Things Sims Will or Won't do Autonomously

[samoht04]

My Sims play Instruments, Feed Fish, Paint, Sculpt, Cook, Play Chess, Play Games, Clean (Sometimes!) Star Character before she died had Level 6 in Martial Arts, although I have never told her to practice on the dummy, she had maxed Athletic and Logic by the time she first started doing it. Hot Tub is another frequent for all my sims. Games of any kind draw them in like the foosball table.

[jessiethedog]

I once let an adult sim and 7 adopted children just do whatever they wanted for quite a few weeks. I know that adults tend to use the coffee machine constantly instead of going to bed, nothing was tidied up (she didn't have the neat trait though, and neither did any of the children), the children prefered sleeping on the floor next to an easel or the computer than in their very expensive bed, they rarely ate and they all read books regardless of whether they were a bookworm or not. No skill books in my knowledge, though. None of them bothered to shower or do the laundry.

None of the children went to school until they became teenagers either, and they rarely went even then.

[Leto85]

So, Leto, are you saying that a Neat Sim will autonomously fix the plumbing as opposed to just mopping up the puddle?

Yes, they do. They indeed do.

[lol300]

In my last game where I put Free Will on, they didn't autonomously WooHoo and teach a toddler the toddler skills.

[smastbrook]

This past weekend I had a sim replace the washing machine from "Clean Polymer Injection System" with "Unbreakable" autonomously. I was shocked! He has level 10 handiness and I prefer the Clean Polymer upgrade. He was half through before I noticed what he was doing and decided to let him finish.

[RunAmokSims]

I allow my Sims to run amok all the time. (The reason for my user name.)  I get some of the most amusing  and amazing results.  

What I have found is that some Sims will do things a lot more than others and I don't think it always has to do with their traits. In Sims without the neat trait some will clean, make the bed and do dishes and others won't. Some of my Sims have even done laundry.

 Toddler Sims will play with the peg toy and build logic without help. They almost always watch TV (sometimes building cooking or fishing skills), play chess, play instruments, paint and sculpt. They don't want to read skill books when they have a choice of a novel.  I've never seen one repair things on their own. They also seem to choose cooking even when there are leftovers in the fridge. There is an exception with birthday cake though. They seem to go for that cake every time.  If you have a fire they don't automatically try to put it out. In fact they rarely move, sometimes even going to the fire. Pregnant Sims almost always go to the hospital instead of staying home.

I'll try to think of some other they will and they won't I've observed.

[Veldmuisie]

If you have a bookshelf, they will always want to read something.  If you have a workaholic sim, they will autonomously work indefinitely on the computer until they're super stressed out.  Then they will complain that they are stressed out.  If you have an angler or outdoor sim, he will not fish autonomously on a community lot until he has at least 1 skill point in fishing.  If you have a washing machine, they will do the laundry but if your house is big they often get distracted and leave the lumps of laundry on the floor.  Lumps will then later be picked up and put back into the laundry basket.  Infinite laundry loop!

[Cheezey]

I had a sim autonomously play with the training dummy before she was skilled, but she did have the disciplined trait.  As for fixing things, I had a butler kill herself trying to fix a broken teleportation pad while singed.  That might have been because she was a butler, though, and they're supposed to do repairs.  Generally my sims just roll wishes to fix broken objects rather than actually doing it. (Procrastinators!)

I've never seen a sim read a skill book autonomously.  Mine will automatically play chess either on the computer or chess table often.  I'm not sure if this is before or after having a skill point in logic, though.  I've seen artistic sims autonomously paint, and use the drawing or sculpting table, even if they have no points in the skill.  The same thing seems to happen with virtuoso sims and musical instruments.  

I've had some sims do laundry on their own, but usually only if they're neat and/or the clothes have overfilled all the hampers in the house.  My sims will often do their own dishes after I've made it a habit for them, but only neat or perfectionist sims seem to do that on their own automatically with no forcing the habit on them.

I've never had any sims teach toddlers skills autonomously, even family-oriented ones.  At most they just roll the wishes for it.

[Saltypaws]

It doesn't happen very often, but I have had parents teach their toddlers to walk more than the other skills, without being told.  They have even sat down and played with the toddlers when they were playing the xylophone.(the spelling doesn't look right, lol)

[TheChronicR]

(the spelling doesn't look right, lol)

Nope, it's right.

[samoht04]

I think Sims can get habits. I tell my sims to do stuff at the start of a game and then they start doing it on there own. Like washing hands after using the toilet or making the bed after waking up.

[Schipperke]

I think Sims can get habits. I tell my sims to do stuff at the start of a game and then they start doing it on there own. Like washing hands after using the toilet or making the bed after waking up.

Really?  That's interesting.  I've only ever seen neat or perfectionist sims do those things.  But I like the idea of sims learning certain habits.

[KrispyNickyB]

Samoht you're right. I've always trained my sims to get into the habit of making their own beds, etc. Some will pick it up and begin performing the deed others will not.

A lot of it has to do with what traits a sim has I think. I'm going off my legacy family from my story. I've played them more than any sim group before. In this family I've noticed the following...

woohoo- happened only once to me.
reading a book- so much it gets annoying
computer games - they will starve playing those silly things
watching tv
laundry
making beds
exercise using weight bench - never the treadmill hmm
paint
sculpt
invent - Sariah usually heads to the bench when she is bored staring at things
foosball
darts
watch tv
play instruments

and I believe that's it.

[Hosfac]

My sims always want to start the laundry, but they never get around to finishing it lol.  And I've also noticed that sims seem to be more prone to using the weight bench as opposed to the treadmill, but I've actually seen them use the latter on occasion.  But I've never had a sim autonomously make for the inventor's workbench, myself.  Beds are about 50/50, unless the sim is neat.

And I guess I'm one of the few ppl who have borne witness to an autonomous woohoo, as well, only it wasn't sims under my control.  I had a teenager decide to go home with Lisa Bunch after school, and by the time we got to her house, Jack and Judy were acting like a couple of teenagers themselves.  Then...they started acting like adults.  My poor sim was scarred at an early age.

[Leto85]

I think Sims can get habits. I tell my sims to do stuff at the start of a game and then they start doing it on there own. Like washing hands after using the toilet or making the bed after waking up.

If so I could have trained my Max Skills sims to do even more things autonomiously, or doesn't a sim remember that kind of stuff after being uploaded? I'm not aware of that and don't want to waste time on things that don't get recorded in sims.