5 Most Low Impact Traits

[Tealeaf]

The thread about the Never Nude trait has got me thinking.  It's clear that some traits affect game play much more than others.   An ambitious sim is going to play much differently than mooch, for example.  But would a never nude sim play all that different from a vegetarian?  I decided to enter Create A Sim and pick the 5 traits that I think individually as having the lowest impact on game play.  

I ended up creating Herman Milquetoast.  His traits are Can't Stand Art, Clumsy, Hydrophobic, Never Nude, and No Sense of Humor.  I debated ditching one of these (clumsy, maybe) for the Vegetarian trait, but doing so seemed to really cut down on the number of Lifetime wishes that would pop up.

I reset his Lifetime wishes a few times.  He was getting options from everything from CEO of a Major Coporation to The Perfect Garden to Hit Movie Composer.  I finally decided to give him Jack of all trades.  I won't be playing him for a while since I am doing a Centurian challenge, but I think it might be interesting to see how such a low impact traited sim might play.

So, what traits would you come up with for your low impact traited sim?  Any ideas at to what traits might be better choices than the ones I made?

[Swede1992]

Let's see...

Loser, Can't stand art, Clumsy, No sense of humour and Never nude would be the choices IMO.

[TGBlank]

vegetarian is up there too, like unflirty.
Daredevil is not far, but not top 5.

[Pam]

Interesting topic, Tealeaf.  

I think the impact on gameplay is relative.  Everyone plays differently and for different reasons.  Some people are competitive and push their Sims hard to max out skills (I'm looking at you, Metro), but others play just for laughs.  If you specifically mean traits that have the least impact on skills or making money, that's one thing.  But if it's just pure entertainment the player wants, then all the traits impact gameplay in their own way.  The thing I love about this game is that I've been playing it for over six months and it still surprises me!  One of my Sims married Shirley Lin in Riverview and she has the No Sense of Humor trait.  I'd never played that trait until then.  I really had to laugh when one of her conversation options was Bore to Death.  I immediately took her around to every Sim in the vacinity and made them drop to the ground from boredom.  

[jmz95]

These are the top 3 traits imo that do literally nothing or have no benefits or shortcomings :
1. Never Nude
2. Absent Minded
3. No Sense of Humor

The thing with Can't Stand Art is they get a negative moodlet, Clumsy can lose fish when reeling them in, Hydrophobic get negative moodlets AND can't get the duck-time moodlet. The three I picked, however, can't get any negative moodlets specific to that trait or have any good moodlets specific to that trait. They also don't affect gameplay to the extent that some of the traits mentioned do. Now, If I had to pick 5, I would pick Clumsy and Hydrophobic as well, just because those do the least.

[Metropolis Man]

Some people are competitive and push their Sims hard to max out skills (I'm looking at you, Metro), but others play just for laughs.

Pam, I resemble that remark!

[samoht04]

Grumpy
No Sense of Humor
Hates the Outdoors
Clumsy
Absent Minded

[e^(pi*i)]

Grumpy
No Sense of Humor
Hates the Outdoors
Clumsy
Absent Minded

Grumpy does a lot.

And I tend to think that No Sense of Humor is not that impact-less.

Also, doesn't Vegetarian make sims live longer?

And Frugal does virtually nothing, unless you want to spend time clipping coupons. >.<

[TGBlank]

Sadly, no, it doesn't make sims live longer. It only gives them meat-free cooking, vomit when eating meat, and the ability to be mean to others for their eating habits.

[samoht04]

Apparently it does according to its description, but maybe it's just a few days and how would you know? A message says your Sim should have died yesterday, but becuase they are a vegetarian, they die today.

[Pam]

These are the top 3 traits imo that do literally nothing or have no benefits or shortcomings :
1. Never Nude
2. Absent Minded
3. No Sense of Humor

The thing with Can't Stand Art is they get a negative moodlet, Clumsy can lose fish when reeling them in, Hydrophobic get negative moodlets AND can't get the duck-time moodlet. The three I picked, however, can't get any negative moodlets specific to that trait or have any good moodlets specific to that trait. They also don't affect gameplay to the extent that some of the traits mentioned do. Now, If I had to pick 5, I would pick Clumsy and Hydrophobic as well, just because those do the least.

Excellent observations.  Just because a trait doesn't give a positive impact on moods and such doesn't mean it's useless.  Negative impacts are just as important to consider.

[TGBlank]

Sadly, because it's nowhere in the aging-related code. After minimum elder days pass, a sim has a % chance to die that depends on lifespan settings, which is further multiplied by 0.75 if the elder completed marathon runner. There's nothing there about vegetarians.

[jmz95]

Sadly, because it's nowhere in the aging-related code. After minimum elder days pass, a sim has a % chance to die that depends on lifespan settings, which is further multiplied by 0.75 if the elder completed marathon runner. There's nothing there about vegetarians.

Maybe EA just wanted us to get our hopes up, or get more people in real life to become vegetarians.

[MegTrog]

Maybe EA just wanted us to get our hopes up, or get more people in real life to become vegetarians.

Nah, they just wanted that award from PETA!

I will say for absent-minded that it can be a pain when your Sim forgets what they're doing.  I noticed it particularly when doing vacations.  I would send my absent-minded Sim to talk to somebody for an adventure, and play another Sim while they're travelling--then switch back and see that my absent-minded Sim wandered off to do something else.  So if you're managing a large household, absent-minded could be a disadvantage, but if you're just playing the one Sim, then it's no real issue.

I want to play the No Sense of Humor trait now and bore a sim to death!

[Tealeaf]

I choose the phrase "low impact" rather than "no impact" because  I do believe that all the traits will have change how that sim will interact with the game enviroment, even if only by throwing in a few personality quirks animations or opening a few different interactions.  I'm not calling these traits useless.  Just... low impact.

  Some thoughts on some of the traits choosen so far.   I did play a "hates the outdoors" sim, and she wanted to be a cop.  So I got her a job doing that, and she had a negative moodlet the whole time she was at work as a result.  To be honest I didn't know about the "ducktime" moodlet, but I have to think that that can't be all that large of an impact because it only affects sims that are in the tub, right?  All of mine just take quick showers and get on with the show!  Doesn't the Frugal trait give a negative moodlet when you buy something big for the house?  I don't know because this isn't a trait I've ever played, but I thought I read somewhere that it does.