Guide to Emotions in The Sims 4

New to The Sims 4? Let us walk you through the basics of the emotion system!

We’re excited to be welcoming so many new players to The Sims 4 when it becomes free to play on October 18th! We thought we’d welcome new fans to the franchise with some “Back to Basics” guides covering aspects of the base game that new players might need help with! Today, we’re going over emotions and how to use them to your advantage!

What are Emotions?

Emotions drive everything a Sim does. Every aspect of their lives is heavily influenced by their emotions. For example, Sims will build certain skills much faster while they are in an emotional state suited to that skill. On the other hand, they’ll build skills much more slowly when in a negative emotional state.

There are 16 different emotions in The Sims 4 base game. Each one affects how your Sims live their lives in some way.

Types of Emotions in The Sims 4

Fine

Fine is the base emotion for all Sims. It’s their neutral state. No activities will be hindered in the Fine emotion but no activities will be boosted, either.

Happy

Happy Sims get a small boost to all skills and social situations. This emotion also amplifies all other positive emotions. If your Sim has a Playful moodlet and a Happy moodlet, the Happy moodlet will boost the Playful moodlet, for example.

Sad

Sad Sims build skills slower and are more reluctant to do certain activities. You won’t have many romantic options available to them in this state.

Angry

Angry Sims will have a harder time socializing. They may be prone to mean outbursts with other Sims, making it hard to make friends. Beware of allowing your Sim’s anger to progress to the Enraged state! They can actually die from a cardiac explosion due to rage!

Tense

Tense Sims are feeling the stress from too much work and not enough play! All skills build slower while Tense and they may refuse to do some activities.

Uncomfortable

Sims are usually uncomfortable when their basic physical needs aren’t being met. Being hungry, smelly, or exhausted will all make a Sim feel uncomfortable.

Flirty

Flirty Sims will naturally want to be romantic with other Sims! They’ll have WooHoo on the brain a lot and be more successful flirting with other Sims.

Confident

Confident Sims find matters of socialising a breeze! They’ll build the Charisma skill faster and have better conversations with Sims. Being Confident at work will also boost their work performance!

Energized

Energized Sims build Fitness skill extra fast and can pump up other Sims to make them Energized, too!

Focused

Focused Sims will be more successful with logical activities like chess. They’ll also build the Logic, Rocket Science, Programming, Video Gaming, Handiness, and Gardening skills faster!

Inspired

Inspired Sims just want to create! They’ll build Cooking, Gourmet Cooking, Painting, Writing, and all musical skills much faster!

Embarrassed

Embarrassed Sims should probably avoid people for a while because they’re not likely to have much success with socializing. Beware of allowing your Sim’s embarrassment to progress to the Mortified state! Sims can die from embarrassment!

Playful

Playful Sims make great comedians! They tell the best jokes and pull off the best pranks! Playful Sims will build both Comedy and Mischief skills faster! Beware of allowing your Sim’s playfulness to progress to the Hysterical state! Sims can die from hysteria in this state!

Bored

Bored Sims need stimulation! Find something fun for them to do or they’re going to be dull conversationalists and build skills slowly.

Dazed

Sims can become dazed from losing fights, being electrocuted, or crash landing a rocket ship. They won’t be useful for much of anything until they have a clear head again. Be careful not to allow them to be electrocuted while dazed because it can kill them!

Scared

Sims can be scared by ghosts, monsters under the bed, the cowplant, and various things from DLC packs. They’ll be pretty useless while scared and won’t want to do much of anything.

Controlling Your Sim’s Emotions in The Sims 4

So you know what all the different emotions are but how do you control which emotions your Sim feels to get the most out of careers, skill building, and socialization? The answer is really just to play the game and explore what activities put your Sims into which emotions. We’ve compiled a list of some of the things you can do in the base game to help influence your Sims’ emotions. It’s not an exhaustive list but it will help you get the hang of controlling emotions.

If you’ve done an activity and your Sim did not enter the emotion you wanted, try doing more activities tied to that emotion or getting rid of moodlets for conflicting emotions. Your Sim’s emotions are influenced by their moodlets. You need enough emotional moodlets to override other moodlets from other emotions you don’t want. Likewise, stack up activities to remove unwanted emotions. These activities only shorten the length of the moodlet, they don’t instantly remove them.

Fine

Obtain:

• Do absolutely nothing

Remove:

• Do almost anything in the game

Happy

Obtain:

• Have positive social interactions
• Be in a nicely decorated room
• Experience an important life milestone, like getting married or having a baby
• Gain career promotions

Remove:

• Do almost anything tied to another emotion. The happy emotion boosts other emotions, so you only need one other positive emotional moodlet to override the happy emotion.

Sad

Obtain:

• Have a bad conversation with a loved one
• Break up or divorce
• Experience a death of a loved one
• Get demoted or fired

Remove:

• Cry it out under the bed covers
• Call the Sadness Hotline
• Calm down in a mirror
• Share sadness with other Sims
• Mourn at an urn or gravestone

Angry

Obtain:

• Be insulted by a Sim
• Fight with a Sim
• Lose at a game

Remove:

• Calm down in a mirror
• Take a cold shower
• Vent to another Sim
• Take an angry poop (yes, really!)

Tense

Obtain:

• Working hard for too long while at work
• Not doing enough fun activities

Remove:

• Doing relaxing or fun activities

Uncomfortable

Obtain:

• Neglect your Sim’s Hygiene, Bladder, Hunger, or Energy needs
• Be in a dirty room
• Exercise for too long until your Sim pulls a muscle

Remove:

• Make sure your Sim gets enough sleep, food, showers or baths, and bathroom breaks!
• Keep the house clean

Flirty

Obtain:

• Go on successful dates
• Have flirty conversations with Sims
• Listen to Romance music
• Watch the Romance channel on TV
• Freshen Up in a mirror
• Take a steamy shower

Remove:

• Take a cold shower

Confident

Obtain:

• Brush teeth
• Psych Self Up in a mirror
• Win at a game

Remove:

• Do activities for different emotional states to try and override the Confident emotion

Energized

Obtain:

• Exercise
• Be given a pep talk by an Energized Sim
• Drink energy drinks and eat high protein meals (unlock by building Fitness skill)
• Drink coffee
• Take a brisk shower

Remove:

• Do activities for different emotional states to try and override the Energized emotion

Focused

Obtain:

• Ponder Moves at a chess table
• Use the observatory or telescope
• Play video games

Remove:

• Do different activities for different emotions to try and override the Focused emotion

Inspired

Obtain:

• Watch the Cooking channel on TV
• Cook good meals
• View art
• Paint a good painting
• Write a good novel
• Play good music
• Take a thoughtful shower

Remove:

• Do different activities for different emotions to try and override the Inspired emotion

Embarrassed

Obtain:

• Have a bad conversation
• Walk in on Sims WooHooing, or be walked in on while WooHooing
• Walk in on Sims in the shower or on the toilet, or be walked in on while showering or using the toilet
• Have a bad day at work

Remove:

• Give yourself a pep talk in the mirror
• Hide under the bed covers
• Ask another Sim for reassurance
• Share insecurities with another Sim
• Tell a self-deprecating joke to another Sim

Playful

Obtain:

• Watch the Comedy Network on TV
• Perform a good comedy routine
• Tell good jokes or pull off successful pranks
• Be involved in a funny conversation
• Take a bubble bath

Remove:

• Calm down in a mirror

Bored

Obtain:

• Have a dull conversation
• Some career activities can leave your Sim feeling bored

Remove:

• Do something fun

Dazed

Obtain:

• Be electrocuted
• Lose a fist fight
• Crash a rocket ship
• Be eaten by a Cowplant

Remove:

• Take a nap
• Take a bath

Scared

Obtain:

• Be spooked by a ghost
• See a monster under the bed (children only)
• Have a close call with a Cowplant

Remove:

• Hide under the bed covers
• Scream incoherently at another Sim (50/50 success rate; you might just make the other Sim scared, too)

Emotional Auras

In addition to finding emotion-influencing activities to do in the game, you can also use certain objects to your advantage. This makes it easier to maintain a specific emotion since your Sim will keep a permanent moodlet as long as they are near the object.

Some objects in the game give off emotional auras; this means they will give any nearby Sims a moodlet for a specific emotion. Objects with emotional auras are typically career reward objects and collections. If your Sim has an object with an emotional aura, make sure to place it somewhere on your lot and click it to enable the aura!

Here are some handy objects that have an emotional aura. Having multiple objects with the same emotional aura enabled strengthens the moodlet your Sim gets.

Playful Aura

• MySims Trophy collectibles
• Meduso Holiday Cracker Plush collectibles
• Playful paintings
• Some Criminal, Culinary and Entertainer career reward objects

Inspiring Aura

• Postcard collectibles
• Some Painter, Writer, Culinary, Freelance Artist, and Entertainer career reward objects

Focused Aura

• Element collectibles
• Microscope Print collectibles
• Space Print collectibles
• Mathematical Diagram paintings
• Some Business, Tech Guru, Criminal, and Astronaut career reward objects

Energized Aura

• Crystal collectibles
• Energized paintings
• Some Athlete and Entertainer career reward objects

Confident Aura

• Dead Space Alien collectibles
• Mounted Fish collectibles
• Confident Paintings
• Some Astronaut, Athlete, Business, and Secret Agent career reward objects

Romantic Aura

• Gold level date reward item
• Flirty paintings

Angry Aura

• Angry paintings

Sad Aura

• The Tragic Clown painting
• Sad paintings

In addition to objects that give off emotional auras, there are some special items in the game that can help you control your Sim’s emotions, like the Tea Magic Personal Brewer. You can change your Sim’s emotion based on what kind of tea they drink!