Would be neat if trait nightmares where a thing..

that each trait, would give a sim a fear they have in life.. something that would cause them severe negative effects when it happens. A lifelong fear for each trait.

Some examples:

-A snob going bankrupt.
-A sim who dislikes children becomeing the biological parent of a child.
-A friendly sim's good friend turning into an enemy.
-An athletic sim getting fat.
-A bookworm watching a bookcase burn down.
-A technophobe sim traveling to the future.
-Something completely random for an insane sim. Eating a tosti, watching someone juggle, getting hugged, becomeing a policeman, etc.
-A mean spirited sim getting beaten in a fight.
-An evil sim getting awarded an award/medal for their good deeds.
-A hydrophobic sim swimming in the sea.

Who knows, maybe it'll be possible to mod custom moodlets. Those are definitely good ideas, worth keeping! =)

It should be something like: ran out of tin foil. This of course requires tin foil for crafting things out of it like hats and "foil proofing" underneath the doors to keep remote-controlled government spy roaches from getting inside.

well it's the opposite of their traits :P

It's a fun idea. What would happen if your sim experienced his/her "lifetime fear" though?

Kind of like the system in Sims 2?

If they experience their lifetime fear they would be quite unhappy and depressed.. like seeing social bunnies and such. It would take time for them to recover.

A lifetime fear system sounds pretty intense, which I like. Like an athletic sim getting fat (this could actually even work for playing a sim with anorexia nervosa). Or an insane sim's worst nightmare coming true, whatever that may be. Sims who reach their lifetime fear would be so severely fucked they'd have to get hospitalized or get therapy to recover. I mean, hydrophobia is a pretty major thing. Imagine a hydrophobic sim swimming in the vastness of the ocean.

I also think there should be a "regular" fears system like there was in TS2, for less severe things. That way we can keep a balance between what a sim would wish to do and what they wouldn't wish to do. And then an opposite to the major lifetime wish, a lifetime fear. I hate how everything is focused on the good only. Makes it almost worthless.

Amen to that. I also like the idea that a nightmare come true to have stages of consequence and a possible "solution."

*Stages of consequence: Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance ( acceptance is completed through therapy or some other ). These stages are for one's own death, but since we don't have terminally ill ( assuming ), then might as well use them for trait nightmares come true.
*"Solution": See ghost of child future criminal.

Yes, absolutely. But severity should also be relative, I suppose.
Like a regular fear might be the dark for some sims, but some sims the fear of the dark might even be a full-blown phobia which would make it a Lifetime fear. Regular fears can be easier to get over if experienced, but Lifetime fears should be a lot harder. Even if the sim "recovers" the fear should stick. They'd fear it happening more times.

I was wondering that too, maybe they could have actual nightmares about it along with memories that give them the shivers for a bit and make them want to do something fun/calming to take their minds off it? Not very creative of me though, I'm sure someone could come up with something better.

And maybe said fears could be somewhat "curable" too. Like if A snob sim went bankrupt and remained poor, it'd have less effect on him over time as he got used to coping without money. They could also receive advice and encouragement from sympathetic sims(not totally sure of the traits in this game, but "good" sims or gentle/kind/thoughtful ones if those are in there somewhere), which could help them reduce their fear, perhaps. Talking to sympathetic friends about fears and problems in real life can help enormously, so why not for sims too?

So many good ideas over here...makes me wish Simgurus would do some brainstorming with simmers before planning any EP, picking the best ideas, deciding what is possible or not in terms of developers skills, game's engine, time and budget, etc...I mean, we would have no guarantee that our ideas would be in fact implemented, but just having simmers ideas being taken in consideration at pre-production state would be awesome. I hope they'll read threads like that here or at the officials forums.
It seems logical: simmers brainstorming-> game team private brainstorming/discussions/decisions -> polls and surveys -> pre-production -> development -> simmers feedback -> development -> post-production -> release.
But what do I know...one would think they do that already. EA claims they listen, but seeing how TS4 is turning out, it doesn't seem they do.

Hopefully ideas like these will become great mods in the future.

Well, yes. It obviously would have to depend on each individual sim's traits. Like, you wouldn't choose "swimming in the ocean" for lifetime fear, when your sim's lifetime wish is "to be the greatest scuba diver".

I love this. If a snob/greedy sim went bankrupt with literally no way back up, they could even learn to accept their new life. I mean, people change. They can become more accepting of their environment and life. Even a good sim can have such terrible events happen in their lives, that they'd go, "Ok, I'm sick of this. I'm being good to the world but the world is not being good to me!"

Some ideas to consider.

I would love to see the idea of change added because, you are right DiAnkhiar, people change as do their ideas, initial thoughts, and goals. People grow, mature, and learn from their experiences. I sometimes "reward" my Sims in Sims 2 with altering goals or personality points when they fulfill their dreams and have worked on their relationships with other Sims.

Memories and wants/do-not-wants should interact.

Say a Sim experiences a routine food flare-up. Hardy-har-har, stove top. Now instead of one "Fire!" memory, we have different degrees. The food flare-up that only destroyed the food would be a mildly negative memory, not worth crying over. "Whew! That burner got a little out of hand! Thankfully, I'm OK!". The "Fire!" do-not-want is worth maybe -250 instead of -1000.

If that food flare-up kicked up and burned the house down, the memory should be stronger, and therefore the do-not-want value is stronger. "My house! My valuables!" All turned to ashes!". The "Fire!" do-not-want is worth -2000 and causes traumatic flashbacks.