The Sims, as a series, has been around for a long time; nearly twenty years with four main series and a lot of different spin-offs. It was created in early 2000, inspired by an unfortunate event in Will Wright's life, the original game designer of The Sims. Loss of his house and him having to build his home "from the ground up" was the creative spark that brought us the series so many of us have enjoyed since our childhood.
The series has come a long way, not just in graphics but in what players can create and do in the sandbox worlds created in The Sims. Players are given the ability to not just create houses and building from the ground up, but also people. They are free to make their characters, or sims, in any shape or form they want. They can even be non-human creatures like aliens and vampires! Even still today, there aren't a lot of games that give players the amount of freedom and control over the lives of their characters as The Sims does.
Whether a person started from the beginning with The Sims or joined in later with The Sims 4, there is no denying that the series allows players to play the games as they want to, and develop their own playing style. No matter if a person is a casual player or a serious one, these 25 tricks from the series will certainly help with getting the full experience of the game.
25 Motherlode! Motherlode!
The Sims series, at its core, is a life simulation game. Players get to create their own Sims and guide them through them through every day... or they can ball out and have their sim live the high life. Money is usually earned in the game by having sims get a job, but there are a number of money cheats that can be typed in that will make any Sim rich instantly. The "motherlode" cheat puts 50,000 simoleons into a Sim's family funds, and there's also a "rosebud" and "kaching" cheat. Man, if only "motherlode" worked in real life!
24 An Eye For Art And A Green Thumb
Most players, who don't use cheats, will admit that starting a new save can be a little challenging. By the time a player finds a house they like and decorates it to their tastes, they're pretty much broke... and the pay rate for starting a career is pretty low.
One of the best ways to earn money is to invest in either gardening or painting.
Both of these skills as relatively cheap to start and sims can sell anything they make. The higher the skill, the better quality the end result is, and the more money a Sim can earn!
23 Lend A Helping Hand
Most players will realize that Sims are sometimes neglectful of common household chores. Unless a Sim has a specific trait that makes them like cleaning, half the time a Sim is perfectly content to just leave dirty dishes and trash lying around. And maybe that wouldn't be a problem if they didn't get upset when the dirty item starts to stink. The player can lend a helping hand and actually drag items from counters and floors into the trash! It works for putting items in a Sim's inventory too.
22 Going Green Is Good
The Sims 2: Mansion & Garden Stuff came with an interesting new addition to the game in the form of decorative objects called green energy sources. It included two "You got Sol" by Stellar Products solar panels and a windmill called The Aerodynamo. For each green energy source object owned, a household receives a financial credit that will be applied toward bill expenses. If the player buys enough of them, it's possible to not only eliminate bills altogether but to also have the leftover credits added into a household's funds.
21 Drawing The Property Line
One of the only downsides of the addition of Pets to the world of The Sims 2 were stray animals. It’s kind of a bummer to see homeless pets roaming around outside—and if that’s not bad enough, the strays in The Sims 2 didn’t have any problems with destroying a Sim’s property. Luckily, it was easy to fix! Just throw up a fence around the perimeter of your lot and voila! No more stray animals ruining everything. Players just had to remember to allow their own pets to pass through the fence freely.
20 Debugging The Game
One of the main draws to The Sims series is the ability to build... just about anything! Players can build their sims the house of their dreams using the in-game tools and decorate it with furniture and other things. There is plenty of stuff available for players to buy, some stuff gets unlocked after completing different tasks and there are even more hidden items in Debug mode that can add a personal touch to a Sim's pad. Once a player brings up the command console they just have to enable cheats then type in bb.showhiddenobjects to enable the debug items.
19 Feel The Burn
Building skills are one of the ways for sims to not only gain hobbies but they are often required for certain careers. It takes a while for a Sim to master or "max out" a skill, especially if they have a lot of distractions at home. Going to lots geared towards a specific skill can really help move a sim up in levels. For example, athletic Sims gain the Athletic skill faster when they work out at the gym. It even works for completing certain tasks, as reading in a library makes reading a lot quicker.
18 How To Win Friends And Influence People
When taking the time to make the same joke eight times in a row just calls for too much effort and that new promotion isn’t gonna get itself without at least 3 friends, Sims 2 players never had a reason to fear. At least not after the addition of Nightlife, which added a whole new type of interaction: Outings. A Sim could call a group of other Sims and they’d all meet up to hang out. There were two options, a casual one that didn’t keep score and a more prestigious one with a clock and a scoreboard.
17 Rock On!
One of the features the series is about making friends and there are a few tricks and tips to make that as easy as possible. Learning to play guitar is one of the skills that a Sim can get and it's a great way to build friendships!
When a Sim reaches level 5 they have the ability to "Play For Tips."
They can do so by playing in the park. Those who stop and watch will gain relationship points with the sim. The higher the Sim's guitar skill the faster the gain friends! Ahh, the sweet sound of friendship.
16 Give A Hoot, Don't Pollute!
Recycling in the real world is a good way to help keep the planet clean. And it is also pretty beneficial to a Sim's household funds in The Sims 4. A player can purchase the Nanotouch Touchless Trash Can for their sims in Buy Mode. Not only will it instantly get rid of a Sim's trash, eliminating the need to empty put the garbage can, it will also earn the Sim a few simoleons too as it seems to "recycle" whatever is put into it.
15 Someone Turn Off That Light!
The Sims series has a lot of features that make players feel like they're playing out real-life scenarios. Sims develop relationships, Sims age, Sims can have careers and life goals, and Sims have to pay bills too. And despite it being a game, the bills can get pretty high if the player isn't careful. One cause for bills are the lights. But there is a handy way to conserve energy and save money, by clicking on any light and hitting "auto-lights" players can set all the lights in the house to only turn on when a Sim needs them.
14 An Apple A Day... Brings A Baby Boy?
In The Sims series, players are able to experience all the joys (and misadventures) of parenthood. Pregnant Sims can suffer morning sickness and other pregnancy symptoms, gain maternity leave and either give birth at the hospital or at home. And starting in The Sims 3 players could even influence the gender of their Sim's baby by eating a certain fruit. Apples for boys and watermelons for girls! They could even increase their chances of having multiple children by watching the kids channel on TV or listening to the children's music station.
13 Milk Does A Body Good
In The Sims 2, with enough aspiration points, Sims could acquire a plethora of useful objects. For people who liked playing a family-based game, there was no better reward than Pasteur's HomoGenius Smart Milk. When used by a Sim with a high aspiration meter, it can successfully produce Smart Milk, which is honestly only useful with a toddler in the household. The glowing green bottles satisfied a toddler's hunger need and gave them a boost to their ability to learn new skills for three hours after feeding. A toddler under the influence of Smart Milk has a light green glow.
12 Easy-Bake Oven
In The Sims games, you can play through different life stages, with each stage getting some unique opportunities and items. Kids get a lot of fun toys that help build them skills that can shape who they are and what they do as an adult. In The Sims 2 and 3 kids were able to play on toy ovens. It not only gained them a cooking skill, but they could make baked good to eat! And if they were good they could even sell them to other Sims and earn money for the household. Capitalism was never so adorable.
11 There's No Place Like Home
Just like real people, Sims often go through a variety of emotions throughout their lives. Pleasant things make them happy and bad things make then unhappy. The best thing a player can do is try to reduce the number of unpleasant things that go on in their Sim's lives to keep them happy, productive and (in some cases) alive. One way is to decorate a sim's house. Furniture and even simple decorations like paintings offer mood buffs that can really brighten a Sim's day. It really does help to pay attention to the details when decorating a Sim's home.
10 Sink Or Swim
In The Sims series, players have complete control over a Sim's life. How they look, their personality and how they live their lives are all determined by the player.
Even the nature of how things... end is often up to the player.
Now, we don't judge players who find themselves wanting to get rid of a sim or two. We'll even provide a helpful tip. In The Sims 2 if a player pulled up the ladders from the swimming pool, a Sim won't be able to get out of it and will, eventually, succumb.
9 Final Resting Place
Did a beloved (or hated) Sim pass on and is now haunting the household, breaking appliances and just being a nuisance from beyond the grave? Fear not fellow Simmers as we have just the trick to put them in their final resting place. In The Sims 3, there is a graveyard called the Pleasant Rest Graveyard where players can find ghosts wandering around at night. If the player moves the gravestones of the recently deceased sim into the Pleasant Rest Graveyard they will stay there! Sims can even visit them afterward!
8 Don't Fear The Reaper
Old age and intentional acts of sabotage aren't the only things that end a sim's life. There are certain hazards like accidents and extreme weather, even strong emotions can lead to a sim losing their life and getting a visit from the Grim Reaper. Death Flowers were introduced in The Sims 3 and a sim that had one in their inventory can give it to the Grim Reaper in exchange for their life. In The Sims 4, a Death Flower is one of the ingredients needed to make Ambrosia, that brings a ghost Sim back to life.
7 Honor Among Thieves
Most can agree that the music for The Sims series was pretty great and it gave the game a nice atmosphere. But one of the most anxiety causing sounds in the game is when a robbery is taking place inside a Sim's home. Burglars will sneak into a sim's house to steal several of their possessions. There are a few ways to help catch and prevent burglars from getting away with their loot. Another way is to have a Sim join the Criminal career path in The Sims 3. Then their house will never become the target of burglars!
6 Pop Some Tags
In The Sims 3: Ambitions expansion pack, consignment shops were introduced. They were added to every town and doors opened at 9 AM giving Sims unique opportunities for making money and building skills. Any item in a Sim’s personal or family inventory that was able to be consigned could be done through the menu available at the shop. The more a Sim used the consignment shop, the better of a salesman they became, which increased their overall income from selling consigned times. There were also traits to help out, like Born Salesman/woman, which gave an automatic 25% boost in earnings!