What makes a sim memorable?

Mine tend to be fairly memorable just because I reroll the same families so much. Honestly, it has gotten worse with how much easier it is to save Sims and their families, but even in the good old days I would reroll families for a new adventure. I spend all that time making and tweaking, so I want to reuse them. I like the general characteristics they have and would probably (and have) rehashed them if I was forced to remake them.

I do still switch it up, but the more I play with the same Sims the more endeared they are to me and the more I remember them. I could even say that I have made different versions of a main character from 2-4. Maybe even 1, too, at least once.

The ones that tend to fade from my memory are inspirations that have had their stories played out. Even long, grand stories eventually come to an end and begin to fade from your mind. I was confronted by that when I rescued some of Sims 3 saves from a ghost of PCs past. I remembered the details when checking them out, but I had a fair bit of closure with those old saves.

To me they become memorable when they do interesting things on their own that are different from what the average Sim would do.
Never had that yet in Sims 4, they are all the same regardless of traits.

In Sims 2 a glitched NPC became most memorable because any activity that got him to remove his clothes did not cause him to put clothes back on afterwards. Had to tell him to put an outfit on. Did stay perfectly censored, but the guy drove to work naked and was fine doing anything naked, no other sims saw him as naked either. He walked naked around kids.
One of my sims married him so I have no idea how he got this way.

But my most memorable Sim of my own creation was in Sims 3, a masochist named Johnny Eastwood.
He was kind of this bad boy rockstar type, I don't know his exact traits any more but he seriously acted the part.
Was one of my five starting Sims, in his house was also a mooching slob guy, a nerdy guy and a good and evil woman who I made total opposites.
Funnily enough when moving in the two women had a pleasant conversation initially, until they found out they where good and evil. They never got along again ever since.
But Johnny Eastwood kept flirting with the evil woman, who kept slapping him or even beating him up every time he tried. Sometimes he would come on to her right after she kicked his butt. Their relationship was pretty negative but he kept trying so I guess he liked pain. And he never made a pass at the good girl, so it really seemed to fit his rockstar personality.

In Sims 3 it seems the easiest of all games to make memorable Sims though, I do have a more recent one who is so much fun. She's flirty, childish, easily impressed, friendly and has a good sense of humour. Messy red hair, colourful clothes and she just goes around making friends, having fun and flirting with people. She was constantly invited for parties at university and developed a naughty reputation mainly from simply doing the stuff she was dared to do.
Now that I am playing another house hold, she quickly became friends with the ambitious diva of this house hold. Because she's easily impressed that seems to go well with a diva but she's quick to make friends with anyone.
Only people that dislike her are those who she fooled around with and see her with someone else.
Which seriously should not hurt her reputation since she is not in a relationship with anyone, but ah well. The reputation adds character.

Those who I have created with a (successful) roleplay in mind resulting in a stronger personality and more unique type of gameplay OR those who develop one during the gameplay (bonus points if they somehow manage to surprise me).

Some examples:
My favorite Sim from TS2 was Gordon who actually started as a "test subject", someone who tried out all kinds of stupid stuff I didn't dare to do with other "more important" sims. In the end, due to so much happening to him, I grew really attached and he ceased being a disposable test subject and became my favorite.
My favorite TS4 sim is Axel because he's a combination of established roleplay (I had a pretty clear vision of what type of sim I wanted to create) AND development during the gameplay. There were some things I was planning for him but then he managed to mess it all up and I just rolled with it, my roleplay changing accordingly. He's my first TS4 sim so some things changed just because of my lack of knowledge (e.g. accidental romantic relationships) but I find that kind of stuff really memorable and funny. There have also been some lucky shenanigans. Like him trying to do his evil vampire routine by inviting himself in to feed on the residents but then also ending up saving them because at that moment they failed at cooking. Happened twice actually. His stan also ended up being a townie he actually saved from death earlier, that makes so much sense that I can't help but love it.

I also have a heavy tendency to get attached to sims who are flawed and able to cause some drama.  All my favorites have some sort of negative aspect to their character. They might have a trait like evil or mean or their gameplay has some shenanigans in it. For example: I have a household of siblings, triplet boys and their older sister, and I currently find Blaze the least memorable. Keira is gloomy and has emotional control issues so she throws random tantrums. Abel is a troublemaker (mean, hot-headed) and has way too much fun with criminal career. River's traits might be all good BUT he's doing the serial romantic aspiration and has had no forethought about the heartbreak he might cause. Blaze instead is kind of just... "normal" friendly guy which makes him less memorable for me. That might change in the future depending on how his gameplay goes but for now, unlike with his siblings, I haven't truly developed a roleplay/characterization for him. With the others it somehow came more naturally because their personalities came off stronger. 

My most memorable sims are those that I see around a lot in the game like Moria Fyres. It’s hard to forget her when she’s pretty much everywhere my sims go. I played with her family and she’s just so sweet, I love her so much. :D

Their oddities.

A good name and a good story. I find that using The Sims system, but also having a broader story in my imagination, works out the best. Plans, whims and coincidences come together to give me a different story to the one I intended. (I love how the new preferences system derails some plans I have: my gardener hates gardening, which I choose to accept and go another way.

My fave sims:
* Lectern Colliery is a mean-ass tory. He was meant to be a crime lord, but fell out of crime and became prime minister, or at least head of state. He dresses like an Edwardian landowner, and he intended to have his underling Dooley (a snout-faced magician pickpocket) kill Count Vlad, so they could take his mansion and make it a crime HQ, but a social media influencer beat them to it, and repainted the place in all garish colours.

Lectern Colliery's favourite habit is whirlwind romances resulting in pregnancies. He'll turn up at the door, woo you, bed you, and never come back to meet the resulting child. (I do not endorse this, but it suits him. There are two generations of Colliery-Goths in my game). My current fave, Azo King is doing the same in reverse, raising a brood of famous folk's lovechildren.

* Rutger Bubble is a short, immensely plump, green-skinned gardener. He only wears bright yellow, with a propensity for jumpsuits and broad-brimmed hats. He's a well-beloved celebrity (not really famous *for* anything, just famous in general). He knows everyone, and everyone knows him. He lives in a small, futuristic house with a big garden with his magical husband (every home should have one). I rarely play him, but often befriend him.

I love that you asked this question - I don’t think I ever really stopped to analyse what makes my favourite or most memorable characters that way.

I think for me:

1: Flaws
2: Story
3: Unexpected things happening

The pretty, happy, successful Sims come and go and I play a lot of them (maybe we all do) but it’s the ones that grow and change that stick with me.

I remember in one save, Bella and Mortimer Goth died while unplayed and Alexander (by this point a YA) became a vampire. I made Alexander into a really dark, traumatised villain and had him cause the death of his sister.

In another save I had a rich, elder woman called Alexis Devere, who was a snobby spellcaster. She founded a spellcaster club and would often turn up to lots and duplicate herself using magic. This would often glitch and cause the duplicates to become permanent townies so I’d have a whole horde of Alexis Devere’s (with different first names) showing up all over the place. Even though I didn’t play her much that unexpected twist made her stick out.

Back when I played TS3/2/1 I used to make a lot of characters based on people from TV shows so they weren’t as memorable because they were not original.

"RySBI;c-17920629" wrote:

I think for me:

1: Flaws
2: Story
3: Unexpected things happening

The pretty, happy, successful Sims come and go and I play a lot of them (maybe we all do) but it’s the ones that grow and change that stick with me.

@RySBI You put this way better I did. Haha. But yeah, basically this for me as well. I just worded it way more complicated.

I wish they would give us the unlucky trait in sims 4
and some more random events that always makes me like a sim more

What makes sims special to me is the amount of time I have spent with them, and the accomplishments they have achieved. I think I need time to bond with them.

I regularly start a new family or save because I have a new story in my head. most of these are easy to leave behind and start over, but once I reach a certain point, I get attached to them and don't want to loose them. Usually at this point I have reached something like a family tree with a few generations, or completed a few aspirations, or earned a university degree.