it. Musak the squeamish hated cleaning up but did it the most anyway. Musak cleaned the sink when it got dirty.
Francis couldn't care less about being outdoors. He spent most of his time on the computer in the same large room as everyone else. The planted garden only needed attending twice and he did do it once. The second time he walked past the dying plants and ignored them. The lazy sim tended to them.
Bob was absolutely influenced by his Active trait and used the exercise machines every day. He also used the pool everyday, but so did everyone else.
The pool floaty was the first choice of every sim who wanted to sleep, followed by sun loungers, sofa, then top price beds. I had many near deaths to cold.
TV - everyone watched about equally with romance being the favoured channel. Childish Kitty never watched kids tv.
26
Comments
This time for the first 2 days I instructed sims to do activities that I felt a player would have them do per their traits.
I had Kitty train the dog and watch tv. I had Artsy paint 2 paintings. I had Chef cook a bunch of meals and do all the cleaning. I had Musak play the piano until he stopped to attend needs. I had Francis plant a bunch of seeds. I had Gandalf play chess, practice programming and make plugins. I had Bob exercise.
Skill gains:-
Musak - Video games 6 Piano 6 Dancing 4 Cooking 3
Bob - Fitness 6 Video games 5 Dancing 3
Kitty - Video games 6 Dancing 5 Mischief 4 (Trolltehforums)
Chef - Video games 6 Cooking 5 Dancing 4
Francis - Mischief 6 (trolltehforums) videogames 5 Dancing 5 Cooking 4 Gardening 4
Arty - Painting 7 Videogames 5 Dancing 5 Cooking 5
Gandalf - Videogames 6 Mischief 5 (trolltehforums) Dancing 5 Fitness 3
Notes
Musak never touched the piano autonomously. He never used the guitar.
Bob continued his exercise machine use at the same level as before
Kitty interacted with the pet less. She was the only sim to get angry with the pet when he splashed her.
Chef resumed her usual slob life despite being a neat sim after I stopped telling her to clean. She cooked less than some of the other sims but she did choose to make 2 gourmet meals.
Francis completely ignored the garden. Chef planted seeds that were on the floor. Francis continued with his computer obsession.
Arty pained 17 painting autonomously. Instructing her to paint did unlock that activity for her to do. However she choose to spend an equal amount of time trolling teh forums.
Gandalf completely ignored the chess table and observatory. On the computer he never choose anything but mischief and video games.
When the sink and kitchen counter got dirty they were cleaned by Musak and Kitty. The squeamish and lazy sims. Vegetarian Francis continued eating hotdogs.
The only sim that showed new autonomy in a positive way after 2 days of being told what to do was Arty with her painting. This run through Gandalf, Arty and Francis all used the guitar once. Kitty also read a book! Kitty with the childish trait did watch kids tv once for a few seconds while neither computer was available.
Gandalf the Geek sang in the shower.
Conclusion:-
The only trait that definitely had an influence on what a sims choose to do without direction was Active.
The only activity that unlocked through player influence was Painting.
Regardless of traits sims preferred pass times are video games, dancing and trollingteh forums.
General comments regarding stupid AI.
Despite having their own rooms with top quality beds sims usually preferred to almost freeze to death on the pool lounger. They wouldn't go inside to warm up until the interaction of 'relax' was completely finished. In run through 3, Francis froze to death on day 4. Despite having their own top quality shower in each private room many sims choose to use the open field bath tub in the garden. Rainy days were a delight, with sims falling over themselves to go mop outdoor puddles regardless of how neat or lazy they were supposed to be.
By the way run through 3 was a complete mess
I didn't include all the little bits of information I gathered in my posts as they were quite long enough but I did note things like how often Bob the Clumsy slipped up. Usually it was something specific to those traits noted once or twice per run through - Bob slipped twice, Francis the loner got the 'get me away from these people' tense moodlet once, etc. Poor old Squeamish Musak got his squeamish debuff a lot due to his willingness to clean up regardless of the negative buff.
The most disturbing thing I think is that dog lovers don't really care about the dog's needs. I have a free will show project going (video series), and the poor dog in that house has never been fed by free will by the dog lover (or anyone else). She has comforted the dog on the couch several times, though. A tad sick that a dog lover don't react when the dog is begging for food for 7 days... So, not a surprise that other traits are not working as they should, either. I wish they were better designed.
Incidentally on play through 3 where every sim had a job except Kitty, I had kitty paint once. She then continued to paint by herself. Traits - Lazy/Childish/Dog lover.
On 2nd run through I instructed her to fill it twice. I should also mention that on the 2nd run through she did pet the dog once but so did Gandalf.
On EA forum Stories and Legacies board and on QueenOfMyshuno.tumblr.com
When I did the Asylum Challenge, I noticed lots of dancing and forum trolling, as well. I added a hot tub to see if anyone would drown (not knowing that wasn’t possible) and they preferred to sleep in the hot tub over free beds. I gave them all the romantic trait to see if they would flirt with one another on their own but nope, they hardly spoke to one another. The only time I could get them to do anything interesting was by creating a club and adding activities, which they did perform.
AI needs a lot of help in this game.
I don't have a count on water taken. The reason being ... they actually rarely grabbed water. I saw 2 instances of that in the first 7 days of the first run through and stopped making a note of it, though I did continue to keep an eye out for it. It's one of the curiosities I'm pondering myself, as my actual families drive me insane with it.
If I had to guess I'd say they were all so busy on the computer or trying to freeze to death in the pool that it never came up xD My other theory is that grabbing water is high priority when all their needs are full or near full, which they usually are when Im controlling them but were not in these tests due to me not giving commands to fill needs.
I have to say I've given the Genius Trait to at least two of my five Cantrell children, with a third with the Musical Genius Aspiration<---- my Global Superstar. His younger brother and only sister both spend time either with the overlarge microscope thingie on the back patio, or inside the telescope. Every now and again Joey sits and plays chess either alone or has the whim to play with others. My musician does play instruments autonomously. Their mother is an artist, but I think my Sims are more driven by their Aspirations over their Traits. At least mine appear to be. Mostly, I would presume, because I sought Traits that would fit their aspirations up front. A small caveat to that would be the only daughter. She bears the Archaeology Aspiration but I all but have to force her to authenticate artifacts sent to her in the mail. Face/palm.
So much for Smarter Sims, eh?
http://www.getfreeebooks.com/star-trek-original-series-fan-fiction-trilogy/
Gosh, I made Joey clumsy and you're right, I haven't seen him nearly stumble over his own feet in quite some time. When, where and WHY did that get changed?
http://www.getfreeebooks.com/star-trek-original-series-fan-fiction-trilogy/
I don't think the traits were designed with autonomy in mind. I think they intended them to be challenges for the player, how you should play the sim to avoid negative or get positive moodlets. In general autonomy seems not to be how the game was designed to be played. Weird, but that's the only reason I can think of why it would be so bad.
I have loved the stars too truly to be fearful of the night.
Ha'aheo, e hoʻomau i kō kāua aloha, kau a kau.
ETA: Just goes to show that the emotion your sim is in seems to have more affect on what your sims do than the traits you give them.
I started to think of a sim of mine who got level 10 mixing skills straight from the wishing well. They have a bar at home but he had never shown particular interest towards it before. Suddendly after the skill increase he likes to spend his time mixing drinks! It could be interesting to see what happens if you cheat them some really high skills.
Updated with Werewolf Diaries (1)
Which instruments do they choose to play and can you remember if you yourself may have 'trained the behaviour' into them by telling them to play them in the past?
I didn't bother listing their aspirations but they all had relevant ones. Musak the supposed music lover had the musician aspiration, Artsy had the painter one, etc.
Interesting and it's certainly how I've used traits up to this point - use the debuffs as an indication that the sim 'wants' to do something.
In the 40+ ingame days with these sims the debuffs were minimal. The only pet related one Kitty had was anger at being splashed. The loner had the 'too many people' one three times total. The neat sim did have the 'eww trash' almost every day, not least of which because she left her sleep pod looking like this The only pet related one Kitty had was anger at being splashed.
I could and did ignore everyone of them, the consequences of the trait debuffs just arent severe enough or often enough to bother about.
There's exceptions of course. Next time I do something like this I'll make them all unrelated and put in unflirty, romantic, jealous and the like.
That would be my guess with active, he became energized randomly because of the trait. But I believe that genius sims get randomly focused? Yet never played chess, or programmed. The giant observatory that we don't all use because its too 🐸🐸🐸🐸 big was the go to of choice for him. Twice.
This is good to see because it bothered me a lot. To have my animal lover decide to prioritize dancing over the crying hungry pet was just unacceptable.