Loner vs. Independent

@Player_jp5s5eav  

Hey, if you’ve got to get something off your chest, a forum rant is definitely cheaper than therapy (and sans Zoom)! 

Actually I’ve been considering one of my own. Venting can be healthy. 😉

Hrm... it wasn't really supposed to be a rant. I sincerely wondered if there were or are any other people playing Sims 4 who find some of the traits to be fairly off the mark. Though this part of the board mainly seems to fall in the Simmers help Simmers with game play, it is for general discussion and to give feedback. I have certainly placed vent posts on this board, though, but those have been in areas often regarding things people want to see in Sims 4 or be considered carefully as EA works on the background on the fifth generation for the future. :}

@Player_jp5s5eav, I think part of this is left to individual interpretation.  Someone's definition of a lone wolf might be like yours, and another person's definition might be more like that of a hermit! 😃  That seems to be the case here!  I think it is difficult to catch all these nuances that can occur on a spectrum, and that leaves a kind of exaggerated version of the trait.  

I totally agree with the unflinty trait. I know plenty of people in real life who are unflirty, yet they manage to get married and have children! 😃 But my definition in this case matches yours, and not that of the Developers'! 

And I love your idea for kids having a Fears Cooties trait!!! 💡❤️😉

Ah... nice thing you pointed out there: the spectrum. One might say that is the main reason I made the post: to know how other Simmers viewed the various traits. 'Cause I am sincerely curious if there are traits that strike others as odd when in play or if it fits the bill in their minds. (Man, I have always been bad about starting posts... I completely skip over the point of them... >_<) I suppose the bare bones of it is, for the sake of just a general discussion: Have any of you ever made yourself a Sim, picked traits that looked perfect for them, but then when you played the Sim, the trait wound up being almost nothing like what you were expecting? What trait was it? What were you expecting from it? Have you found other traits with names that seem to fit a certain trait more than the one it is titled? Etc.

@Player_jp5s5eav, there were when the game first came out , but I have now gotten used to them for the most part, or at least used to the ones I use the most. 
I do think that the Family Oriented trait (which I play with a lot) can be a bit over the top.  A parent with this trait will get really sad if their kid isn't in the same room with them.  I have had parents with this trait and with the Loves Outdoors trait get stressed for not having been outside in a while, so I sent her outside and then she was depressed that her kids weren't near her! 😞🤭😃  

I also was a bit confused with the Child of the Ocean trait that came with the Island Living EP. It could have also been the fact that I gave this trait to a Mermaid that I made. Either way, I used her Aquatic Lure to catch fish, but she was really sad about it.  I can't remember if it was during fishing, or after fishing.  I understand wanting to preserve the oceans and how catching fish might be a little "too close to home" with a Mermaid, but then again many types of fish eat smaller fish, so this left me a bit confused. And I haven't played with her in a while so I don't remember if it was the fact that she was a Mermaid that was causing the problem or her Child of the Ocean trait that did it! 🤔

Yeah, I've gotten used to the mechanisms with the traits I played enough as well or I just know to avoid a trait that I know isn't going to make the sim the way I want them to be. As this whole thing was a whim post, what inspired it was of course the two traits in the subject title. Watching a Let's Play, I saw someone growing increasingly agitated with their sim because they picked a trait they came to regret giving them. Searching through the awards one could get from whim and aspiration points, they discovered the Independent Trait. 'Never purchasing that before since I just resigned myself to the extreme reactions of Lone Wolf, I was really surprised. "All this time I should have ignored Lone Wolf and purchased the Independent trait."

Family Oriented trait was one of the other notable ones for me as well. When I first read about it, I thought, "Oh, this would be perfect for this character I am making!" Nope... it was actually the worst along with the Aspiration that it was added to. I didn't expect it to be so child oriented. "You have more than just children, you know? You have your parents, siblings, spouse... I want you to have strong bonds with your family and not only your kids." "All these freaking toys and you don't even have a significant other yet! How about you think of getting something for your mom or your sibling?!" I saw it more as, "Helicopter Parent". -__-

The Jealousy trait also gave me the same vibe. The sim would become worried simply because the object of their affection left the bedroom was in their en suite bathroom for too long for their liking! Again, I get that the programing is complex so it is likely how many flags can be counted... but... if the Jealous Sim's partner is at home, no one can enter due to locks and nearly no other spawned sim is about because it is the middle of the night... Quit being so worried about your partner not being in the same room as you! It is amusing at first, but it mainly just comes off as paranoid and possessive rather than jealous. 'Never would have conceived such emotions and thoughts coming with the trait. I thought it would have been most active if they were out and they saw their partner was "paying too much attention" to others and become tense, become angry if some spawned Sim flirted with their partner, become enraged if their partner flirted with some other sim. "What the heck is this sadness moodlet? You are jealous! You should be angry and confront!" Wait, my sim can't even confront them? Why? They need to work this out!

The Child of the Ocean trait definitely causes those problems due to feeling empathetic to sea life. I've never played with occult sims, so I'm not sure if being a mermaid has that affect.

@Player_jp5s5eav, I had played several Mermaids with the Child of the Ocean trait, so it is hard form me to distinguish them.  I played with them a lot last Summer , but then ROM and DU came out so I played a lot of Spellcasters and college students! 😃  There are just so many things to try out! 😎  But I haven't played with a Mermaid in a while.  I hardly ever play rotationally, since I prefer to have each household in their own save so I can better keep track of them..  I have a few exceptions for test purposes and a few for extended families. , but even then I feel like i'm missing out if I play rotationally! 😳

Yes!!! The Jealous trait!  That is one I hardly play for the exact reasons you mentioned.  I could see if a jealous Sim had a spouse who they went to the Romance festival with and that spouse drank some Sakura Tea and got flirty with someone else -- It would make sense to be jealous then! 😉  But you are so right in that it doesn't make sense for them to be so upset that their spouse isn't in the same room as they are in! 😞  I even find this worse than the Family Oriented trait since if a parent has really young children it would make more sense to have to know which room they are in at all times!  
Despite the problems with the Family Oriented trait, I still use it a lot since I usually do have a lot of kids in those households! 🥳 But you are 100% correct in that a family oriented person should also be concerned with all their family members and not just their children.  There are real-life people without kids who are extremely family oriented!  ❤️

I think I might try your idea of purchasing the Independent trait more often.  I think I've only used it once or twice.  But it is a nice option for those who don't care for how the Loner trait is implemented! 

Hey @Player_jp5s5eav, I want to apologize for my poorly worded off-the-cuff response. I meant it to be a high-5/kudos for a fellow systems-process-type thinker, where ‘rant’ was intended to be roughly equivalent to ‘expound’ plus a bit of hyperbole. But I failed to account for the general negative connotation and the fact that people aren’t mind readers. Mea culpa, 100%.