Rude Guests! An Overhaul of Visitor Autonomy is Needed
I love having Sims over to visit, but the current autonomous behavior of guests often ruins the experience. Instead of socializing, they treat my Sim's house like their own personal hotel and diner. This system feels outdated and needs a significant refresh.
What area of gameplay is your feedback about?
- Social Interactions (Guest Behavior & Autonomy)
- NPC Behavior
What works well right now?
The ability to have Sims visit your lot is a core part of the social gameplay. It's great that guests have some autonomy and don't just stand around like mannequins. The system allows for some unexpected and sometimes humorous moments.
What isn’t working or feels frustrating?
Guest behavior is consistently rude, intrusive, and immersion breaking. They exhibit a complete lack of social boundaries:
- Helping Themselves: They will raid the refrigerator, cook full meals, and eat your family's food without permission.
- Unwanted Chores: They will clean your dishes, take out your trash, and fix broken objects. While sometimes helpful, it often feels invasive and removes gameplay challenges from the player.
- Ignoring the Host: They will bypass the Sim they came to visit to play on your computer, read your books, or use other objects, making it difficult to actually interact with them.
In short, guests act like they live there, not like they are guests. There is no distinction between a stranger and a best friend's behavior.
What new ideas or improvements would you suggest?
Guest autonomy should be completely reworked to be more realistic and tiered based on relationship level and personality traits.
- Tiered Autonomy System:
- Acquaintances/Low Friendship: Should have very restricted autonomy. They should primarily stay near the host, engage in conversation, and maybe use generic objects like chairs or the radio. They should never use the fridge, computer, or perform chores.
- Good Friends/High Friendship: Could have expanded, "make yourself at home" privileges. They might feel comfortable getting a glass of water from the sink, grabbing a leftover if their hunger is low, or playing a video game if they have the Geek trait. Chores should still be rare.
- Family/Romantic Partners: Can have the most freedom, similar to how guests act now, as they would realistically feel "at home."
- Trait-Based Behavior: A Sim with the "Neat" trait might autonomously clean a few dishes, while a "Glutton" might be more tempted to raid the fridge. A "Slob" would never take out the trash.
- New Social Interactions: Add interactions like "Offer Drink/Snack," "Make Yourself at Home," or "Please Don't Touch That" to give the player more control over guest permissions.
Why would this improve your gameplay experience?
This overhaul would dramatically improve social realism and player control.
- Increased Realism: It would mimic real-life social dynamics, where your closeness to someone dictates how comfortable they feel in your home.
- Reduced Frustration: It would eliminate the annoyance of strangers treating your home like a community center, allowing you to focus on socializing.
- Enhanced Storytelling: The tiered system would make friendships and relationships feel more meaningful and impactful on daily life.
- Restored Player Agency: You wouldn't have to constantly fight against rude guest behavior, making visits something to look forward to rather than dread.
This change would make having guests over a genuinely enjoyable and realistic part of the social gameplay loop again.
