More Awesome Than You!

Make friends with 5 service NPCs is a want that goes all the way back to base game, but the list of Service NPCs has grown a lot.  Is there a complete, current list of Service NPCs out there?  And how sure is it that the old want recognises all of the new service NPCs?

Snooty has a list, but it doesn't look right to me - delivery people and sales staff are surely service npcs - aren't they?
http://www.snootysims.com/infoindex.php?id=npc

All of them, apart from the non-social NPC's, count towards the 'Make friends/woohoo with 5 service NPCs' wants.

(Actually, although the restaurant cook cannot be interacted with while s/he is working, they can be through other means such as Gypsy/Blind Dates and use of TJ's Crystal Ball. Oh and if you have BV, the Bellhop and Housekeepers cannot be interacted with properly. I would count them as non-social)

Delivery people are service NPCs.

As for sales staff, it depends on whether they are staff in an owned business or not.  Baristas, register clerks, podium staff, etc on unowned community lots are NPCs, but staff working in similar roles in owned businesses are not NPCs for the purposes of the want.  Non-playable staff in owned businesses are usually from the townie/downtownie families, not the NPC family.

And they walk by on community lots all the damn time. Or at least they do in my game. No guarantees that's normal behavior.  :-\

The only time I see the gardener is when s/he walks by on community lots :D

It is; the walkby BHAVs are designed that way. Given that they're supposed to only walk by and never stop and hang out in the lot, the purpouse of this idiocy is unknown.

Thanks people  :)

Cheerleaders and mascots count, too, much to my surprise. I'm trying to remember if professors count.

Yes, they do. I forgot about them.

The list is not really accurate. Social workers count as service NPC and they are social.
The only thing is you can't ask them for a date using the phone but when they are off duty you can  interact with them and even marry them, unlike the repo men or the taxi drivers.

I always thought marrying Social Workers was a Bad Thing.

Actually, you can interact with the repo men, with some workarounds-- one of my sims had the good-looking Repo Man's babies!  I was pretty clueless at the time and didn't know that this was a VBT, but at least I didn't let her marry him.  I could tell even then that he was buggy.

I think the Diva (and probably Mr. Big) counts as well, along with grand vampires and head witches.

Any NPC in the "NPC" family counts. NPCs not in the NPC family do not. Moving in nameless NPCs will negatively affect your game. Moving in non-base game NPCs may have odd side effects.

So, what is included in the "NPC family"? And what are "nameless" NPCs?

I'm guessing that nameless NPCs are the ones who don't have a real name.  When you have the Head For Numbers OFB perk, every sim in the game will pop up, including ones named Ninja, Repo Man, Driver, Unsavory Charlatan. . . I don't touch those.  Professors, Mascots, etc., have randomly assigned names, like Allyn Gilscarbo. 

I edited various NPC and townie family names in SimPE for easier identification, like "EP5 Garden Club" or "EP6 Locals - Far East".

The real "NPC family" contains all base-game service NPCs, like maids or gardeners. All 24 Uni professors are included in this family.
Not all NPCs included in NPC family are interactable though, e.g. Local Chef or Food Judge.

Nameless NPCs, e.g. Pollination Technician or Witch Doctor, belong to "Default" family. They are actually objects, not real Sims, so editing them may corrupt your Object.package file. You can see who belongs to which family by browsing through them with Inge's teleporter.

The NPC family is every sim included in the 0x7FFF "NPC" family. You can find them listed in SimPE, or an Ingelogical shrub. The family can be relabelled in SimPE to be easily idenfiable, or else they will have some random stupid name from the first NPC to be lastnamed. "Nameless" NPCs are those who do not have proper names, merely titles: "Ninja", "Unsavory Charlatan", "Social Bunny", "Social Worker", "Repo Man", etc.. NPCs without names should be regarded as completely taboo outside of their normal functions. NPCs WITH names are safe to interact with on a casual basis, but those not from the base game may retain undesired behavior quirks if moved or married into an actual family. These quirks are mostly harmless, but may be annoying.

I'm confused about the Social Worker, though.  I've taken no chances--I have one as a character in my Legacy 'hood, but she is really a normal Sim created in CAS with the unlocked SoWo outfit.  But I've certainly heard of people marrying her in with no ill effects, and that she is a sim with ordinary wants, etc.  What is the problem with the Social Worker?

Not just the nameless ones...  The taxi driver and the Nightlife chef and some others I can't remember at the moment, do have names, but are not good people to mess with.

Ah, yes, drivers are very bad. I'm not sure how bad the chefs are, but the drivers are bad.

Brandi Broke married a chef in my game. He is just a normal sim. With no cooking skill ::)

Is there a list of "taboo" NPCs? In fact, is there hack that prevents "taboo" NPCs from showing up Downtown and on blind-dates? Maybe that way I won't accidently do anything with them.

Anyone who cannot be interacted with at all (only "There are no actions available" tooltip comes up when clicked), or can't be flirted with (NL interactions like "Feed Bites" don't count) are off-limits.

How did you manage that?  The chef is one of those characters that can not normally be interacted with.

Fraudulent gypsy date. When Chefs aren't working they are just normal sims.

They also behave normally, if you greet them outside of working hours.  I have one who likes to show up at the owned businesses, and the salespeople all have the full range of social interactions with her.  She may not be a Local Chef though; I can't remember.  Maybe the chefs from the vacation 'hoods are off limits?

Local Chefs are untouchables.

The ordinary chefs definitely walk by on community lots. I have one in a hood I'm playing with an unusual name, so I recognised her when she walked by.

Last I heard you can meet the NL chefs by going to the restaurant and being unable to afford the bill...

Sim with no name like that are naturally untouchable. The "local chef" isn't even "local". It's the same dude in different uniforms. :P

Really, and how does that meeting go? Do chefs beat the broke Sim up, make them do dishes or ask for...er...alternative method of payment? (which would be totally convenient if a Sim had that 'Shag 5 service people' wish).

I've noticed that moved-in chefs, just like mascots and uni cooks, have a nasty habit of inviting themselves into houses of total strangers. Wonder what causes that behaviour.

The ony thing I found with the social worker made playable is she still tries to walks through walls on every lot. Except for this she acted like any normal sim.
Some other charaters have strange behaviour, like The nanny, the burglar, the grand vampire, the streaker, the diva/Mr Big, the uni mascots or cheerleaders, and perhaps others I don't remember now.
Some behave like normal sims once playable, like the maid or gardener, the mailperson, the paperboy, the pizza delivery, OFB reporter...
It seems Pescado said all,  it is probably better to avoid marrying a service NPC at all. Even a named character of the basegame like the burglar or the nanny retain their strange behaviour. What real damage it can cause to the game is beyond my knowledge.

Yes, you can meet the chef if you can't afford the bill. You can't try to ditch the bill though, just try to pay it and don't have enough funds. If you try to pay, you get a negative relationship hit with everyone in the restaurant, including the chef. But then you can call him because he is in your relationship panel.