Traits are broken and we all need to admit it

"RememberJoy;c-16995044" wrote:
It would be awesome if instead of choosing three traits from four categories we instead got to choose one or two personality flavors from multiple categories. For example:

Hobbies - pick one or maybe two hobbies that sim would enjoy more than others and perhaps a hobby they can't stand as well. Hobby choices should include everything from running to reading, playing chess to gardening (updated with each pack as well).

Likes/Dislikes - choose one thing your sim particularly likes or dislikes. Things like cats, dogs, outdoors, meat, etc. Interacting with a liked thing would give the sim a boost of some kind, and interacting with a dislike would do the opposite.

Fears - select a something your sim is particularly afraid of. Could include water, fire, storms, etc. Interacting with a feared item would result in a more extreme reaction. To make it more interesting maybe include the possibility of receiving a phobia from in game play (and maybe overcoming it as well). For instance, if a sim catches on fire they are then afraid of fire, if they almost drown they now fear water.

Social - this would influence how your sim interacts with others. Include things like self-centered, shy, outgoing, mean, etc. A mean sim would lead with mean interactions and would have a harder time gaining relationships, a shy sim would be less likely to approach other sims and would get embarrassed more easily. Should each unlock unique social interactions.

Emotional - these would boost and suppress the different emotions. Would include playful, serious, gloomy, cheerful, etc. Should have a boost and suppress trait for each emotion. These should give your sim a unique idle action so that they behave differently. Gloomy sims would sag and sigh, playful sims would do a happy dance, serious sims would fold their arms and slightly frown.

Lifestyle - these can be traits that affect how your sim lives their life. Include lazy, active, slob, neat, proper, rebellious etc. Should unlock unique interactions with people and objects. A proper sim can lecture sims who are mean, a neat sim can can go on a cleaning spree, a lazy sim can take a nap on the ground.

Skills - this is something your sim is naturally talented in. Could include charismatic, logical, fit, funny, green thumb, handy, etc. This one skill will be more easily learned by your sim. Could also choose a skill that your sim has a hard time learning.

So with all these choices you could end up with a sim who is:

Shy around others, serious, and neat. They are naturally handy, enjoy running, and dislike gardening. They like dogs, don't like meat, and are afraid of storms.

Or you could have a sim who is:

Naturally a good cook but who dislikes cooking, likes camping but is afraid of fire.

Could open up some interesting story lines.

I would love something like this. It would be a great way to give our sims more depth and personality and of course that missing fear emotion. Also I agree it would be nice to have a way to make certain skills harder for sims to gain or even prevent them entirely, e.g. a sim meant to be socially awkward shouldn't become so charismatic just through talking to others etc.