Forum Discussion

ForeverRogue61's avatar
6 years ago

Your Thoughts on Phobias

So basically, my sims have been dropping like flies recently. One of which was killed in a kitchen fire, and I am pretty sure his daughter was in the area. That's when it hit me, wouldn't this affect her later in life? I don't know if they ever did this before, and my instinct says I am not the first to think of this, but has The Sims ever tried to include a Phobia system?

My thinking is that created adult sims could have random phobias attached to their personalities at creation (with possible back stories), while younger sims could acquire phobias over time. Possible phobias could include: fear of fire, fear of water, fear of dogs, fear of winter (seriously, a few snowflakes and my mother turns into Monk) ... . Along the same lines, a possible skill could be added for Phobia Conquest and possibly a Therapist career path.

I was curious to see how anyone else felt about this.
  • @stilljustme2 or perhaps call the phobia hotline - similar to the sadness hotline for temporary relief of phobia
  • "Becka28;c-17009277" wrote:
    @stilljustme2 or perhaps call the phobia hotline - similar to the sadness hotline for temporary relief of phobia


    That would be great for temporary relief -- potion or psychologist visit for a permanent removal. For those who want to create Sims with phobias without going through the work of triggering them, they could be traits that show up with the non-personality traits (like the Parenthood traits or the aspiration reward traits) and can use cheats or mods to assign to a Sim when you place him/her in the game. (I do that a lot with Sims I make in CAS but I don't plan on actively playing, especially Parenthood traits for the YA+ Sims I make.)
  • annaliese39's avatar
    annaliese39
    Seasoned Newcomer
    I also love this idea, but I would want it to be optional and controllable, at least to an extent - perhaps similar to our fame quirks system.
  • I like the idea but would rather something similar to the fear system from 2. Fears are generated at random different events, like a fear for losing a recently married partner or say they fell over on a ice rink they'd roll a fear for falling when they're neat it again. Kinda like the sims 4 quirks system with sims 2 fears but they aren't always as extreme as a full on phobia.
  • ChadSims2's avatar
    ChadSims2
    Seasoned Novice
    I only want to see something like this if they add a fear emotion tense does not cut it for me. Sure if my Sim fears vampires just thinking of them might make them tense but if a vampire entered the room fear is a must.
  • GrumpyGlowfish's avatar
    GrumpyGlowfish
    Seasoned Newcomer
    While phobias sound good in theory, I severely doubt the game's ability to implement them properly, especially if they're anything like fame quirks. All my celebrities end up having the "Refined Palate" quirk because with them getting better at cooking over time, it becomes impossible to avoid, if they're actors or have any jobs that require charisma, there is no way around "Vain Street", and "Emotion Bomb" requires sims to become very X only once. Once. I can already see everyone being afraid of fire and water because of the one kitchen fire they witnessed and the one time they spent five seconds too many in the pool thanks to simulation lag stopping them from getting out when I told them to.

    If there's going to be phobias, I want to be able to choose them myself in CAS. If they're triggered by something happening in the game, that something has to be extreme, like seeing a loved one die by fire / drowning / whatever (like someone suggested), and there should be ways to overcome them without the lazy solution of just buying a magic potion from the rewards store. Phobias also have to be connected to traits to make any kind of sense, I can't see an unflirty, child-hating loner developing a fear of dying alone just because they're nearing the elder stage without a significant other or children of their own, while a family-loving or outgoing sim would be more prone to that kind of fear. My unflirty loner simself actually ignores all the traditions that come with Love Day, proving that the developers are perfectly capable of taking such things into account.

    But all of this is way too much to be patched in, and at the moment I feel there's too little in the game for sims to be afraid of anyway, so maybe a new pack dedicated to sims' fears could solve this problem. This would also be a perfect opportunity to bring back burglars and natural disasters, and to introduce a therapist career as well as a therapy mechanic for affected sims.

    ... And now I should stop before I start longing for yet another pack I'll probably never have...