negative Traits in game play

I'm sorry I didn't realise the OP asked for stories or pics and gameplay related things.

I downloaded a lot once after I made the Hi.cks family. This family is based on the Sims 1 family and based I guess on a kind of typical stereotype. They live in a shack. They have three dogs the mother is a washed up, poor ex-beauty queen and her grown son lives with her. They have 3 dogs. Anyway, I remade them in this game and the lot I downloaded came with the traits cursed, gremlins and earthquake zone. Their bad traits that I gave them.. Mom lazy and son Elden slob. They are both materialist also.. which I consider personally to be a "bad" trait.
Omg.. playing this house with those lot traits was like diving into the the fifth circle of heck. Everything broke, every day. Their moods were bad more often than not and things just did not go well. Also because the three dogs were new and untrained .. it got gross. They got filthy so easily and howled at night ect... and of course had to be trained to "go" outside. I felt the most sorry for Elden because he did the brunt of the bathing and his school work was suffering, and sleep and.. you name it. The mom wasn't working so at least she got sleep. When one of the dogs got sick (they had a woohoo bush outside and they get bit easily around that), I did decide I'd have to change the lot traits to give them a chance at life. I think it took all of two gameplay days to decide to do that lol. I left earthquake zone .. that basically only causes tension that I've seen so far. They are a happier but struggling family now and it's still difficult for me to play them. It's fun when I want the challenge though (in sort bursts).

This picture doesn't show them struggling... well not exactly. It's also after I changed the lot traits to give them a chance and gave them a better tub ect. It kind of shows how they started off though.. most of the quality of stuff they live with is bad, but they are moving up now.

I find that negative traits in TS4 don't really do much unless we're talking super specific situations. The only one I know causes drama and interesting situations is the Hot Headed trait, but that's only if your story needs many arguments and fighting. Hot Headed sims randomly snap at people and kick trash cans, so that makes for interesting stories sometimes, but other traits are just kind of....there. So to me it doesn't really make a difference whether I use them or not. I could give a sim all negative traits and she'd still mostly be a sweetheart :D

"agustd;c-16462742" wrote:
I find that negative traits in TS4 don't really do much unless we're talking super specific situations. The only one I know causes drama and interesting situations is the Hot Headed trait, but that's only if your story needs many arguments and fighting. Hot Headed sims randomly snap at people and kick trash cans, so that makes for interesting stories sometimes, but other traits are just kind of....there. So to me it doesn't really make a difference whether I use them or not. I could give a sim all negative traits and she'd still mostly be a sweetheart :D

I guess that depends on how you look at it. I decided to load up that family again that I just posted about and with them. Elden is slamming fridge doors and tense, he keeps getting a mood that says he want's to escape this family. He's scowling most of the time. Yes he does go back to smile state though now and then but I think the general discomfort of his needs/household and moods is basically keeping him and enhancing his bad moods. He doesn't have time to work out (he is an active sim) because just keeping up with his needs in that household/school is rough. The mother is tense because I force her to clean and she hates it. She would probably be happier if I let the house go dirty because she's a slob. She mostly gets tense and upset when there is nothing new in the house. I don't let them be mean to each other autonomously because I don't want my story to go in that direction. However with the moods in that household I'm sure they would go that way easily if I let it. I enjoy the mood systems though and the tools they've given us through traits.. both household and sims. Some don't and don't believe it does anything. It's all a matter of opinion. Not sure that's what this thread is about in the long run though.

Edited she's not a slob she's lazy and hates to clean. So she also hates it when it's dirty lol.. yeah she's not winning in that house.
Lol.. this just happened when I went back. He started yelling at her..

"Hermitgirl;c-16462818" wrote:

"agustd;c-16462742" wrote:
I find that negative traits in TS4 don't really do much unless we're talking super specific situations. The only one I know causes drama and interesting situations is the Hot Headed trait, but that's only if your story needs many arguments and fighting. Hot Headed sims randomly snap at people and kick trash cans, so that makes for interesting stories sometimes, but other traits are just kind of....there. So to me it doesn't really make a difference whether I use them or not. I could give a sim all negative traits and she'd still mostly be a sweetheart :D

I guess that depends on how you look at it. I decided to load up that family again that I just posted about and with them. Elden is slamming fridge doors and tense, he keeps getting a mood that says he want's to escape this family. He's scowling most of the time. Yes he does go back to smile state though now and then but I think the general discomfort of his needs/household and moods is basically keeping him and enhancing his bad moods. He doesn't have time to work out (he is an active sim) because just keeping up with his needs in that household/school is rough. The mother is tense because I force her to clean and she hates it. She would probably be happier if I let the house go dirty because she's a slob. She mostly gets tense and upset when there is nothing new in the house. I don't let them be mean to each other autonomously because I don't want my story to go in that direction. However with the moods in that household I'm sure they would go that way easily if I let it. I enjoy the mood systems though and the tools they've given us through traits.. both household and sims. Some don't and don't believe it does anything. It's all a matter of opinion. Not sure that's what this thread is about in the long run though.

Edited she's not a slob she's lazy and hates to clean. So she also hates it when it's dirty lol.. yeah she's not winning in that house.
Lol.. this just happened when I went back. He started yelling at her..

I totally love this! I wish I could keep my mitts off micromanaging so much. I really think I'd enjoy the game even more if I could sit on my hands or something. Tsk.

"ghilie;c-16318420" wrote:
Lately I have been giving all my sims a negative trait or two. Klepto is my favorite, but I also like mean, evil, lazy, and slob. I gave my latest sim the glutton trait so he can forage food out of garbage cans. I especially love cheating parenthood traits onto sims. Negative traits seem to give sims more personality.

Agreed! We need more negative traits. Actually, to be more specific, we need more STRONG traits. There are so many that just add an occasional buff which is extremely weak when it comes to gameplay and personality. I want to be able to observe a sim for a while and be able to list their traits without actually looking their traits up because they actually express the traits given in an obvious way! We need traits that not only add buffs but ones that have unique interactions, special idles, and autonomous decision making based on their traits. This would enrich the game in a strong way.

"calaprfy;c-16474575" wrote:

"alan650111;c-16464604" wrote:

"ghilie;c-16318420" wrote:
Lately I have been giving all my sims a negative trait or two. Klepto is my favorite, but I also like mean, evil, lazy, and slob. I gave my latest sim the glutton trait so he can forage food out of garbage cans. I especially love cheating parenthood traits onto sims. Negative traits seem to give sims more personality.

Agreed! We need more negative traits. Actually, to be more specific, we need more STRONG traits. There are so many that just add an occasional buff which is extremely weak when it comes to gameplay and personality. I want to be able to observe a sim for a while and be able to list their traits without actually looking their traits up because they actually express the traits given in an obvious way! We need traits that not only add buffs but ones that have unique interactions, special idles, and autonomous decision making based on their traits. This would enrich the game in a strong way.

Agreed. For example, we should see loners making the effort to be alone. We should see loves outdoors sims sitting outside most of the time, enjoying the fresh air.

By the way, childish and hot-headed is a fun combination. Buy them a huge cuddly toy and watch them beat the stuffing out of it! They'll also talk to the toy and this fulfills their social need.

Yes, it does bug me when my loner Sims get whims to make a friend... :s

A good many of seemingly positive or neutral traits can actually quickly become a pain to play with if the Sim's need for a particular something is not met. That said, I'm not at all fond of slob, unflirty, evil, mean-spirited and hates children.

I'm most used to play with noncommittal. It can be challenging, because the Sim will start to loathe having both a partner as well as a job. Even the Serial Romantic aspiration doesn't really fit a noncommittal Sim, because as soon as a relationship becomes "official" and has a distinguishing name, they want out. Another thing; when they express concern about commitment to simply a friend with benefits, the relationship doesn't suffer. But if they are in fact going steady, it causes both the friendship and romantic relation to go down.

So, in order to keep a noncommittal Sim happy - have them make money by selling crafted items, not by having a job, and settle for friends with benefits who will be more understanding when your Sim needs to word their fears of entrapment.

I try to give my Sims at least 1 negative trait, it's rare that a Sim of mine will have all positive traits. I use all negative traits for a Sim much more. When it comes to lot traits I don't really try to balance the good and bad traits, I just use whichever I feel suit my family best.

I always tend to make fairly good Sims on the whole, with neutral/good traits. Occasionally in Sims 3 I'd make a Sim "neurotic" or "absent-minded", but that was as far as it went. I usually make partners different to each other, but with maybe one trait in common. Obviously by neutral traits I mean the skill-based ones, or stuff like "loves the outdoors".
I suppose what I get from it is that my Sims might start off being similar, but I then see how their lives pan out (eg number of kids, their careers, general life events). I think it also ties in to the fact that I tend to be a "family" Simmer, in that I start off with a married couple and get them to have loads of kids.

You can choose 3 traits in CAS, but can earn more through gameplay (you get a 'bonus' trait when you choose the aspiration, plus another one when you achieve that aspiration, for example). If you raise a kid from birth, they can earn loads more. I played one family under the "long" lifespan, and the daughter managed to achieve all the childhood aspirations, plus she'd had the time to max all the toddler skills...

Personally i really miss a mandatory weakness.
Three traits and one mandatory weakness would be great. Also make them actually matter (half of the negative traits are pontless (like clumsy)).