I always wished that the game would pass on a minimum of the parents' traits to the children, not only physical genetics, but also regarding their personality. I'd like to look at a teen sim and think that she got her goodness from her mom, or her grumpiness from her dad. A bit of random surprises would be fine, though.
In TS3 you could click the random traits button, while in TS4 there is no such button - yet. So, when a child grows up you need to pick one more trait, and it might be hard to choose. I like to have a few rules in situations like that - it makes my sims more interesting, too, to me at least :)
It's easy to use cheat codes to adjust those random traits, and of course I made up my own rules.
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| Chad and Ochana Mox with the youngest twins (from my story "Gloomville Diaries") |
Every grown up sim will technically have 5 traits, in both TS3 and TS4. Unfortunately the game toss them about a bit, so the trait that was on top during one gaming session, might be further down the list on your next session. I hate that! I would prefer them to be permanently ranked, so I pick 3 of them to be primary traits, and the remaining 2 will be secondary traits (not very important, but some times a good corrective).
When a child is born and needs 2 traits, he or she should get 1 primary trait from each parent. A parent who got its traits in CAS, might have adult traits only, and if so the child will have a random trait for that slot. In TS3 I will click the random buttom until one of the parents' primary traits are showing - for boys I will go for one of mom's traits, for girls I will click until I see one of dad's traits. Normally a boy's first trait will come from mom, and a girl's first trait will come from dad.
When a child starts school, the 3rd primary trait will be chosen, and if both parents are already represented, the 3rd Trait can be random. If the child lacks a trait from mom or dad, then the 3rd trait will be from the lacking parent, if possible. Getting older opens up to more traits to choose from, and when picking the 3rd trait it should be easy to complete this task.
So, how about the secondary 2 traits? When they are to be chosen, the child will normally have developed its personality quite a bit, and it might be easier to pick something that feels personal. Besides, in my games, the last 2 traits are less important, so if I pick on random, no big deal.
I love it when kids of a family bring on different traits from their parents. 3 siblings might have one trait in common, or 2 of them might share a trait, making them hang more out together, maybe.
Have you got any rules for picking traits for your growing up sims?
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