Sims 4 continued the legacy by letting its users create, customize and live their best online lives in their custom homes and cities.
In addition to the basics, Sims 4 has advanced and empowered its users by adding aspirations, moods and different quirks to enrich their user experience and make characters feel more like real people.
The “inspired” mood helps Sim characters perform better in their daily tasks.
This article will help you inspire your Sims to create best-selling novels, cook amazing dishes, or paint extraordinary works of art.
Steps to make your Sims inspired
Here are the basic steps to make your Sim inspired.
- Select (and go to) the Sim you want to inspire.
- Make your Sim happy.
- Choose an engaging activity for your Sim.
- Use skill or job specific activities.
- Find and place objects with inspiring Auras in the room.
- Advance the Sim’s emotion to “Very Inspired”.
Most of these can be broken down for more information, so read on.
Make your Sim happy
Before you can get your Sim inspired, you need to get rid of all their negative emotions.
Each Sim can have a unique personality based on the settings you gave them when you created the character and their encounters with the environment (likes and dislikes). This means that each Sim will form different negative emotions or moods based on environmental cues. You can have an overview of each of these moods in the lower left corner. Red, yellow, dark blue or orange moods are negative and must be dealt with, while gray can be tolerated to some extent.
Sims with the Creative trait (available during character creation) can be spontaneously inspired, which can even happen with a bad mood.
For example, if your Sim’s primary emotion is embarrassment, it will make their mood sad, tense, and uncomfortable.
You also need to take care of their basic needs (hunger, energy, cleanliness, social needs and bladder). Sims who can barely stay awake are unlikely to create a masterpiece painting.
Sims also have whims (replaced with desires and fears in a July 2022 update), which improve their mood when fulfilled. These appear as bubbles above their character portrait.
Skills and Career Activities
There are a plethora of activities your Sim can participate in to boost their mood and gain an Inspiration Mood. Child Sims and specific careers give more options, which are detailed on the list. Here are some activities, how much of a happiness or inspiration boost they give, and how long the boost lasts:
- Shape clay, +1 boost for 3 hours.
- Play with big animal toys, +1 boost for 4 hours – This is for kids only.
- Play with a dollhouse, +1 boost for 4 hours – Also only for kids.
- Take a thoughtful shower, +1 boost for 4 hours
- Scroll art on the computer, +1 boost for 4 hours
- Eat ghostly mint ice cream, +1 boost for 4 hours
- Mix potions, +1 boost for 4 hours
- Drink Coffee Coffee – Cappuccino, +1 boost for 4 hours – Requires the “Get Together” DLC.
- Eat cheese fondue, +1 boost for 4 hours – At a fancy party.
- View bonsai, + 1 boost for 4 hours – Work on bonsai formed by an inspired Sims, so somewhat recursive.
- Stargazing, +1 boost for 6 hours – In an outdoor retreat (requires the “Outdoor Retreat” DLC).
- Walk, + 1 boost for 6 hours – Outdoor retreat too.
- Pick for Inspiration (on the guitar), +1 boost for 8 hours – Works on the guitar, but there are similar options for pianos and violins.
- Do yoga, +1 boost for 8 hours – Requires the “Spa Day” DLC.
- Listen deeply to music, +2 boost for 2 hours – Music Lover Trait.
- Daydream, +2 boost for 3 hours – Requires the child to have a creative skill level of five or higher.
- Cooking, +2 boost for 4 hours – A true chef (requires the Chef career branch).
- Analyze a book, +2 boost for 4 hours – Requires the bookworm trait.
- Drink a smart serum, +1 boost for 6 hours – Active Science career.
- Carve a pumpkin, +1 boost for 4 hours – On a spooky day (“Spooky Stuff” DLC).
- Inspired by work, +1 boost for 4 hours – Only for Sims in the Mixologist branch.
- Listen to classical or jazz music, +1 boost for 2 hours
- Paint while being mentored, +2 boost throughout
Place inspiring objects in the room
Placing objects with inspiring auras in the room can brighten your Sim’s mood. These objects are:
- Masterpiece Carved Pumpkins.
- Postcards.
- Different career rewards (Writing, painting, cooking, etc.).
- Reward Lamps (from Sims 3).
You don’t have to activate the emotional Aura if you don’t want to. You can direct your Sim to interact with the object, which will still give it the emotional mood.
Very inspired mood
A Sim with eight positive modifiers gains a “Very Inspired” mood, which greatly increases their skill take and the quality of the items they create. This can mostly be done by meeting their needs, state of mind requirements and passive inspiration from auras.
What to do with inspiration?
An inspired Sim can gain a unique desire (or desire) that lasts as long as they are inspired. This usually ties in with their aspiration or career. Being inspired also helps creatively oriented Sims (mixologists, painters, writers, cooks) to create better products.
Frequently Asked Questions
What tea inspires your Sim?
Earl Gray Tea is one of the best teas to get your Sim inspired. It gives two trust points, which last for a couple of hours, getting you a decent amount of the way to the inspired mood.
Is there a way to cheat Sims Aspirations?
Forks. You can cheat by typing “testingcheats true” in the console. With the active code you can enter the following: aspirations_complete_current_milestone. This completes a Sim’s current aspiration goal.
Flattening
Inspiration doesn’t come as easily as luck in The Sims 4, but that doesn’t mean you can’t help it. You just need to get rid of any previous negative emotions, engage your Sim in skill or career abilities, and place inspiring auras in the room.
Cupcakes and Earl Gray tea will also help inspire your Sim. You can also cheat, but that takes all the fun out of the game.
Have you tried any of the activities we mentioned above? What do you do to inspire your Sim character? Leave a comment below.