The Sims 2 - Your Sims Character and its Needs

Should you decide to get into the gaming life of The Sims 2 you must make sure and keep the needs of your character constantly fulfilled. Make sure to have your character bathe, eat, go to the restroom, sleep and socialize often enough to keep your meters full and your overall mood in good standing. Especially when it comes to the needs of a baby because if you do not keep your baby’s needs full then you will be saying hello to the dreadful social worker who will take your little darling away. As long as you keep your characters needs and your family’s needs in high standing - you will have a pleasant gaming experience.

The life of your Sims character is pretty much lived by meeting its “needs”, also known as motives; each Sims character has up to 8 needs. The amount of needs they have as well as what needs they have, are all dependant on their age and life stage. All of the needs that your character has will be displayed in the form of a graphic with meters that change from green, meaning full, yellow, meaning low, and red, meaning desperation. All characters, no matter what life stage they are, have the bladder need, the energy need, and the hunger need. You can easily guess what happens when you don’t let your characters relief themselves often enough: when the energy meter reaches red your character will just pass out due to the lack of sleep. You will also have another metered need with your character called the social need which means they need social interaction. If your character does not get enough socializing then they develop a stale outlook on life therefore lowering your aspiration score. The needs that have to be met with a baby character are social, hunger, bladder, hygiene & energy.

When you have a Sim character in the stage of teen, adult, or elder with an empty hunger meter they will immediately die. All of these needs are nice compiled into an overall mood meter that is in the shape of a diamond, also called a plumbbob, which can be found hovering over the characters head. For the baby character there is no diamond. Instead, character’s picture is on the left side and shows whether the mood is red (bad), yellow (almost bad), or green (good).

Overall you must make sure to keep the needs of your Sims character constantly met by bathing, eating, sleeping, going to the restrooms, and somewhat more importantly making sure to socialize as much as possible. That will lead to your character’s long life.