Is The Sims an RPG? Part 3 (of 6)

on

Last time, we talked about skills. Today's an interesting one. Chance-based resolution mechanics, and how they tie into skill checks!

The Sims has these, sure. One great example that every Sims player has probably thought of while reading this is that cooking food brings with it a chance of fire.

Ah... memories.

Chance-Based Mechanics (and Cooking)

Haha, just a little Sims 1 joke for you there, get it? Because one of the skills is called Mechanical? And so is Cooking? Ah, I'll see myself out...

It's assumed knowledge in the Sims community that having a higher Cooking skill makes house fires less common, but you know what? I cannot for the life of me find proof of this. It's not anywhere on the Sims wiki for either the fire or cooking entries. Weird!

There's this Neoseeker thread from 2002 (hi, user toocool1399! I hope you're still cool 22 years later) that treats it as assumed knowledge, at least in the first game--a Sim with no skill points in Cooking at all will have a 15% chance of fire, which goes down to 5% at level 1, and 1% at level 2, but this isn't backed up by anything I can actually find.

Simmers are a somewhat incurious bunch, it seems. My gut tells me this was probably in the Prima strategy guide, and everybody simply assumed it as fact. The video, below, by Youtuber Ryan Plays the Sims seems to back up the statement from 2002, with fires being pretty easy (but not guaranteed) to start, but he was using the microwave for most of the meals (which makes fires less likely, or, at least, that was assumed the case, back in the day, lol). As soon as he used the oven on day 2, a fire started.

My gut tells me fires are probably more likely than 15%, but, regardless, it does certainly fit the bill of "failure at a low skill level causes a consequence", which is pretty much RPG gameplay to a tee.


Jumping into The Sims 4 for a minute, this 15% chance has been severely nerfed (if indeed it ever existed). TS4 is often criticised for being too easy, especially among TS1 and TS2 veterans. Back in the day, The Sims was primarily about resource management: juggling your Sims' needs and relationships, while TS3 and TS4 favour the storytelling elements. Basically, it used to be about rollplaying, but now roleplaying is the name of the game.

But, to be honest, in this instance, I think the lower chance is absolutely fine, and certainly no easier than any game that relies on dice to determine the odds.

Searching for references to fire, I first went to the ovens, as it's typically thought that a cheap oven increases the odds of fire. Not so! The tuning files for ovens seem to only refer to "fire" in terms of changing the appearance of an oven to a "burnt" state in the event of a fire, with recipes being where the fire chance comes from, referring to the "Cooking_Shared_Passive_FireChance" file in most cases.

That file leads me to "Loot_Fire_TestHomestyleCooking"; in Sims 4 files, "loot" can be thought of as a consequence for performing a certain action, be that consequence positive or negative. You take a shower, your loot makes you clean. You go to work, your loot says you get paid. You talk to a Sim, your loot increases your relationship. You bake a cake, your loot says you might start a fire.

Going through this file reveals some interesting mechanics at play.

<L n="loot_actions">
<V t="fire">
<U n="fire">
<U n="chance">
<T n="base_chance">3</T>
</U>
<E n="subject">Object</E>
<L n="tests">
<L>
<V t="skill_test">
<U n="skill_test">
<T n="skill">
16705
<!-- Skill: statistic_Skill_AdultMajor_HomestyleCooking -->
</T>
<V t="threshold" n="skill_range">
<U n="threshold">
<U n="skill_threshold">
<E n="comparison">LESS_OR_EQUAL</E>
<T n="value">1</T>
</U>
</U>
</V>

So, the base chance to start a fire is at 3%, but only if your skill level in Cooking is less than or equal to 1. Meaning, a first-time chef is gonna have a (somewhat) higher chance of starting a fire, in classic Sims fashion. It's not high, but when you make hundreds of Sims over 10 years of gameplay, it's gonna happen more than a few times. A 20-sided dice has a 5% chance of landing on any one side, so this is pretty much akin to hitting a natural 1 in Dungeons & Dragons. And if you're like me, the dice are rarely in your favour!

<V t="fire">
<U n="fire">
<U n="chance">
<T n="base_chance">1.5</T>
</U>
<E n="subject">Object</E>
<L n="tests">
<L>
<V t="skill_test">
<U n="skill_test">
<T n="skill">
16705
<!-- Skill: statistic_Skill_AdultMajor_HomestyleCooking -->
</T>
<V t="interval" n="skill_range">
<U n="interval">
<U n="skill_interval">
<T n="lower_bound">2</T>
<T n="upper_bound">2</T>
</U>
</U>

Going down through the code, this 3% chance halves at level 2, becoming a 1.5% chance...

<V t="fire">
<U n="fire">
<U n="chance">
<T n="base_chance">0.5</T>
</U>
<E n="subject">Object</E>
<L n="tests">
<L>
<V t="skill_test">
<U n="skill_test">
<T n="skill">
16705
<!-- Skill: statistic_Skill_AdultMajor_HomestyleCooking -->
</T>
<V t="interval" n="skill_range">
<U n="interval">
<U n="skill_interval">
<T n="lower_bound">3</T>
<T n="upper_bound">4</T>
</U>

...followed by 0.5% at levels 3 and 4.

However!

If you have the "Cursed" lot trait (these are like traits, except for buildings), the base chance jumps to a whopping twenty percent!

V t="fire">
<U n="fire">
<U n="chance">
<T n="base_chance">20</T>
</U>
<E n="subject">Object</E>
<L n="tests">
<L>
<V t="buff">
<U n="buff">
<V n="whitelist" t="enabled">
<L n="enabled">
<T>
188702
<!-- Buff: buff_Object_FlowerArrangement_Hidden_CursedEffects -->
</T>
<T>
208772
<!-- Buff: buff_LotMods_IslandSpirits_IslandCurse_Adult_Visible -->
</T>
<T>
208816
<!-- Buff: buff_LotMods_IslandSpirits_IslandCurse_Child_Visible -->
</T>
<T>
154593
<!-- Buff: buff_zoneMod_Trait_Cursed_hidden -->
</T>

On a d20, you could call this a critical failure that results from a 1-4.

And if you live in a heavily-polluted neighbourhood, the base chance is 10%. So, critical failures on 1-2.

<V t="fire">
<U n="fire">
<U n="chance">
<T n="base_chance">10</T>
</U>
<L n="tests">
<L>
<V t="buff">
<U n="buff">
<V n="whitelist" t="enabled">
<L n="enabled">
<T>
232484
<!-- Buff: buff_EcoFootprint_Hidden_Industrial -->

</T>

These are all mechanics that could be replicated with a dice, and therefore, could work in a TTRPG. Let's say, you roll to Cook. On a success, you make a meal of average quality. On a critical success, you make the best damn meal you've ever eaten. The flavour! That mashed potato is so smooth and creamy and buttery, if it was your last meal, you wouldn't even mind.

And it might be your last meal! On a failure, your mashed potato is lumpy. Now, I don't mind some lumps in my potatoes, but this is too lumpy. It might even be a bit gritty, depending on the degree of failure. But on a CRITICAL failure? On a critical failure, you don't put enough milk in the mash. The bottom of the pan is charred to a crisp, and suddenly your friend messages you with a meme that you have to respond to right this second. You look away from the oven... and it catches fire!

Yeah. Yeah. I can work with this.

Next time, on Nobody Poops on Television: random encounters!

Comments

Post a Comment