Have you seen the effects of Aspiration Failure?

[pamysue]

I've read on other boards that you get to see things from the opening credits, like cradling the flour bag baby, begging for money, etc. from your Sims aspiration meter going into the red.

Used Merola's painting last night and made a few Sims aspirationally miserable. Was only able to get the psychiatrist to come for a family Sim and she did the chicken dance. Was not able to get her to play with the fake flour baby or recreate any of the other reactions. Aspiration meters were completely red and mood being good or bad seemed to have no effect.

Have any of you been able to get any of the failures to happen? And if so, how? I'd love to see my fortune Sims begging on the street corner.

[fff]

I've seen them quite often - yes, my Sims are that miserable....

Their aspiration determines what kind of response you get - e.g. Family Sims get the whole floursack baby thing, Popularity Sims talk to a cup on a stick.. I think?  Romance sims woo some mop thing, knowledge Sims talk to a ball, and the fortunes beg in the street. One of the funniest things I saw in the game was Dina Goth harrassing the school bus driver for money one day.....

[Marvin Kosh]

Makes you wonder what Aspirational Failure for Pleasure Sims will look like.

[fff]

Makes you wonder what Aspirational Failure for Pleasure Sims will look like.

Maybe that's where those flamethrowers will come in handy..?

[sara_dippity]

Keep them in failure for a while, you'll see it.

[schmoopee]

They can't be totally bottomed out in the red to see  it - then you just get the psychologist. They have to be mostly in the red but not all. Then just wait, you'll see it eventually.

[Ancient Sim]

I've seen them all, I think, although some more than others.  The begging for Simoleans is the one I see most of all.  I think I've only seen the Knowledge and Popularity ones once or twice, because those aspirations are easier to keep topped-up.  If they're not too far in the red, they just stand around and worry, a little bit further red and they cry a lot.  Next stage after that I think is the begging or whatever.  They will do this on their own lots, but also when they're visiting other people's or at community lots.  If you want to see it regularly, try using the SimVac on an obnoxious townie to drain their aspiration meter.  I have two or three who always beg for Simoleans or whatever whenever they happen to be greeted.

[dizzy]

Go for social need failure, too. That way, you can get a visit from the Social Bunny. 

[J. M. Pescado]

Go for social need failure, too. That way, you can get a visit from the Social Bunny. 

That's not really that uncommon, really. A sim can have 20 friends, call them very day, and still run out of social. The Bunny is amusing, but unhelpful, really, as the reason sims run out of social is generally not because of a lack of anyone to socialize with, but the fact that they're too busy to do it. It's particularly prevalent in teens, as their social meters drop like stones, and they're generally too busy for such frivolous nonsense. Who has time for pointless socializing when there are skillpoints to be maximized?

[ZephyrZodiac]

With Gnomon's flamingo of contentment on every lot, my sims never get quite that low for long!

[LK]

The only reason I want the Social Bunny is so that I can have a Sim beat it up.

[J. M. Pescado]

With Gnomon's flamingo of contentment on every lot, my sims never get quite that low for long!

Ah, but that would be cheating. Besides, I don't consider it a *PROBLEM* that they get low. It just happens. And the burnination continues.

[ZephyrZodiac]

Is cheating so bad?

[J. M. Pescado]

Is cheating so bad?

Other than that it invalidates your score, yes. I mean, you can do what you want, but it's nothing to brag about when you cheated.

[ZephyrZodiac]

I wasn't bragging!  I don't let my sims brag, so it would be a bit two-faced to do it myself!

[jrd]

Aspirational failure is fun. I keep most of my Sims in a state of permanent unhappiness because I love seeing them go bonkers.

[J. M. Pescado]

It'd be nice if they actually went bonkers meaningfully. As it stands, all they do is see the shrink, and waste my time by not obeying orders, so I don't really see much value in it.

[RainbowTigress]

As far as I know, the only ones who can have a fear of the Social Bunny are Popularity Sims.  I'm not sure about Romance.  But for Knowledge Sims and the others, they might complain that their social is bottomed out, but they don't lose aspirational points by fearing the Social Bunny.

[ZephyrZodiac]

Aspirational failure is fun. I keep most of my Sims in a state of permanent unhappiness because I love seeing them go bonkers.

Beware of the NSPCS!  (National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Sims)

[ElviraGoth]

I've seen them quite often - yes, my Sims are that miserable....

Their aspiration determines what kind of response you get - e.g. Family Sims get the whole floursack baby thing, Popularity Sims talk to a cup on a stick.. I think?  Romance sims woo some mop thing, knowledge Sims talk to a ball, and the fortunes beg in the street. One of the funniest things I saw in the game was Dina Goth harrassing the school bus driver for money one day.....

Haven't seen the flour sack or the mop, but I have seen the others.  Had a fortune sim with a fear of having something stolen.  Burglar came, got that 4500 simoleon painting that my sim wanted so bad, and even though the police came and caught the burglar, poor guy was standing by the mailbox in his pjs, begging.  Pitiful.  He finally stopped and went inside and kept looking at the wall where the painting was and had the "Miss this object" icon.  So I got him another one and he was happy again.

But it was funny watching him beg in his pjs!

I've seen that stupid Social Bunny more times than I want to.  He just gets in the way.  So if I can't get the sim someone to call, I just have them relax on the bed and daydream.  It helps social.

[pamysue]

They can't be totally bottomed out in the red to see  it - then you just get the psychologist. They have to be mostly in the red but not all. Then just wait, you'll see it eventually.

Thank you.  That's what I was doing wrong.  Off to try again...

[RainbowTigress]

So if I can't get the sim someone to call, I just have them relax on the bed and daydream.  It helps social.

I didn't know that.  That's strange. 

I think I've seen them all at least once, except for Professor Von Ball.  It's funny but I've never had any of my Knowledge Sims go into aspirational failure.  Once I saw the Paper Stick Buddy because my popularity sim caught her lover cheating on her and lost him as a best friend.  The others I've seen a little bit more frequently, but none lately.  I guess it's a combination my learning how to achieve wants better and the Uni LTW helps too.  I am not one that likes torturing Sims. 

[J. M. Pescado]

I've seen that stupid Social Bunny more times than I want to.  He just gets in the way.  So if I can't get the sim someone to call, I just have them relax on the bed and daydream.  It helps social.

I just ignore it and let them see the bunny. Relaxing and daydreaming is a waste of valuable productive time, and a well-designed house doesn't tend to suffer severe obstructions from one bunny.

[gali]

About the Social Bunny - do your sims cry when he arrives?

I remember the Sad Clown from TS1, which made all the sims cry and be sad.

In TS2 I never gave my sims to have aspiration failure. I saw once Cassandra, after being left at the altar, playing with some doll, and a shrink came to give her a treatment - twice. But I left the house without saving, thinking how to prevent this situation (I found a good solution for this).

[J. M. Pescado]

About the Social Bunny - do your sims cry when he arrives?

Nope, there's a brief piss and whine at the exact moment, but this goes largely unheralded because all the previous whines to that point are either squashed by "Less Whiny", or silenced by the fact that the sim is pinned down in the Skillinator. Once the bunny arrives, they actually laugh at his antics.