Why do my Sims "chat with" way to much?

[greenean71]

Hi all. I am not sure if my game is glitched or what but my Sims want to chat with other Sims all the time. I mean ALL the time. It gets really old really fast. That's mostly all they will do. They won't really do anything else except eat and sleep. They won't do any other interactions. They won't take care of their needs either. They will "chat with" until needs bottom out (except energy) then they will "chat with" another Sim. Then they complain their needs are low then continue to "chat with" other Sims.

I have some CC (just clothes and hair) and I tried taking out my CC to see if that was an issue but it stayed the same. I have no idea what else the issue can be. This issue can't be normal, in fact it didn't use to be this bad and I think it happened after one of the patches. Anyone else having this issue?

[jpkarlsen]

@greenean71 

Have you tried telling your sims to do something else?

When left to their own devices it is normal for needs to go in the red before they take care of it themselves.

[greenean71]

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@jpkarlsen wrote:

@greenean71 

Have you tried telling your sims to do something else?

When left to their own devices it is normal for needs to go in the red before they take care of it themselves.

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I have. I shouldn't have to micro manage every Sim in my household by giving them things to do. I can't keep up with a houseful of Sims by giving them each something to do every single second while playing the game. It gets too overwhelming and it's hard to keep track of what one or two Sims are doing in another room. They should be able to something more for themselves other than want to "chat".  The games autonomy system is supposed to let them think for themselves, but they don't and The Sims have become mindless drones now and the game just isn't enjoyable anymore. 

[jpkarlsen]

@greenean71 

May I suggest that you familiarize yourself with the use of the 0 key (pause). Also I hope that you know that you can queue up 6 actions for all your Sims?

The autonomy system is only meant to ensure that your idle sims do something like chatting to keep up friendship. Gaming on the computer or do other things depending on their traits and skills like a neat sim will clean up around the house a handy sim will repair broken items and so on. Some people even turn off autonomy preferring to manage everything their Sims does themselves.

[greenean71]

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@jpkarlsen wrote:

@greenean71 

May I suggest that you familiarize yourself with the use of the 0 key (pause). Also I hope that you know that you can queue up 6 actions for all your Sims?

The autonomy system is only meant to ensure that your idle sims do something like chatting to keep up friendship. Gaming on the computer or do other things depending on their traits and skills like a neat sim will clean up around the house a handy sim will repair broken items and so on. Some people even turn off autonomy preferring to manage everything their Sims does themselves.

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Is the 0 key the same as game pause? I do know I can queue up 6 actions as I do this with Sims that are sad and I queue up the Sadness Hotline so they can knock out their sadness time. The autonomy system needs to be changed up to let Sims do more than just chat. Maybe give Sims the same autonomy system they had in TS2. They would chat for a bit and then move on to something else then possibly go back to chatting at a later time. I have played the game with turning off free will but like I have mentioned with a house full of Sims it gets a bit overwhelming at least for me. 

[Gednaa]

@greenean71I have an 8 sim household, but I make sure they have plenty to do, such as the observatory, chess, foosball, darts, pool, they love the waterslide, gardening, they even talk to plants. I just leave them to their own devices apart from constantly grabbing water! Get Famous also gives them lots to do, they'll go out and pose for the Paparazzi and get good moodlets for that. They have big TVs gaming rigs, lots of easels, piano, guitars, etc... Could be that you don't have enough for them to occupy themselves? I don't know which packs you play, but in most games you can buy them items to keep them busy. They'll even repair objects if you have the handiness skill high enough. Oh and a sauna and massage table, they're always offering each other massages, and foot rubs! I take them out clubbing, they love to dance all night and of course the acting career is great as there's lots of prep work to do before the acting gig. Hope this helps some based on your game.

[greenean71]

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@Gednaa wrote:

@greenean71I have an 8 sim household, but I make sure they have plenty to do, such as the observatory, chess, foosball, darts, pool, they love the waterslide, gardening, they even talk to plants. I just leave them to their own devices apart from constantly grabbing water! Get Famous also gives them lots to do, they'll go out and pose for the Paparazzi and get good moodlets for that. They have big TVs gaming rigs, lots of easels, piano, guitars, etc... Could be that you don't have enough for them to occupy themselves? I don't know which packs you play, but in most games you can buy them items to keep them busy. They'll even repair objects if you have the handiness skill high enough. Oh and a sauna and massage table, they're always offering each other massages, and foot rubs! I take them out clubbing, they love to dance all night and of course the acting career is great as there's lots of prep work to do before the acting gig. Hope this helps some based on your game.

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So what you are saying is that if I give them more things around them they won't constantly chat over and over? In most households I have a stereo, TV, chess table, computer, easel, and bookcases. They will do some of these things but not very often. Even with these items they still just want to chat over and over.  I have never had a Sim repair anything on their own unless I direct them to do so. The only extra packs I have is Cats and Dogs, Get to Work, and Seasons. 

[Gednaa]

Maybe it's something to do with their traits?  I don't know, the full details of your game, so it's hard to answer without more information.  Chatting is a part of the Sims game, but they should also want to carry out activities based on the traits, I would have thought.  Sorry I can't give you a full explanation.  I hope someone else will see this and have an idea, who have been playing much longer than I have.  I think more packs will give them more to do, but if you have GTW then they presumable go to a job most days and with Cats and dogs, if you have a dog, they could walk it.  Gardening would be good for them to stay occupied with Seasons.  Hope this helps a little.

[greenean71]

I have posted about this before and I am getting tired of this happening in my game but I would like to know why my Sims need to socialize every single second of the game. I understand that Sims are social by nature but when it affects their well being, that is a little excessive. They will only stop long enough to barely take care of their needs. If ANY need is in the red they will ignore it and have to go and talk to another Sim. 

And again, I shouldn't have to intervene every 2 seconds to give them something else to do because it gets a little difficult in a multi Sim house. I have plenty of things for them to do. TV's, stereo's, computers, gaming rigs, etc. I also shouldn't have to turn off free will to prevent this as the game should be smart enough to handle the basic needs of the Sims. I have even tried to use the "Needs No One" reward trait as it says "Sims never need to socialize". Once I gave a few Sims this reward trait they will "Get Water" excessively now. So either it's not what I think it is or it's broken, and speaking of broken:

I really believe with every patch something gets broken even more than the game already was. Gameplay gets worse with every single patch. Up until a few patches ago, the Sims weren't this chatty. Ever. I am really starting to get annoyed with this game. This game shouldn't be this broken (and not just for this issue, several other things are broken in the game) but unfortunately, it is. 

I know it isn't my CC. I have removed the folder on several occasions and the issue still persists. Most of my CC is just hair and clothing anyway. I am seriously thinking on abandoning the game because all it does lately is frustrates me. 

So if anyone has any ideas other than "give them other things to do" or " it's a normal part of the game" I would like to hear them.

[DonroaAkashu]

I am a little afraid to post here, since you sound as if you are getting frustrated, and I don't want to be yelled at; but since I do think that it is by design, my advise would be to post in several Feedback sections, alerting the developers to your wish for sims to do other things than socializing. The official sim forum has a feedback section, and EA has the SimGurus hang out on twitter as well as other forums. You could make a bug report on this forum, but I think it would be categorized as By Design; and moved to this section. You could message SimGurus directly, but since I am the one proposing it, I would ask you to be kind when doing so.