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You create. You control. You rule.

The Sims 4 is the fourth standalone video game in the The Sims series, released in September 2, 2014. It places more emphasis in character creation while simplifying other aspects. As with other games in the series, players take control of "Sims", virtual people with needs and desires. One of the most notable additions in this game is that the Sims can now put into distinct moods instead of a mere "positive" or "negative", which were influenced by their traits.


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    Expansions and Add-ons 

Expansion Packs

  • Get to Work: Released on 2 April 2015, it (re)introduces three careers which you will be able to actively participate in (scientist, detective, doctor), as well as the ability to have your Sims run retail businesses, and returning aliens, alien abductions and MPreg, and two new neighbourhoods - Magnolia Promenade, a shopping paradise with four lots for your Sims to set up shop; and the hidden planet Sixam.
  • Get Together: Released on 8 December 2015, it brought a new world, Windenburg, and featured clubs, dancing, and hangouts.
  • City Living: Released on 1 November 2016, this expansion pack brings a new, San Francisco/Singapore-inspired city, San Myshuno, to the game and includes festivals, markets, apartments, and new careers.
  • Cats & Dogs: Released on 10 November 2017, players can adopt cats and dogs as pets, choose a veterinary career, and live in a new world - the New England-styled Brindleton Bay.
  • Seasons: Released on 22 June 2018, it (re)introduces, well, seasons, but also weather and holidays. Also introduced is the calendar, the ability to create holidays, a new career for gardening, and kiddie pools.
  • Get Famous: Released on 16 November 2018. Introduces a new L.A inspired city called Del Sol Valley, an overhauled celebrity system, acting both as an active career and a standalone skill, several fancy items such as money vaults, drones, and a video station that allow sims to become what's essentially in-universe youtubers.
  • Island Living: Released on 20 June 2019. Introduces the world of Sulani, a tropical world inspired by Hawaiʻi filled with beach-themed skills and activities including the ability to swim in the sea and befriend dolphins. Also reintroduces the mermaid life state.
  • Discover University: Released on 15 November 2019. Reintroduces the college system for your Sim. A first in the series, where the pack introduces the residential world (not a sub-world) of Britechester, and features two campuses, the artsy University of Britechester and the tech-savvy Foxbury Institute. Also introduced are student organizations, the research and robotics skills, and the Academics aspirations. Reintroduces roommates, bicycles, the Servo bots, the juice keg, and the repo-man.
  • Eco Lifestyle: Released on 5 June 2020. Introduces the Pacific Northwest inspired industrial coastal town of Evergreen Harbor, which has varying levels of pollution (which is measured in eco footprint).
  • Snowy Escape: Released on 13 November 2020. Introduces the Japanese-inspired world of Mt. Komorebi, containing a perpetually snowing mountain regardless of whether Seasons is installed or not. Also introduces Lifestyles, a mechanic that is earned through a Sim's particular habits and affects the Sim's personality and gameplay.
  • Cottage Living: Released on 22 July 2021. Introduces the British Arcadia-esque world of Henford-on-Bagley where your Sims can live on ranches, raise livestock like chickens, cows, and llamas, reintroduces canning and picnic baskets, and Agnes Crumplebottom.
  • High School Years: Released on 28 July 2022. Introduces the former mining town of Copperdale and its high school, which your teenage Sims will now attend, and like Get To Work careers, you can actively participate in the school days. Other additions include an entrepreneur skill to improve results of self-employment, clothes shopping, more involved social media, and part-time jobs as a web-based reviewer or video game streamer, including a Virtual YouTuber option.
  • Growing Together: Released on 16 March 2023. Introduces the suburban town of San Sequioa and reintroduces family-based gameplay. It adds more family activities and social compatibility-based gameplay, which affects how your Sim gets along with each individual family member and non-related Sim. It also adds milestones, which your Sim can fondly (or unfondly) remember, and an optional Character Development mechanic, where the personality and interests of your Sim change over time.
  • Horse Ranch: Released on 20 July 2023. Introduces the American western town of Chestnut Ridge, horses, and nectar-making.
  • For Rent: Released on 07 December 2023. Introduces the South East Asian inspired world of Tomarang and the ability to own and manage rental properties. It adds a gameplay mechanic to allow for multiple active files on one lot.

Game Packs

  • Outdoor Retreat: Released on 14 January 2015, this first feature in the series allows Sims to go on vacation to a National Park called Granite Falls as well as introducing a number of camping related items such as tents.
  • Spa Day: Released on 14 July 2015, it added spas, and other features related to the spa.
  • Dine Out: Released on 7 July 2016, it allows Sims to visit restaurants, as well as build and run their own restaurant, based on the Get To Work programming.
  • Vampires: Released on 24 January 2017, it introduces a spooky new world called Forgotten Hollow and it (re)introduces vampires that are customizable with different powers and weaknesses.
  • Parenthood: Released on 30 May 2017, it adds the skill 'Parenting' with which you can learn new ways to bring up your kids, teach them manners and responsibilities (or don't!) and things like projects and toys that parents and children can work on together.
  • Jungle Adventure: Released on 27 February 2018, it features a new, Brazil-based world called Selvadorada, where you can learn about the local culture, explore the jungle, discover hidden tombs, and collect ancient artifacts.
  • Strangerville: Released on 26 February 2019. In a first for the series this pack adds an optional storyline centered on the new, Nevada-based world, Strangerville, where the residents are being infected by something that makes them act... strangely. The player has to investigate the source of the infection and find a way to stop it. The pack also adds the Military Career that can be played outside of the storyline.
  • Realm of Magic: Released on 10 September 2019, besides reintroducing magic, potions and the witch (Now called Spellcaster) life state to the game, it also includes familiars that users can summon to protect themselves, the new and seemingly ordinary world of Glimmerbrook and the Magic Realm.
  • Star Wars: Journey to Batuu: Released on 8 September 2020, this pack takes guests to the planet Batuu from the Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge themed land at the Disney Theme Parks. Players can explore Black Spire Outpost and get involved in the conflict between the Resistance and First Order or join Hondo Ohnaka's smuggling operation.
  • Dream Home Decorator: Released on 1 June 2021, it introduces the Interior Decorator freelance career.
  • My Wedding Stories: Released on 23 February 2022note , this pack focuses on planning Sims' dream weddings and introduces the new Italian-inspired world of Tartosa.
  • Werewolves: Released on 16 June 2022, this pack reintroduces werewolves and includes the new neighborhood of Moonwood Mill.

Stuff Packs

  • Luxury Party Stuff: Released on 20 May 2015, it features several luxury party outfits and items, like fondue machines.
  • Perfect Patio Stuff Released on 16 June 2015, it features patio furniture, including hot tubs.
  • Cool Kitchen Stuff: Released on 11 August 2015, it features kitchen-themed items, including an ice cream machine that makes 30 flavours.
  • Spooky Stuff: Released on 29 September 2015, it features Halloween-themed costumes and items, and Sims can throw a Halloween-themed party.
  • Movie Hangout Stuff: Released on 12 January 2016, it features "Netflix and Chill" style costumes and home theatre-themed items such as popcorn makers.
  • Romantic Garden Stuff: Released on 9 February 2016, it features Valentines-themed garden items and costumes, and new gameplay modes.
  • Kids Room Stuff: Released on 28 June 2016, it features new items for children's rooms.
  • Backyard Stuff: Released on 19 July 2016, it features new backyard items.
  • Vintage Glamour Stuff: Released on 6 December 2016, it features Old Hollywood-themed costumes items, and the ability to hire butlers.
  • Bowling Night Stuff: Released on 29 March 2017, it features bowling alleys, a new Bowling skill, and bowling-themed clothes.
  • Fitness Stuff: Released on 20 June 2017, it features updated exercise equipment, a rock-climbing wall, workout videos and purchasable earbuds.
  • Toddler Stuff: Released on 24 August 2017, it comes with lots of CAS for Toddlers, colourful playground equipment, toys, a Play Date social event, and the new 'Imagination' skill that means Toddlers see what mummy and daddy can't.
  • Laundry Day Stuff: Released on 16 January 2018, it features eco-freindly home technologies, and laundry themed gameplay and items. Noteworthy as the first add-on to have its features voted for by the player community.
  • My First Pet Stuff: Released on 13 March 2018, includes new clothing and accessories for pets to wear, new skins for pet items, some new clothes for sims as well, animal themed furniture and pet rodents. Requires Cats & Dogs to use all items, but can be installed without it.
  • Moschino Stuff: Released on 13 August 2019, made in collaboration with the aforementioned fashion brand. It comes with a selection of stylish clothing, accesories, furniture and introduces the freelance fashion photographer career.
  • Tiny Living Stuff: Released on 21 January 2020, it introduces the concept of tiny houses, whose construction must not exceed over 100 tiles at maximum. It introduces furniture and items maximize for small spaces, Murphy beds, and cozy clothing.
  • Nifty Knitting Stuff: Released on 28 July 2020, it introduces a new knitting skill to the franchise, giving access to new craftable clothing and household items that are unlockable once a Sim reaches the appropriate skill level. Nifty Knitting was the second community-voted pack.
  • Paranormal Stuff: Release 26 January 2021, it introduces the Paranormal Investigator freelance career, a new Spirit Medium skill, and the haunted house lot type for your Sims can "cleanse" through various activities. It also saw the highly-anticipated return of Bonehilda to the franchise.

Kits

  • Bust the Dust Kit: Released on 2 March 2021, introduces dust mechanics and dust bunnies.
  • Country Kitchen Kit: Released on 2 March 2021, features new appliances and kitchen items.
  • Throwback Fit Kit: Released on 2 March 2021, features retro-inspired clothing and accessories.
  • Courtyard Oasis Kit: Released on 18 May 2021. A Moroccan inspired pack featuring new furniture and build objects.
  • Industrial Loft Kit: Released on 26 August 2021, features reclaimed industrial furniture.
  • Fashion Street Kit: Released on 5 October 2021, features Mumbai-inspired clothing and accessories.
  • Incheon Arrivals Kit: Released on 5 October 2021, features clothing and accessories inspired by Seoul airport fashion.
  • Blooming Rooms Kit: Released on 9 November 2021, features houseplants.
  • Modern Menswear Kit: Released on 2 December 2021. A menswear collection for Sims, designed by Stefan Cooke.
  • Carnaval Streetwear Kit: Released on 3 February 2022, features clothing inspired by the Carnival of Brazil, which was designed in partnership with Pabllo Vittar.
  • Décor to the Max Kit: Released on 23 March 2022, features maximal-style furniture and wallpapers.
  • Moonlight Chic Kit: Released on 26 May 2022, features Paris-inspired clothing.
  • Little Campers Kit: Released on 26 May 2022, features camping-related furniture for kids.
  • First Fits Kit: Released on 1 September 2022, features trendy clothing for kids, which was made in collaboration with XUrbanSimsX.
  • Desert Luxe Kit: Released on 14 September 2022, features desert-inspired, neutral-toned furniture, which was made in collaboration with Aveline.
  • Pastel Pop Kit: Released on 10 November 2022, features pastel-colored furniture with irregular shapes and vintage vibes, which was made in collaboration with Plumbella.
  • Everyday Clutter Kit: Released on 10 November 2022, features decorative clutter items that can be placed in the house to give that "lived-in" feel.

Notable Patches

Patch Release Date Significant Features
4 November 2014 Swimming Pools
26 March 2015 Basements down to two levels; Notebook feature on phone to catalogue Sim's discoveries.
11 June 2015 A (literally) new world to the game- a completely undeveloped area called Newcrest.
4 December 2015 The UI was given an overhaul and many interface elements were changed, in preparation for the game's second expansion pack, Get Together; a 64-bit native executable for Windows was released, providing a boost in performance (and according to EA, stability) to PCs running 64-bit versions of Windows.
3 June 2016 Basic CAS was given serious alterations, so that clothes no longer had to be gender specific, widening the voice range so that female voices can be used for male sims and vice versa, and making it possible to make gender fluid and transgender Sims (women can even pee standing up and men can be set to have babies).
12 January 2017 Toddlers reintroduced with new features in a free update.
6 February 2018 10 new skin tones and a curly hairstyle was added.
19 June 2018 Gardening given an extensive update to make it more useful and less of a chore on the whole, Glass Roofs added, Cold Weather and Hot Weather outfits in CAS, and swimwear for Toddlers.
16 November 2018 Added terrain tools, a first person camera, and the Style Influencer and Self-Employment careers
5 September 2019Stairs are now configurable with the option to create L-shaped or U-shaped stairs,; 5th anniversary items and new build content including stilted foundations; Muslim-themed items and accessories.
3 June 2020Utility bills are made separate, and the Sim Inventory has a filtering option. Build Mode objects affect gameplay. Ladders are introduced, as well as the ability to freely place objects by pressing the Alt/Option key. Firefighters and repo-men make a comeback to the base game.
10 November 2020Platforms and more half-walls have been added to Build/Buy Mode. Relationships may now contain Sentiments, a memory-like system. Sims now have Profiles that can be seen through the Relationships panel. Sims can now vacation to any world for as long as there are Rental lots in the world.
4 July 2021Introduces ponds and food delivery services. Existing hairstyles and items from previous packs have been pushed to the Base Game. Improved features such as group cooking and chores for children.
2 November 2021Introduces scenarios, which adds in challenges (i.e. Making Money and Find Love After A Breakup), and SDX (Sims Delivery Express), which brings in free tiny additional content that doesn't require a full game update.
30 November 2021Introduces Neighborhood Stories, which allows for Sims to influence other Sims outside your active household to do things that will change their lives in either a positive (i.e. pursuing their dream job, making friends, go in a relationship, etc.) or negative (i.e. destroying love lives, destroying friendships, etc.) way.
15 March 2022Updated Neighborhood Stories, which adds in story progression in to the game.
24 May 2022Introduces the ability the customize a Sim's pronouns in Create-A-Sim.
26 July 2022Introduces the ability to set up a Sim's sexual orientation in Create-A-Sim. Adds in body hair in Create-A-Sim. Introduces Wants and Fears into the game, replacing the whims. Introduces curved walls in Build Mode for the first time in the franchise.
14 March 2023Introduces infants to the series, which newborns now age into before toddlers. Also adds more features for newborns.


The Sims 4 Provides Examples Of:

    Tropes A-F 
  • Absurdly Cool City: The City Living world, San Myshuno, is presented as a huge seaside city with five distinct neighborhoods for Sims to explore.
  • Absurdly Youthful Mother: The only requirement to be the father or mother of someone, is to be an adult, and to be older than the son/daughter. This can reach the point that a young adult Sim is the father of a teenager.
  • Aerith and Bob: You can have a household with names like Bob and Chris alongside Ignotius and Aerith.
  • Affably Evil: There's nothing stopping you from making a Sim who can make friends quickly while also being an insane criminal who enjoys misery and trolls internet forums.
  • Afraid of Their Own Strength: Werewolves have a chance to accidentally break objects after using them, which gives them a tense moodlet called "Stronger Than I Thought".
  • Age-Gap Romance: As long as both sims are adults, it is possible to have a romance, even if one is young and the other is elder.
  • Agitated Item Stomping: An angry Sim has the option to kick over a trash can and stomp on the spilled trash.
  • The Alcoholic: As of Get Famous, it's possible for Sims to become addicted to "juice" by getting the Juice Enthusiast fame quirk. Sims with this quirk slip into foul moods if they haven't had any juice in some time.
  • Aliens Among Us: All Aliens have the ability to wear a fully customizable human disguise. Vampires similarly conceal their Dark Form except when feeding.
  • Alien Invasion: Discussed. Sims with the Geek trait have a unique social in the funny menu, "describe alien invasion."
  • Aliens Speaking English: The aliens, aside from having a metallic twang in their voices, speak Simlish just like the other sims. Aside from that, regular Sims has apparently no language issues with watching alien television.
  • Aliens Steal Cable: Inverted. Your Sim can steal alien cable once they have invented the upgraded satellite dish.
  • All Lesbians Want Kids: The Sims 4 is the first generation of the game to regularly include same-sex couples among its pre-created Sims. Curiously, all of the three married lesbian couples introduced so far have a child, while the first two married gay couple didn't: the first male-male couple introduced are obsessed with their dog and show no indications of planning to expand their human family, while the second married late in life and so are unlikely to be adopting kids when they're already elderly. The third male-male couple makes up for this by not only having two children of their own but they also have a grandchild.
  • Artificial Stupidity: Though it's far better than the previous ones, a programming quirk will cause the game to stuck if there is too many Sim action/activity queued, including NPC sims.
  • All Planets Are Earthlike: Subverted. The Alien world Sixam does feature minerals and plants, but normal Sims have to wear spacesuits at all times.
  • Alternate Continuity: After The Sims 3 (allegedly a canonical prequel to the first two games) introduced prolific amounts of Continuity Snarl, The Sims 4 was declared to take place in its own timeline. This allows the devs to draw whatever elements they want from the first three games and their spin-offs, without causing attentive fans too many headaches.
  • Amazing Technicolor Population: Regular Sims can be blue, green, or bright red, outside of the standard skintones. Taken even further with the Aliens from Get To Work, who now come in a variety of alien-esque colors, including blue, pink and purple. Vampires added a number of greyish skin tones for your vampire to look extra dead with.
  • Ambiguous Gender Identity: Morgyn Ember is an androgynous male sim with a Gender-Blender Name. He prefers feminine clothing, can't get pregnant or get others pregnant, and can't use the toilet standing up.
  • Americasia: San Myshuno is a bustling American city mixed with East Asian architecture (such as Tokyo and Shanghai) and the townies there have a mix of Western and Asian names.
  • And Your Reward Is Interior Decorating: Sims work to get money, which can be used to buy higher quality furniture. Some objects give bonuses or are more effective at higher levels, but others are purely cosmetic. Promotions also unlock appropriate objects, such as more effective easels for Painters, or a model rocket ship for Astronauts.
  • An Interior Designer Is You: You can design houses from the ground up, planning up almost everything about them. Great potential for cruelty exists here, naturally.
  • Anti-Frustration Features:
    • The developers of Get Famous appeared to have some foresight as to how easy to acquire and annoying some fame quirks could be. For example, the Vain Street quirk that famous Sims have a chance of getting whenever they interact with a mirror which causes them to need to look at themselves in a mirror frequently, or else they'll become tense. In the Acting career, practicing in front of a mirror and as such getting this quirk is pretty much inevitable. No need to fret, though. In the Rewards Store, there is a cheap Quirk-B-Gone potion that only costs 250 Satisfaction Points.
    • Relationship values will not go down if any holiday traditions in Seasons include fighting so feel free to have your spouses or any other significant other punch each other in order to fulfill the tradition.
  • Art Shift: To a more stylized, cartoony style. The Sim's hair and objects, both background and interactable in particular, look more toy-like than the previous two installments.
    • Later (from about 2019-2020) Expansion Packs of TS 4 have even more cartoony and exaggerated pictures on their covers. The basegame's cover and the main menu of the game were also changed accordingly to more stylized designs.
  • Athletically Challenged: Sims who have the Clumsy trait have a chance to fail in athletic activities including ice skating, snowboarding, skiing, even using a treadmill. There's even the possibility they can stumble as they walk.
  • Banana in the Tailpipe: You can attempt to "Stuff a Fruit in [the] Exhaust Pipe" of a rocket ship. Trying to fly a rocket ship this way will almost certainly cause your Sim to crash and burn to death.
  • Baths Are Fun: Taking a bath is a good way to help a stressed out Sim to relax. If they take a bubble bath, they'll end up in a playful mood for several hours.
  • Bathtub Mermaid: In the expansion pack Island Living, merfolk show their tails when they take a bath.
  • Be Careful What You Wish For: Some of the bad outcomes for the wishes your Sims can make with the Whispering Wishing Well have this flavor. For example, wishing for happiness when the well is in a Deadly mood will often result in your Sim instantly receiving the "Can't Stop Smiling" moodlet, which grants +99 Playful (thereby carrying a very high risk of death from laughter). And the very bad outcome of wishing for a child is for the well to instantly add an Evil child to your household.
  • Big Bad: The Strangerville pack storyline culminates in a boss battle versus the Mother, a Botanical Abomination located deep under the secret lab which is responsible for the infection and possession of the locals.
  • Big Ball of Violence: Two vampires, either in a friendly sparring match or an angry duel, will be partially obscured by a black mist. If a human picks a fight, the brawl will be obscured by a slightly larger dust cloud, the color of which is easily influenced by the surrounding lights, and grawlix symbols will fly out of it. The symbols will be joined by bats if the human is fighting a vampire.
  • Bird-Poop Gag: Beachcombing has a random chance of generating an angry moodlet reading "Got Pooped On (From Beachcombing) The seagull hit its target..."
  • Bowdlerize: A patch changed the name of the "Insane" trait into "Erratic". Since the trait is the only representation of mental illness in the game, it's easy to see why it was changed.
  • Breaking and Bloodsucking: NPC Count Vladislaus Straud and any other vampires with the Eternally Welcome power can barge into your home and feast on your Sim. The player can send their vampire hunting in other Sims' houses, by either using that power or knocking on the door and getting invited in. Non-vampire Sims can attempt to stop the vampires by placing garlic around the house and/or drinking resistance potions made from wolfsbane.
  • Canon Immigrant:
    • The BFF Household (Summer, Travis, and Liberty) previously appeared in the MySims franchise. Their roles here closely parallel their roles in MySims Kingdom, where they're a love triangle.
    • The Get Together expansion gave us Candy and Yuki, also from the MySims franchise.
  • Character Development: Introduced as an optional game mechanic in the Growing Together expansion. Sims will occasionally go through a moment of self-discovery, where they gain new traits (up to a new maximum of 6, although you still can't add more than 3 when creating a Sim) or replace an existing trait with a different one. For example, if a Gloomy Sim manages to be happy for a long while, they can officially change from Gloomy to Cheerful. They can also discover new likes and dislikes.
  • Circling Birdies: One of the possible symptoms of certain illnesses is little white sparkles circling a Sim's head while streaming contrails. They also show up when a Sim trips and falls on the treadmill, hurts themselves while woodcarving, or loses a fight.
  • Clingy Child: One of the personality traits a toddler can have is 'clingy,' depicted by a monkey holding tightly to a branch. Clingy toddlers like to stick close to their parent(s), are more likely to become sad after meeting someone new, and are more likely to get upset when not around their parent(s).
  • Colour-Coded Emotions: The emotions are represented by a wide rainbow of colours:
    • White for Fine
    • Red for Anger
    • Orange for Tense
    • Yellow for Embarrassed
    • Reddish-orange for Uncomfortable
    • Green for Happy
    • Neon green/yellow for Energized
    • Light blue for Inspired
    • Blue for Confident
    • Dark Blue for Sad
    • Purple for Focused
    • Light purple for Dazed
    • Magenta for Playful
    • Pink for Flirty
    • Light grey for Bored
    • Dark gray for Possessednote 
    • Dark purple for Scarednote 
  • Confiscated Phone: With Parenthood installed, one of the potential ways that parents can punish their children is to ground them from their phone.
  • Confused Question Mark: In the Cats and Dogs expansion pack, failed attempts to train a dog are usually indicated by the dog getting a thought bubble with a question mark inside.
  • Curse Cut Short: The High School Years reveal trailer introduces a sim called Molly with the description "pain in the a—" and then it cuts to the next scene.
  • Daywalking Vampire: Zig-zagged - by default vampires are Weakened by the Light, but there is both a temporary and a permanent way to achieve daylight safety.
    • One vampiric power is reduced energy loss to sunlight, which can escalate into full immunity with more power points invested. NPC Caleb Vatore (who's responsible for Forgotten Hollow's welcome wagon) has full immunity and his sister Lilith Vatore has partial immunity, but NPC Count Vladislaus Straud (who presents a Justified Tutorial for player-character vampires) can't get this power because he already has the mutually-exclusive weakness.
    • A sunlight reversal cocktail will reverse the energy-draining effect of sunlight so the vampire temporarily gains energy instead of losing it.
  • Death from Above: Meteors return in the form of meteorites if you use the telescope a little too much. If you ever see the moodlet "IT'S COMING RIGHT FOR ME!" while using the telescope... either run for cover in the 20-minute time limit or die by having the meteorite fall on top of your Sim.
  • Destination Defenestration: Referenced in one of the Island Living coffee table description texts. The Brava Java Coffee Table is described as "...such a spiffy coffee table that if you find out your friend Ken forgets to use a coaster, you're going to stand him up on the coffee table and then launch him out the window before asking your other coaster-using guests if they would like another scone."
  • Developer's Foresight: If, for whatever reason — either by accident or by player neglect — a sim becomes trapped in the money vault from Get Famous, the accompanying moodlet'snote  description seems to indicate that Electronic Arts knew the similarities between this and the "pools with no ladders" from previous games.
    "This is just like those stories of Sims getting trapped in pools with no ladders!"
  • Die Laughing: One of the ways to die, if your Sim becomes Hysterical and keeps doing funny interactions.
  • Dinosaurs Are Dragons: There is a large stuffed dinosaur named Drago, and a large stuffed dragon named Dino. The Flavor Text for the items mentions that the children naming them mixed them up.
  • Double Reverse Quadruple Agent: Rank 11 (out of 10) of the Villain branch of the Secret Agent Career is "Triple Agent".
  • Drama Queen: High maintenance Sims from Spa Day can get random strong angry, tense, or uncomfortable moodlets from minor things that don't affect other Sims, such as sitting down for too long, swallowing pool water, getting shampoo on their eyes, having water splash while using the toilet, sunlight, getting a hangnail, or having a weird dream. Thankfully this can be resolved by meditation or yoga.
  • Dumpster Dive: As in The Sims 2, Gluttonous Sims can find food by rummaging through trash cans. In the Eco Lifestyle expansion, one can also search dumpsters for scraps to build items on the Fabricator Machine.
  • Edutainment Game: In-universe, a game exclusive to child Sim is "Keyboard Commander" where the player learns letter and spelling, which translates to developing motor skills.
  • Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: The Voidcritters from Kids Room Stuff have five elements; Fire > Earth > Wind > Void > Water > Fire.
  • Entertainment Below Their Age: Sims with the childish trait enjoy watching kids' TV and playing with toys.
  • Everyone Hates Fruit Cakes: When a Sim moves into a new neighborhood, one of the neighbors may give them a fruitcake as a housewarming gift; upon first trying fruitcake, a Sim will gain a hidden trait that determines whether or not they like it, so unless the Sim has the Glutton personality trait or the hidden trait of liking fruitcake, they will receive the "What did I just eat?" moodlet, and react negatively to it.
  • Everyone Is Bi: The game played this straight when first released, following the tradition of the rest of the series. This would eventually be averted when the 26 July 2022 patch came out, adding a sexual orientation menu in Create a Sim, which allows each to have their sexuality determined. You can choose which genders they're romantically attracted to, whether they're willing to explore romantically, and which genders they're okay to Woohoo with. (If a Sim is okay with Woohooing with a gender they aren't romantically into, they can become Woohoo partners to those of said gender)
  • Exotic Equipment: Never seen, but implied. One of the ways to discover that someone is an alien in disguise (you'll get a pop-up announcement) is by Woohooing with them.
  • Explosive Results: In the Island Living expansion pack's conservationist career, analyzing a sample collected from the environment has a chance of failure. Whatever goes wrong, somehow it goes so horribly wrong that the sample explodes, and the Sim can't get any useful data from the explosion.
  • Extreme Omnivore: Werewolves who reach the runt rank in the Werewolves game pack can a buy "Voracious Hunger" from the werewolf ability section, which will allow your werewolf to eat any object.
  • Facial Markings: There is a range of alien-like makeup which can also be used by normal Sims.
  • Familiar: In Realm of Magic, spellcasters can buy familiars, small creatures that follow them around everywhere. If you have Cats and Dogs, you can also bind a pet as a familiar. Either way, they can protect their masters from death and aid them in duels.
  • Fictional Currency: The Simoleon is the series' standard currency and its mark is represented as a section sign (§).
  • Fictional Video Game: Instead of playing real games or nondescript ones like in previous entries, here there's a selection of mostly fake titles for sims to play that get unlocked as the videogaming skill progresses:
  • Fire-Breathing Diner: Sims who are unaccustomed to spicy food will have a plume of flame burst out of their mouth when overwhelmed by the taste.
  • Friendly Neighbourhood Vampire: Nothing's stopping you from giving a Vampire the Good trait. There's even a Good Vampire aspiration for vampires that want to avoid feeding non-consensually, and the Guilty Drinker weakness makes your Vampire feel unhappy if they drink from a Sim without permission. But there is also nothing stopping you from giving a vampire with the Evil or Mean trait that aspiration or weakness, in which case it's probably a case of Even Evil Has Standards.
  • Food Slap:
    • One of the mean interactions your Sim can do is throwing a drink into the other Sim's face. Sometimes the interaction will fail with a congealed drink that stays in the glass.
    • At the end of a fight where your Sim forces a vampirism cure onto a defeated vampire, the potion is thrown into the vampire's face.
  • Freshman Fears: The description of the Wall o’ Gym Lockers, Large mentions that it give nostalgia of high school gym class, and that it stores everything short of freshman hazing victims.

    Tropes G-M 
  • Game-Breaking Bug: Occasionally the game engine will gum up and the characters will suddenly stop responding to commands. Rarely this extends to the part of, or the entire UI, and the buttons, either hotkey or on-screen will all stop responding. If the UI is affected, the only way out of the game is killing the program in Task Manager, and if you do that, well, hope you manually saved recently, because the game also lacks autosave features.note  It's pretty jarring because the scale of the game is smaller than The Sims 3. It's less likely to happen in home lot, however, due to the less amount of Sims with autonomous interaction queues.
  • Game Face: Vampire Sims have a dark form that they transform into when feeding or fighting. The obviousness of the dark form runs the spectrum from identical to their everyday look (for example, NPC Caleb Vatore) to Looks Like Orlok (for example, NPC Count Vladislaus Straud). Players can also customize their own vampire's appearance to play with this trope.
  • Gameplay and Story Segregation:
    • Even though Selvadorada, Sulani, Mt. Komorebi and Britchester are implied to be from different countries (Latin America, Hawaii, Japan, and England respectively) altogether, traveling between neighborhoods means that it only takes an instant rather than hours or days (i.e. going from Willowcreek to Mt. Komorebi at 10AM will result in arriving at that nation at the exact same time).
    • You can make your sim a muscular body-builder via through Create-A-Sim. This has no impact on their strength (as it is measured by a Fitness skill, not musclemass).
  • Gasshole:
    • If a Sim eats Franks and Beans they will pass wind.
    • Slob Sims will also fart on occasion.
    • With Parenthood installed is possible to make sims fart and burp at will, regardless of traits or food consumed, although doing so at a young age may have negative effects on a sim's manners once they reach adulthood.
  • Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: In the Strangerville game pack, there's an interaction labeled "Snap Out of It" that your Sim can attempt on possessed Sims. Your Sim will try to slap the possessed Sim. Sometimes the slap connects and ends the possession session early, sometimes the possessed Sim intercepts the slap before it can connect.
  • Gloomy Gray: "Bored" moodlets have a gray color. If a Sim is bored, the UI near the Sim turns gray and they need to do something fun to feel better.
  • G-Rated Sex: As usual woohoo is a very thinly veiled substitute. Pet breeding is when the two pets look as if they play patty-cake for a moment, then they part ways.
  • Gravity Is Purple: Introduced in Kids Room Stuff, Vulpes is a mostly-purple Voidcritter that can manipulate gravity according to its Flavor Text. Its element is Void, which is associated with purple.
  • Hates Being Touched: As of Get Famous, it's possible to get the "No Touching" fame quirk, which causes your Sim to hate being touched by strangers with less fame than them.
  • Have a Nice Death: Each time one of your Sims dies (which will happen eventually), a purple notification will appear on the top-right of the screen. For example:
    Houston, we have a problem...
    {Sim Name} is about to die
    from being struck by a
    meteorite!
  • Hoist by His Own Petard: A failed attempt to cast a hallucination has a chance of backfiring on the vampire caster, leaving the poor vampire hallucinating under their own compulsion.
  • Hollywood New England: Brindleton Bay, added with Cats & Dogs, is an archetypal New England coastal village.
  • Hologram: The motion gaming rig surrounds the playing sim in translucent three-dimensional holograms that they can manipulate using gestures a la Minority Report.
  • Hypocrite: In City Living apartments, making too much noise at nighttime will anger your neighbours... even if the party they are having at the same time woke your sim up.
  • Industrial Ghetto: The world of Evergreen Harbor invokes this trope. Its central neighborhood, Port Promise, is firmly on the "Industrial" side when the player first starts the game, and its atmosphere is so polluted that the sky is smoggy. Several residential lots are off-the-grid homes made of discarded shipping containers, and most of the scenery consists of gas stations, scaffolding, crumbling infrastructure, and piled-up garbage. Whether or not this changes is up to the player, and how willing they are to make their Sims pick up trash.
  • Immortality Begins at Twenty: Sims born vampires stop aging when they reach the Young Adult stage.
  • Infant Sibling Jealousy: While it is possible for them to be happy about it, there are also two potential negative moodlets that toddlers, children, and teens can get from meeting a new sibling. There's a sad "New Sibling..." moodlet and an angry "Unwanted Sibling" moodlet. When infants were added to the game, it became possible for toddlers to get a negative sentiment which causes them to feel sad or angry when their parents pay attention to their sibling.
  • Informed Obscenity: "Forbidden Words" are more gibberish like the rest of Simlish, the only difference is visual — grawlix symbols will fly out of the Sim's head.
  • Instant Home Delivery: There's no need to wait for your furniture, major appliances, or even your entire house to be delivered and installed.
    • Even delivery based services, like ordering a pizza, only takes about 5 minutes game time.
  • It Came from the Sink: In Strangerville, one of the signs that the weirdness in town is getting worse is blue and red vines growing up through the pipes of sinks and toilets, giving your Sims Tense moodlets.
  • It's Raining Men: Spellcaster Sims can fall off their brooms, ending their flight with a crash.
  • Jump Scare:
    • In the Jungle Adventure game pack, one of the Story Branching pop-ups gives your Sim the option of invoking this trope on a jaguar — you have the option to "Jump Scare Jaguar" and you need higher fitness level to have a better chance of getting away unscathed.
    • Referenced in one of the Island Living awning descriptions. The aluminum "Yawning"'s text description of how you can peacefully enjoy the "soothing pitter-patter of the rain" is interrupted mid-sentence by "BANG! Woah, mellow harshed by a coconut."
  • Kissing Cousins: Possibly to invoke due to many generations of families followed by game breaking bugs.
  • Living Aphrodisiac: Two different powers available for more experienced vampires achieve this through slightly different means. The Emotion Bomb power can be set to flirty, and another power surrounds the vampire with a glowing cloud of supernatural pheromones.
  • Loads and Loads of Loading: After getting with the initial loading screen (which is lengthy depending on the number of Packs and mods installed), whenever you want to switch between lots, you have to sit through a 10-20 second loading screen. This might get longer the bigger and more complex the lot is, though due to the more modern engine, it wasn't as bad as it was in The Sims 2.
  • Loony Fan: As of Get Famous, it's possible to get a "Stan" as a fame quirk.
  • Love Is in the Air: The "Vampiric Charm" power gives the vampire Sim a glowing red aura that makes them happy, while inflicting those who walk into the cloud of pheromones with a buff that makes them fall for romantic and all other socials more often.
  • Making Love in All the Wrong Places: Sims can Woohoo in an observatory, a rocket ship, a special bush, and a hot tub, among other places. Played with in the case of coffins - vampires don't find it weird, a vampire Sim could even coax a non-vampire Sim into coffin Woohoo, but Sims with the Good trait (vampires or not) will always refuse to Woohoo in the coffin.
  • Medicinal Cuisine: Taken to its logical extreme with Ambrosia, which requires a maxed-out Cooking skill, an expensive recipe, and multiple rare ingredients to prepare but can bring people Back from the Dead. As a bonus, it's Impossibly Delicious Food.
  • Missing Reflection: Vampires don't have reflections in mirrors. Somehow this doesn't stop them from using mirrors the same way other Sims do - freshening up their makeup, trying on outfits, practicing speeches, calming down from potentially deadly emotional extremes, etc.
  • Mister Seahorse:
    • With the Get to Work expansion pack, it's possible for your male sims to be abducted and be impregnated by aliens.
    • Taken further with the June 2016 patch's Custom Genders feature, where one option is setting whether one can become pregnant, or cause pregnancies, regardless of main gender.
  • Modern Stasis: It's always The Present Day in SimNation. This results in a bizarre "timeless" world in which the great-grandparents of the current generation grew up with exactly the same technology.
  • Mood Whiplash: Despite the general wacky tone, the animation when pets die of old age is surprisingly dark. Instead of the Grim Reaper leading them to the afterlife, they actually lay down and die with the Reaper personally reaping their soul like when he does to dying sims.
  • Must Be Invited: Vampires without the Eternally Welcome power are limited to knocking on the door and hoping for an invitation, though for a player-character vampire it's not much of a hindrance given how eager sims are to invite in anyone who knocks on their door.
  • My Rules Are Not Your Rules: When inviting Sims over to your house, they'll often get on your computer, take a bath, even sometimes cook meals without your consent. However, if you attempt the same thing when visiting their own houses, they'll stop you and enough infractions of this will warrant your Sims being kicked out.
  • Mythology Gag:
    • The "BFF" trio of Liberty Lee, Summer Holiday, and Travis Scott share their names, appearances and personality traits with Liberty, Summer, and Travis from MySims. A Love Triangle between the three friends is also a plot point in MySims Kingdom.
    • The Get Together expansion introduces a perky DJ named Candy Behr, who takes her name from long-time recurring MySims character DJ Candy "Supergroove". Her sister, Yuki, has no connection to her MySims analogue, but MySims dolls for both characters can be found in their respective bedrooms.
    • When sims fall asleep while scared, they can have nightmares, which are described in a notification. One is about drowning in a ladder-less pool and wondering why they couldn't just climb out, which is how many players killed their sims in the first two games before The Sims 3 made the ladders optional.

    Tropes N-S 
  • Named by the Adaptation: All of the MySims characters are given last names: Travis Scott, Liberty Lee, Summer Holiday, and Candy & Yuki Behr.
  • Narcissist:
    • If Get Famous is installed, famous Sims have a chance of getting the Vain Street fame quirk from using mirrors. Sims with this quirk always want to admire themselves in the mirror and become tense if they haven't in some time.
    • To a lesser extent, the Self-Absorbed trait can also be this. Sims with this trait are able to request compliments and get excited when receiving presents.
  • Narrating the Obvious:
    • Can be invoked if you have no intention of disguising your alien sim as a human.note  If you parade your undisguised alien sim right in front of a non-alien, the pop-up message reads, "(Sim's name) has discovered that (alien's name) is an alien!" If the armored spacesuit with the glowing green Tron Lines wasn't obvious enough, the unearthly skin tone (blue, purple, green or even paper-white) makes it even more obvious. The situation is even more hilarious if other sims don't even notice your undisguised alien waltzing around right in front of them until the alien scans their brains.
    • Viewing a specific plant (e.g. "View apple tree") will cause your Sim to announce what kind of plant it is (e.g. "This is an apple tree"), as if you didn't already know from reading the action button.
    • A spellcaster who casts Inferniate to start a fire will cause a popup message reading "(Spellcaster's name) has discovered the fire!" In the words of YouTuber Iron Seagull, "No kidding! You made it yourself!"
    • If a pregnant sim goes to the hospital to give birth, a popup message can appear stating that they have learned that the sim performing the operation is a medical professional at the hospital.
  • Neat Freak: One of the personality traits available, Neat, makes the affected sim more uncomfortable in dirty surroundings. As a trade-off for the downside that the negative mood brings, a cleaning frenzy is that Sim's idea of fun.
  • New Job as the Plot Demands: You are encouraged to make your sim quit their current job and take on a new one once they reach the top of the ladder. This is enforced through the changing of aspirations (certain aspirations require the sim to be working a particular occupation to proceed) and unlocking certain items (having one sim working a particular occupation does not unlock the related furniture or appliance for all your households in the save file).
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: One of the aspiration milestones in figuring out the Strangerville mystery is finding out what's behind a locked door in the secret lab. By opening that door, your Sim breaks the quarantine on a cloud of toxic spores that proceed to spread all over town, infecting and possessing more Sims.
  • Non Sequitur, *Thud*: Implied. Right after a vampire steals a deep drink, the victim will mumble something in Simlish and collapse face-down on the ground.
  • Noodle Implements: The result of certain choices during a certain space adventure, if successful, has your Sim fixing the International Sim Space Station with some paper clips, half a box of aluminum foil, and a plunger.
  • No-Sell: If a vampire tries to cast a hallucination on a more experienced vampire, the experienced one will shrug off the effects.
  • No Sense of Humor: With Get Famous installed, there is a chance of your Sim getting the fame quirk, A Serious Actor, after performing in a dramatic gig. Any funny or mischievous actions performed on Sims with this quirk will fail and cause them to become angry.
  • Older Than They Look: There's not a whole lot of physical difference between teenagers and young adults.
  • Our Clones Are Different: Cloning a sim usually makes a new sim with an identical appearance, clothing, and traits. However, there is a chance when cloning that the result will be an "evil clone", with the clone's eyes appearing red, and having a few random traits swapped for evil ones, such as Mean, Evil, Loner, or Hates Children.
  • Our Vampires Are Different: Encouraged by the ability to mix and match the powers and weaknesses of Vampire Sims.
  • Our Werewolves Are Different: The Werewolves game pack reintroduces werewolves into the game. Unlike the previous entries, werewolves in this game have fully canine heads, with lots more customization option to boot. Werewolves generate Fury over time, causing them to act more animalistic and develop moods that make them do quirky things, and, if left uncontrolled, they can go into an uncontrollable rampage, destroying objects and causing chaos around other Sims.
  • Out with a Bang: Elder Sims can die from overexertion after Woohooing if they're Dangerously Tired.
  • Panicky Expectant Father: If the father notices the mother in labor, he'll start flailing his arms and/or clutching his head while screaming and jogging in place.
  • Phonýmon: Kids Room Stuff introduces Voidcritters, a fictional collectible card game about creatures with five kinds of Elemental Powers that kids can play with. There's also an in-universe TV show, and plenty of furniture depicting Voidcritters in various packs.
  • Picky Eater:
    • Sims with the Foodie trait get uncomfortable moodlets from food or drink that is of normal or lower quality.
    • If Parenthood is installed, Picky Eater is a potential childhood phase. During this phase, Sims will prefer their favorite quick meal as opposed to any other food.
    • As of Get Famous, your famous Sims will have a chance of gaining the Refined Palate fame quirk when eating excellent quality meals. Similarly to Sims with the Foodie trait, these Sims will also become uncomfortable when eating food of normal or lesser quality.
  • Pictorial Speech-Bubble: When Sims to talk with each other, a speech bubble with a picture of what they're discussing appears.
  • Pink Is Erotic: The "Flirty" moodlet is associated with the color pink, which can come from actions such as flirting with another Sim, taking a "steamy shower", or watching the romance channel. Flirty Sims may then have the chance to "Woo-Hoo".
  • Pivotal Wake-up: Vampires emerge from coffins by levitating from prone to upright before stepping out.
  • Pixellation: Female Sims are pixellated shoulder-to-knee when showering or using the bathroom, male Sims from waist-to-knee. Naturally one of the first things modders did was try to find a way to remove it. The game pixellates the whole screen after a sim uses the toilet if the game's Copy Protection determines that it has been compromised (ie the main executable's checksum doesn't add up).
  • Player Creation Sharing: An in-game browser allows players to share sims, lots, and more.
  • Powered Armor: The ExoMech suit which is available at level 8 of the mechanical engineer branch greatly increases the the speed at which the Sim learns fitness and handiness. And of course, there is also a hover mode that allows the wearer to hover like a Servo instead of running.
  • The Prankster: One of the aspirations available is Chief of Mischief. Sims who finish it get the "Tormentor" reward trait, which boosts their ability to sabotage objects and other Sims' moods.
  • Primal Scene: As seen here, Child Sims can potentially walk in on their parents during WooHoo, resulting in the kid being embarrassed and unable to unsee what they just saw.
  • Pregnancy Test Plot: Unlike in previous games, where a pregnancy is announced by a jingle, here, you must buy a pregnancy test. If your Sim does not buy a pregnancy test, the game will inform you after a day that they're pregnant.
  • Product Placement: For Star Wars Episode VII- the outfits and hair styles of various Star Wars characters are made available in the game to drum up interest in the Star Wars games (to which EA owns the license) and the movie.
  • Puberty Superpower: Vampires, spellcasters, and mermaids manifest their powers as teenagers.
  • Punny Name: The Ghosts trailer features several sims representing different types of death in-game, each with a related name; for example, "Diana Fyre" burned to death, and "Drew Current" was electrocuted.
  • Randomized Transformation: The "transformation ray" can turn objects into other completely random objects. It's possible to end up with objects that can't be transformed, but you can also keep experimenting until you get something useful... but, more often than not, it becomes utterly random and useless.
  • Related in the Adaptation: Candy and Yuki, who had no relation to each other in the MySims games, are sisters here.
  • Retraux: The "Vintage Glamour Stuff" pack contains objects and gameplay inspired by the aesthetics from The Roaring '20s to The '50s. The Bowling Night Stuff also takes cues from The '50s.
  • Rummage Sale Reject: Since the game's algorithm doesn't care for the colors and styles of clothes, almost all computer generated NPC's spawn wearing absurdly tacky cloth combinations which could put "Weird Al" Yankovic into shame.
  • Safe Under Blankets: The game has a "Scared" moodlet when Sims can hide under their covers. This usually happens during a lightning storm. If autonomy is turned on, Sims will often try to do this without the player's prompting.
  • Salaryman: The Japanese-themed Snowy Escape expansion introduces the Salaryperson career track.
  • Sauna of Death: Staying too long in a sauna will kill a Sim in the Spa Day Game Pack.
  • Say It with Hearts: When unspayed female cats and dogs go into heat, they will yowl or howl with hearts floating out of their mouths.
  • Schmuck Bait:
    • Cowplants extend a cake lure on their tongue and try to eat Sims who grab the cake.
    • Lava stonesnote  are initially glowing red and marked "too hot to touch". You could wait for them to cool down, or you can have your Sim "Try to Touch" them while they're still hot, whereupon the Sims will yell in pain with a chance of catching on fire.
  • Screw Yourself: The Get to Work expansion allows sims to invent a cloning machine, which they can upgrade from cloning collectibles to cloning entire Sims. Clones have the same personality and looks as the original (most of the time), but none of the relationships... which can lead to this, if your Sim is so inclined.
  • Self-Insert: It's possible to make a Sim based off of yourself, or your friends, or your boss or ex.
  • Shamed by a Mob: This is a consequence that a vampire faces for drinking someone's plasma without permission, especially while in public - non-vampire witnesses will lose friendship points with the vampire, react with alarm and disgust, and occasionally give you pop-up notifications that read "Haven't you heard of plasma fruit??" Zig-zagged because the shame comes from having the Guilty Drinker weakness, not whether or not the vampire got caught in the act.
  • Shout-Out: Has a Shout-Out page here.
  • Shown Their Work: Unlike Takemizu Village from The Sims 2: Bon Voyage, townies from Mt. Komorebi all have Japanese names and all the vehicles drive on the left side of the road, much like real life Japan.
  • Slippery Swimsuit: In the Island Living pack, if your Sim goes swimming, there's a random chance of getting an embarrassed moodlet that reads: "Missing something? (From Swimsuit Malfunction): [Sim's name] was just swimming along when — whoops! Where did his/her swimsuit go?
  • Speaking Simlish: Sims speak the eponymous "Simlish," which is mostly gibberish.
  • Story Branching: Exploring space in a rocket ship is represented as a series of "choose your own adventure" style choices in pop-up windows, with elaborate branching paths leading to different outcomes.
  • Stylistic Suck: It's entirely possible for paintings of stick figures like this to be considered masterpieces.
  • Super Wool Growth: Llamas can be sheared every in-game day to get wool, while real llamas are usually sheared every year or two.
  • Supreme Chef: One of the aspirations available is Master Chef, which involves both the culinary career and the cooking skill. As a reward, Sims who complete the aspiration will always make the highest-quality food, and it will never spoil.
  • Suspiciously Specific Denial: The "Ordinary" conch shell that your Sim can blow is described thusly: "Nothing to see here. Just a plain old boring conch shell. Definitely doesn't provoke a response from the aquatically inclined."
  • Sweet Home Alabama: Willow Creek, the default map, is based on Louisiana. It's most visible in the architecture of the pre-built houses and businesses, which are big on front porches (a staple of Southern homes) and even include a shotgun house as a starter home. The Magnolia Promenade business district is also very Southern-inspired, complete with a steamboat.
  • Symbol Swearing: Sims that "Shout Forbidden Words" have grawlix symbols flying out of their head.

    Tropes T-Z 
  • Talk Like a Pirate: One of the randomly-scheduled holidays in Seasons is "talk like a pirate day", where several pie menu interactions are replaced with pirate-themed phrases.
  • The Talk: Parents can talk to their teenage Sims about Woohoo. It usually leads to both sides being embarrassed.
  • Training the Pet: Dogs will pee in the house until you've scolded them enough times for it.
  • True Art Is Angsty: In-universe. Sims with the Sad emotion receive a boost to creativity skills such as painting and writing.
  • "Uh-Oh" Eyes: Eyes available for Vampires run the whole gamut, with the choice of Black Eyes of Crazy; Black Eyes of Evil; Red Eyes, Take Warning; Supernatural Gold Eyes; Occult Blue Eyes; Prophet Eyes; and Hellish Pupils. And for good measure, they're all Glowing Eyes of Doom.
  • Unexpected Gameplay Change: The Sims has always been a lifestyle simulator at its core, which means that you probably won't be expecting it when the culmination of the Strangerville storyline pits you against a Final Boss in the form of the Mother, complete with HP bars.
  • Undignified Death: Sims can die from 'Embarrassment', which can be brought about by walking in on WooHooing Sims, or being the one walked in on, or wetting themselves in public.
  • Vampire Bites Suck: Any Sim who offers their wrist for a vampire to drink from will eventually grimace, yell in pain and shove the vampire off. Victims of nonconsensual biting are too stunned to react. Regardless of whether the biting was consensual or not, the drained sim will get an uncomfortable moodlet.
  • Vampire Variety Pack: The game's power-and-weakness system can be customized for player characters, randomized or preset for NPCs, and the options in Create A Sim cover the spectrum of vampire aesthetics.
  • Vampires Hate Garlic: Unless they have the Garlic Immunity power, vampires will be too uncomfortable to drink plasma while under the effects of garlic's stench.
  • Vampires Sleep in Coffins: In the Vampires expansion pack, vampires have the option of sleeping in beds or coffins, unless they have a weakness that restricts them to coffins.
  • Variable Mix: Depending on which screen you're looking at, the background music adds or subtracts instruments.
  • Vegetarian Vampire: Both literally and figurative. You can have a vampire with the Vegetarian trait if you have both the Vampires pack and the City Living expansion pack; that vampire can only consume Plasma Fruit. You can also have a vampire that avoids non-consensual biting with the Good Vampire aspiration and/or the Guilty Drinker weakness.
  • Video Game Caring Potential: The point of the game is to give your Sim a nice house, many friends, a loving family, and a successful career. Or...
  • Video Game Cruelty Potential: Many players find great glee in tormenting their Sims any (or every) way they can. And there are a lot of ways...
  • Video Game Perversity Potential:
    • Inevitable, given how this game is moddable and how there's been mods of these kinds for its predecessors.
    • With Get Together's club system, players naturally took the chance to make clubs based around swinging, WooHoo and debauchery.
  • Virtual Paper Doll: Players have almost complete control over their Sim's wardrobes, and can change their clothes as they please.
  • Voluntary Vampire Victim: Vampires can avoid making enemies out of victims and witnesses by asking for permission to drink someone's plasma. Developing a friendship before asking makes it more likely that permission will be given. The Good Vampire aspiration requires getting permission to drink from two different sims for one of its milestones.
  • Watch Out for That Tree!: In the Jungle Adventure game pack, one of the Story Branching pop-ups starts with spotting sloths, which causes your distracted Sim to blunder into a low-hanging branch, thus disturbing the hazard that you need to choose a plan to resolve.
  • Weakened by the Light: By default, vampires get their energy drained by the sun and spontaneously combust when they run out of energy. One weakness makes the energy drain happen faster. There are ways to defy this, such as making one a Daywalking Vampire.
  • What Does This Button Do?: Sufficiently promoted scientists can "Press the Red Button" on the Chemistry Lab. The button electrocutes them, dazing them the first time and killing them if they're still dazed from the first zap.
  • Whole-Plot Reference: The Strangerville expansion's titular neighborhood is one to Stranger Things.
  • Wingdinglish: Upon studying the written Simlish glyphs carefully, one will find that many of the glyphs map neatly to the Latin alphabet. This is noticeable when a school-age Sim is made to play Keyboard Commander- some of the items have the same amount of letters as their English name, after watching a while one will start to notice patterns that allows one to create a simple substitution cipher table.
  • Wishing Well: The Whispering Wishing Well introduced in the "Romantic Garden" stuff pack. One can wish for a variety of thing including good grades, love, life, youth, etc. However, one ought to be wary of the mood of statue face adorning it, as the outcome of the wish will be heavily influenced by the well's own mood. Should it be in a deadly mood, so might be the outcome...
  • Wrong Side of the Tracks: Invoked with Eco Lifestyle's Evergreen Harbor, which is bisected by (nonfunctional) tracks. The Grims Quarry neighborhood is a bright, post-industrial suburb, while the Port Promise neighborhood is a smoggy Industrial Ghetto filled with litter, pollution, and ramshackle homes built from discarded shipping containers. Port Promise also has an old bar built from the remnants of an old train station.
  • Your Mom: One of the mean social interactions you can have your Sim do is implying the other Sim's mom is a llama.
  • Zero-G Spot: Sims can woohoo with other Sims in a rocket they have built, ascending into space on a cloud of hearts.

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