The Sims 4’s Worst Traits Need One Simple Fix To Be Fun

The Sims 4 has much more content available than any of its predecessors, but that has led to some inconvenient issues when creating Sims and their homes. Namely, players can choose many traits for their Sims, but the number of available slots for traits hasn't grown as new traits have been added. This leads to the issue of traits being overlooked because many traits aren't worth choosing with so few slots available.

Adult Sims can have up to three traits chosen for them in Create a Sim, but The Sims 4: Growing Together DLC adds a system where Sims can pick up traits through interactions in the world, meaning that an adult Sim can have six traits now. However, there are so many traits that even six slots make it tough to decide which traits to take and which to skip over. As a result, a lot of traits that don't have much impact end up never being used.

Dietary Demands Shouldn’t Be Traits In The Sims 4

They Offer Too Little To Justify A Slot

Found in the Lifestyle category for traits, there are multiple traits that affect a Sim's diet, which includes Lactose Intolerance, Glutton, and Vegetarian. Lactose-intolerant Sims get sick if they consume dairy products, and Vegetarian Sims get sick if they eat meat. Meanwhile, Gluttons are more upset when they're hungry and will eat any food, even if it's spoiled or low quality. Since these are such minimal additions to a Sim's identity in-game, it's not worth using a trait slot for them.

Fixing Dietary Traits Opens Up More Sims 4 Opportunities

Dietary Options Should Have Their Own Part In Creation

Close

With the number of traits that are available now, The Sims 4 needs to look into ways to adjust the trait system so that players can customize their Sims to a higher degree, which is tough when the number of slots for traits is so limited. Even after a decade of content has been added to The Sims 4, the general system for creating Sims hasn't changed much. Without changes to keep it up-to-date with the continuous flood of new content, the trait system in The Sims 4 doesn't serve its purpose as well as it used to.

Related 10 Best Sims 4 Lots Made By EA, Ranked Don’t be too quick to remodel every The Sims 4 world. EA has made many great lots that are worth keeping or even duplicating and editing.

As a result, it might be time to remove dietary traits and instead include a new section for personality options that can be used to decide on dietary and other lifestyle choices, like whether to be a heavy or light sleeper. Picking various options to create dynamic Sims would be fun, and watching their interactions could become more interesting with the additional levels of personality that come with a robust personality system that could accompany the current trait system.

The Sims 4 Traits Should Learn From The First Game

Bring Back Old Personality Traits

Instead of the current trait system, The Sims originally had a personality system, which was sometimes referred to as personality traits. These traits were opposing qualities that were put in pairs, and the player had points that they could use to allocate more towards one trait or the other. As an example, one pairing was sloppy and neat. By putting points towards Neat, the Sim would be happy cleaning and quicker at it. Meanwhile, having fewer points made a Sim sloppy, where they dislike cleaning, actively make messes, and could rummage in trash cans.

Related The Most Underrated Sims Game Had One Feature The Sims 4 Desperately Needs The Sims Medieval had all kinds of extra deaths compared to The Sims 4. Sword duels poison, executions, and deadly magic could all be added.

While this exact system wouldn't be a fit for The Sims 4 anymore, it could be used to create an additional personality system to supplement the current trait system since the latter has now become too small due to the increase in content over the last decade. Implementing the original personality system in a new way could take some of the more trivial traits and put them in pairs for players to decide which way their Sim leans. Pairings could include more than just dietary preferences; they could feature hobbies, such as whether a Sim likes cooking or dislikes it.

Of course, even this solution isn't perfect, but it'd be great to see an overhaul to the personality system at some point in the future. Personalities and traits could even have their own expansion pack to introduce a new system, related activities, and have a way for Sims' traits to evolve overtime in natural ways without the current limitation on traits holding some Sims back. It's unlikely that this is a high priority for the developers right now, but maybe modders could inspire the team by adding new personality systems to The Sims 4.