How Do You Feel About the Whims System?

"calaprfy;c-17718705" wrote:
I love them, they give me direction. They should never have been neglected and would be a fantastic tie-in with the forthcoming lifestyles and sentiments.

I agree

"Hermitgirl;c-17718687" wrote:

I don't really care if they update it and I certainly don't want it to turn into a positive/negative point thing like wants and fears. I don't want the game telling me how to play unless I have a choice to ignore it without ramifications.

I agree with you; I found The Sims 2 Aspiration bar going automatically down kept dictating how I played my sim, and I am glad it no longer exists. I like your idea of using Sims 4 Aspirations, but I feel like they boss me around to play a certain way, and I'd rather not be told what to do except in active careers and social events.

I find Whims to be a nice balance not only because you can X out to choose new ones, but also has no negative effect in game like wants/fears had, freeing me up to play how I like. With the Whims Overhaul Mod they sync up better, such as a kid who just came home from school gets the Whim to Do Homework. I think Whims, when synced correctly with game play, can deepen a Sim's personality, such as a Romance Sim wanting to flirt with everyone, a Mermaid wanting to constantly swim in the ocean, or a level 8 writer frequently getting Whims that involve writing books in some way.

I sometimes don't know what I want my sims to do with their "idle" time, and whims are usually a short and sweet activity suggestion that my Sim would like to do, giving them a say in how they want to live their lives, but no consequences if they don't get what they want. I think just a bit of tweaking could really strengthen and deepen personalities without sacrificing game play free will.

Whims are needed, and needed in a reworked state.

First - updated for all released content for more variety.

Second - whims must be more meaningful:

• Less whims for stuff, and totally no whims for stuff which is inappropriate - like beehives in apartment.
  
• Less skill driven whims - just 'cause my sim cooked his diner and got a skill point doesn't mean he should be now obsessed with cooking. On the other hand my sims never have whims to raise different skills on their own outside those linked to some traits. And since these traits are limited it means none of sims ever wish to level handiness for example.
  
• More variable whims in terms of socialization - what's the point of having tones of variable socialization options if the whims are always woohoo, joke, talk? Any sim who wants to gossip? Or to hold hands?
  
• Whims promoting pack content are repeatable and annoying - just because I have Vamps GP doesn't mean each of my sims want to research vampires out of the blue... Imo if such whims highlighted less obvious features of the packs it would be more interesting. Like for seasons "search for seeds in scarecrow pockets", "send thankful letter", "appease gnomes" would be more interesting instead of constant bee spam.
  
• Why sims are unable to wish for a certain career path? I miss this feature greatly.
  

I love whims but i don't use them in sims 4. They're not in depth as they were in previous iterations. But i'ld love for them to get some love...

I use whims at times to decide what to do next ... do I go on a date, jog around the neighbourhood, finish that painting? Unfortunately the system is neglected and broken with no whims at all from the more recent packs and irrelevant ones (seriously, I do NOT want to watch the civic channel) overwhelming those that should pop up due to traits and aspirations. Perhaps with the new lifestyles it would be good timing to fix the system and have whims tied to lifestyles?

I'm very indifferent to them. Don't love them or hate them, they're just sort of there. I rarely pay attention to them

As of right now, 70% of simmers who answered this survey would like to see Whims fixed/updated.