The Sims scare me when free will is turned off.. Standing there looking into some kind of void. Lol. I've only recently started to play wants-based and I'll never change it. The sims are more interesting now than before. Before, I'd just do what I want instead of what the Sims (and still manage to get them into perma-platinum!) wanted to do and then wander why it got boring so quick, lol. I also have ACR and even though I have a love-hate kinda thing with it, I still find my sims hilarious sometimes. They get themselves into so much trouble all on their own, I love it. LOL. I was actually inspired by Sunrader with the whole autonomy thing, which is why I really wish selling lemonade on the lemonade stand was autonomous so my kiddies could sell lemonade on their own whenever they wanted (so cute on community lots!!). The more autonomy, the funnier & crazier things become. True, sometimes I get irritated with it but the best part is, when that happens, I can turn it all off. LOL. This is all just my opinion.

Oh, as for ACR & woohooing during parties, I turn ACR Woohoo off and then turn it back on once the party has finished.

For me, it's always been a mix of free will/wants granting and having some sort of idea of how I'd like their life to go. I use the motivation score just as joandsara does and with ACR and a few community lot visits I usually have an idea of who my sim will end up with and let ACR take it from there. I love playing with the game because some of the most memorable simming moments were totally random or accidents, such as oops ACR babies that end up a favorite, a burglar robbing a house then setting a fire and altering the course of a family because someone burned to death, families being ripped apart thanks to random autonomous flirting, the list goes on but I've had a ton of excellent drama just directing the course and watching things take place lmao. I tend to see my meddling more as setting up the scent instead of micromanaging although with stuff like gardening I'll still force them to do it because most of my households grow their own food or fish it up.
The arsonist burglar mod paired with more dangerous fire has spiced my game up spectacularly lmao. Realistic sickness had wiped out a legacy household as well and tbh I was upset but the spectacular fashion of each of them dying bc they refused to eat grandma's comfort soup blew my mind lmao. They weren't even a particularly crunchy household either, it's just that they kept eating fruit out of their inventory instead of going for leftovers

Thanks for all the replies everyone, it's been really fun to read all of them.

I thought this could be as good a place as any to ask this because it's semi-related.
Those of you who do wants-based gameplay, how exactly do you keep it interesting? I've run into several roadblocks in my wants-based gameplay.

For one, as mentioned before, wants are trainable. Meaning when ever you complete them, they are more and more likely to roll again. I feel like this leads to sim's wants becoming really repetitive and boring.

Then, my other issue is that.. well it sort of makes every aspiration sim feel more or less the same. Going by wants, every knowledge sim just wants to skill all the time. Every romance sim is a cheater who wants to sleep with the whole town. Every family sim wants to have like 100 kids. Of course there is variation, sometimes, but for the most part those are the kinds of wants that they roll.

And lastly in regards to things such as homework and university- I like the idea of using wants to generate more variety in grades, but it feels like every teen who's not a knowledge sim has a crappy grade this way. They seem to rarely even roll wants to get an A+ report card or anything like that. I want variety, but I don't want almost all my sims to be doing badly in school... How do you guys go about that?

And in regards to uni, I didn't find that as much of a problem there, but the problem I did have was with selecting Majors. Most of my sims didn't roll a want for a major and would end up in philosophy. I don't really like that, I don't want all my sims to be in that major. What do you guys do?

Sorry if I'm asking a lot of questions, I just love to hear how others go about things, it can be very inspiring and help see things in a different light.

ETA: I forgot one more wants-based play question... What do you do when there are no wants you can/want to fulfill? Do you just let them freeroam? Try to reroll them? Or do you end up picking something for them to do yourself?

Oh, but different sims with different aspirations do play differently - very differently indeed sometimes! One Romance sim is the town bicycle, another makes one Grande Passion their life work, and another settles down over time into a more or less monogamous marriage. One Fortune sim is extravagant, another is a drudge and hoarder, another gets off on being The Provider. And so on.

The trick here is to treat each sim as a unique individual by interpreting their behavior and wants holistically - just as you do with real people. If a shy child nevertheless comes home with everyone in the neighborhood, and rolls wants to be friends with those they go home with, shyness is no bar to making them a Popularity sim, but the way they go about that aspiration will not be the same as a Popularity sim with ten outgoing points. A sim who wants 20 best friends is on a different trajectory from a sim who wants to be Captain Hero. Sims 2 sims have so many factors making up their personality - not just aspiration but personality points, secondary aspirations, hobbies, LTW, training, random chance, family backgrounds, and their associations and relationships with other sims. Even the same sim, as you can see by taking a gander at the different ways the premade sims are played, may be very different from one playthrough to another.

You cannot, after all, fill every single want a sim rolls. It's not practical. So look at the wants in the context of the whole sim and their situation and select which ones you're going to fill. Not all wants are created equal, after all. Fortune and Family sims who date more than one person are likely to roll wants to fall in love with the first person they dated (especially someone they dated as a teen) over and over during their lives, including when on dates with the spouse to whom they are happily married; but if you ignore that want and fill all their date wants with their spouse, they'll be perfectly happy. Think of all the things you want in passing, or want-but-don't-really in your life. Do I ever think wistfully about what might-have-been if I hadn't married my husband? Sure. Do I ever have dreams about people other than my husband? I take the Fifth. Do I decide on that basis to cheat on my husband? Hell no. Some people do, though. Some people are fascinated by the Worst Possible Choice. Sims are as subject to the Imp of the Perverse as humans are. So when a happily married sim wakes up with a want to flirt with someone other than their spouse, I look at the whole situation, and if the character of the sim tells me "this person wouldn't cheat," then the want is the result of a dream and passes away, forgotten. If the sim has a life situation or a past that makes me think cheating is a real possibility, then I'll consider encouraging it.

When interpreting a character, don't always go with your first kneejerk assumption, but really consider the different ways the same factor may be interpreted. Nice points are not the same as goodness - a grouchy sim may be a mountain of probity while a nice sim is morally lazy or downright evil. My Vidcund is a crabby nurturer, and his high-nice-point family has no compunction about manipulating him into doing their repairs and cleaning when he visits! Nobody is more implacable than a Nice sim with a grudge, and I've had Grouchy sims who spontaneously behaved as the defenders of their friends when confronted by other grouchy sims picking fights, jealous lovers, or sexually harassing cow mascots. What if a sim with 0 active points has a chronic illness rather than being lazy? What if a high-outgoing sim is neurodivergent and doesn't read social cues? What if -?

It helps to understand the mechanics. A Romance sim is hard-coded to generate numbered romance wants in the wake of an increase in their count, to roll wants to flirt with people they've just become best friends with, and to want to date up to three people they find hot after scoping a room; but a Romance sim who only ever has one partner and dates that partner regularly can go through life in a platinum haze and never miss promiscuity. Wants reroll on waking and on changing lots (including coming home from school or work), so if you don't like the wants you've got, go to a community lot and get some more. Some want trees are predictable - most of the Fortune sims I've ever had will systematically roll the skilling wants they need to get promotions, then when those are filled will roll the want for the promotion; dates follow a certain structure; hobby wants are triggered by seasons and activities; different classes of wants are more likely to roll and are more easily filled during certain seasons. These things are all independent of the sim's true personality - unless you decide to incorporate those wants into the personality.

You're the one with power, after all. Maybe you need someone to goose up the drama factor in the neighborhood and therefore encourage someone on a self-destructive path. That's your prerogative. It's your game, and the only one who has to be pleased with it is you. Interepret your sims in interesting ways, and they will not bore you.

It's all about finding the right balance of game play. I have a wants-based style, with lots of autonomous options, and some dice rolling as well.

I tend to lock bigger wants when possible, but some Sims are going to be the type that immediately when they want to do something, they are going to try and do it.

I've spent a lot of time thinking about how to make university/school work balance with the Sims who never, ever roll anything.
1 - Teens who have a want to go to university can do their homework (they don't have to, mind you, but they *can't* go to university with without at least a C+, so that's their grade aim, as opposed to one who wants an A+)
2 - I have recently downloaded a set of default replacement majors that are half as easy. This means that getting the skills required to pass the term is going to be more likely (either they want to skill, skill autonomously, or they want to do something, like play chess, which will allow them to skill).
3 - This is intended for those who rarely roll university wants, so that they can still likely pass, despite the fancy new mod Lazy Duchess made that gives students an adjustable chance to fail their final exam!!
4 - I have a couple of majors that I did not default out, and any Sim who picks one of these is therefore indicating that they do actually want to write their term paper/do assignments, which increases the odds they will pass their exams
5 - I often do have YAs roll a major want; however, if I do not, then I roll a 12-sided die or base it on their LTW. Sometimes I don't have them pick too.

I also have a number of relationship autonomy mods and a % chance that Sims decline engagement/marriage even when they are in love based on aspiration.

Always let them have free will, but I try to steer them to follow my story line. With ACR that can get frustrating - I hate teens sneaking up to the parents bed for sex, and hate that parents don't care. Sometimes I deliberately let them do fun things like set themselves on fire or play with roaches. They DO seam to be "trainable" - some (like family sims) will fix everyone a meal or clean. University is frustrating me right now. Trying to get them expelled is hard! They WANT to gain skills, do assignments, and "do research". I have to MAKE them not go to classes and it still takes a long time to get expelled. All my dorms have chess & darts, and (like other wants) the more I told them to do it, they more they WANTED to and would do it autonomously. My first bunch of flunkers are now living together, happily playing darts, making babies, and fighting. I just want their assorted babies to be up for adoption, but they don't seem inclined to die nicely.

I've found that you have to be flexible about the 'wants based' play-for many of the pixels, they're not driven to do specific things-and I generally ignore those that are just so absurd to make you laugh out loud-like 'woohoo with 10 sims'. That's just disgusting at times, when the pixel is 'happily married'. Or 'earning $50,000', when they're in a job that's never going to pay that much-but just in case I'll let them buy some lottery tickets and try their luck that way.

The simpler ones I do grant-like to buy a bar, or perhaps a car if they've earned it. The way I play is I focus on whether or not they want to get ahead in life-especially in the early days. If they roll wants to learn a specific skill in order to get promoted, I'll let them-heck I'll encourage them! Especially if it's in a job they rolled for-and that's one thing I do lock-if they roll wants for a specific job, I'll lock it (or more) to make sure they can at least try for them-if they get fired, I go to the next one, and so on. It makes them happy.

I've often locked wants to keep them focused on something they should have-like a husband or wife, then try to match it to the other pixels. Right now I've got in Tinsel Town Alana Dallas wanting to get engaged to Dave Walton, who doesn't seem to know it, but she has plans for him!

I rarely have a pixel without a fulfillable want. They usually want the impossible, but I try to go a bit lower for them. They're so silly at times..

If my pixels don't roll acceptable wants I will let them live with their wants until aspiration failure. Then they will learn to roll acceptable wants..ALWAYS

P.S. I don't play want based game, my sims will start roll wants based by my game.

I'm glad that you brought this up because aspiration failure or just low aspiration has been something on my mind in regards to this topic, too. Playing wants-based, leaves all your sims in a really good mood (unless a hardcore cheating romance sim is involved, I guess). Depending on how strongly you adhere to the wants they might always be in platinum mood or they might just be in green, but they are pretty much never in the red.

I guess this is something that can be lived with but I feel like low aspiration can have interesting effects. From what I hear sims with low aspiration are more likely to be rude, there's of course the aspiration failure breakdowns, and they can grow up badly which I'm sure has its own effects as well. But if you play by wants all the time I feel that almost never happens. So when I go into the premade households especially the Pleasants and see Lilith in such low aspiration stomping flowers or the Brokes with Dustin knocking over the trashcan in rebellion, it just feels like it creates interesting dynamics.

I guess it's not that simple sometimes to find the right balance.

Oh and another thing regarding autonomy- I love to let my sims socialize on their own but sometimes I'm not sure how to approach it. I love it when they become friends on their own, and even when they start poking and annoying each other, in fact I find that the most interesting sometimes. But sometimes my sims don't want to socialize at all and I want to push them to do it, but ordering a "chat" command tends to result in positive relationships more often than not, and I worry that might cut down on potential drama as silly as that might sound lol.

If you're playing with wants, you're automatically playing with fears, too. There's no reason you can't designate circumstances or sims whose in which fears must be realized, or at least risked. The most obvious example is fears of other sims dying. I routinely permanently lock fears of the death of a spouse, because this should be as devastating in the game as it is in real life. I also have a set mourning period during which household members aren't controlled at all after a death in the household, which gets scary at times - to the point that I have been known to "cheat" on it in order to prevent the most serious consequences, like further death. After all, I really don't like to witness suffering and it's my game - if I want to cheat my own rules, who's got a right to judge me? In a less extreme situation, a Romance sims will generally have fears of rejection during a date, especially with a new partner. So sometimes I will fill a want for a romantic interaction with a corresponding fear in a way that makes rejection a real possibility. Chaz Whippler proposed on his first date with Ellen Frost, before she had fallen in love, and her rejection of him changed his whole character direction. Less drastically, you can select romantic interactions with lightning bolts next to them (indicating that chemistry is high enough to make these interactions available at a lower relationship level than they usually would be), as they have the highest probability of being rejected, and make the road to platinum a bit rockier.

You can also identify certain sims as sacrifices, or certain circumstances as "survival mode," and deliberately ignore wants and fears for those specific sims or circumstances, focusing only on actions which fulfill their duty or supply needs. You'll find that you reach a point at which the sim rebels and won't behave as directed anymore, but that's pretty deep aspiration failure. Gavin and Ginger Newson have been in this situation for the first four days (while the twins are toddlers) of most of my playthroughs, even though I do my best to fill their wants - they simply have too many responsibilities to think about what they want. The eldest child in a large household, a sim in a situation like Nervous Subject's, or simply the sim in a poor household whom you judge to be "most likely to take responsibility" are all suitable candidates for this treatment. In a historical game, sims of certain classes, genders, or ethnicities might have such a status foisted on them by society's expectations, if you're comfortable playing at that level. Rules and/or hacks that limit the neighborhood's economy in some way would be helpful in creating situations needing sims to sacrifice their wants to the greater good.

One thing that is true in rotation play is, that certain events spread out. A sim with a want for a relative to get engaged, or a fear of a relative dying, will react to those events anywhere they happen and regardless of the relationship between them and the relative. If you lock 'death of a relative' wants where ever you see them in a large extended family (the Curiousi, for example) as one member's life bar gets short, that one death may serve to sprinkle aspiration failure throughout the neighborhood, including in toddlers who never met the dead sim. This sort of thing won't matter much if you're a one-household player, but for anyone who plays neighborhood style, an awareness of neighborhood dynamics as well as those of individual sims and households is very useful in generating the play experience you want.

I've had fortune sims wanting to buy the fanciest and most expensive things while just starting out in a tiny cheap apartment when they had almost no savings and almost no ready cash left because they were having bad luck with the job search.I ignored their wants even after getting jobs for a long time because I didn't think they'd want to stay broke and have fancy furniture in their apartment though not enough money to upgrade to a house.I felt that they wanted to start a family and would likely want to save up for a larger lot to build their home on and to not spend everything right away.I won't refuse to change lifetime wants if the one given is impossible to fill.Pleasure sims who do get jobs and work hard are more likely to spend on fancy items on a whim than fortune sims and romance sims are likely to only date around if they're not in a relationship or are in an unhappy marriage.Pleasure sims are also more likley to cheat in relationships than other apirations.

Just because a sim wants something doesn't mean they get it in want-based play. But it might signal something about character that you didn't take into account before. Tad mentioned about ignoring the buy fancy stuff wants when the sims are near-broke or saving for long term goals. To me, that says that while that sim might have to put up with thrift-store stuff for now, he really wants quality, and would perhaps rather buy the really good sofa, than a variety of more reasonably priced stuff, and will just eat dinner sitting on the sofa for a while. Or the other way around: will study on the really nice dining chair, even though he hasn't got a table or a sofa.

If a romance sim who's in a committed relationship is rolling wants for new lovers, it might signal variety in the existing relationship is needed, and asking the partner on a date is perhaps an option. Or taking a vacation. Or possibly that relationship just isn't as good as I thought, and I need to look at why. (I have a couple romance sims who are just, plain, committed, no matter what, in a relationship. Peter Ottomas is one, and I think it's because he always throws those generic romance wants at initialization, and his wife is right there and willing, and he just kind of imprints. I made him cheat once, in a situation where I was playing a challenge and he was available to use for my challenge sim, but it wasn't his idea, and he wasn't actively being played.)

Very little, although if they pick something I approve of to go autonomously do I let them have at it. Usually Tai chi, reading a book, playing a computer game and those sorts of things if there's nothing pressing I am having them do.

I've had sims go to the books autonomously and start to study cooking skill or logic without me telling them to do that and I just let them go at it if that's what they want to do like studying cooking because they want to buy stoves and need more skill before Ilet them own one.

This is such an interesting thread! Sorry to bump it after a hiatus.

I love autonomy and would never turn free will off. I play a combination of autonomous, guided by wants, but also tend to have an idea about my sim's personality, history, storyline and therefore current goals - which aren't necessarily reflected in the game coding. I keep these in my head or write in their bio (this is useful, as I am liable to put down the game or a hood for months (or years!) at a time.)

But I don't want things to be too easy, or too "samey". I have a lot of "rules" for myself which I try to loosely stick to.

For example: Skilling. Skilling is allowed autonomously, or if a sim rolls a want to skill (or to use a skill-based object). I don't direct them to skill otherwise. If they want to get a promotion, then I will direct them to get the skills and/or friends for that promotion. Every sim doesn't have the same items on their home lot. They should match their personality or hobbies, or be needed for some reason or just seem to "fit". I don't like for example the style of gameplay where everything must be efficient and therefore I will only ever buy one specific type of exercise machine and use that any time someone needs body. I prefer to think - would this sim be more of a jogging person? Or would they play football (soccer), maybe with their kids or friends? Perhaps they seem like they would try yoga? Or the other way around - I had a sim who needed to learn body, but they couldn't afford any exercise equipment, and I decided that this sim would absolutely NOT, even consider for a second trying yoga. It was just not their thing. (I must have forgotten about jogging that time!) I have another who wants to learn logic, but the only source available to him at the moment is the daily crossword puzzle in the paper so I have locked that want, in order that he doesn't roll it away before he completes it.

I have the community lot skilling mod, so sims are allowed to go and use community lot items to skill if they don't have the space, or money, to get one at home. Sometimes I exploit this - like if a sim needs to learn body but doesn't want to, I might casually send them to the pool and hope for the best. But if they decide to spend all their time there at the coffee bar instead, well, my efforts were wasted.

I tend to follow a combination of ACR and wants and random events for romance. For example, sometimes a sim will walk by, or be encountered at a community lot. Sometimes it seems like two sims are getting on like a house on fire, but then the playable sim never rolls any wants to see or speak to or interact with their date ever again! Sometimes when they're on a date with one sim, they will roll wants relating to another sim. I've found if I try to make even romance sims serially date too much, eventually they get fed up of this and start rolling wants for marriage and engagement, which I think is sweet.

I sometimes direct sims differently based on their personality points. Lazy sims I will never tell to go to bed - they just fall asleep when they want to. That means they're more likely to oversleep (and I don't wake them up, unless they are late for work. If they are late for work but *really* lazy, I might not even wake them up then.) Extremely active sims get woken up at 5am regardless of when they've gone to bed! Serious sims are more likely to make good decisions, like going to bed in good time for work, or completing skilling wants before other wants. Nice sims look out for other sims on the lot before their own needs. Neat sims I will direct to tidy up, messy sims I won't, I might even cancel their interaction to clean if it comes up by itself! But if they are not *so* messy, then I may imagine that they are compelled to clean up by an impending visitor or something like that.

I simulate some things such as childcare - the game doesn't code this terribly well, in my opinion. I don't leave toddler sims unattended unless the parents are either feckless or utterly exhausted or otherwise incapacitated, even though in the game, they will perfectly happily play with their toys and come to no harm. If the toddler plays in the toilet, they have probably been unattended too long! I make the parent give them a bath, which takes up time. Some parents also give a bath as part of a bedtime routine. Toddlers who have learned to walk are allowed to have toddler beds. Toddlers who have not learned to talk, I don't look at their wants or needs panels. I calculate a formula based on their age and active/outgoing points, and parents are not allowed to start teaching them to walk or talk before a minimum age, which allows for some variety. Then if they go past the maximum age by which they should have learned, I have a kind of "rule" that whenever the toddler is awake and not eating or being changed, somebody, whoever is free must be teaching them that particular skill. This all makes toddlers a lot more demanding. Otherwise it's way too easy to just let them take care of themselves!

I talked about other goals that aren't necessarily reflected in the game coding - I might have an idea for example that a sim wants to adopt children when they are older. I usually get these ideas from looking at what comes up in their speech bubbles when they are talking to other sims, actions that they do autonomously, or wants that they roll at surprising moments or repeatedly. Or I might have another sim that seems to really love dogs. I might have a sim who wants to become famous (and might explore different avenues of doing that) or a sim that wants a family by any means. I'd then subtly nudge them towards these goals, so for someone who wants a relationship, send them to community lots or throw lots of parties to get to know people. A career related goal I might get them to look for new jobs or buy them items that they can achieve the right skills for their career, etc.

I neither fulfil every want, nor leave everything to autonomy. A mixture is perfect for me

Eh, I just do whatever, if I'm going to be honest.

I use a mixture of wants, autonomy, and my own interpretation of a character to influence what I do. For example, in my Pleasantview, Nina Caliente had three lovers at once; Don Lothario, Herb Oldie, and Daniel Pleasant. While she was getting romantic with Daniel outside (this was before I installed ACR and romancemod), Don was generated as a walk by and caught them. In an act of hypocrisy, he fell out of love with her.

She eventually fell pregnant with Daniel's baby, before finding out that Herb had died, leaving Daniel as her only conquest. Even then, after she had the baby, a boy called Romeo, she mainly focused on her job and raising him. Daniel was invited every blue moon to see his son, but for the most part he wanted to keep this hidden from Mary-Sue.

Nina had the occasional kiss and woohoo with colleagues from work, but that was it. After old age had claimed Mary-Sue, her and Daniel began seeing each other more often, resulting in marriage and herself and Romeo moving into the Pleasant house. She remained loyal to Daniel strangely, and he also gave her the same respect.

This was the story of two romance sims I played, based on wants, autonomy, and interpreting those actions and desires.

Don catching Nina with Daniel, Nina's pregnancy, and the odd townie hookup were all acts of autonomy. Nina's three lovers, her marriage to Daniel, and joining the Military were based on Nina's wants. Herb and Mary-Sue's death was natural game progression; they reached the end of their last lifestage. Nina remaining faithful to Daniel and moving into the Pleasant house was based on interpretation.

Damn this post was just a longwinded way of saying; I mix things up

In general, when it comes to skilling, the want has to be rolled for it since I don't have autonomous skilling hacks. As far as jobs are concerned, the want has to be rolled, unless I feel like a certain job is part of the sim's story. Babies are left up to ACR, unless the want is rolled, which is when I make them try manually.

I've installed ACR and will mostly use it to control how sims behave romatically so some will be,allowed to cheat on partners with casual dates and flirts if their marriage is open and singles starting to get into romance might be swingers until they're ready to settle down and others might not be interested until they make enough good friends because they were new in town and had to get to know others first.Babies will mostly be user directed though ACR TFB actions have variable chances for pregnancies as fertility varies at times and between each sim.Most of my couples will work on starting families when the time is right though a few might have a few unplanned babies from accidents caused by birth control failures or them forgetting to use any form of birth control.
Sims will sometimes want things they can't have like to have a baby while living in that tiny starter home with almost no funds to upgrade and that want will get locked in and they start working on earning and buiding up cash to be able to afford to upgrade to a larger lot.It might just be a larger lot and have a smaller house on it which was why they could afford to buy it and they'll begin building it up and eventually be ready for that baby.Sim with no hope of earning a certain amount in their current job are likely to want to switch to a higher paying one if they rolled that want and I'd have them do a daily job search until their dream job came available.Sims who are unemployed might if desperate enough search part time jobs if they fail to find a full time one which is an option for all ages teen and older as I use a job selection Mod to allow all jobs to be for all ages teen and up.I can see a teen living on their own takind school vacation and having a full time job while adults will take a part time job and start skilling up and searching for a full time job.

See, I enjoy chaos so if my sims want to get pregnant in an unsuitable situation - I'll let them and they just have to deal with it! I have had sims raise children in tiny one room apartments where the facilities are communal. In fact, one poor sim had FIVE! A toddler (who mercifully aged up) and then quads, who were just about managable as babies and then became toddlers. It was amazing they didn't get taken away. The poor mum had just divorced and couldn't afford a nanny. I did use pet beds in that house because otherwise someone was always crying and nobody ever slept, but there was only room for 2, so they had to sleep in shifts.

I just installed a mod to allow a chance of rejection when searching for jobs, which means sims might have to try even harder to find their dream job.

I always have free will on, and I like leaving quite a lot up to autonomy. It can lead to situations I hadn't anticipated or would have thought of making happen myself, and it helps me figure out who each individual sim is, which I use as guidelines for how to play them when I do take matters in my own hands, along with their wishes, fears, personality points and aspirations. For example I have two sims that are married and constantly do various romantic interactions when left to their own devices, and generally gravitate a lot towards each other - one of them has a huge interest in painting and then the other one got into it too, and when he's painting his husband likes to come over and watch and give him hobby tips. So when I control either of them, I keep that in mind and play them similarly. I find that looking at what a sim does and wants to do and actively playing them according to that makes them feel more dynamic and unique.

A lot of it, of course, comes down to interpretation of stuff their coding makes them do. It does usually annoy me when sims get "stuck" in a loop of constantly doing the same stuff and wanting the same stuff, but even then I had one sim that took that way over the top, constantly being on an exercise bike, ignoring her own needs to the point of passing out on the floor, and when she wasn't cycling she did other things related to training and fitness like reading about in the newspaper. So the obvious interpretation from my side of the screen was that something unhealthy was going on, which wasn't a direction I would've thought of myself to take her character in, or anyone else's for that matter. I don't plan out storylines for my sims but rather see what happens and interpret it into some sort of narrative. I'm a big fan of the 'emergent narrative' in games and The Sims is great at providing that kind of thing.
I had a sim go to the bar and drink a bunch after her husband died. Valid. I made another sim pour up some drinks for his sister who died, and made her other brother have one too, but he cancelled that action on his own accord and went to rest in bed instead. Also valid.
I had a super-sloppy teen who nevertheless would constantly take out the trash, which I thought was sweet. They're just little things that still add a bit of depth and surprise to sims and situations.


Like many others I let sims' wants guide a lot, but I don't have any self-imposed rules regarding them, and I do have sims make big life decisions like taking a job, getting married or having a kid even if they haven't rolled for them every now and then if I feel it fits. And, like Peni said, take into account that some wants are more fleeting thoughts than something a person might genuinely strive for. I sort of use them as a guideline as well; I seldom have the patience to even try and fulfill lifetime wishes such as having fifty first dates, for instance, but it does tell me that sim obviously wants to date a lot of new people, so they can still do that, just to a lesser extent.

I micromanage my sims quite a lot, but some of my favorite moments are when they get away from me and do something unexpected. ACR makes this a blast, quite honestly. I don't love mess and drama in real life but in sim world it's GREAT!

Once, I had an couple who had been high school sweethearts, then got engaged in college -- neither of them had ever so much as looked at another sim. They were only a day or two from graduating when for some odd reason she decided to woohoo one of their dorm-mates on the sofa... right before her fiance came home from class!!! AND she got pregnant.

What a mess, but a very entertaining one.

All of us using ACR have chosen to set it up in a suitable mannrer for our own games like me using it to supress autonomous romances sims try to start up outside of marriages when they're not under my direct control on community lots and I can also use it to sometimes set up a situation that I want for story purposes.Others have ot each customized in the way they want it for their games.Some of us want constant cheating and a non-stop soap opera and others want to avoid that altogether like me.

I don't let my Sims have very much autonomy, but I use their wants to influence what I do with them. I try to complete as many wants as possible.

I let my Sims do everything, up to and including flirting for Sims I never thought of a partner for. Minus just preventing some things like my good reputation people trying to fight their enemies, tanking their reputation while doing so. Will let my enemies attack themselves however!

I just like having households of 8 Sims who hate eachother packed into an apartment with only one toilet and bed to watch the ensuring fights and as they rush to order food.

I've had a very interesting situation develop-out of all the pixels in Tinsel Town, 80% of them who knew of the late Silvia Castro and her husband Asger want to turn one or the other into zombies. Asger seems to be the more favored of the two and it appears he was not all that popular with anyone.
I am not going fulfill that want from any of them. That would probably throw the entire town into a panic, and have a massive depression.

Some wants are just not sensible to fulfill. Micromanaging these pixels is sometimes a case of "I'm gonna ignore all of you!"

Free will is always on in my game. It makes sim lives more interesting and dynamic, yet I am still in control and will stop them if they are going to be complete idiots.
I honestly enjoy them doing silly things - like a sim with a lot of outgoing points, back from vacation in the Far East, but not having mastered the bow. He will run out and bow to people passing the house and they will scratch their heads - until one came along who actually can bow
As for approaching sims, I totally agree with Peni - while aspiration is part of a sim, there is also personality, experience, other sims in their lives and whatever gives joy - they are all very different from each other.