NPC ever get jobs?

[Janna]

Not sure if this question fits here, as it is both a career question and general.

I was wondering, my  collector sim is becoming friendly with a sim who is a smoocher, he is charismatic, flirty, and hot headed.  Other trait is not listed.
He is noted as being unemployed. Which had me wondering, is it programed that they some never get a job, have a career, or is there some leeway in the programing?

If so, how do they go about it; if an unemployed sim does get a job, does their career match with the sims, or what?

Can they be taught a career, my artist/author sim is married and her paperboy hubby is now starting to cook in the kitchen, burning things, but it had me becoming curious, how flexiable is the programing, are NPC stuck in a set role? Can a woriking sim quit a job and can a non-working sim get a job?  Could my  sim quit his job as paperboy and become a chef, for example?

Just curious. 

[Ricalynn]

If you are controlling the sim, the world is your oyster.  Anything is possible.   For anything not under your control, it's all based on story progression and the current needs of your town.  When a controlled Sim joins a new career, uncontrolled Sims are suddenly given jobs to fulfill the roles of co-workers. 

Here is another discussion we had about professions and self-employment with regards to NPCs.

[Pam]

Here on our Forum, we consider NPCs to be the Sims that do the service jobs in the game, like maid, repoman, pizza delivery, mail carrier, etc.  So, of course, they always have a job.  I believe what you're talking about is the Townies, which are the Sims that live around town, like the Goth family, Claire Ursine, the Alto family, etc.  The Townies are at the whim of Story Progression.  Sometimes they are employed, sometimes they aren't.  It all starts the same at the start of the game, but after that it can do anything technically speaking. 

[Janna]

Thanks Pam,

My son, who plays LOTS of game told me to call them NPC, I think that must be a gaming term?

Yes, I was meaning a townie,  was wondering can townies quit a job and switch to another, or if one doesn't have  a job can they get one later. 

I am always wondering -- if, why, can this be done, and what about this?

A company I used to work for, my supervisor said when she was giving update talks to employees she would go, "what questions will Janette ask", said it gave her a diferent view on what information employees needed.         Left there to go back to college.   

[Hosfac]

Which had me wondering, is it programed that they some never get a job, have a career, or is there some leeway in the programing?

Under EA story progression, Sims aren't too motivated to get jobs.  If they're unemployed at the start of the game, there's a chance that they might never get a job.

If so, how do they go about it; if an unemployed sim does get a job, does their career match with the sims, or what?

The biggest motivator, as was said in an earlier post, is your need to have fellow employees.  Let's say you're playing in Sunset Valley and you want to play an actor so you plop down the movie studio rabbit hole on a lot somewhere.  Since that building didn't come with SV, no townies are employed there.  When you go and get the job there, it will pick a number of townies and/or homeless Sims to fill the roster so you have some co-workers to meet.  If you don't get a job at the movie studio, story progression might send some Sims to work there...but it might not.  Since there are no active Sims employed there, it's just not a high priority.

Can they be taught a career, my artist/author sim is married and her paperboy hubby is now starting to cook in the kitchen, burning things, but it had me becoming curious, how flexiable is the programing, are NPC stuck in a set role? Can a woriking sim quit a job and can a non-working sim get a job?  Could my  sim quit his job as paperboy and become a chef, for example?

If they are under your control, they'll do whatever you tell them to do.  Any Sim can work in any career, regardless of traits or lifetime wish.  Sims with related traits will do better in their careers, but as long as they keep up on the job requirements (as illustrated by the faces in the relationship panel) any Sim can still advance to the top of any career.