Fun - Is The Fun Need Fundamentally Broken?

The only thing that really bugs me about the fun need is that it makes the sim tense, but then the tense moodlet induced whims (yes, I play with whims, don't judge :D ) are rarely for things that raise fun. A shower isn't gonna help when tension is due to low fun need, lol. I've sometimes thought maybe low fun should make sims bored rather than tense? I think there's a mod for that. But then there aren't really any consequences for being bored in the game, which would make fun much less of a "need." Being tense will stop your sim from being able to do certain things, but being bored doesn't. Maybe it could? Like, a bored sim would refuse to do housework or school/work tasks? Idk, I'm not sure what the perfect solution to that would be. But in terms of the fun need itself, I agree as others have stated that it's pretty darn easy to raise a sims fun lol. Like, just stick a stereo in the room and they'll usually turn it on themselves and fill their fun while their doing whatever else they're doing! Have them watch TV while they eat dinner! And so many fun things build skills too, like logic and video gaming and fitness if you have a pool or basketball hoop. (Heck, if you have the fitness pack you can just turn those earphones on and have constantly filled fun all the time, lol)

The thing is, just because you are a bookworm doesn't mean that you can't enjoy other activities too. You can be a bookworm and still like gardening, painting, bowling, dancing, baking, or whatever. Other activities are still fun, they're just not your most favorite thing.

Maybe, It feels a little wonky too me and its slightly ridiculous that the fastest way for adults to refill it is woohoo. And surely sims should find most activities related to their primary aspirations or activities they have a high level in, say above 6 fun? It seems daft that all sims have to take the gym bunny aspiration reward to find exercising fun but if they are going that way, they should have similar cheap rewards for all skills.

EDIT: and the Low Fun is Boring mod, which as far as I can tell works without problems still, fixes the problem with the tense moodlets and whims. Its such a part of my game I had forgotten its installed

Previous game(s) had fun need decay to 0 only (instead of -100). Stress lowered it further while relaxing raised it to 0. Thus you were doing fine without any fun objects as long as you don't have any work.

My sim has fun painting, but she does have the creative trait. Her fun bar also fills fast for dancing, woohoo and the classic tv channel.

"lisamwitt;c-17429606" wrote:
I don't have a problem getting it to go back up exactly, my problem is how much it goes down for some things.
For instance, I know school is boring, but my Sims come home with their fun completely tanked. They end up doing their homework late at night or early in the morning because I spent hours fulfilling their needs and getting their fun back up first. If their fun only went down a little at school, I could have them do their homework first thing, then do other stuff. I have the same problem with Sims at work.

I'm aware that taking it easy or socializing will slow the drop, but then their career or grade progress stops or goes backwards.

I had this problem in Sims 2 and installed a mod for it that slowed the decay, but I prefer not to install mods until they stop updating a game.

Actually, I've found that kids come home from school with less fun loss in S4 than in previous games. I put them on the monkey bars (also good for keeping them slim) for an hour before starting homework, and that fills their fun need. I have my teens do yoga, which isn't as much fun, and if they're still a bit low, I have them play video games on the computer for a few minutes before starting homework.

Video games are the fastest way to fill fun, but Sims also fill their fun reading (especially if they have the bookworm trait). Painters with the creative trait do get fun from painting. Writers, however, never seem to have any fun. The earbuds can help with many activities that aren't a lot of fun - I tend not to use them, only because they make the game a bit too easy for me.

I have no issues with the Fun need. Just keep track of that particular Sims perks and it works just fine.

The fun need has absolutely nothing to do with what you, the player, would consider fun and everything with what the Sims personality dictates.

"Sharonia;c-17429869" wrote:

"MVWdeZT;c-17429748" wrote:
Painting is fun for Sims with the creative trait.

But why is it only fun for sims that have the trait? In real life people can find activities fun without being overly invested in the subject of what they focus on for instance I'm not a painter but I still probably would find painting a fun activity to do.

Because that's logical?

I sometimes wish that sims were randomly allocated "fun" for different tasks, similar to the hidden traits which makes you like fruitcake. It would be really interesting to see a sim washing dishes and having their fun increase slightly, or seeing a sims watch TV and not have their fun fulfilled at all.

"LindsaySeddon1;c-17432520" wrote:
I sometimes wish that sims were randomly allocated "fun" for different tasks, similar to the hidden traits which makes you like fruitcake. It would be really interesting to see a sim washing dishes and having their fun increase slightly, or seeing a sims watch TV and not have their fun fulfilled at all.

To a point, I agree, though Neat sims gets a Fun boost from doing dishes, cleaning, or doing laundry already, which is logical.
I do wish there were more options that either had a hidden trait, like fruitcake, OR that you can assign preferences to like you can already do to movie genres and weather. Radio stations, TV stations, Type of exercise (cardio or muscle building) etc.