Personality and Enthusiasm

[Dopp]

I am aware that hobby enthusiasm is horribly easy to gain. I ask because I sometimes switch OTH when I get too many in a particular neighborhood and was wondering if this 'breaks' the game rules in any way. I only allow Sims to build their OTH because I hate the hobby club membership memory spam.

WTB 'Harder Hobbies' hack, extreme edition.

[tunaisafish]

Thanks for the reply Sagana, the only info I'd seen up to now was at snootysims reposted from the Prima guide, so even that has to be taken with a pinch of salt.
They say that OTH is chosen at birth from personality and interests. born-in-game sims interests don't vary enough IMO. I'd prefer a random OTH
I've not seen any info that states what variables are involved with the increase rate so far, just gut feelings.  I'll post to the war room if I come across it.

I've only been playing again for about a week with all EPs.  Last time I played before that was just after OFB came out so there's a lot to catch up on.
oh... there is a new way to alter Niceness in AL with spells... apparently.

As far as modding goes, I was thinking about making a 'magazine rack' which would work like a bookcase but for interest/hobbie mag's.
However I made some notes of how I would change the enthusiasm code...

Make the OTH mean something by...
remove all wants for non-OTH hobbies
fix multiple 'maximize X enthusiasm' wants - a sim of mine achieved this want twice in cooking
don't award lifetime aspiration milestone for non-OTH
no 'zone' for non-OTH (cap at 9?)

Increase the speed the enthusiasm dies by...
No hobbies decay while at hobbie-lot.
No hobbie-X decay while actively involved with hobbie-X.
Vary the decay-rate of enthusiasm based mainly on interests, with a touch of personality, turn on's, and relationship with hobbie-guru.

eg, low interest in food, cooking skill turn off - then cooking enthusiasm will drop like a stone.
If your OTH(sport) sim has a interest of sport of 8-10, then it should be possible to reduce enthusiasm-decay for sport to zero.
Make the same sport sim's interest in Food high, then they will gain all the serving platter options, and not lose them so quickly, but won't have any desires to win cooking competitions and the like.


Dopp, I don't think Pescado would give you the tools to change OTH if it would break your game

[Sagana]

That sounds like a good start at a hack I definitely want

[Inge]

I think it's ridiculous they get enthusiasm for cooking just because they're eating something.   And they shouldn't get it just because they're cooking, either.  After all, loads of people cook just because they have to.   I think enthusiasm should only be built up by a particular success in an activity, or by reading a magazine, or by being talked to about it by someone.  Enthusiasm should be completely seperate from the skills involved.

[Ness]

I would love a hack, that makes the aspiration just decay slower instead of not decaying at all, once a lifetime want is reached or the lifetime-aspiration bar is maxed. It would make much more sense, that a sim would still be devastaded by the death of a loved one, even if he had reached his lifetime goal in the past.

Hook has made one - semiperma plat.  It gives sims who have reached perma plat a slower rate of aspiration decay.  I'm not sure if it's in peasantry here (it used to be) but I picked it up over at simbology recently.

[kemowery]

I think these things were designed for people allowing their sims to age at the standard rate.  Then it wouldn't be so easy for every sim to get rich and successful.  But how many of us do age our sims at original rate?   I guess if we want the sims to live longer we need to reduce skilling and enthusiasm rates etc.

*raises hand*  I allow my Sims to live a "natural" lifespan.  On the odd occasion they might have a shot of elixir, but I don't do it as standard.  The one thing I do tend to have is a lot of long-lived elders solely due to them generally being in platinum by the time they age to elder.

This is why I tend to do stuff like vamp or use elixir on adult sims.  If I transition them to elders, they're going to be sucky for a long, long time.  Playing an elder sim into 80+ days is boring as hell.  Now I can also make good retirement homes with AL.

I may need to get that Age Duration hack.

[J. M. Pescado]

I think it's ridiculous they get enthusiasm for cooking just because they're eating something.

If they didn't get cooking enthusiasm for eating something, they'd never get any at all, because the only thing that *GIVES* food enthusiasms is eating things! What I *HAVE* tried doing is making it so low-level "unwanted" hobbies decay faster, so that they quickly lose interest in it again.

However, the BEST way to gain culinary enthusiasm is not merely to eat the food, but to sleep in it.

[Inge]

A sort of Sim-in-the-hole?

[Dopp]

I have the Insim interest adjuster permanently mounted in the skilling room to reset unwanted hobbies before they generate hobby club membership spam. Can Sims lose hobby club membership?

[tunaisafish]

I've now looked at the code for enthusiasm gain.
I'll post the full details in the war room, but here's a brief description

Each hobbie action has a base-rate (some things increase the enthusiasm faster than others)
The OTH gets a bonus of 50% of base added
Relevant high interests adds up to 33% of base
Relevant high skill adds up to 50% of base

It appears that Personality does not come into the gain rate.

*Relevant interests are also increased!*

This last point is what is annoying me most and must be fixed...
Catch butterflies, and gain interest in Animals, Environment & Weather - while you lose interest in random others.
It's no longer worth getting children to read magazines to gain the extra growing-up bonus of interests - the extra points get stomped as soon as they eat.
Tuned your sims interests so they takes advantage of the ltwvariety hack?  There are 7 interests that don't have any hobbie association.  By the time they reach teen they may just want to be a celebrity chef.

Starting on this now

[Dopp]

If the thanks button actually did anything (other than crash my WMP) I would have hit it several times by now. Thanks, most informative.

[Ruann]

Wait, what?  Hobbies actually change your Interest numbers?   

That is so completely freaking retarded.  It's bad enough that it clogs up your want panel with "Talk about Hobby" and "Blog about Hobby".  And yet, talking about an associated interest doesn't actually fulfil the first want.  Idiotic.

[EsotericPolarBear]

The more I play, the more I wonder what purpose hobbies actually serve.  They offer zero benefit to gameplay.  It's just a way of keeping score for doing things you were already doing.

[Liz]

It's bad enough that it clogs up your want panel with "Talk about Hobby" and "Blog about Hobby".  And yet, talking about an associated interest doesn't actually fulfil the first want.  Idiotic.

At least fulfilling the "Talk About Hobby" Want isn't dependent on the talk-ee accepting your natureblather. I was certain when this came up that I'd have to wander some comm lot looking for someone to appreciate SimX's "ooh, I liek bugz!" spiel. Also glad we can pick which of our sim's hobbies to use, thereby at least mitigating the chances of irritating friends/family/passers-by with said blather.

I still fail to see any point in the Blog About Hobby routine. Sure, you can use it to up your Interest in something, but if you're interested enough to be able to blog about it, you're already gaining sufficient Interest in it from somewhere else (probably by doing something more productive, too). I guess the problem, really, lies in trying to come up with activities to use in a game that both simulates real life *and* is interesting for us, the players. Some people have tons of fun blogging IRL, but a computer game where you watch somebody blog? Yawny.

Also, blogging should raise a sim's social.

[Zazazu]

Talking to fake people on the 'net doesn't make you feel a little less alone?

If the thanks button actually did anything (other than crash my WMP) I would have hit it several times by now. Thanks, most informative.

You need to reinstall and update your WMP.

[Liz]

Talking to fake people on the 'net doesn't make you feel a little less alone?

Moo?

[kemowery]

It's bad enough that it clogs up your want panel with "Talk about Hobby" and "Blog about Hobby".  And yet, talking about an associated interest doesn't actually fulfil the first want.  Idiotic.

Some people have tons of fun blogging IRL, but a computer game where you watch somebody blog? Yawny.

Also, blogging should raise a sim's social.

Agree on raising the social.  If I've only got one or two sims in a house, they don't get to blog (and I might not buy them a computer, just to avoid stupid computer behavior in general).  If I have four or more, I might let a sim blog just because it'll keep him occupied and not doing anything ridiculously stupid for a few hours while I deal with the ones who need attention.

[buddha pest]

My Sports and Fitness sims do a lot of blogging because it is so very ironic.

No, actually, it's because I'm sick of seeing everyone wandering around in workout clothes all the damn time. I don't know why that irks me so, but it does. I wish they'd automatically change back to their normal outfits once they're done sporting and fitnessing like they do when they're done with the ballet bar.

I also can't stand when the childrens are wandering around in their private school uniforms. AND I don't allow anyone to wear pajamas past 7 a.m.

ETA - I'm glad I'm not the only one who drags down the aspiration meter for adults about to transition to elder. I've been doing that since the dawn of Uni because it's all just too much. I would really love a "rant about EVERYTHING" interaction for the old folks. They could've been made way more hilarious and fun. Mrs. Crumplebottom is fun because she is drunk and mad. No one else is fun.

[Liz]

I also can't stand when the childrens are wandering around in their private school uniforms. AND no one is allowed to wear pajamas past 7 a.m.

I leave sims in their PJ's later on the weekends (for that lazy Sunday vibe ;p), but I'm with you on the school unis. That's why I've taken to stashing a less obtrusive wardrobe near the front door, so the kids can make it their 2nd stop after the One Desk (and so adults can change out of their dumb work togs without spending an hour tromping up to their bedroom). This function really should have been coded into the otherwise useless coat rack. Why the fancy hell does the coat rack not have a 'change to normal' feature?

I would really love a "rant about my day" interaction for the old folks. They could've been made way more hilarious and fun.

This would be a fun interaction! I can see it being accepted/rejected, depending on their relationship to the recipient, along with the recipient's current mood/personality. Sims who like them and are in a good mood will be happy to let them vent. Sims who like them but are feeling cranky won't be in the mood for it but will put up with it if they're Nice enough. Nice strangers will listen politely, and pissed off strangers will have none of it.

[buddha pest]

For me, it kind of depends of the absurdity of the work uniform. Walking around the house in something like the french fry head thing or an astronaut space suit is kind of funny, so I just let them.

I can not stand Criminal Mastermind or Captain Hero's outfit though...and also whatever the hell that thing is they wear when they get to the top of the gamer career. It's Game Designer, right? Do you think Eaxians dress like that to go to work? That's kind of a charming mental picture.

ETA - I also really love that silly frilly thing the men wear when they get to the top of the dance career. I let them wear that one around the house for awhile when they get home too.

[J. M. Pescado]

This would be a fun interaction! I can see it being accepted/rejected, depending on their relationship to the recipient, along with the recipient's current mood/personality. Sims who like them and are in a good mood will be happy to let them vent. Sims who like them but are feeling cranky won't be in the mood for it but will put up with it if they're Nice enough. Nice strangers will listen politely, and pissed off strangers will have none of it.

I'm not nice, but I'll listen anyway. You'll regret you told me in the end, though. People earn their schticks that way.

[tunaisafish]

There's now a mod in peasantry that addresses some on the annoyances discussed above.

[Dopp]

Nice. And my WMP has stopped crashing.

[abelle]

Hook has made one - semiperma plat.  It gives sims who have reached perma plat a slower rate of aspiration decay.  I'm not sure if it's in peasantry here (it used to be) but I picked it up over at simbology recently.

That works perfectly. Thanks for the tip, I would never have found the right version otherwise.

[Jelenedra]

If we do get a "Rant About Everything!" elder interaction, can someone make a custom talk bubble of a long, grey beard?

"I'm old! I'm old and I have a long beard!"