Relationships

Whether you're playing in Free Play or Bustin' Out mode, a large portion of your Sim's time will be dedicated to making and keeping friends. Although having a large group of friends has benefits in and of itself, it's also important because each career path will require your Sim to have numerous friends before you can earn promotions. Before you get to the highest level of earning in a career, your Sim will need to have at least half a dozen close friends; acquaintances don't count! This chapter will tell you how to make, and more importantly maintain, your friendships.

Meeting Other Sims

In either mode of the game, your Sims will have the opportunity to interact with dozens of other characters. They will have the opportunity to become friends with the other Sims that they live with, any neighbors who stop by to visit, or they can call up any of their acquaintances and ask them if they'd like to stop by. You're going to need to take advantage of all of these avenues of relationship-building if you want your Sim to be healthily Socialized; this will keep his or her Social motive near the top of the bar, but will also let them build up a network of friends.

You can keep track of your Sim's friends by pressing right on your controller's d-pad; while holding the button down, you can use your right analog stick to scroll through the Sims that he or she has met. (A Sim won't appear on this relationship menu until you've interacted with them in some way.) After you've talked to a Sim, you'll be able to check up on your relationship score at any time. This score is on a scale of -100 (absolute enmity) to 100 (best of friends). Positive interactions will boost this score upwards; while interactions that cause two Sims to like each other less will send you towards the negative zone. Luckily, there's a lot of feedback during your Sims' interactions; pleasing Social transactions will result in large green plus signs floating above your Sim's heads, while displeasing interactions result in red minus signs.

You'll know when a mere acquaintance becomes a friend: you'll spot a big, green happy face float up above their head on the game screen, and another happy face will appear next to their portrait on your relationship menu. This doesn't occur until your relationship score reaches above 60, so you'll have a lot of work to do to transform a Sim from a stranger into a friend.

Keep in mind that, although two Sims usually become friends at the same time, it is possible for Sim A to consider Sim B a friend, while Sim B doesn't have Sim A as a friend. This is because each Sim keeps his or her own relationship score with each other Sim. Generally these scores will be close enough for each other for any two Sims to always be friends with each other, but if you let your relationship score with another Sim drop dangerously close to 60, that other Sim's score may actually be lower, so they may stop considering you a friend before you do. If you notice that one of your relationship scores is nearing the lower threshold for friendship, you'll want to call up that Sim and get some relationship points before they start to drift away! Your relationship scores with other Sims automatically decay by two points every day, which means that even a steadfast friend will slowly but surely become a mere acquaintance if you don't attempt to stay close.

Before We Begin...

It's important to remember that other Sims in the game world have their own needs and, indeed, their own motive ratings. Although you won't always be able to see these motives, they will affect every other Sim's mood during the game, and thus, their ability to Socialize with your Sim. Relationships are a two-way street, after all, and even if your Sim is having a grand old time at a party, if every other Sim there is in desperate need of a bathroom break, you can expect to have a hard time making friends, since everyone else will be fretting about their impending loss of Bladder control or mortified about the mess that they've left on the floor.

When Sims arrive at your door, they'll usually be in dire need of food and Bladder relief. After they've satisfied these motives (in that order), they'll start to consider moving on and getting some Fun and Comfort. For this reason, your kitchen should be situated as closely as possible to the primary point of entry into your house, which is usually the door that's closest to the sidewalk. Ideally, this door should open directly into the kitchen, or at least onto the countertop where your Sims place food after preparing it on your stove. Since other Sims will be wanting food first, you should always choose the Serve option when clicking on your refrigerator to make a plate of meals, at least during "visiting hours". (Guests will never come by between 1 AM and 10 AM, so don't worry about making extra food then.) A nearby table should have at least six chairs around it..

Next up is the bathroom. You'll notice as you play the game that Sims dislike having to pee when other Sims are in the same room. You'll therefore want to have at least two toilets within easy reach of your kitchen and Fun areas. These don't have to be elaborate affairs, and in fact the room score of a bathroom isn't something you need to worry about at all. As long as a bathroom has enough room for the toilet, and perhaps a floor lamp, you're golden. You can add simple 2x2 rooms onto the exterior of your house, where applicable; put a window onto one of the walls for light, add a toilet and a sink, and your bathroom is finished. Adding one, two, or even three of these to your house will help prevent your guests from getting bunched up in bathroom doorways. Don't worry about showers or baths; your guests will never attempt to satisfy their Hygiene scores while visiting you, except via hand-washing.

Lastly, you'll need to have somewhere to entertain your guests. If possible, have this in a separate room from your kitchen, to avoid a dropping room score due to messes there, but if this isn't possible, don't worry overmuch. You'll need to have a few Fun items that your guests can interact with, preferably in groups. We'll mention the Hellagraphix console multiple times in this guide; it's unlockable at the very beginning of the Paramilitary career track, and offers nine Fun to anyone who plays with it. It is expensive, but very much worth the money. You should also throw in a nice stereo system for your more Active guests. Visitors will gravitate towards group activities, so spending an exorbitant amount of money on a computer or other solo-Fun object isn't recommended. Don't forget to spend extra money on the most comfortable couches and recliners available for this area.