The Socially Awkward Trait Is a Bit Excessive... [ Edited ]

[The_Ratticator]

So I've noticed something in early access gameplay videos of High School Years that I think is kind of concerning. From what I can tell, as it currently stands in early access builds of the pack, Sims with the Socially Awkward trait fail at interactions around 90% of the time. Not only that, but this also appears to affect already-established relationships, such as those with family members. In regard to this fact in particular, I've seen others say that it really breaks immersion, and I definitely agree. This trait is one thing I've seen about High School Years that I think needs tweaking.

One fix I'd suggest is having it not affect pre-established relationships that the Sim has, since they should already be seeing less interaction failure at that stage, if I'm not mistaken about that aspect of the trait. I'd also suggest lowering the interaction failure rate. This is not to say that I think it should be super low. This is the Socially Awkward trait. But a 90% rate of failure? That's just excessive. At a rate like that, it'd be next to impossible for Socially Awkward Sims to get to the stage in a relationship where their interactions start to fail less often.

[GiardiniDiMarzo]

@The_Ratticator Yeah I agree. From what I seen the only way to communicate to others is through the app, and building a friendship only online is tiresome

[valohim666]

As someone that is about as socially awkward as can be in real life, and as someone that struggles horribly with social anxiety, that trait doesn't seem excessive at all. I don't have friends, can't keep the few I do make, because it's extremely hard to talk to people and for me even online text can be a challenge. I don't expect most people to understand, but for some of us this trait isn't really that excessive at all.

For a video game, however, yes I agree that it is. I can't imagine that anyone playing this game would want a character that is failing interactions that often. I certainly wouldn't, because I personally play this game to escape my reality and something like this would just be an awful reminder of how things are. So as someone that struggles with this in real life, this trait just does not sound fun to have because it certainly isn't fun in the real world.

[The_Ratticator]

@valohim666 My thoughts exactly! As someone who struggled socially in school, is the trait realistic? Yes, absolutely. However, is it pleasant from a gameplay standpoint? From what I've seen so far, no. This traits calls for something known as an "acceptable break from reality." Interaction failure should still be expected, but just not this much.

[valohim666]

@The_Ratticator Yeah I mean if they were going for a more realistic approach to the trait then it's pretty accurate for some of us, but just as you said it won't be enjoyable from a gameplay perspective. Obviously without things going wrong it wouldn't really be socially awkward, so I agree that there needs to be a compromise so that it's not quite so harsh. I mean I see some people that seem to want things to be realistic in this game, but I personally feel it's better as more of an exaggerated reality because I want to escape reality and realism with these games. If I wanted to recreate myself in the game then that would be a perfect trait, but I don't want to make myself as I am in reality that would be the worst sim ever lol.

By the way, your user name reminds me of a character called The Eradicator from an old comedy show called The Kids in The Hall (well it's not that old now since they have a new season on Amazon). Now all I can do is picture Bruce McCulloch (the guy that played the character) running around screaming "ERADICATOR!" lol

[daikoyu]

I must say I find It really interesting from gameplay view. It would give a sim a real challenge to build friendship, but I can understand people which don’t want this. I am just a loner, so I don’t know how RL people are with this trait and how accurate this is.

I don’t think they will tweak this trait, at last you don’t need to pick it and normally they heave a vision in mind if they create such thing, but I am sure some modder will it make less hard. I know the jealous trait suffer from the same thing, and the paranoid trait moodlet triggers too by close friends/pets, and we better don’t talk about goofball trait and pranks toilet.

It is fair that people need a mod for it? No, but you can’t please all and I am sure some want this challenge, I am one of them which want this challenge.

[The_Ratticator]

So I found out some interesting things when looking into this further. Some have been saying that there's a pretty decent chance that we're just not getting the full picture of the Socially Awkward trait with a good chunk of the early access gameplay. Apparently there's a "work on social awkwardness" option on mirrors. Doing this, along with leveling charisma, should lower the chances of interaction failure. If this is true, then maybe the trait isn't actually as punishing in that regard as I thought? And on top of that, in James Turner's gameplay, his Sim has both the Socially Awkward and Overachiever traits. According to some people in the comments of his videos, the Overachiever trait can also cause occasional interaction failure, so he's pretty much playing with a double whammy.

[PugLove888]

@The_Ratticator , I was going to post the same thing!  (We clearly saw the same video!) So,  @valohim666 , @GiardiniDiMarzo  if the Socially Awkward trait seems a bit excessive, make sure you also don't give them the Overachiever trait ! 😅

Also, I must say that having the ability to work on Social Awkwardness is a nice touch to add to the gameplay! 

@daikoyu , I look forward to the challenge of the Overachiever trait! It will certainly be easier than it is in real life! 😅 Glad to see someone else is looking forward to it! 😉