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Deciding to start using my traits for my ideal s/i rp without waiting for it to be “finished”. I got the big 6 traits I was looking for.

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Hell maybe I’ll be a guy on here for a while. I don’t know.

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I want to give up how do I give up

If I lay down and just refuse to get up anymore will it stop

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Decided to add “genetic” traits to the mix of my trait stuff. Which means I’m gonna make my mother and grandmother next. I’m giving them less traits and making them a lot less in-depth, though. Then I’ll fill in almost completely random, the traits for the father and the other grandparents.

The sims doesn’t have an actual system for Genetic traits. You can choose your sims traits, so you can choose which sims take after their parents, if you want them to, but it would always take their main trait slots. I don’t like this! Because the game makes it feel like these are the “nurture” traits. This is definitely supported by the “Self-Discovery” feature introduced later on, I feel like, because this adds traits to that main list, and even swaps out old ones, based on what your sim does currently. None of the traits are permanent, in that way.

Personally, I think even if everything about us is to some extent determined by genetics, I feel like a lot of that is only accessed/activated by what you actually experience, or in some cases left dormant and inaccessible because of it. Sometimes I think our experiences, if strong enough, can probably change us on that deep level!

An extreme example would be like someone who was confused when they showed signs they had the genetic risk passed down for a certain type of cancer, because of a radiation their parents or grandparents had experienced. They didn’t think that made sense, because their relatives who had it, had not been born with it, and they themselves had not been born yet to experience the radiation. But as the doctor pointed out to them- their family member’s biology was forcibly changed. The change stayed. The risk was passed down.

I believe to a less common extent, this could be possible with personality changes, so I wouldn’t be upset with say, a Sim passing self discovery traits down, or traits they got in response to a major life event. Were those traits genetically likely before them? Who knows!

Regardless, vanilla sims doesn’t have an actual genetics system for traits like that. They pass down looks, supernatural species, and sometimes a special trait if one of the parents is a supernatural being (like there’s a trait for having your parent be Santa Claus, or the Grim Reaper. There’s also traits for magic users to show how strong the magic in their blood line is, from how many generations of magic users came before them.)

So in comes my favorite modder with another solution!

Her genetic traits mod makes it where basically at birth, Sims are given a chance at rewards traits- so traits besides the basic 3 they get growing up and the 3 self discovery traits. They aren’t guaranteed, or even majority likely, so you’re not likely to get a sim overwhelmed with genetic reward traits. But like, it’s based on parents and grandparents. For every parent that has a trait, there’s a +30% chance they will generate that trait as a reward trait from birth. +15% percent for every grandparent. So your kid could theoretically come out nothing like the family, sure. If the parents are both creative, they may very well have two kids that are creative and one that isn’t. Or maybe they’ll be all excited to have a kid that’s creative and they’ll have one kid with no interest in creative things. Maybe a kid will randomly kid 3 traits of one parent and seem “just like them.” But unless mom, dad, and three grandparents have a trait, there’s no guarantee a certain trait will pass down.

I think this is really useful- I imagine that while they’re babies, infants, and toddlers, these traits are just window dressing, and same for traits for children that can’t be used till they’re teen or older, but I think that’s helpful in choosing things about them while the game leaves them mostly undefined. Like, if an infant has inherited Cheerful from its father, maybe it can’t get those specific happy boosts till it’s a Child, but you can choose the Sunny infant trait for it. If a toddler is going to be a music lover, maybe the trait won’t work till they’re older, but you can roleplay them preferring to play with the musical toys. It can also direct you to what child aspiration and hobbies they will have, rather than just having to pick those after the fact when they age up as well. You have the freedom to redirect the story if you want, in most cases, but if you know the toddler is a genius you can plan for them to take on the childhood mental aspiration. You can see which way their behavior should go without parental oversight- there’s a lot of good roleplay potential here.

Of course, a big part of the fun for me is creating sims to see them interact. I’ve only just gotten to the point where I see the appeal of making them such blank slates/dollhouses- the point of the game is not to satisfy your sims wants and aspiration, necessarily, (though you can certainly decide to play that way) it’s really more to tell your own stories, and it’s much easier to appreciate how easily out of character the sims will act and how much open-ended influence, with little consequence, you have over their lives. As a kid I wanted them to kinda be their own people and for me to create them and then to be able to watch things unfold, with minimum responsibility for their needs being the Gameplay thing. Now, as I try to get back into my writing, I more and more want to get in there and see how many out-of-game goals and motivations I can give them.

But anyway. My point. For my roleplay characters of me and Data!

I’m just gonna make some simple characters for my mother and grandmother, since I live with them and am close to them- was gonna do them anyway- and then I’m going to almost completely randomize the rest, to be deleted when I’m done. Then I’m going to use that mods rules- at least one is gonna be used for the bonus trait. I don’t have a lot a lot in common with them but I know I got some things from them

Data, being a machine, does not have traditional genetics. However, Soong does have an obsession with preserving himself and his loved ones- that’s why Data and Lore look exactly like him, and why he made and Android replica of his wife, Juliana. I have no doubt he hardwired some of his and Juliana’s traits into Data, but I imagine they’re things that. So I may limit what categories these traits can come from- emotional will still be off limits till ve can replicate the emotion chip, but Soong will likely “hardwire” some of his own talents and weaknesses into Data, along with some of Juliana’s.

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So thinking of backing off my Data im role playing having an emotion chip at this point. So much character comes from their time without it.

Of course I like the idea of Data “really” loving me back, but I also love the whole story of us finding the romance in their analogs, them finding a partner who accepts them before the emotion chip (they do express that they want that in the show at one point and it kills me they never really find anyone more than someone who’ll peck them on the cheek and get upset when they demonstrate that no, they do not suddenly have feelings like a typical humanoid, just like they told you they wouldn’t)

the main reason I was skipping to them having emotions is as because I like rp-ing with a system based on a modded sims 4 game, and the sims 4 relies heavily on emotions.

But!! I had a thought!

At some point when I was watching the show, I learned/heard somewhere that “emotions” and “feelings” are actually separate! Like an emotion is an instinctual response, and a feeling is the thing you feel after interpreting it, something like that. It seemed to me like from that perspective, Data without their emotion chip, does have emotions in this sense, but not feelings. He often reacts to things as if he has emotions, but he lacks the feelings.

It’s hard to explain how this looked in canon (later seasons, anyway. Early seasons they were just a bit understated, and I still believe that’s because the writers hadn’t decided Data was incapable of emotions yet). Maybe it’s just poor writing- or maybe it’s the difficulty of trying to write a character with any desire for Good who can’t literally desire. But for me, it worked in my love for the character, and it really worked once I established this emotions/feelings dichotomy (though I moved past being overly literal referring to this dichotomy at all times).

For example- Data could not be angry, sad, embarrassed. When kidnapped by Kivas Fajo, it would initially seem like they aren’t on any level- they’re calm and much more polite with Kivas than most would be. though they object to their capture and try to find ways to resist Fajos control and get away, it’s always in a matter of fact “this is not my place, I will not consent to this” way, not a “how dare he” way, no matter how much Fajo dehumanizes and insults them.

That is, we think that until the end of the episode. Data is on the edge of escaping. The only thing in the way is their programming, which gives them a “fundamental respect for all life” meaning they can’t kill unless it’s active self defense. So even though Kivas has been holding and torturing them, killing people around them to control them, etcetera, Data can’t fire a weapon to get away. Stunning him won’t give them enough time.

Kivas starts to taunt Data for being unable to grieve the friend he’s made on the ship that Kivas just killed. Taunts Data for not being able to feel angry or upset or to really want revenge. He contemplates how this must be “just another of life’s puzzles for Data”

Data is standing there holding the weapon and twitching a little the whole time, but otherwise appears calm and normal. Finally, Kivas comes to the conclusion Data has no choice but to go sit among his possessions. Data does not visibly become animated in any way, but they give a chilling “I cannot let this continue” and break their programming on the spot to press the trigger. That’s not even about escape anymore- you can tell Data wanted to murder that man.

More examples-

Data seems to be hurt when he realizes that one of the things Lore has told them is a lie, despite how constantly he lied. Data literally pauses the conversation to shoot Lore a look and say “…Another lie.”

Data smiles after an emotional moment with his mother

Data works with an incredible fervor to save their daughter from death, but (seems) unaffected after her death

Basically, the core chemical process is still there. (Well, maybe not in exactly the same way since Data is made differently, but you get the jist.)

How could I adapt this to my sims 4 rp system?

Well, I look at like, how sims emotions work. Sims have an array of moodlets and whatever has the most points becomes the dominant emotion. If Happy is not the dominant emotion, or the top positive emotion, it boosts positive emotions. Mods I like to use have Uncomfortable work the same way for negative emotions. There are tasks you can do to make moodlets run out faster, but only if that emotion is the dominant emotion- you can punch a punching bag to relieve anger, but only if the Sim is angry. There is a mod that has some other effects for “using up” some emotions not included in the game. Also- there’s an emotional inertia mod- I follow the classic roburkey modifiers for this one. this makes it so that once a Sim has an emotion, they stay in it longer, and it’s more resistant to change. Also, moodlets generated by Emotional Traits have varying intensity (1-3, randomly).

Basically most of this works differently for Data.

No emotional traits without the chip, for one.

Since they never feel their moodlets, they last much longer.

They have to have the moodlets to be Very something before it starts to affect the way they act- it wouldn’t affect their expressions, but their behavior. Like a sim who is Sad might have the Gloomy walk cycle and occasionally cry- Data will stay calm, like they’re fine, but like a Sad sim, they’ll be less interested in their interests and more likely to disengage from conversations and hobbies.

a few sims 4 emotions work without the chip, mainly because I don’t consider some of them really “emotions” in the sense I think they’d be affected by the chip. Focused and Energized, for big examples. Tense, even. Still no inertia for these, though- i feel like inertia is an emotional phenomenon.

Since Sims emotions strongly affect when they get new traits, likes, dislikes, and sentiments, I think they’ll have mainly their 4 traits (in the absence of traumatic events, which might change a trait) and that be it till we activate the chip. They’ll still have the relationship bars for Friendship and Romance, but Romance Satisfaction won’t have much of a function until they can get likes and dislikes for Romance Styles and other turn ons and turn offs.

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Hahaha wow anxiety skyrocketing through the roof this is just a monthly ritual now

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a thing i made

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Just been told my “reverse yandere” box for Data should be coming today! Told directly so it shouldn’t be a false alarm this time lol

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Gonna make a trait list for myself that’s just my ideal self cause the lists I come up with for myself that are “accurate” trying to capture all the flaws and struggles might be good for like. The beginning of a long fic but this is supposed to be fantasy. I want an ideal version of myself. I can strive to be that ideal version. Data can love both.

I read once that somebody became the person they wanted to be by changing their mindset to believe they were basically rp-ing a character. Kinda like faking it till you make it.

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theres a good number of episodes that wouldve ended faster if people just listened to deanna. darmok was very frustrating

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Star Trek makes me soooo crazy cuz you got Picard saying things like "It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose."

And Data saying things like "I would gladly risk feeling bad at times, if it also meant that I could taste my dessert."

And Bashir saying things like “You can't go through life trying to avoid getting a broken heart. If you do, it'll break from loneliness anyway."

And Odo sayings things like "It has been my observation that one of the prices of giving people freedom of choice is that sometimes they make the wrong choice."

And I’m just supposed to be normal about it???

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I was trying to feed Spot. Data's cat? STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION 6.25 "Timescape"

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STAR TREK: LOWER DECKS 5.07 “Fully Dilated”

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"I can fix him" "I can make him worse" OK well I can sit behind him and wrap my arms around his middle and comfortingly rock him side to side

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sometimes the real wife was a fictional man all along

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i just thought itd be funny if "beloved" was not a literal translation