Building a Sim's Personality (1 of 3): Traits

I always paid great attention to my sims' personality. Because I want more to it than the basics, I added individual DNA strings with lots of details regarding both looks and mindset. I've shared tidbits from the DNA string previously (TS3 actually, have grown since). I also have a routine for picking Traits, Aspiration and Likes/Dislikes, which I'll share in 3 articles.

These essential bits of a personality are passed down from parents to child helping me to decide it all, but there is also a chance of randomness and uniqueness involved. As I think the game leans way too much on randomness, I made my own routine to make sure siblings often get some personality details from minimum one parent (often from both), but with a small chance to stand out as totally unique.

Let's start with the Traits, as they are the first thing you need to consider in a sim's life. My routine for picking the Traits can get a tad complex, especially in a larger household. Not only Parents' traits are involved, but also what traits siblings picked already will affect the options. And in some cases - which I love - a young sim is forced to pick a negative trait. In other cases the sim can choose quite freely.

The 3 traits are set gradually, meaning I get a chance to learn to know the sim a little before adding all of them. It might make it easier, but I see the 1st trait as the most important as it will affect the sim during those years when your personality is formed. The 3rd and last trait I see mainly as a minor adjustment of the former traits. If a sim's 1st trait is Active, the 3rd trait being "Loves outdoors" it won't necessarily mean that the sim loves anything relating to the outdoors, but that a large bit of being Active should involve being outdoors. The sim loves to exercise -  but rather by jogging or swimming in nature than in a gym. Having Bookworm as 1st trait and Outgoing as 3rd trait doesn't mean the sim is a very social case in all situations, but that s/he loves to discuss books with others, read in a social setting, or even use their literature interest in a common project with others. Most of this will be in my imagination, rather than technical in the game, though. But it helps me to specify a sim's nature and to see them as individuals.

When setting their traits, one by one, I will also refer to their extra DNA string and skills etc, but options are often restricted by the following routine alone.

In my traits routine I use the four Trait Categories (Emotional, Hobbies, Lifestyle and Social) actively in order to limit possibilities. Each sim can only have one Trait from each category. This will restrict their options as they grow older and make it easier to pick additional traits. It also increases the chances of having to pick a trait freely - if the only option from parents is in a Trait Category already covered, the sim will need to pick freely from one of the categories not yet covered. With 4 categories and only 3 traits, there will always be one category not covered. Having no Social trait might say something about your personality and how you live your life?

Toddlers Trait
I give toddlers a random trait, and while I don't pay much attention to this during their first active life stage, the toddler trait might affect their development later in life. Being independent vs clingy should really make a difference, say when the child picks its first real trait.

Child birthday: 1st Trait
On Child birthday Boys will pick their first (and most important) trait from mom's traits, while girls will pick theirs from dad's traits. Some of an Adult's traits are not even available to a Child, which might limit these options even if you are a lone child. Each of the parents' traits can only be picked once, so if there are several siblings the better traits might already be taken and you might be forced to pick a negative trait.

Because some sims created as grown ups in CAS might have traits only available to teens and young adults, there might be situations where the child can't pick any of its parent's traits, and when that is the case the child can pick freely. This is more likely to happen if having elder siblings.

This means that in a huge family only the oldest children will clearly bring on their parents' personality. In some cases the younger might even feel like an outsider because no trait will mirror either of the parents.

Teen birthday: 2nd Trait
On Teen birthday, the 2nd trait is picked. This one I see as important, too, but a little weaker than the 1st trait. This time boys pick from dad's traits and girls from mom's traits. Again, traits already taken by siblings are not available, and the new trait can not be from the same Trait Category as the child's 1st trait. If no trait available, the Teen can choose freely - but, still restricted to the not yet covered trait categories. If the Teen already got a trait from Lifestyle, the 2nd trait must be from Emotions, Hobbies or Social.

Son's 1st trait is Loner from mother, and 2nd is Active from father.

Teens also choose their Aspiration, which you can read about in the next article of this mini series. Aspiration will normally reflect the two first traits, but also Toddler trait and Childhood aspiration might have impact.

Young Adult birthday: 3rd Trait
On Young Adult birthday they pick their 3rd and least important Trait. This I consider the weakest trait of them all, more like a fine tuning of what was already selected. 3rd trait can be picked regardless of parents and siblings' traits, but restricted to the 2 categories not yet covered.

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You might wonder if I am always this strict to my sims, and the answer is yes. Playing 400+ sims makes it kind of helpful to lean on a routine, because I really don't need to create this all totally freely, and I still want the connections within most families. Also, new combinations will some times create small challenges as in learning to understand a sim's personality. Not all my stories depend that much on the sims' personalities, though - it varies. I'm in charge and I have a generous source of imagination, and that's the most important after all ;)

All articles in this series:
Building a Sim's Personality (1 of 3): Traits
Building a Sim's Personality (2 of 3): Aspiration
Building a Sim's Personality (3 of 3): Likes & Dislikes