No offense to anyone, but I do see it as partly my fault for failing to convince people that inZOI needs to follow its own path. The whole Reddit/X crowd kept screaming that inZOI should hurry up and become “like Sims” and kill Sims. I was defending not inZOI anymore, rather myself, esp. when I had the opinion that v0.30 started breaking the game rather than improving it. I got banned on the Steam page over “rooster” achievements almost every time I commented 
but that’s beside the point.
Only yesterday Curvette finally started unpacking and pushing those Traits, and that allowed us to build some kind of conversation, which even led to emotional clouds (hallelujah, after three brainstorms, soft power finally made them listen!).
Anyway. Monologues on Discord aren’t enough! We need to stop just voting or spamming long reads and start responding to other people’s signals, producing them. That means spotting mass sentiment and turning it into a 30+upvote trend with a single hook. These vivid posts aren’t really about people (and myself) being confident in their own opinion, they’re amplified public resonance that got picked up and echoed.
We need to create visible engagement with someone’s judgment, even partial, and shift the focus of the conversation, not aggressively, but by clearly and cleanly selling our idea.
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Well, since people want to diversify their open-world experience, posts like that easily go viral, which means the game is more likely to become simpler and more visually and emotionally oriented. Do fans of depth enjoy that? Do the masses? And how do you find balance, when a vast but simplified world can undermine concentrated gameplay?
Yes, this game will go mainstream if it delivers a smooth, vivid, and unobtrusive open-world experience on PS5, even with basic Traits and Emotions. But then what? Will that newly gained audiences help the game sustain itself? That’s up to the developers, their marketing teams, and the people working on projections.
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I used to enjoy playing with Smarzoi on, but I stopped using it completely after version 3.0. 
I used to feel so attached to the character when I played with Smartzoi on, but now it doesn’t feel like the same person anymore
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I can understand being annoyed about Entertainers becoming Troublemakers etc. (if that’s the way it actually works after the update), but I think you’re jumping the gun a bit on some of those things. E.g. traits - from the video I saw it looked like Cheerful and Depressed, for example, will just make Zois more prone to those emotions based on actions/events in-game, rather than constantly feeling cheerful or depressed. And since Preferences are presumably still there, it’ll be perfectly possible to make a Zoi who enjoys reading or working out without specifically choosing the Bibliophile or Fitness Enthusiast traits.
Anyway, I’m personally looking forward to trying out the update, so I’ll report back on how these things actually work in-game. Hopefully it won’t affect your current Zois as much as you think.
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There’s one catch – “Bibliophile” is a preference, “Fitness-something” is a preference. But preferences already exist. And values already exist. They just mashed everything together without structural layers.
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It’s not exactly the same: Preferences allow you to select specific types of activities you like (e.g. jogging or reading novels); Traits give you a more general preference for books or fitness activities.
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Ok, but if I’m just as connected to guitar, gardening, and nature – then what trait represents me?
(The Joker trap that Sims 4 fell into, presenting dozen of preferences as traits, right?)
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Obviously there’s no specific trait that would cover all those three things. However you could have for example a ‘Musical’ trait that makes you inclined towards singing and playing instruments, while using Preferences for more granularity (e.g. your musical Zoi might like playing the piano but not the drums). Or a ‘nature-lover’ trait that makes your Zoi incline towards the natural world, while using Preferences to determine whether they prefer plants, animals or both. I have no problem with this system and find it an improvement on the current one, especially as it seems to be optional and doesn’t take away from anything we already have.
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Ok, folks, I keep seeing direct copying from Sims, and then inZOI players bash Sims, saying inZOI can do what Sims couldn’t.
But EA / Maxis actually developed those traits honestly. I even have the interview. Rod Humble gave it to IGM (Ukraine) back in 2008. They had prototypes based on what you might call pseudoscience “socionics” or behavioral modeling. During Sims 3 development, there was a 2D prototype that tested personality traits and sim behavior. I’ll even share screenshots. Sims were placed in separate rooms and assigned different traits. Then each group either clustered toward a sim with an appealing trait set, or rejected them, or the sim rejected them. That’s how they balanced the core traits. Later they added things like Loves/Hates/Good/Horrible, and the total reached around 60. It was essentially an expensive pre-production phase.
But Krafton (a company roughly equal in value to EA back in 2008) openly admitted that its models don’t work, and that it’s fine to just borrow things from what’s supposed to be its competitor. Notice: Sims never copied anyone, that’s why it costs so much. It’s massive R&D investment. And inZOI when it comes to surprising players, just copying. That’s why it sits at 2,000 players.
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Well, if The Sims developed their personality model based on real-world behavioural modelling and it worked, why wouldn’t InZOI do something similar? I get the need to differentiate, but not every aspect of the game has to reinvent the wheel. The Enneagram was a nice idea but I don’t think it works that well in practice - it’s neither fun for gameplay, nor particularly realistic. If the only real objection to the traits system is “The Sims already does it that way,” I’m afraid I can’t get on board with that.
As for InZOI losing players, I’m pretty sure that’s less to do with ‘copying’ the Sims games and more to do with being horribly unfinished. In terms of striking out in their own direction, I’d rather see them do that with the emotions system - allowing for multiple emotions at once and for combinations, as discussed in other threads - than clinging to a personality system that isn’t really working for most players.
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Well, it’s not exactly real-world thing – more like pseudoscience, which, according to legend, they picked up because it was wildly popular among psychologists at the time. Beyond that, nothing else is known. Well, because Sims was always quirky. They constantly dug into weird stuff, conspiracies, urban legends, sitcom-style absurdity. That’s what made them so unique and beloved by millions, not because they were accurate.
As for dynamic multi-traits and multi-emotion systems I’ve been proposing those right here, after playing through dozens of other games, while devs were busy copying, and many just played Sims and brought ideas from there. So basically, their free R&D. You’re welcome 
But I’m tired of digging up original concepts for free, while they copy with massive budgets. Don’t you think that’s unfair?
So basically it goes like this: “We like your ideas and we’re fine taking them, but if the devs are okay with just copying, then we don’t need your ideas anymore… and we’ll just downvote you instead. Ha.”
That’s how it is, right?
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At the very least, remember the fallen hero-games, the ones that dared to challenge Her Majesty, the Sims-copy machine: The Alters (11 bit studios), Disco Elysium (ZA/UM), Persona 5 Royal (P-Studio/Atlus), Pathologic 2 (Ice-Peak Lodge), RimWorld (Ludeon Studios)
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I’m not sure what you’re referring to with the downvoting? I’ve never downvoted you, either here or on the Discord, and in fact I’m very impressed with all the detailed ideas you’ve come up with for inZOI gameplay systems. That said, you and I are each one of many players with their own ideas about how gameplay ought to work, and it’s obviously impossible for the devs to give everyone exactly the game they’re dreaming of. It also strikes me that many of your concepts would involve very significant amounts of work, in addition to all the other areas of the game that also need significant amounts of work.
I totally agree that there’s no reason why you should do all this stuff for free. My suggestion is to give the new mechanics a try and see how they’re working, along with the new stuff being introduced in the October / December updates, then suggest some improvements that build on those (if you still feel like doing that). Realistically, smaller and less resource-intensive changes are probably the most likely to be adopted by the devs.
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I’d rather keep playing the games I’ve already played, but without interpreting any part of them through the lens of inZOI. That frees up a ton of evenings to support something where I’m actually needed. I’m a developer either way, that’s not going anywhere.
I’ll never be upset if inZOI becomes more inventive. I won’t mind if it surprises me. But so far, it only surprises me by how relentlessly it copies Sims, despite starting from a proudly independent, if clumsy, concept. And I’m not saying that you’re the one downvoting, I was referring earlier to how I got hate when I said I wasn’t happy with how it copies Sims.
I’ve already bought a separate Steam account without inZOI, packed with games for this year. And I picked up Adventure Awaits for Sims 4 (finally, all the DLCs for $$$$$ 
). Well, I’m not getting that money back, and I don’t see the point in justifying inZOI by saying it’s not worth spending that much on. So if I want to play Sims I already have it.
All in all…This thread is called: «Does this game plan to differentiate from The Sims in any major way?» and it won’t receive a positive reply which makes it conclusive. I think it’s not worth spending our time. Everyone’s got a lot going on and plenty of open horizons.
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Regarding your last point: I think it’s unfair to make that kind of judgement at this stage of development, especially when Kjun specifically mentioned he’s working on some entirely new mechanics. But we’ll see, I guess.
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I’ve come to my own conclusion for now, and I’m sticking with it. Unfortunately, outside the forum and Discord, the mood is very different from your local chats. It’s nice to build a small, idealized space, but I’m concerned about this game, because here everything gets justified, and out there it doesn’t. So I’m letting go of the thought and heading off to play unique games.
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That’s not true at all - this forum is full of complaints (many of them very justified) and suggestions for improvements. Do as you like regarding the update, but don’t act like people here are fanboys/girls just because they disagree with you on this one specific issue.
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It’s not about whether people agree with me, the point is, there’s a people who’ll eventually agree to almost anything, just to get everything approved. Fifty people on Discord is enough, even if the game turns into a semi-closed-world Sims. The problem with Sims is that it’s an extremely high-rated (~87% on steam) solid product. Even if they completely copy it, they’ll end up with a decent game. Just proving once again that Sims is a good game, people are simply tired of it.
But where’s the threshold, the level at which people actually allow the game to be what it is so players can sleep peacefully, knowing the game won’t fundamentally change from original one to sims-like? Enneagram are just another original thing they’ve abandoned.(Early Access isn’t a free early beta – it’s already product.)
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I get where you’re coming from on that. My personal preference would be for a Big 5 /OCEAN-style model where the position of each scale affects in-game actions - however, given how this would need a complete rewrite of the personality code and UI, I’m realistic about the fact that this is much less likely to happen. I’d be fine with the Enneagram model if they could get it to work, but clearly it isn’t working; a vague description of a Zoi’s motivations is not really enough to give them distinct personalities. I think the addition of traits is a reasonable compromise, even if it is more reminiscent of The Sims.
I’m also a bit more optimistic than you on the effectiveness of feedback in general. People kicked up a fuss over the changes to day-length, and while the default change is still going ahead, we did get Kjun to realise that needs should be dynamic to suit all the other options as well. (And based on the early-access stream I was watching last night, I’m very glad of that - the default 48min felt way too fast for my tastes.) They also announced on the Discord that the general wishlist topics will be moved over to the forums, which IMO is a good thing - over on Discord, it’s too easy for good, well-crafted feedback to get ‘lost in the crowd’ as it were.
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It wasn’t even my model, it was theirs. I just trace their prototypes. Back then, Kjun showed they had built their own temperament system based on the Big Five, with personality expressions that activate sequentially by age and tied to each Big Five OCEAN dimension. Openness – realistic, Conscientiousness – principles, Extraversion – my way, Agreeableness – modest, (the fifth trait Neuroticism - ?).
This was their first system of dynamic traits that correspond directly to age- and experience-based additions, and therefore to personality dynamics. I simply proposed that these temperaments influence motivations from the Enneagram, while keeping all five OCEAN dimensions and all the traits that strengthen or weaken each one.
And when Kjun mentioned temperaments, I immediately recognized that model, since the top of the screen literally said ‘Select 5 temperaments’.
The last thing I expected was for motivations to be renamed as temperaments. Because in psychological theory, it’s temperaments that regulate and shape motivational patterns.
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