The Sims team has released an official blog for The Sims 4 Parenthood Game Pack!
Hey Simmers! We don’t expect you to fully join the family without knowing more details about The Sims™ 4 Parenthood Game Pack, which is why we’re here today to discuss Character Values.
Young Sims growing up are still trying to figure out how to become productive adults and their Parents are there to help guide them down the right road by instilling strong Character Values. Or, if your Sims are more ambivalent in their parenting, their children’s weak Character Values will manifest into their (probably miserable) adulthood. What’s so great about this feature is that it represents how your Sims play, and there’s so much diversity in the outcomes that you can play The Sims 4 Parenthood Game Pack for generations.
We’re going to discuss how your Sims can guide (or ignore) their children in a future blog, but today, we want to discuss Character Values. Specifically, the outcome. There are five different Character Values, each with a positive and negative outcome. The five Character Values are Manners, Responsibility, Conflict Resolution, Empathy, and Emotional Control.
As soon as Sims age up from Babies to Toddlers, their Character Values appear in their Simology panel. When Sims age up from Teenagers to Young Adults, their Character Values disappear and the Sims are given permanent Traits that reflect their upbringing.
The Character Values are representations of your young Sims activities. As they perform activities that are positively associated with a Character Value, it’ll increase their positive access. If Sim parents encourage and praise these behaviors, that will also increase it. However, when Sims perform negative activities that are negatively associated with a Character Value, or a parent praises these activities, it has the opposite effect.
How about an example?
Let’s say a Sim mother wants her child to have good Manners. She might teach her child to Say Please and Thank you, or Set the Table. And she’ll likely discipline any bad manners her child exhibits. But perhaps, you’re more interested in a young, ill-mannered rogue? Your Sim’s child may start Swearing, or will wantonly burp and fart around the household. And if not curbed, these can have a permanent effect!
Let’s continue this example. Let’s say this child becomes a teenager, then a Young Adult. Their Character Values are set! If the mother didn’t curb the negative behaviors, the child will gain the Bad Manners Trait. This will unlock new socials, like Point Out Flaws, for one. The Sim will have Whims to Swear, indicating their personal desires to act with bad manners. They’ll also change their autonomous behavior, such as preferring Rude interactions, or failing to clean the dishes.
But, perhaps the mother did invest her time into creating a well-mannered child? Then, they earn the Good Manners Trait. Sims with this Trait always clean up dishes, act politely when introducing themselves to others, and never act rudely on their own. They build Friendships more quickly and, if they have to fart, they only do it in certain circumstances…
Beyond this, all Character Values lead to new Chance Cards catered to Sims based on their Traits – which means you’ll be making tough choices for your Sims throughout their lives based on their upbringing. It’s exciting and full of humor, unexpected twists, and is the perfect opportunity or new stories.
Character Values are such a great Sims feature. They’re the perfect combination of serious and silly consequences based on your choices and the stories you tell. With five Character Values, and two Traits for each, there is so much variety in how your Sims grow up, which means you can play The Sims 4 Parenthood Game Pack for so many generations.
What stories will you tell? Which bad behaviors will your Sims scold? What behaviors will they praise?
