Hopes & Fears: Life Fulfillment

In the 3.0 update for Hopes & Fears, I added a brand new Life Fulfillment feature. This actually edits the existing Fulfillment statistic which is tracked when Sims complete Wants. I expanded on it a bit to include major life events.

How Does It Work?
Every Sim aged Teen and above has a hidden Fulfillment statistic which defines how satisfied a Sim is with their life. This is made visible with moodlets, ranging from a Fulfilled Life at the high point, to an Unfulfilled Life at the low point. Each Sim newly added to the game begins with a Mediocre Life. Sims in existing save games will vary, due to the fulfillment statistic being an existing base game feature.
The happier a Sim is with life, the more easily they gain skills and career and school performance; however the more dissatisfied they are, the more difficult these things become.

How To Boost Fulfillment?
Fulfillment is gained in two main ways; completing Wants and experiencing positive Life Events. Completing Wants will give quick fixes, although more Long Term wants will give a larger increase.
Some events will give a bigger boost than others. Below is a list of events that will improve a Sim’s Life Fulfillment, ranging from the smallest boost to the largest:

• Moving House
• Self Discovery (Growing Together)
• Get Promoted (Ambitious and Overachiever Sim gain a larger boost)
• Get A Job (excluding Lazy Sims)
• Get an A in School (Ambitious and Overachiever Sim gain a larger boost)
• First Kiss
• New Relationship (except for Non Committal Sims or Sims with a Fear of Commitment)
• Accepted Into University (Discover University) (Ambitious and Overachiever Sim gain a larger boost)
• Go On Holiday (Frequent Travelers gain a larger boost)
• Get Engaged (except for Non Committal Sims or Sims with a Fear of Commitment)
• Conquer A Fear
• Get Married (except for Non Committal Sims or Sims with a Fear of Commitment)
• Have A Child (Family Oriented and Family Sims (from The Personality Mod) gain a larger boost)

What Makes Sims Lose Fulfillment?
Life Fulfillment decays slowly every day. If no Wants are completed and no life events encountered, it will take 2 weeks in game for a Sim to hit rock bottom from Mediocre.
There are also some major events that can significantly drop fulfillment to varying degrees. Below is a list of events that will reduce fulfillment, ranging from those giving the smallest reduction to the largest:

• Trait Related Moodlets: Stranger Danger (Loner Trait), Feeling Sad (Gloomy Trait), Stale Surroundings (Materialistic Trait)
• Apartment Problems (City Living)
• Bitten By A Vampire (Vampires) (except Knowledge Sims (from The Personality Mod)) (Sims with a Fear of Vampires will gain a larger reduction)
• Startled By A Ghost (except Knowledge Sims (from The Personality Mod))
• Get Demoted
• Witnessed Fire (except Sims with the Adrenaline Seeker Lifestyle) (Sims with a Fear of Fire gain a larger reduction)
• Abducted By Aliens (Get To Work) (except Knowledge Sims (from The Personality Mod))
• Get an F In School (Ambitious and Overachiever Sim gain a larger reduction)
• Get Put On Academic Probation (Discover University)
• Being Cheated On (Sims with a Fear of Being Cheated On will gain a larger reduction)
• Getting Evicted (For Rent) (Sims with a Fear of Eviction gain a larger reduction)
• Get Electrocuted
• Get Cursed (Jungle Adventure and/or Realm Of Magic)
• Get Fired
• Developing A Fear
• Struck By Lightening (Seasons)
• Items Repossessed
• Get Engaged (only for Non Committal Sims or Sims with a Fear of Commitment)
• Get Suspended From University (Discover University)
• Poisoned (Jungle Adventure)
• Break Up (except for Non Committal Sims or Sims with a Fear of Commitment – they don’t lose any)
• Seen a Ghost (only for Sims with a Fear of Ghosts)
• Get Married (only for Non Committal Sims or Sims with a Fear of Commitment)
• Have A Child (only for Sims with Hates Children trait)
• Death of a Loved One (Sims with a Fear of Death gain a larger reduction)
• Get Divorced (except for Non Committal Sims or Sims with a Fear of Commitment – they don’t lose any)

Additional Features:
~ There are two Milestones included with this feature; Fulfilled Life and Unfulfilled Life.
~ Sims will get notifications when they shift from one level of satisfaction to another. Often, these will inform you of things the Sim could do to improve their quality of life.
🆕~ In Version 3.5, I linked Balance (from Enchanted By Nature) to Fulfillment. Now, when a Sim moves into a new stage of fulfillment, they’ll gain (or lose) some balance. The changes aren’t drastic but they’re designed more to keep the two features in alignment.
🆕~ Also in Version 3.5, Sims will now be immune to ailments when they are living a Fulfilled Life. They’ll also have a much lower chance of receiving an ailment when they’re living Happy or Reasonable lives. I have not changed the value for lower levels of fulfillment, since ailments spread well enough on their own and there’s really no need (at this stage) to change that.

Known Issues:
~ Sims outside the active household do also have a decrease in fulfillment. Life events will boost their fulfillment too but since they won’t be completing wants, they may end up with less satisfaction over life. I have attempted to reduce the likelihood of them hitting rock bottom as frequently as they did during testing but further feedback and refinement may be necessary. I am still actively working on overcoming this issue.

Reported But Not An Issue:
~ Yes, it IS hard to get a Sim out of a rut when they’re experiencing an Unfulfilled Life. It’s meant to be! The idea is to give more of an incentive to complete tasks your Sims what to do.
~ Sims in existing save games, when first installing the mod, will likely be experiencing unfulfilled lives immediately. This is because the statistic that tracks this is already a Base Game feature; your Sims were already experiencing an unfulfilled life – this mod just shares a moodlet telling you that. See the section below for how to combat this.

Cheat Menu:
In the 3.0.2 update, I added a Cheat Menu to allow you to change the life satisfaction level for any Sim. Simply enable cheats, then Shift+Click on a Sim and find The Hopes & Fears Mod Cheats menu.
In there, you’ll find the ‘Set Life Satisfaction’ menu and inside that are options for you to select which level of life satisfaction you wish the target Sim to have.

In the 3.0.3 update, I also added a Remove Fulfillment cheat, enabling you to remove the fulfillment statistic from the target Sim. Please note that it will be added back when a Sim ages up – this is by design and so will need to be removed again, should you choose to do so.

While I feel the fulfillment is an integral part of the system, I know some people find it a struggle, especially with large households. So with the 3.1 update, you can now download an optional addon that removes the fulfillment entirely. You don’t need to do anything ~ just put it in the mods folder and fulfillment will be gone for every Sim.

The Optional NO FULFILLMENT Addon:
SimFileShare (free) | Google Drive (Free)