Neighbour autonomously maxing skill?

They can gain skills if they're "live", even in the background of whatever you're doing. I had a (formerly) NPC sim pick up a couple levels of Archeology by being my sim's guide on her first trip to Selvadorada (before he came back to HoB with her and joined the household.) I've discovered others who had developed a few points in guitar or piano after going to a lounge with them several times. And yes, the ones at the gym are actually working on their fitness, even if they're not played.

And they also make some friends/connections from talking to other sims in the background of whatever you're doing too.

Oh I guess I never noticed the small skill gains until today. I’m thinking because I live in a tiny, tiny home with boosting lot traits that make fast skill gains and then my neighbour did some sit ups on my front lawn and maxed his skill out in a day or something lol

Maybe he was a gym trainer, they automatically have max skill so they have the ability to mentor

"cornflake88;c-18024526" wrote:
Maybe he was a gym trainer, they automatically have max skill so they have the ability to mentor

That's what I thought too so I checked Don Lothario in my game who is the gym trainer but he didn't have any skills. :/

If this is actually happening in the background now, I'm delighted to find that out! Stuff that happens in the player's view should count (or should at least be an option!) I know EA wants to make the world feel more alive and less completely static (hopefully not to the degree in Sims 3 though) and that's a nice step for getting "ascended NPCs" into my game's rotation.