Prom date

If I understand correctly, I think the problem might have to do with how the game selects which sims show up to high school functions. There're a handful of hidden student archetypes, somewhat similar to the hidden roommate archetypes. When deciding which unplayed sims show up at high school functions, there's a requirement that at least one sim bearing each of those archetypes needs to appear in the group. On rare occasion, that requirement seems to cause arranged prom dates to be excluded.

The game does seem to take into account which unplayed sims hold sentiments toward your played sim, when making these decisions. If your sim becomes very good friends and interacts a lot with another student, that student will more often show up when your sim attends school or school functions, but it's not a guarantee. This seems to hold just as true when it comes to negative sentiments, so you're just as likely to see your sworn enemies as your best friends.

So, it's not necessarily a case of your sim being stood up with evil intent (unless her boyfriend has the Evil trait,) it may just be an unfortunate quirk related to how the game arranges teen social events connected to high school.

"SteveBridger;c-18220072" wrote:
If I understand correctly, I think the problem might have to do with how the game selects which sims show up to high school functions. There're a handful of hidden student archetypes, somewhat similar to the hidden roommate archetypes. When deciding which unplayed sims show up at high school functions, there's a requirement that at least one sim bearing each of those archetypes needs to appear in the group. On rare occasion, that requirement seems to cause arranged prom dates to be excluded.

The game does seem to take into account which unplayed sims hold sentiments toward your played sim, when making these decisions. If your sim becomes very good friends and interacts a lot with another student, that student will more often show up when your sim attends school or school functions, but it's not a guarantee. This seems to hold just as true when it comes to negative sentiments, so you're just as likely to see your sworn enemies as your best friends.

So, it's not necessarily a case of your sim being stood up with evil intent (unless her boyfriend has the Evil trait,) it may just be an unfortunate quirk related to how the game arranges teen social events connected to high school.

Maxis needs to fix or tweak this.

"GalacticGal;c-18220278" wrote:
I had to have my Sim go to prom. Once there I had him ask his 'date' to hang out at the lot, since she was living in another lot. Once they were in the same dorm, at Teens, and I could control them both, then Erik had the option to bring Kayleigh to the prom. Best of luck. Luckily, in your case those proms are weekly things.

The weekly proms bug me for some reason. If graduation can be after they age up, surely EA can make it so prom happens around the end of school too?

"Brd709;c-18220290" wrote:

"GalacticGal;c-18220278" wrote:
I had to have my Sim go to prom. Once there I had him ask his 'date' to hang out at the lot, since she was living in another lot. Once they were in the same dorm, at Teens, and I could control them both, then Erik had the option to bring Kayleigh to the prom. Best of luck. Luckily, in your case those proms are weekly things.

The weekly proms bug me for some reason. If graduation can be after they age up, surely EA can make it so prom happens around the end of school too?

I don't really have a problem with it. I mean, IRL, I went to three proms (jr., sr., and once more as a date), plus quite a few homecoming and other dances. I sort of look at Sims "prom" as being a stand-in for all the formal events one would attend in high school;with homecoming and prom alone, that could easily be at least six events during your high school years. It's also easy enough to skip if you don't want your teen sim to attend again.

"catloverplayer;c-18220116" wrote:

"SteveBridger;c-18220072" wrote:
If I understand correctly, I think the problem might have to do with how the game selects which sims show up to high school functions. There're a handful of hidden student archetypes, somewhat similar to the hidden roommate archetypes. When deciding which unplayed sims show up at high school functions, there's a requirement that at least one sim bearing each of those archetypes needs to appear in the group. On rare occasion, that requirement seems to cause arranged prom dates to be excluded.

The game does seem to take into account which unplayed sims hold sentiments toward your played sim, when making these decisions. If your sim becomes very good friends and interacts a lot with another student, that student will more often show up when your sim attends school or school functions, but it's not a guarantee. This seems to hold just as true when it comes to negative sentiments, so you're just as likely to see your sworn enemies as your best friends.

So, it's not necessarily a case of your sim being stood up with evil intent (unless her boyfriend has the Evil trait,) it may just be an unfortunate quirk related to how the game arranges teen social events connected to high school.

Maxis needs to fix or tweak this.

Agreed. If they have to have the archetypes, they should still give priority to player choices with respect to asking another sim to go or accepting an offer to go. At the very least, the number of sims allowed on the event for the lot should be mandatory sims + X number of additional sims, with priority given in the latter group to sims we have chosen to attend.

"Amapola76;c-18220341" wrote:

"catloverplayer;c-18220116" wrote:
Maxis needs to fix or tweak this.

Agreed. If they have to have the archetypes, they should still give priority to player choices with respect to asking another sim to go or accepting an offer to go. At the very least, the number of sims allowed on the event for the lot should be mandatory sims + X number of additional sims, with priority given in the latter group to sims we have chosen to attend.

Doing a little experimenting, it seems that the promposal sentiment virtually guarantees that your prom date will be selected for prom attendance, but certain other sentiments can outweigh that one as far as the game is concerned. For instance, if your werewolf teen sim has a Lycan Bond sentiment with another werewolf student, that sim will almost certainly show up at any school functions your played sim attends. It could be that the promposal sentiment just needs to be given additional weight, in terms of how the game makes these decisions. (Amusingly, in the one test scenario where I got this problem to present itself, it was like a "packmates before dates" mindset decided the outcome.)

"Brd709;c-18220290" wrote:

"GalacticGal;c-18220278" wrote:
I had to have my Sim go to prom. Once there I had him ask his 'date' to hang out at the lot, since she was living in another lot. Once they were in the same dorm, at Teens, and I could control them both, then Erik had the option to bring Kayleigh to the prom. Best of luck. Luckily, in your case those proms are weekly things.

The weekly proms bug me for some reason. If graduation can be after they age up, surely EA can make it so prom happens around the end of school too?

You are forgetting one thing, however. Where I grew up we had, weekly, what were called "Sock Hops" They took place in the school gymnasium, hence the name sock, since regular shoes weren't allowed on the wood flooring. This was more of an athletic celebration, if you will. In February there was also the "Sadie Hawkins Dance" wherein back in the day, the girls were allowed to ask the boys. (My goodness have things changed since then.) The Senior Prom happened in May and was put on by the Junior Class. Perhaps, if you can wrap your brain around something of this nature, it won't bother you quite so much. I tended to look at the next Prom as a chance to improve on the gameplay from the one prior. Got a brass and then finally a gold medal, but it took work. To this day, I can't recall what needs to be done, first, in order to show off outfit. :open_mouth: And when Erik and company left for Uni as Teens, Kayleigh was quite peeved at Erik for not inviting her to Prom. (At that time, since he no longer had the ability to create a Promposal, I was under the mistaken belief if they weren't attending HS currently, they couldn't attend Prom, either.) Boy, was I ever wrong. LOL So, instead of asking her, Erik just invited her out. Destination the school gym for the Prom. He was still in trouble, poor guy.

I had to have my Sim go to prom. Once there I had him ask his 'date' to hang out at the lot, since she was living in another lot. Once they were in the same dorm, at Teens, and I could control them both, then Erik had the option to bring Kayleigh to the prom. Best of luck. Luckily, in your case those proms are weekly things.

"SteveBridger;c-18220487" wrote:

"Amapola76;c-18220341" wrote:

"catloverplayer;c-18220116" wrote:
Maxis needs to fix or tweak this.

Agreed. If they have to have the archetypes, they should still give priority to player choices with respect to asking another sim to go or accepting an offer to go. At the very least, the number of sims allowed on the event for the lot should be mandatory sims + X number of additional sims, with priority given in the latter group to sims we have chosen to attend.

Doing a little experimenting, it seems that the promposal sentiment virtually guarantees that your prom date will be selected for prom attendance, but certain other sentiments can outweigh that one as far as the game is concerned. For instance, if your werewolf teen sim has a Lycan Bond sentiment with another werewolf student, that sim will almost certainly show up at any school functions your played sim attends. It could be that the promposal sentiment just needs to be given additional weight, in terms of how the game makes these decisions. (Amusingly, in the one test scenario where I got this problem to present itself, it was like a "packmates before dates" mindset decided the outcome.)

Maybe why he didn't show up she didn't do the promposal thing. One of sims did that and her date did show up.

She left him in the dust anyway. She aged to Y/A couple days later.

I'm hoping we'll get a high school reunion prom and a Love Day Prom for young adults and up in the Generations Expansion.