I agree with this. One of the biggest opportunities for inZOI’s social simulation is making relationships feel fundamentally different rather than simply varying by affection level.
A parent-child relationship, a friendship, a sibling bond, and a romantic partnership all carry different expectations, boundaries, and social dynamics. Having unique interaction rules and reactions for each relationship type would make families feel more believable and would create much richer storytelling opportunities.
I especially like the idea of long-term developmental effects. Upbringing should matter. The way a Zoi is raised could influence not only their personality but also how they approach future friendships, authority figures, romantic relationships, and even parenting their own children later in life.
This also connects to another suggestion on the forums about introducing concepts such as love languages and individual relationship needs. Combining relationship-specific behaviors with systems like affection styles, preferred ways of expressing care, communication preferences, and emotional needs could add a tremendous amount of depth to social gameplay. Two couples might both have high relationship scores but still experience very different dynamics depending on how compatible they are and how they choose to interact with one another.
Systems like these would help relationships feel less like a single universal mechanic and more like unique connections between unique people, which would go a long way toward making the world feel more alive
TLDR, I agree with you.