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Whether this is your first time going back toThe Simsor you’re a lifelong player eager to return,it can be kind of trickyto keep everyone alive, fed, and happy back in the original Sims game! With eight needs lending to an overall mood, you’ve got your work cut out for you.
The eight core needs in The Sims take a bit more work to keep topped off than you might recall, with far less forgiveness if your mood begins to sink due to wanting for something. This guide will show you how to care for your Sims.
Hunger
One of the most quintessential needs your Sim will need to focus on is their Hunger need, sinceSims will die if this meter hits empty. As such, you’ll need to pay close attention to how hungry your Sims are at any given time - they’ll often let you know they’re getting peckish when theythink of a burgerin their thought bubbles, with flashing red for urgency as they grow hungrier.
Your Sims can eat a variety of foods, depending onwhere they arewhen they get hungry andwhich appliances are on the lot. If you haven’t eatenbefore you left your home lot, then you’re able to alwaysfind food stalls on most public lotsif need be, but you’ll spend quite a few Simoleons buying food this way. They also tend to be snacks rather than meals, unless you’re eating out as part of the Hot Date expansion.
Don’t feel like cooking tonight? Call for a pizza from the phone! It costs to have it delivered, but it provides food almost immediately.
When eating at home, you can choose toGrab a Snack, which produces a bag of potato chips to tide your Sims over. Then, unlike in later games that rapidly expanded the food menu, you’ll only be able to selectMake a Mealwhen youclick on the fridge, and what your Sim preparesdepends on the surfaces and cookware availablewhen the action comes up in their queue:
If there’s abarbecueplaced on the lot, you can also makeburgers, but unless your Sim has a higher Cooking skill, they won’t be very filling. As such, it’s best to reserve grilling for your most talented chefs and leave other Sims with more standard cooking methods.
Critically, you need tobuild your Cooking skill before attempting to use a stove, because otherwise, you’ll find thatfires are more common in this gamethan they are in later installments! Sims without much Cooking skill will almost inevitably set fires when preparing food using an oven, so place a fire alarm nearby and work on building that skill like your life depends on it - it just might.
Comfort
A skill that’sbeen removed from later Sims games, the Comfort need is determined byhow physically comfortableyour Sim feels, and this is influenced by a number of external factors. This need focuses primarily onhaving furniture with high Comfort stats, since every surface your Sims can sit or lay on -chairs, sofas, and bedsprimarily - when they begin to get fatigued, asstanding slowly drains the Comfort need.
Like in real life, you’d imagine thatnicer seating offers higher Comfort boosts, with things like public benches and cheap chairs not offering much relief, while expensive beds and couches are a quick fix to discomfort. Even while Sims are doing other activities that involve sitting or laying down - eating, reading, watching television, or sleeping, to name a few - they’ll boost their Comfort need gradually based on the surface they’re on.
Additionally, you cantake showers or bathsto improve your Comfort need as well as the Hygiene need, with better plumbing fixtures offering higher stat boosts for both needs.
Hygiene
Like us, Sims get a little funky from time to time, which means you’ll need to tend to their Hygiene needs throughout each day. Critically, you’ll want totend to your Hygiene on your home lot, since friends and neighbors may not like you using their belongings and public lots offer few options that fix the Hygiene need other than public sinks.
You can improve a Sim’s Hygiene need bytaking showers and baths, since these are the fastest ways to fill the need. Hygiene also replenishes a bit when your Simswash their handsafter using the bathroom or whenever instructed to do so.
Unlike other needs in the game, though, there are a handful of things that canrapidly decrease your Hygieneneed, such aswetting yourselfwhen the Bladder need reaches the bottom. The Bladder need refills immediately, but the Hygiene need tanks all the way to red in kind.Putting out firesalso lowers the Hygiene need, so you’ll want a shower quickly after to wash off the char.
Bladder
One of the more straightforward needs in The Sims games, tending to your Sims Bladder need is as easy ashaving them use a toilet. Click on any toilet on any lot, select Use, and wait for your Sim to head over and handle their business. Thankfully,community lots always have toilets, so you’ll never be stuck doing the Sims potty dance in public. Just beware thateating and drinkingwill slightly decrease the Bladder need more than it decays while you’re not eating or drinking.
Letting the Bladder need run all the way to empty will force your Sim to have an accident if they can’t get to a toilet in time to relieve themselves. Their Hygiene need sinks and a puddle stays behind on the floor where they stood.
Energy
We all get a little groggy sometimes, and our Sims are much the same - the Energy motive is all abouthow rested and awake your Sim isat any given moment. The simplest way to replenish this need to sleep is to, well, sleep. Whether you opt togo to sleepin a bed for the night or justtake a napon a bed, couch, or reclining chair, any sleep they get will restore the Energy need.Sittingwill also restore a small amount of Energy, but not enough to stave off the sleep if they need it.
Anytime a Sim’sEnergy need reaches the bottom, they’ll immediatelypass out where they stand, right onto the floor if there’s space to do so and standing upright if not. They’ll rest up in this odd position for a bit before waking up and trying to shake off the sleep, which is your cue to get them to bed ASAP! Sims can’t die of being tired (as long as they’re not swimming, that is), but a Sim with a low Energy need will almost always refuse to do anything else until they get some rest.
While you’ll want to take stats into account for most of your important furniture, beds and sofas are important, sopay attention to the Energy scorewhen buying something. The better the bed your Sim sleeps in, the less sleep they’ll need, since their motive meter fills much faster and depletes much slower throughout the day. The opposite is true of cheap beds - those take a while to replenish your Energy, and you’ll see it deplete faster the following day.
Sims with a full Energy meter will typically stay asleep until 6AM unless awoken by something else (like a phone, their baby crying, or an emergency), or if you ask them to do something else (no queuing actions for when they wake up at 6). Napping on couches is a good way to get through the day if they didn’t sleep enough the night before, as isdrinking coffeeif need be, butyou can’t fill the Energy need fully on a sofa, no matter how good that sofa is. Naps are good, but head to bed, too!
Fun
What your Sim thinks is fun depends heavily on their personality, but everyone needs to take a break and let loose from time to time, your Sims included! The Fun motive can be filled in all kinds of ways, but Sims won’t die of boredom, so you’ve got some flexibility if they have to go to work or school. Sims can have fun through plenty ofleisurely activities, like:
When your Sim is having Fun is a good indication that their survival-based needs are met, since they tend to focus more on things like Hunger or Energy if those needs are low as well.
Social
Like humans, your Sims are social creatures, which means they’ll need to periodicallyinteract with other Simsin some way to replenish their Social motive when it decays. This is easier when you have multiple Sims living in a household, but you may always find friendship outside the home lot as well.Any Sim that walks by outsidecan be stopped and spoken to, and they seem to give you their phone number right away after meeting.
In general,friendly or romantic socials replenish moreof the Social motive bar than negative socials. While fighting is technically socializing, it’s not going to do your Sims much good. You’ll want to spend some timeperforming kind interactions and making friends(or even falling in love) to have the easiest time restoring the Social need.
To do this, you can alwaystalk to another Simwhen you see them nearby, but you could also opt tocall them on the phoneif they’re not in your vicinity. Sims on the phone can be invited over, or you could just spend some time chatting. Additionally, you canthrow partiesin The Sims to summon a larger number of Sims all at once, though youcan’t choose who to invite. The more people on your home lot, the more people there are to chat with!
If your Sim owns the Tragic Clown Painting and their Social need decays into the red, the Tragic Clown will emerge from the painting and try their best to cheer your Sim up. However, since the clown is also miserable, their social interactions often fail, which leaves your Sim feeling even worse than they were before the Clown spawned.
Room
The final motive in your Sim’s needs bar is the Room motive, another need that’s since been relegated to the background of the game instead of having such a prominent place like the Comfort score. Overall, the Room need (sometimes referred to as the Environment motive) takes into considerationthe decor, lighting, and cleanliness of the roomyour Sim is currently in, and you’ll see thatthis changes quickly as they enter new rooms.
You can positively contribute to a Room motive by letting your Sim spend time inwell-decorated spaces with lots of light. Things liketrash, plates, unfinished walls, puddles, or ashdetract from the score, so you’ll want to be sure toclean up garbage and newspaperson the lawn, too, since the lawn also has its own Room score (and it may impact your mood when you leave for work if it isn’t clear). Plant some trees outside and clean up trash to keep the Room stat high outdoors.
This need was relegated to passive stats and moodlets in later entries in the series. You’ll see Sims in TS4 talk about well-decorated spaces that impact their mood positively, so while we may not have a Room motive anymore, the need to decorate and clean is still there.
If you’re struggling to keep the house clean throughout the day, if you have the funds to do so, you could consider hiringa maid or butler, who will tend to the household chores in your place. Another option isBonehilda, a skeletal maid you can purchase like furniture from Buy mode.
