New Socials

New socials are added to the mix, increasing the number of conversation options available to your Sims.

All the original socials from The Sims 3 are still available, but a new set of socials is added to the mix so your Sims have even more to gab about—and more avenues for building relationships.

Some socials are related to celebrity status or skills. Others are available depending on career choices or an encounter with a vampire.

Use this chart of socials added to Late Night to help guide your conversations. Here is how the chart breaks down:

Social: Name of social as seen in the Conversation menu

Commodity: Commodity associated with the social

Actor/Target Age: Ages in which the social is applicable

C = Child
T = Teen
Y = Young Adult
A = Adult
E = Elder

Social Available When?: What prompts the use of the social

Required Trait: Social is only available when Actor has this trait

Social Encouraged by Trait?: Social is potentially more “powerful” due to Actor’s trait

Relationships and Socializing

Relationships unfold similarly to those in the real world. How you treat other Sims is the biggest metric in your overall relationship with them.

If you insult another Sim, expect them to get upset in the immediate conversation and for that to have a lasting effect on your relationship.

Conversely, a constant stream of support or praise will boost the immediate interaction and lead to a longer-lasting positive relationship

Developing a successful romance means spotting whether the other party is receptive to your advances and knowing when to cool your jets.

The social structure of The Sims 3 is not navigated with obvious metrics. There is a touch of mystery in conversations that makes socializing more organic.

You need to consider the current attitude of the Sim in the conversation, often referred to as the Target. (Your current Sim is known as the Actor.) That attitude affects the long-term status of your relationships with different Sims.

Let’s detail some basic concepts that will assist in understanding how relationships work, including long-term relationship (LTR), short-term context (STC), and commodities.

Understanding these three factors is the key to brushing back some of the mystery of social interaction.

Long-Term Relationship (LTR)

The long-term relationship represents the state of the relationship between two Sims, which extends beyond the time during which a conversation is taking place. LTR essentially describes the way two Sims view each other at a given moment.

Every Sim outside the family starts out as a Stranger. Once initial contact is made, the LTR moves up to Acquaintance and can never fall back into Stranger.

However, Acquaintance is the proverbial fork in the road. From here, the LTR can blossom into friendship or deteriorate into rivalry.

The LTR is visually measured by the bar below the portrait of the Sim you are conversing with. If the relationship develops in a positive manner, the right half of the bar fills.

Positive relationship status is noted with green. If the relationship is souring, that meter empties back out and can even dip into the left side, which is red. The red bar denotes a negative LTR.

The natural tendency of the LTR is to decay toward zero from either end of the relationship spectrum. Zero puts you back into Acquaintance territory.

Decay occurs naturally with each passing day that you do not contact a Sim you have a relationship with. How to achieve the different LTRs is explained in the Friendships (and Enemies) section of this chapter. The LTRs are:

Short-Term Context (STC)

Short-term contexts are what a Sim thinks about the other Sim in the course of the current conversation, not as an LTR. The STC is displayed in the conversation box in the screen’s upper-left as the conversation unfolds.

For example, the box may say that “Jenny thinks Sasha is being amusing.” STC is affected by the kind of socials used in a conversation. The STCs are:

Not all STCs are symmetrical. One Sim can have a totally different impression of a conversation than the other. The only symmetrical STCs are those associated with friendly, funny, amorous, and steamed.

It is very possible that Jenny could think Sasha is being Dull while Sasha does not.

STC also modulates the way socials are accepted. Instead of just hot and cold, STCs temper reactions. Depending on your LTR and STC, you can see different degrees of reaction to a social.

Trying to kiss a Sim on the cheek in the context of the Flirty STC will be a lot more successful than the Friendly STC. The STC of a conversation contributes to the kind of decay an LTR undergoes each day.

Commodity

So, each STC is associated with a commodity? What’s a commodity? Think of these as the general categories a social or STC falls under.

They are based on specific emotions we all feel, such as awkwardness or love. Use the commodity of a social to inspire an STC, which in turn affects the overall LTR. The seven commodities are:

As you look at the different STCs and socials in this chapter, check the associated commodities so you can push a conversation in the desired direction.

Decay and Normalizing

Relationships do not operate under inertia. They decay over time if not tended to, even if that time period is as short as 24 hours. This is why regular socializing is so important.

Decay is not necessarily a negative slide. While positive relationship can indeed decay into mere Acquaintance, a negative relationship can normalize into the far more desirable Acquaintance. (Apparently Sims don’t keep grudges quite like we do.)

Decay can be slowed by something as simple as a phone call.

As mentioned, the STC of a conversation contributes to LTR decay. These commodities dictate the decay. The amount of decay is also determined by the LTR itself.

An LTR above zero, which starts heading toward positive territory, will have a different amount of decay from a specific STC/commodity than a negative LTR, which is below zero. No hard math onscreen shows the numerical value of an LTR, but you can sort of eyeball it.

Here’s an example of how this decay works: Jenny and Sasha are Good Friends. If their last encounter was Impolite, then after a few days, the LTR will decay to just Friends. Conversely, if Jenny and Sasha have the Disliked LTR, the relationship will normalize into Acquaintance if the last STC was Friendly.

Decay and normalization are not confined only to friends and pre-marriage Sims. This also applies to familial relationships, such as father or wife.

However, the bonds of plasma are far deeper than those of friends, so it takes a lot more to adversely affect a familial relationship. Not that it cannot be done. You can absolutely sour a familial relationship with Insulting socials.