Help figuring out realistic life stories for sims with negative traits/aspirations/careers

You could incorporate clubs into your game for that group/gang feeling. I'm playing an evil sims in the criminal career like that. I imagine he's off committing crime with his fellow club members. I just can't see it. And then when he's not at work, he meets with his fellow members in different places for bonfires, food and whatnot.

@Duvelina that's a great idea! I had never thought of that. And I can add the people my sim meets at work and have them do mischief and hang out.

@crocobaura you're right! I can create a makeshift business for them, this can range from one of those fake house facades from get famous, to a kiosk that is always closed unless there's someone that my sim doesn't trust, visiting my sim or even an actual business (would need to think more about how this one would go). And depending on how elaborate the fake business is, I can set up probabilities for "getting busted" by the police and if that's the case I get to give them a complete makeover and have them escape and live a new life laying low!
This is the creative push that I needed, thank you!

I actually really like mean sims, some of my favourite characters from my old legacy had the mean trait. I have a soft spot for characters that are a little rough around the edges. I kind of perceive the mean trait as their first instinct - their first instinct in an uncomfortable situation might be to take that pain or discomfort they're feeling, and project it at someone else instead of dealing with it. Mean sims always have that inner battle going on. Both narratives, them completely giving in to that instinct, or them trying to overcome it, are pretty fun from a storytelling perspective!

Evil is a bit more difficult to do in a realistic way, since nobody in real life perceives themselves as evil. A cartoon villain is fun to play, but not necessarily realistic. So you need a reason for them to be that way in the first place. Since you're saying you determine their traits at birth, perhaps you could leave the evil trait for last (give it to them on their YA birthday), and use their childhood/teenage years to have them go through some kind of experience that shapes their character in that way? Maybe they start off wanting revenge on someone who harmed them, or maybe they were abandoned or scorned in some way... any kind of life-changing experience could justify gradually developing into a villain.

The criminal career is easy. I like to look at it as the career sims start in if they either want to make some easy money and don't think much of it (until they're in too deep), or the kind of career they pick up when they're dirt poor (goes well if you're starting off with a completely broke homeless sim, for instance) and don't have other options. In both scenarios, as they progress down the slippery slope, it gets harder to walk away, both because of temptation and because it's not the kind of job you can just quit...

@Dollyllama108 Oh absolutely. Nobody's purely good or purely evil, and to a degree, an antagonist and a protagonist in a story are just points of view. Often times you could easily just flip it and see how you yourself are a villain in someone else's story. (Figuratively speaking, not you personally haha!)

Oh, and I definitely second rationalising flaws, that's such a good one, and one I think most of us are guilty of!

@ThePlumbob it is a good idea to have the evil trait be the last one, to give them time to have the rug pulled from under them in some way. And still there is room to decide how some event (or lack thereof) will shape some aspect of someone's character. An example that comes to mind is bullying. Being bullied can cause one to develop more empathy towards vulnerable people, but also it can cause the "I suffered, so you must suffer too" mentality, and so many other cases.

@Dollyllama108 you are bringing super interesting points! all of those things, especially, to my understanding, good old cognitive dissonance stand behind many actions or opinions that are commonly perceived as evil. That realisation makes it so the evil trait no longer seems so one dimensional. They don't have to be evil all the time for no apparent reason.

Also, very true. The hero that has been commonly portrayed in media (at least when I was growing up) is someone who sees the flaws of the antagonist and has the drive to put a stop to them - I never saw self-reflection. So many instances where the hero destroys a whole city to "save" it from the antagonist.. whose plan was to destroy it lol.

Unrelated but also not really, I was watching the news earlier and realised I have never played through the politician career :wink:

You guys are helping a lot! I see lots of possibilities now, thank you :)

"mingusssss;d-979220" wrote:
My game style is 100% story driven. I usually decide (sometimes at random) the traits / aspirations / career my sims will have, usually when they are born. And then I think of a narrative for their lives that makes sense and incorporates all the goals I've chosen.

My problem is that I have a very hard time when I get negative traits or aspirations, like the public enemy one. I can never think of a narrative that makes completing the aspiration enjoyable or even somehow logical in the life of my sim. Do you know how to integrate the mischief ability / crime career / mean traits & aspirations in somehow realistic life stories?

As an example, my biggest problem with the crime career is that, to my knowledge, criminals work in very tight-knit groups (maybe except hackers?), meanwhile the criminal career seems as lonely as all the other careers. Idk, what do you guy think?

Criminals usually have an apparently legal work place, like running a business because they need to launder the money they earn illegally.

"mingusssss;c-17590784" wrote:
@Duvelina that's a great idea! I had never thought of that. And I can add the people my sim meets at work and have them do mischief and hang out.

@crocobaura you're right! I can create a makeshift business for them, this can range from one of those fake house facades from get famous, to a kiosk that is always closed unless there's someone that my sim doesn't trust, visiting my sim or even an actual business (would need to think more about how this one would go). And depending on how elaborate the fake business is, I can set up probabilities for "getting busted" by the police and if that's the case I get to give them a complete makeover and have them escape and live a new life laying low!
This is the creative push that I needed, thank you!

If you gift the police really often, you might never get busted. :lol: