Let us turn autonomy completely off

[LennyOgg]

I have turned autonomy off in the options and for each Zoi individually, but they still act autonomously.
With autonomy turned off, please let the Zois just do nothing until we set another action/interaction for them.

Also let actions/interactions last longer.
For example when we tell the Zois to ‘use smartphone while seated’ they do this for ~5 seconds and then they stand up.
With autonomy turned off, let them just use the phone and stay seated until we let them do something else.

Examples:

For me, the worst is the autonomous ‘wander around’ action.
They run off as soon as I tell them to go somewhere and I can’t even take a photo of them, so fast it happens.
The screenshot below shows there is even a second ‘wander around’ scheduled after the first one
I tried to take a pic of the three boys for around 15 minutes and wasn’t able to, as soon as one of them stood, the other two ran off. Over and over again.

Not talking while standing.
So Vlad and Wes where standing where the X marks the spot. Then Wes was supposed to chat with Vlad and I wanted to take a pic of them just right there.
But they ran off autonomously, around the whole property to sit down and then chat.
They are even able to chat while standing when there are no seats nearby.
Please remove any autonomous actions before the Zois talk to each other.

‘Make Small Talk’
This appears automatically after they end a conversation topic and it doesn’t stop, even when we added another topic.
Please remove the ‘Make Small Talk’ in between chosen topics when autonomy is turned off.

[LennyOgg]

Since today I notice it gets even worse
It’s not just running off, they autonomously start negative conversations.
Another zoi of mine tried to end a friendship before, also autonomously.
This really has to stop.
I even have turned bad karma actions of and the good karma on highest settings, why is this happening?
I don’t want them to autonomously mess up their karma and friendships

[LennyOgg]

Also please let unplayed housesholds not start relationships on their own when autonomy is turned off. Marian doesn’t even know these men, the friendship bar is on zero.
She also only talked to Leander once for a few minutes, so I guess she met him while unplayed too.
I know many players want their story progression, but many (like me) want to shape the relationships of their Zois on their own.
I don’t like the thought she is having romantic interactions with other men while I have no control or chance to stop her.
In my story she is supposed to be with Rudolph. And her cheating on him is a nono.

[SmallArchangel]

Can I upvote this more than once?

Autonomy disabled should BE disabled. I know unplayed zois can start a conversation or even sling random insults at my zoi - who they have never met - but does my zoi have to walk halfway across the map to them just so this can happen?

Also definitely agree that some interactions should be indefinite, both for storytelling/picture taking and just playability in multi-zoi households. Some of us like to micromanage our families, and it is hard to impossible without pausing the game at present, which breaks the flow.

And yes, zois walking 3 miles just to sit down to have a conversation is annoying, why can’t they talk standing up, in situ? They manage it on community lots, why not at home too? If seats are close at hand I don’t mind so much, but walking a long way just to find one makes no sense and is not realistic. Not to mention it makes setting up for photo opportunities extremely frustrating or even impossible.

[noormga]

When working on site the zois also keep on wanting to empty the trash over and over again with autonomy off and taking care of babies needs when it’s crying, meanwhile that baby doesn’t even belong to my zoi but is simply in my home lot.

[Luna_H]

This feature is legit pissing me off. If I turn my Zoi’s autonomy off, it should actually be off. They should just stand there and do absolutely nothing. Instead they just do whatever. What is the point of the “autonomy off” feature if it doesn’t even work.

I don’t understand why the devs would think it’s a good idea to implement “autonomy” in such a useless way.

[JoyIsFunner]

Yes we need autonomy completely off, it was another thing that I hated when trying to play.

I’s like doing a mission and you’re doing great then some one else clicks one thing and screws up the whole mission!

[JoyIsFunner]

One thing that really annoyed me was one of my married zois kept attempting to flirt with random zois when she was supposed to be faithful.

Autonomy and traits need to be fixed.

[Luna_H]

I noticed in options the other day that there is a button to toggle “free will” on/off, I wonder if that needs to be turned off plus autonomy turned off to completely disable Zois from doing their own thing.

I’ll have to try that the next time I open the game.

[PIXELinsiderArcade]

YES, YES, AND AGAIN YES! Because when my Zoi works at the shop and there is a task where you need to sit (i forgot how this task is called) but he wants to f*cking TAKE OUT THE TRASH AGAIN AND AGAIN. Also when I want a Zoi to just stand next to the door that leads to my shop, but she wanders around. It pisses me off so much.

Sorry if I’m swearing way too much, this “feature“ is just really annoying.

[n0mercygames]

I read your complaints and smile, as I have often encountered similar situations myself. I remember how some situations annoyed me until I didn’t fully understand the mechanics of the game. But all this happens for various reasons, and not all problems are related specifically to autonomy and free will.

@LennyOgg, in the example where you want to take a group photo with several characters, it’s not an autonomy bug, but rather the mechanics of the game. So that the characters on the street do not collide and pass through each other, they move away from each other, so they “wander around”.

I remember it really annoyed me. But this is exactly how the developers “mask” the non-collision bug when the characters pass through each other. Zois don’t “wander around” in buildings, apartments, just only on the street. On the street group photos can be taken at special places for selfies.

@SmallArchangel, negative conversations are very annoying for EVERYONE! You, me, many players write about it. But it seems to me that this has nothing related to autonomy.

@JoyIsFunner, the infidelity of married spouses is definitely 99% unrelated to autonomy and free will. I’ve written about it many times, and I’ll write about it again. In 80-90% of cases, all patterns of romantic behavior depend on personal traits and personality characteristics. It’s not the game’s fault if you’re too lazy to think about the compatibility of characters with different personal traits.

I’ve created a lot of couples with different personality traits. And there are both faithful spouses and unfaithful ones. There are ideal couples who have infinitely positive relationships, and there are eternally quarreling spouses.

After 1300+ hours, I have already understood all the patterns, which personal traits are better suited for marriage, romance, which for true friendship, which for art and hobbies, which for business, and which for crime.

Result: With the exception of annoying negative dialogues with NPCs, everything else is not even related to autonomy. And even to avoid negative conversations with the NPC, I would ask the developers not to remove the autonomy, but to fix it

[n0mercygames]

Just yesterday, I was testing autonomy, and I threw a party for 5 close friends. It was a party with no theme, no reason, no dates, no birthdays. Just a meeting.

However, under the conditions of the event, I forbade rude behavior and allowed romance. I hardly took part and only watched the autonomous actions.

The characters themselves joked, had fun, talked, on empty surface topics, but didn’t quarrel. They kissed, hugged, and retired to the bedroom of their own free will. All without my participation. They have different personality traits, some personal traits are clearly conflicted (for example Rulebreaker). Not a single quarrel.

At the end of the meeting, 4 adult characters formed 2 romantic couples. 5th was a teenager, the daughter of one of the guests

[JoyIsFunner]

@n0mercygames

It’s not the game’s fault if you’re too lazy to think about the compatibility of characters with different personal traits.

how was I lazy? I had both zois with “Loving Family triat”, so with Loving Family how many of us flirt with other people? Why are you attacking me? What did I do to you?

[n0mercygames]

First of all, I’m not attacking you. You’re taking it too negatively.

Second, I’m talking about personal “Traits” and “Characteristics”. You are obviously confusing the concepts of personal “Traits”, “Desired Life” and “Ambitions”. “Loving Family” - it’s “Ambition”, not “Trait”

Ambitions and Desired Life have absolutely no effect on the autonomous behavior of Zois.
But personal “Traits” - this is the foundation of Zoi’s autonomous behavior.
“Loving Family” - it’s Ambition. You complete different missions related with ambition to get meow coins.

Traits are: Perfectionist, Rulebreaker, Troublemaker and other.

And this is a significant simplification. The game also has a value system.
”Values” - it’s 2nd part of foundation of Zoi’s autonomous behavior.
“Love” and “Coexistence” are help to build a family. “Authority” and “Autonomy” are complicate.

For example, if your family consists of Perfectionist + Troublemaker, (Charmer/with Love value + Rulebreaker/with Autonomy value; or Idealist/ with Coexistence value + Authoritarian/ with Autority value), while the Zois live autonomously, they will quarrel, spoil relations to the point of enemies.

If you don’t intervene and they continue to live autonomously, they will divorce!
It doesn’t matter what their ambitions and dreams are.
Let me remind you, that You can change the personal “Trait” and “Values” of any Zoi using a cheat code (just need to know Zoi ID number).

My remark about laziness was exaggerated. I sincerely apologize. This is not an attack or an attempt to offend you. It’s about how you superficially perceive the mechanics of the game

[JoyIsFunner]

one zoi had Life of Familial Devotion and one had Life of Creativity, but with loving family neither should flirt around after being married.

IMHO this needs to be fixed, like put a cheater ambition in the list for whoever wants it, otherwise zois should not cheat on their spouse.

[n0mercygames]

I repeat once again that “Ambitions” and “Desired Life” don’t affect the autonomous behavior of the characters in any way. It doesn’t matter that you have the Ambition of a “Loving Family”. Ambition tells you the track, the direction of the game. But it doesn’t affect the autonomous behavior of the characters in any way.

To change a character’s penchant for cheating spouse, it’s not their Ambitions that need to be changed, but their personal Traits and Characteristics, as well as Values.
Traits, Characteristics and Values are generate autonomous behavior.

This is very contradictory. Some players want characters that are as complex and detailed as possible. For more realism. But when developers make characters versatile, multifaceted, players want dumb dummies who can’t do anything autonomously without the influence of the player himself

[DivineManifest]

I agree with @n0mercygames who has wonderfully explained differences between Traits + Characteristics and ambitions. I have tested these in several saves and can confirm that choosing the correct Trait + Characteristics is essential to a good game play.

Without using cheats, when you ask NPCs about their characteristics, you can make a reasonably good choice in going ahead with a particular relationship.

In addition, you can change values over time by fulfilling some urges and not fulfilling some urges, and through the choice of your conversation options. Thus you can change the key influencing value from say Pleasure (materialistic, casual behavior, often results in low commitment in romantic relationships) to Love or Traditionalist (Dedicated to spouse and family).

This exactly is the game play.

[anibea528]

After reading the comments, I was struck by the depth of character behavior development. If their social behavior depends on traits, then that’s truly interesting. I myself don’t disable autonomy for my characters. In fact, I rely on it quite heavily. But I agree that there are players for whom character independence is very bothersome.

Let me share my experience. I created a family of a husband and wife. I bought a three-bedroom apartment with plans to expand the family. But I never expected that my Sims would HAVE THREE(!!!) children ON THEIR OWN. All of this happened when I was switching to city view or exploring the surrounding area. I simply couldn’t catch them in the act. As a result, the children grew up and one daughter got married and moved away. I started switching between families. And when I returned to the main family, SHE WAS PREGNANT AGAIN. In general, sometimes the willfulness of Sims knows no bounds. For some, this is a plus, but if players want to completely disable such possibilities, it would be good to provide for this in the game settings.

[n0mercygames]

Oh, these ZOIs! You turn away for a second to pour coffee and look at the clouds in the sky, and they are already getting married, giving birth to a wagon of children without your participation!
This game has been making me laugh for a year now

Not so long ago, I discovered that ZOIs can independently get some random jobs without the player’s participation, if player don’t play with their family for a long time and switch to another family

[jopeena]

is it true that Urges change Values? I’ve been trying to find a sure way of forcing Value changes, haven’t found much luck though