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What moods should there be?
May 27, 2020 at 4:49 pmI just made a post on gameplay & simulation about an idea for how moods might work. Basically mood is a positive negative slider, and there are desires that come from mood affecting events. Those desires fall into more specific mood categories. So positive versus negative mood, and emotions are characterized by temporary desires. But that got me thinking about what emotions there should be…
So here’s a brainstorm. I’m trying to break away from the pre-existing simulation game standards, but with something like mood, the list of possible options is small enough that it might be hard, but anyway:
- Motivated: causes Paras to want to work hard at their career or at learning a skill. Caused by getting a new job, getting a promotion, getting significantly better at a skill, trying a new skill that the para is excited about, consuming inspirational media, etc…
- Evolutionary: the para wants to make dramatic changes in their life like moving, switching careers, getting a tattoo, revamping their wardrobe, join a new social circle, etc… Caused by an extended period lacking strong emotions; the para feels held down by the monotonous, mechanical flow of life. They want change.
- Romantic: The para has just been in a conversation about romantic partners, watched a romance, or is just feeling a little lonely. They want to partake in romantic behavior whether that’s curling up with a partner on the sofa, making an online dating profile, or flirting with attractive strangers at a bar.
- Celebratory: something great has happened to the para, or they have accomplished something worth being proud of. They want to tell a friend about their promotion, throw a party to celebrate their engagement, or show off their newly found expert status in a skill.
- Warm: the para is feeling warm and fuzzy about life. They got to pet a puppy, or hold a friend’s baby, or they’ve just gotten married and are thinking about children. Maybe they’ve just watched a romance movie and feel extra appreciative of their partner. The para wants to hug someone, adopt a kitten, have a baby, snuggle with their s/o, etc…
- Disgusted: Something has irked the para, whether it be an unwanted attempt at affection by someone they’re just not that into, a poorly cooked meal, or a horrible smelling stranger. The para wants to take a shower to wash away the experience, have some tea to wash out the bad taste, tell off the offender, complain to a friend, etc…
- Embarrassed: the para has performed poorly at work, has behaved awkwardly, has been rejected, etc… They now want to go out with friends to forget, talk through it with a loved one, etc…
- Lonely: this para is in need of a little company whether because of spending too long without being social, or not having a lot of friends. They want to go out and have fun, meet someone new, throw a party, video chat with someone, rekindle an old friendship, etc…
- Furious: the para has been offended by awful service from a restaurant or hired handyman, a ride para, etc… They want to tell off the offender, complain to friends, write something scathing online, or get a massage to relax.
What do y’all think? Any other emotions you think are going to wind up in the game?
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13 Replies
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I like the original ideas but I think we shouldn’t go out of our way to pick different names for the emotions in ts4. “Motivated” could easily be “Focused”, “Furious” really should be “Angry”, “Romantic” is probably a better name than “Flirty” but it’s still much the same. I think emotions could go on a scale e.g. Content -> Happy -> Joyous -> Ecstatic. I also think mood should directly affect autonomous actions – that would be really cool to see. I like your ideas for “wants” being affected.
Edit: I posted this before I saw your other thread, so I apologise if my scale of emotions idea is too similar to yours! I left a like on your other post, but I think I’ve said everything I have to say on the topic here.
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I hope these can make its way in the game not just for physical things affecting mood but emotional and mental hopefully as well.
Inspired
Envious (doesn’t have to be romantic oriented it can be just how their life is going and noticing others lives around them compared to theirs if they’re a jealous para or not)
Confused/Indecisive (this could be based on them unsure about things going on around them or situations)
Refreshed/Contempt
On guard
Guilty (could work for little white lies; if a partner cheats and hasn’t told the victim yet; stealing/crimes; not helping a para in need; being mean to another para; maybe if a parent scolded a child they could pet (coddle) them after)
Frustrated
Bashful
Desire (because i think aroused maybe too bold lol but itd be for adults obvious reasons)
Empty/Depressed
Fatigued
Joy
Anticipation
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Although a nice idea, I did not like how moods were implemented in the Sims 4. I think it’s refered to as emotional state where it’s not the same as mood but similar. The entire gameplay was about managing your sims’s emotional state and it was a core feature in the game which I do not like. I don’t want moods to be like how it is in the sims 4, I did not like it. I prefer how moods work in the sims 2 if we are comparing. The sims 2 sims are filled with realistic emotions. The moods affected the colour of the plumbob. If the sim was in a good mood then it would be green if not it would be red. The greener the plumbob the better mood the sim would be in. Sims who are in a bad mood which is indicated by the red plumbob in the sims 2 would at times refuse to build skills, do poorly at work, or react negatively to other sims etc.
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I enjoy ts2 and the ts4 system definitely wasn’t enough, but I think we need more nuance than “good” emotion and “bad” emotion. I’ve been playing ts2 recently. When a sim died, some of my other sims had super high mood, so although they cried a bit they generally were not affected by losing a loved one when it came to gameplay and how they lived their lives. In fact, the sim’s widow remarried immediately and nothing stopped me from doing that. I think we should have realistic moods with relevant consequences e.g. a mourning widow might not be receptive to romance, and an embarrassed teenager would be afraid to go back to school.
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I like the idea and can’t wait to see how they would implicate it.
Zoned out
Unmotivated(similar to tired but not physically)
Unflirty/Not in the mood
Homesick(If they are away from home for an extended amount of time/university)
Playful
sorry if anyone already said these
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I think one of the things I don’t like about mood and emotions in the Sims 4 is that it kinda takes away from your own interpretation of their story as a player.
It might be more “unrealistic” in the Sims 2 to not have sims react as strongly to certain life changing events, but it does have the benefit of allowing you to come up with your own story and interpretation of how your sim is responding.
With emotions I feel a bit like the game is pushing a narrative on you.
I’m not quite saying not to have emotions in Paralives, but I do hope they’re less overwhelming than they are in The Sims 4. (or more nuanced) Emotions in that game kinda feel like an oppressive force to me. (like how when they’re happy they have a permanent smile plastered over their face, that kind of thing)
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The problem I have with sims on this is, I think we shouldn’t have to display the moods out in words in the status bar of paras, that they will each go through and feel depending on situations and actions. But, feel paras should have more interactions and animations (physical,verbal,non-verbal,and facial expressions) of such emotions they’re feeling at the time. Like if my para is pissed of at someone else i dont want to just see it worded on the screen ‘pissed off’ or ‘irritated’ lol, but their whole body expression would reveal it including how they act towards others around them. Which is more important to convey the emotion(s). If this is possible I know it might be too much to do but if these expressions can become animations I think it will help a lot. But, if we needed to have extra clarification for storytelling,we could click on the para (or have another para ask them) and ask how they’re doing and they’d tell us the specific word of the emotion they’re feeling, that’s connected to either one of all the mentioned above.
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A possible idea is a set of basic emotions as a game mechanic, like happiness, sadness, disgust, fear and anger. (if you have seen the movie Inside Out, you might get where I’m going with this)
Certain events and situations could cause different emotions to emerge with the possibility of 2 different emotions combining to create a new emotion.
Happiness + Sadness = Melancholy
Sadness + Fear = Anxiety
Anger + Disgust = Loathing
Happiness + Anger = Righteousness
Anger + Fear = Hate
Happiness + Happiness = Ecstatic
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This makes a lot of sense to me. With all the devs talk of personalities, it makes me wonder if each individual’s “neutral” emotion will actually be something slightly different. If you’re generally happy, maybe that’s your neutral or if you are more the brooding type, perhaps it’s something like thoughtful or introspective.
The emotional states are important but I don’t think it’s beneficial to have them change like the weather (TS4 where you can flick in and out of emotional states merely by walking through rooms with different decor). Unless the emotional state is very strong, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to have it limit activities or impair your ability to learn skills.
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I agree with some of the other replies, and they probably articulate similar arguments far better than I could, but I’ll try anyway; I didn’t love how they implemented emotions in ts4. This is because of several reasons, but I think it’d be easier to talk about how they handled ts3 instead.
In ts3, they had moodlets, which allowed for sims to feel many things at once; A parent can be proud of their child graduating, but also feel betrayed by a cheating spouse and be in mourning from losing a loved one all at the same time. (Just one of these can cause multiple emotional reactions.) ts4 technically has moodlets as well, but they (as well as the “whims,” but that’s a conversation for another day) are constantly being overshadowed by the sim’s current “emotional” state, which feels like more of a hindrance to me than anything else.
The moodlets were able to show how your sim was feeling emotionally and physically, and they’d impact the sims’ overall mood (the red to green plumbob meter.) I never felt that the sims’ emotions were lacking before ts4; quite the opposite. They just weren’t expressly labeled one at a time and exaggerated. (Also I liked having the platinum mood in ts2 when sims were elated, it just added another level.)
So, in short, I’d rather have a moodlet-type system in the game that lets the players know what’s going on in a para’s life but leaves space for the overall interpretation. For me, customization and player freedom are 2 of the most important parts of games like these, and I’d like to maximize that as much as possible.
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My hope for moods/emotions in the game is to be something like Sims 3. Sims 3, in my opinion, handled moodlets the best. Yours sims could feel different emotions at once. And it did greatly affect their mood depending on what was going on. Something I did enjoy was that moodlets could potentially have different levels and some moodlets could be assigned on the same activity.
(Ex: A sim is eating ice cream/snow cone. There are three possible moodlets: “Yummy Goodness” which gives them a happy mood, “Freezer Burn” which is negative because your sim might react and think the ice cream was stale and then there’s “Brain Freeze” kind of self explanatory)
Just like in real life, you can be happy and sad about different things that’s going on. You can be happy about that good nights sleep you had but then still be upset that you lost that match when you were playing video games.
At the end of it all, I just hope that emotions dont feel like they can be easily overwhelmed.
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I agree wholeheartedly! I never enjoyed the “other” game’s emotion system as these things are far more complex in real life than “happy”, “sad”, “angry”. The moodlets in the third installment affected your overall “health” meter, which included both mental and physical aspects.
I can be “happy” in general but I can also be “freezing” from the weather and “excited” about winter festivities but also “nervous” because I’ve never been iceskating before. The simple emotions just aren’t enough to fully convey how a person simulated person can feel.
I really hope we have a system that not only takes into account emotions, but physical & mental quirks like how TS3 during spring you could get “stuffy” from allergies, which could be remedied with an alergy shot. Or someone with a kind of trait opposite of your own could make your parafolk feel “anxious” or “annoyed”.
I’m really proud of Alex and the team working so hard on this game, I actually feel like we can properly express ourselves. Thanks so much for hearing our ideas!
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