u/Alone-Film7362

Instead of expanding the actual sickness we have in the game they created a new type that are all affected by NOTHING and happen to all sims randomly. Yes it can be turned off but it's just like, do the developers not play this game? Surely they understand just how terrible of an idea this was.

Playing The Sims as a child, I always loved building relationships. Friendship and romantic relationships were fun and all, but I hated building relationships with other household sims. It's like, why am I controlling you 2 and the entire conversation? I always built relationships outside my households. I'm friends with my coworker... in love with my neighbor... but... but I have no enemies... That's weird, though, because I was mean to a sim at the park. Oh wait, because I was mean to them, I'll never see them again. I guess that's realistic. Because I was mean, I'll never see them again.

Whenever I try to do a mean Sims playthrough, I always encounter the same issue: I never see that sim again. Likewise, when a sim is mean to me, I never see them again. It's this weird paradox that's like, even though I hate you, I want you around me so that I can hate you. This applies to all Sims games. If you have a friend, you can invite them to your house, but an enemy will not want to come over, and that makes sense. When I thought about it more, I also realized it's quite difficult to maintain an enemy because you rarely see the same group of people as part of your schedule. I'll be speaking about Sims 4. In the base game for The Sims 4, there isn't a way to interact with the same group of non-playable Sims. If you go to a lot and wait there for 10 hours, I'm sure you'll see people your Sims know, but it's not guaranteed. In real life, our negative relationships likely function on a routine. Coworkers, classmates, roommates, family members. How can that function in The Sims organically without me, as the player, needing to build that storyline? The active careers and high school offer some of this; however, these Sims rotate at inconsistent times. You would think roommates work, but if you're mean to a roommate, they'll just move out. Clubs from the Get Together pack? I mean, yes, but it's not as organic as hating a coworker. Maybe it's just a me thing, but I want to walk into a building and see the same sims so that we can form a dynamic. The same way I walk into a bar and make friends or walk into school and make an enemy. I need more organic ways to build enemies.

How do evil people make friends? This is a genuine question that applies to all Sims games. If a sim has the mean/evil trait, should they make friends by being mean or being nice? What is it like to be mean in a friendship relationship? In The Sims 4, Sims will almost always use the nice interactions autonomously, regardless of their traits. As frustrating as that is, what SHOULD happen when a mean sim meets someone new? Should they greet everyone in a mean way or greet everyone kindly? After greeting, should they start acting mean? And if 2 mean sims are mean to each other, should that increase their relationship or decrease it? These are all genuine questions that I have, but there's no real answer. I think with Growing Together introducing conversation preferences, it almost took the load off of mean sims (I'm not insulting this pack; I love it btw) because, yes, you can unintentionally talk about something that someone has negative feelings about, but what if I intentionally want to hurt you? If this seems like a circular argument, it's because it is: How SHOULD mean Sims make friends?

Can Porolives and Inzio give me a mean girl? The Sims 4 has made its decision and decided how it wants to handle mean and evil, but its offspring must decide what mean and evil means to them. Inzio follows a similar conversation pie menu system that The Sims has, and I've experienced zios autonomously acting mean towards zios they have negative relationships with. Additionally, the most important thing about Inzio is that at careers and high school, your coworkers and classmates are consistent, which allows for long-term relationship building. In Parolives, I don't think you can greet parofolk negatively, as all conversations play out neutral. There are also no ways to encounter the same parofolk daily, so it's hard to say how they'll solve this mean issue.

All in all, I don't think there is a "wrong way" to design mean/evil NPCs. I think personally what I care about most is being around the same group of NPCs daily so that I can create drama organically while still being immersed in the gameplay.

.....But I'd love to see what you all think :)

Playing The Sims as a child, I always loved building relationships. Friendship and romantic relationships were fun and all, but I hated building relationships with other household sims. It's like, why am I controlling you 2 and the entire conversation? I always built relationships outside my households. I'm friends with my coworker... in love with my neighbor... but... but I have no enemies... That's weird, though, because I was mean to a sim at the park. Oh wait, because I was mean to them, I'll never see them again. I guess that's realistic. Because I was mean, I'll never see them again.

Whenever I try to do a mean Sims playthrough, I always encounter the same issue: I never see that sim again. Likewise, when a sim is mean to me, I never see them again. It's this weird paradox that's like, even though I hate you, I want you around me so that I can hate you. This applies to all Sims games. If you have a friend, you can invite them to your house, but an enemy will not want to come over, and that makes sense. When I thought about it more, I also realized it's quite difficult to maintain an enemy because you rarely see the same group of people as part of your schedule. I'll be speaking about Sims 4. In the base game for The Sims 4, there isn't a way to interact with the same group of non-playable Sims. If you go to a lot and wait there for 10 hours, I'm sure you'll see people your Sims know, but it's not guaranteed. In real life, our negative relationships likely function on a routine. Coworkers, classmates, roommates, family members. How can that function in The Sims organically without me, as the player, needing to build that storyline? The active careers and high school offer some of this; however, these Sims rotate at inconsistent times. You would think roommates work, but if you're mean to a roommate, they'll just move out. Clubs from the Get Together pack? I mean, yes, but it's not as organic as hating a coworker. Maybe it's just a me thing, but I want to walk into a building and see the same sims so that we can form a dynamic. The same way I walk into a bar and make friends or walk into school and make an enemy. I need more organic ways to build enemies.

How do evil people make friends? This is a genuine question that applies to all Sims games. If a sim has the mean/evil trait, should they make friends by being mean or being nice? What is it like to be mean in a friendship relationship? In The Sims 4, Sims will almost always use the nice interactions autonomously, regardless of their traits. As frustrating as that is, what SHOULD happen when a mean sim meets someone new? Should they greet everyone in a mean way or greet everyone kindly? After greeting, should they start acting mean? And if 2 mean sims are mean to each other, should that increase their relationship or decrease it? These are all genuine questions that I have, but there's no real answer. I think with Growing Together introducing conversation preferences, it almost took the load off of mean sims (I'm not insulting this pack; I love it btw) because, yes, you can unintentionally talk about something that someone has negative feelings about, but what if I intentionally want to hurt you? If this seems like a circular argument, it's because it is: How SHOULD mean sims make friends?

Can Paralives and Inzoi give me a mean girl? The Sims 4 has made its decision and decided how it wants to handle mean and evil, but its offspring must decide what mean and evil means to them. Inzoi follows a similar conversation pie menu system that The Sims has, and I've experienced zois autonomously acting mean towards zois they have negative relationships with. Additionally, the most important thing about Inzoi is that at careers and high school, your coworkers and classmates are consistent, which allows for long-term relationship building. In Paralives, I don't think you can greet parafolk negatively, as all conversations play out neutral. There are also no ways to encounter the same parafolk daily, so it's hard to say how they'll solve this mean issue.

All in all, I don't think there is a "wrong way" to design mean/evil NPCs. I think personally what I care about most is being around the same group of NPCs daily so that I can create drama organically while still being immersed in the gameplay.

.....But I'd love to see what you all think :)