Sim (The Sims)
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A Sim is one of the race of humanoid characters populating Maxis Sim games. Although premade Sims do exist in these games, a complex system of autonomous behaviour is also defined for custom-built Sims that can have a wide variety of personalities.
The word "Sim" means and is an abbreviation for "Simulation" and invariantly replaces terms such as 'human' or 'person' in the aforementioned games.
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[edit] Attributes
[edit] The Sims series
[edit] Needs
The rough Sim analog of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is this list, ordered from most fundamental to highest:
- Physiological needs:
- Hunger (only Need whose failure is fatal)
- Bladder (relieved when going to a toilet)
- Energy (refilled by sleeping or drinking coffee)
- Enjoyment of life:
- Hygiene (refilled by taking a shower, bath or washing hands)
- Social (refilled by talking to Sims, meeting new Sims and general socializing)
- Comfort (refilled by sitting down, taking a bath or sleeping)
- Fun (refilled by books, electronic entertainment, and parlor games)
- Environment (known as Room in The Sims 1)
- Emotional security:
- (Sims 2) Avoiding Aspirational Fears
- Self-actualization:
- (Sims 2) Satisfying Aspirational Wants
- Self-transcendence:
- (Expansion packs) Satisfying a Lifetime Want
The five broad categories above are not defined by the game; however, the latter three are modelled separately from the former two.
[edit] Skills
Sims can build their skills which are helpful around the house and more importantly to advance their career. The skills they can build are:
- Cooking
- Mechanical
- Charisma
- Body
- Logic
- Creativity
- Cleaning (The Sims 2)
[edit] Relationships
Sims, like humans are social beings and generate relationships among each other. Making friends is also a criterion for a job promotion. Sims can form relationships as below:
- Family (The Sims 2)
- Friend
- Best Friends (The Sims 2)
- Crush
- Love
- Going Steady (teenagers only in The Sims 2)
- Engaged (The Sims 2)
- Married/Joined (The Sims 2)
- Enemy
- Arch Enemy (The Sims 2)
- Acquaintance (neutral or starting relationship)
[edit] Aspirations
In The Sims 2, Sims have aspirations, or goals of life, that they want to fulfill. There are several aspirations, each with their own unique Wants and Fears.
- Family
- Fortune
- Knowledge
- Popularity
- Romance (The Sims 2 Pets for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox.)
- Creativity (Replaces Family in The Sims 2 for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox.)
- Party (replaces family in The Sims 2 for Nintendo DS)
- Grow-Up (Children and toddlers only)
- Pleasure (Nightlife only)
- Grilled Cheese (Nightlife Only- not selectable from Create-A-Sim. A Sim is given this aspiration in Debug mode, or when the ReNuYu Senso Orb reward object backfires.)
[edit] Careers
Adult Sims need to earn money for their expenses. In The Sims, Sims can only do that by getting a job, painting a picture, and in Unleashed by selling produce. Jobs can be found by searching the job listing in the newspaper or search online using a computer. Each career track requires different skills and number of friends to earn a promotion. In the Superstar expansion pack, Sims can also make money by working in studios while being controlled by the player.
In The Sims 2, Sims can earn money by getting a job, writing a novel, painting a picture, or in some expansion packs selling goods (self-made products, gifts, or breeded pets). Like in job careers, gaining skills and badges and making new friends can help to increase the amount of money earned.
[edit] Age
In The Sims there are three age groups, but in The Sims 2 the number is increased to six.
In The Sims, child and adult Sims are creatable from Create-A-Sim. They do not age, except as a result of a charm in Makin' Magic that ages a child to an adult. Babies are born as a result of repeated passionate kissing. They become children after three days, and then they remain as children, just as a created Sim child would.
In The Sims 2, all ages, except for baby, are available in Create-A-Sim. They are (with length of age): baby (3 days); toddler (4 days); child (8 days); teenager (15 days); young adult (until they graduate, drop out, or are expelled, University only, but Sims who completed college will have spent 27 days); adult (29 days); Elder (9-31 days, number chosen by aspiration level at the time of transition into elder).
[edit] Physical features and characteristics
[edit] The Sims and The Sims 2
In The Sims, a Sim has the following properties:
- Name and biography (Note: Sims made in Create-A-Sim in the Sims do not have a default biography, but a user can choose to write a biography if they wish.)
- Hair style and color, skin color, gender, personal fitness (fat/average/fit) and age (baby/child/adult in The Sims 1, baby/toddler/child/teen/adult/elder in The Sims 2)
- In The Sims 2 only: eye color, makeup, jewelry (with Bon Voyage), facial feature sizes and shapes.
- Personality, consisting of five traits: Neat/Messy, Outgoing/Shy, Active/Lazy, Playful/Serious, and Nice/Grouchy. The five traits are shown on a scale from 0-10, with 0-3 being "low," 4-6 being "average", and 7-10 being "high." Low/highness of a trait affects the outcome of certain interactions, as well as different options of what a Sim can do at different times. The resulting trait combination also determines astrological sign.
- Following The Sims 2: Nightlife: Turn-ons and turn-offs, which controls the likelihood of romantic chemistry between two Sims and are specified by the player. These mostly cover physical aspects such as fitness, make-up, clothing, and hair color.
- Memories (Sims 2 only). The game is programmed to make a record of certain events and milestones, most often those nominated by Wants or Fears.
[edit] SimCity 4
SimCity 4 adds a "My Sim" mode, where Sims can be imported from The Sims. Only the following attributes are carried over:
- Face
- Name
- Astrological sign
- Gender
Depending on where they live, they will also have:
- Home (a residential building)
- Employer (a commercial or industrial building, or an undisclosed employee in a neighboring city)
- Job title
- Age (in years, between 18 and 65 at time of import)
- Commute length
- Wealth level (§, §§ or §§§)
- Health (poor, OK or great)
- Education (measured on the Maxis-defined EQ scale)
- Vehicle (determined by the player)
As stated above, all SimCity 4 My Sims deployed into a city start out as adults fit to hold jobs and may retire. They seem to always have children, since when the game reports the Sim has died of old age or poor health, there is always another Sim of the same appearance and name (with a "the 2nd" or "the 3rd" added, such as "Bob Newbie the 3rd") to take over the deceased Sim's role as a "My Sim" in SimCity 4. However, this will not occur should the Sim be removed from or decide to move out of the city.
[edit] Plumb-bob
The plumb-bob is a diamond-shaped object that hovers over a Sim's head. It exists mostly to show which is the active Sim (the Sim selected by the player). It also conveys a Sim's mood, where bright green means the Sim's needs are high and bright red means needs are low. In The Sims 2, it turns white when the Sim is in platinum Aspiration state.
In SimCity 4 Rush Hour, the plumb-bob showed which vehicle the player was controlling in "U-Drive-It" mode, as well as the vehicle's condition. Bright green meant no damage, where brown or dull red meant high damage. When the plumb-bob turned completely red, the vehicle would explode.
[edit] Creatures
(Only The Sims 2) Depending on the circumstances, Sims may become one of several different creatures. If an adult male Sim is abducted by aliens, he will return pregnant with an alien baby. If adult or elder Sims spray their plants too often, they may become Plant Sims. If a teen, adult, or elder Sim is bitten by a vampire, they too will become a vampire. Teen, adult, or elder Sims who are resurrected, but fail to give the Grim Reaper enough money, will become Zombies. Teen, adult, and elder Sims who have been bitten by a "wolf pack" leader will become a werewolf. There are now Bigfoot Sims, who seem to be like Sims, but have fur and big feet.
(The Sims Livin' It Up & The Sims 2 Open For Business) In The Sims Livin' It Up, you have the ability to buy a Servo (A robot Sim) from buy mode. It isn't directly controllable, but you can give it orders through your Sims to do things such as cook a meal or clean up garbage. It automatically cooks food at certain times.
In The Sims 2 Open For Business, you can construct a Servo if you have a gold robotics badge and a 'Robot-Making Station'. Once your Sim has completed construction, they will need to initialize the Servo to make it controllable. On initialization, you get to choose the sex and name of the robot. The personallity, skills and aspiration of the initializing Sim will be copied to the new Servo. Unlike in The Sims Livin' it up, you can control a Servo directly and just like any other Sim. There are certain things that Servos have the option to do, but what the player would be likely to avoid, which is anything to do with water e.g. using a shower, hottub, swimming pool, etc. If a Servo were to do something like this, it would make them go crazy and they would go back into the same position on the floor as when they were uninitialized. Another Sim would then need to repair it. Servos may have a relationship with any other Sim, but, even though they have a 'WooHoo' option, they cannot reproduce. They stay in adult stage and never age. Their needs are: Power (Energy equivalent to a normal Sim), Fun, Social and Environment. A Servo can recharge between 07:00 and 18:59 (The period in which there is daylight) Sim time.
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