Forum Discussion

Ixal's avatar
3 years ago

A real secrets mechanic

We already have the option to share secrets, spy on other people with bugs and through other means and at least the alien occult tried to have some sort of secret identity system.

My idea would be that instead of secrets being something random or nebulous which we can share that the sentiment system would be expanded to allow characters to have actual secrets which can then be discovered by other sims and be spread through social media or gossip and people would react to the secrets they know about someone just like with other sentiments. That would integrate smoothly with occults which have multiple forms which would be a secret to discover.
Also you could add a private investigator career which is especially good in finding secrets and/or enhance existing careers like law enforcement or agent.
  • I like playing a vamp who is undercover in the werewolf world try to uncover the natives' mysteries... no luck. Would be cool if it actually worked. I'd like clues that you try to physically hide or discover, too, though. Ie, a thing that translates werewolf books or a secret passage, a dirty secret, a set of fangs in the mouth...
  • > @Gamer_34567544 said:
    > I like playing a vamp who is undercover in the werewolf world try to uncover the natives' mysteries... no luck. Would be cool if it actually worked. I'd like clues that you try to physically hide or discover, too, though. Ie, a thing that translates werewolf books or a secret passage, a dirty secret, a set of fangs in the mouth...

    I absolutely love hidden doorways like the bookshelf doors. But those do not act like secret doors. A secret club door, especially for vamps, mermaids, spellcasters, aliens and wolves would be ideal. Vampire secrets to be researched online is a good start. Speaking of researching online, maybe Sims could not just find secrets, but also find suspicious site names with misinformation that with a high level of logic could be detected immediately, or with a medium level of logic, figured out a day or 2 later. Such as “Royal Prince gives away ten million simoleons for answering his emails”. Or “Pay us money and we’ll tell you how to get rich in one 10 CD set.” Or, “your account has been stolen. Provide us your account details and we will fix this” shown on a neon flashing banner.
  • Secrets could be twofold:

    1) Related to the sim themselves and chosen by the player. That could be their occult type or things like "Is bribeable" for a detective. Each secret can get named whatever the player likes and must be tied to a characteristic. "I don't know what to write in here, I just want to play with the mechanic" is a legitimate secret.
    Learning the secrets could be the objetive of a new private investigator career and if the secret become public the sims suffers a hit to the aspect the player has chosen.

    Examples:
    "Loves llamas a bit too much" - Aspect: Romance (Existing romantic relationships take a hit if exposed)
    "Doesn't wash their feet" - Aspect: Career (Sim takes an instant hit to career performance if exposed, can lead to a demotion)
    "Eats junkfood" - Aspect: Fitness skill (Fitness skill meter drops if exposed, cannot lead to loss of a skill point)
    In this example sims that eat junkfood have no negative consequences, only the one sim that hides the fact that they do it takes the hit.
    "Actually is wife writes all his songs" - Aspect: Fame (Sim's fame takes a hit, this requires Get Famous)

    High-mischief sims could attach rumours to other sims that would work the same as secrets.

    2) Secrets acquired during gameplay, for example when a sim has attempted hacking. If found out the sim with that secret has to pay a fine. These secrets should fade and become worthless after some time.
  • > @userafw said:
    > > @Gamer_34567544 said:
    > > I like playing a vamp who is undercover in the werewolf world try to uncover the natives' mysteries... no luck. Would be cool if it actually worked. I'd like clues that you try to physically hide or discover, too, though. Ie, a thing that translates werewolf books or a secret passage, a dirty secret, a set of fangs in the mouth...
    >
    > I absolutely love hidden doorways like the bookshelf doors. But those do not act like secret doors. A secret club door, especially for vamps, mermaids, spellcasters, aliens and wolves would be ideal. Vampire secrets to be researched online is a good start. Speaking of researching online, maybe Sims could not just find secrets, but also find suspicious site names with misinformation that with a high level of logic could be detected immediately, or with a medium level of logic, figured out a day or 2 later. Such as “Royal Prince gives away ten million simoleons for answering his emails”. Or “Pay us money and we’ll tell you how to get rich in one 10 CD set.” Or, “your account has been stolen. Provide us your account details and we will fix this” shown on a neon flashing banner.
    >

    Other ideas: political figure of the opposite party is a jerk, vote for our candidate.
    Or, our candidate has two years experience in fast food and makes great burgers: they are more qualified than the other guy with the masters degree and 20 years managerial experience.
    Or, woman sued for not giving up her child and her child’s gaming console on neighbor’s demand.
  • > @userafw said:
    > > @userafw said:
    > > > @Gamer_34567544 said:
    > > > I like playing a vamp who is undercover in the werewolf world try to uncover the natives' mysteries... no luck. Would be cool if it actually worked. I'd like clues that you try to physically hide or discover, too, though. Ie, a thing that translates werewolf books or a secret passage, a dirty secret, a set of fangs in the mouth...
    > >
    > > I absolutely love hidden doorways like the bookshelf doors. But those do not act like secret doors. A secret club door, especially for vamps, mermaids, spellcasters, aliens and wolves would be ideal. Vampire secrets to be researched online is a good start. Speaking of researching online, maybe Sims could not just find secrets, but also find suspicious site names with misinformation that with a high level of logic could be detected immediately, or with a medium level of logic, figured out a day or 2 later. Such as “Royal Prince gives away ten million simoleons for answering his emails”. Or “Pay us money and we’ll tell you how to get rich in one 10 CD set.” Or, “your account has been stolen. Provide us your account details and we will fix this” shown on a neon flashing banner.
    > >
    >
    > Other ideas: political figure of the opposite party is a jerk, vote for our candidate.
    > Or, our candidate has two years experience in fast food and makes great burgers: they are more qualified than the other guy with the masters degree and 20 years managerial experience.
    > Or, woman sued for not giving up her child and her child’s gaming console on neighbor’s demand.

    Scratch jerk, sub “was mean to us by not joining our party”
  • If someone steals an account, a high programming skill should also get it back. Also shoot the thieves an email with a nasty virus...
  • "Gamer_34567544;c-18148464" wrote:
    If someone steals an account, a high programming skill should also get it back. Also shoot the thieves an email with a nasty virus...


    Some of the messages that say your account is stolen are actually Trojans so that you can compromise your own account by so called fixing it. Nobody will ever tell you your account was stolen, least of all thieves that already stole it. However, if they don’t have it yet, the thieves want it. So just tell them they already have that info if they ask for it, how would they not have that info if they actually knew anything was stolen? Logic.

    If scammer wants access to your computer to supposedly fix it, they will ask you to hit Windows R. Hit Windows L instead ;) Then use windows R on the Lock Screen, you will get invalid password instead of running a Windows built in program to give them remote access. Then pretend to be completely computer illiterate, or as those in the computer software support business call it, PLBMAK, and ask THEM to tell YOU your Windows password since you have “forgotten it”. Especially if they tried to say they were Microsoft or Windows.

    Also, never click on infected links or download anything from someone who is not in your contacts list or personally known to you.

    Legit companies don’t ask for bank account details unless you are submitting a payment, and never ever ask for login passwords unless you are literally logging into their website. Live people working for real companies do not ask for this, or will be terminated: ask for a supervisor. Legit companies you shop at will only tell you if they find suspicious activity on your account. They will be up front about all fees and charges, and use either terms of service or contracts. For widows of foreign princes; if you would not pay as much for a lotto ticket as these guys ask eventually don’t pay them anything. Better yet, don’t even respond to avoid harassment with future communications begging you.

    Overseas romance scammers who want to meet you in the US: if they complain about the cost of the paperwork or passports to prepare for the trip, they certainly cannot afford airfare. And would you really want them living with you permanently after they arrive? If the answer is no, then just say no. Most of their pics are stolen anyway. So if you put your profile picture as one taken with your bestie, it will be harder for someone to impersonate you by photo.

    And with companies like Amazon, you can see orders placed or actually call the Amazon number shown on Amazon’s site: screw phone scammers and all other scammers who want to scare you to put money in their account in exchange for nada. If you are in the US, report these to the FCC. With email providers, there is now an indicator for all official email notifications. Notifications regarding suspicious activity is not usually delivered by robocall, and you are more likely to get the call from your bank. If an online account is compromised, click the forgot password link. Now thief no longer has your password. If you have your phone linked, thief will not receive texts sent to you.

    Do not send attachments to thieves that they can use on somebody else. Instead watch hilarious scambaiters on YouTube. What these guys do with high level programming skills is way more fun.
  • "userafw;c-18149094" wrote:
    "Gamer_34567544;c-18148464" wrote:
    If someone steals an account, a high programming skill should also get it back. Also shoot the thieves an email with a nasty virus...


    Some of the messages that say your account is stolen are actually Trojans so that you can compromise your own account by so called fixing it. Nobody will ever tell you your account was stolen, least of all thieves that already stole it. However, if they don’t have it yet, the thieves want it. So just tell them they already have that info if they ask for it, how would they not have that info if they actually knew anything was stolen? Logic.

    If scammer wants access to your computer to supposedly fix it, they will ask you to hit Windows R. Hit Windows L instead ;) Then use windows R on the Lock Screen, you will get invalid password instead of running a Windows built in program to give them remote access. Then pretend to be completely computer illiterate, or as those in the computer software support business call it, PLBMAK, and ask THEM to tell YOU your Windows password since you have “forgotten it”. Especially if they tried to say they were Microsoft or Windows.

    Also, never click on infected links or download anything from someone who is not in your contacts list or personally known to you.

    Legit companies don’t ask for bank account details unless you are submitting a payment, and never ever ask for login passwords unless you are literally logging into their website. Live people working for real companies do not ask for this, or will be terminated: ask for a supervisor. Legit companies you shop at will only tell you if they find suspicious activity on your account. They will be up front about all fees and charges, and use either terms of service or contracts. For widows of foreign princes; if you would not pay as much for a lotto ticket as these guys ask eventually don’t pay them anything. Better yet, don’t even respond to avoid harassment with future communications begging you.

    Overseas romance scammers who want to meet you in the US: if they complain about the cost of the paperwork or passports to prepare for the trip, they certainly cannot afford airfare. And would you really want them living with you permanently after they arrive? If the answer is no, then just say no. Most of their pics are stolen anyway. So if you put your profile picture as one taken with your bestie, it will be harder for someone to impersonate you by photo.

    And with companies like Amazon, you can see orders placed or actually call the Amazon number shown on Amazon’s site: screw phone scammers and all other scammers who want to scare you to put money in their account in exchange for nada. If you are in the US, report these to the FCC. With email providers, there is now an indicator for all official email notifications. Notifications regarding suspicious activity is not usually delivered by robocall, and you are more likely to get the call from your bank. If an online account is compromised, click the forgot password link. Now thief no longer has your password. If you have your phone linked, thief will not receive texts sent to you.

    Do not send attachments to thieves that they can use on somebody else. Instead watch hilarious scambaiters on YouTube. What these guys do with high level programming skills is way more fun.


    I meant in Sims. :)
  • I wish occults could conceal their mythical selves. I always want to be the vampire either everyone knows and fears, or nobody knows and loves until it's too late.