Never do this again:
If a Zoi is preparing to do something you do not want them to do, EVER, in addition to the “x” button to cancel the queued action, another button could be added to ban that action for that Zoi, forever (or until you remove it from the ban list). It could be object specific, for example when each Zoi in a family has their own computer or stereo, you could ban them from using other Zois’ computers or stereos. This would make letting Zois autonomously do their thing much safer, giving players better control of individual Zois’ personalities and boundaries. Certain objects should be exempt, like toilets. If it is object or Zoi specific, give the option to generalize, ie change the object from the specific object to any matching object or any Zoi, or exclude all but a specific Zoi, like don’t flirt with anyone but their spouse.
Kitchen/dining room:
Zois that are hungry shouldn’t take quick meals out of the fridge while another Zoi is cooking a family size meal. This happens often as Zois returning from an event together or returning from work at the same time may all be hungry. One of the 4 Zois in the family I am playing is a cook, likes cooking, has cooking skill, so I direct them to cook a family size meal. Then I have to DEFEND THE FRIDGE to stop the others from eating before the meal is ready. It would be nice if a character preparing a family size meal would create a block on the fridge (a trap card) that will make other Zois “Sit and wait to be served” when attempting to interact with the fridge. To pair with this, a command to “Sit and wait to be served” could be manually triggered by selecting a hungry Zoi and interacting with a seat at the table.
Also, please streamline the cooking and serving so you don’t have to prepare the meal, find a place to put it, smell it, celebrate, then manually interact with it to portion and serve. I realize automatically portioning and serving is not ideal as some players will just want the food dropped on the nearest kitchen counter (looking at you, fellow former Sims players) so that the family can be called to a meal or just come take a portion whenever they are hungry. Perhaps add a “Cook and serve” option to differentiate the two behaviors.
Similarly, when the meal is finished, all of the Zois want to wash their dishes at the same time. I have only one sink, so the first Zoi to finish will take their plate (and only their plate) to the sink and wash it. Meanwhile, all the other Zois will throw their plate IN THE TRASH. Incidentally, my Zoi that does the cooking is also a Neat Freak (the actual trait) and has preference cleaning. The idea is that they’ll cook, serve, then clean up the table. Some of the others even have the anti-preference for cleaning, but will still wash their dish immediately after eating. It would be nice if Zois would simply check if other Zois are still eating before they wash their dish, and also maybe check “do I really want to wash it?” Maybe they just sit there and wait until everyone is done eating before they get up. Maybe if they don’t want to wash dishes they’ll just leave the table as is and go do something else. But a Neat Freak should always want to clean the table, and the presence of a Neat Freak should make other Zois less inclined to do so. A preference for “Washing Dishes” could be added to really target this behavior (letting you make a Zoi dislike washing dishes).
Bathrooms:
Zois should lock bathroom doors when they’re using the toilet or taking a shower/bath. Other Zois should have an aversion to going in the bathroom when another Zoi is using the appliances in there. One time I made a cute house with a bathroom positioned between the dining room and living room, with a door on each end. It was a NIGHTMARE because Zois routinely used it as a hallway because it was 2 steps shorter than going around. They’d path through the bathroom while someone was using it, causing embarrassment, and also backtracking out the way they came in, wasting time.
This is MY room!
One time I had a Zoi “set the mood” in his SISTER’S BEDROOM. I don’t need to explain why this isn’t cool, do I? Zois should not be allowed to set the mood in a bed assigned to someone else (just because it’s the nearest bed) unless that someone else is the person they are setting the mood with.
Create-a-sibling:
Please let us define the Sibling relationship when creating Zois. Brothers and sisters being room-mates isn’t that uncommon, is it? I created a group of 4 Zois , two brother and sister pairs, with dreams of moving to Dowon and starting a band. On day one, I had to stop one of the brothers from flirting with his sister. I still have to be careful to keep them busy or separated. Autonomy is out of the question. They can not be left alone together unattended.
