I've been working on a way to use the 3to2 Traits to help determine aspiration and delineate aspirations into subcategories for gameplay, and I thought some of you who play with traits might be interested in the system I came up with.

I ended up deciding on three main "types" for each aspiration, each linked to a particular trait. I went through the base game neighborhood playable adults and assigned them all a type as an example. Children and teens are more malleable, though--teens can change their aspiration if they go to university, for instance--so I mostly randomized their traits unless I felt they strongly fit into a type already. I would likely use the last trait they get upon becoming an adult to set what I think is their type, if there is one.

These are the three types for each aspiration:

FAMILY TYPES:
Animal Lover: Takes in all the strays and relates better to animals than to people; example: Nervous Subject.
Family-Oriented: Values loyalty to the family and wants a large, successful, close family; examples: Cassandra Goth, John Burb, Albany Capp, Patrizio Monty.
Nurturing: A caregiver who is likely to adopt or take in anyone who needs them; examples: Brandi Broke, Coral Oldie, Jenny Smith.

FORTUNE TYPES:
Ambitious: Wants to reach the top by any means necessary; examples: Consort Capp (+Snob), Circe Beaker (+Evil).
Snob: Values the finer things in life above all; examples: Dina Caliente; all of the Capps.
Workaholic: A slave to their career at the expense of other aspects of their life; example: Mary-Sue Pleasant.

KNOWLEDGE TYPES:
Brooding: The dark, obsessive type who's more likely to be creative; examples: Darren Dreamer (+Artistic), Olive Specter (+Evil), Kent Capp.
Eccentric: Out of the mainstream and more likely to pursue edge interests and careers; examples: Vidcund Curious, Oberon Summerdream.
Genius: Relishes learning for its own sake and more likely to pursue science or medicine; examples: Mortimer Goth; Loki Beaker (+Evil).

POPULARITY TYPES:
Friendly: Values friendship and loyalty to friends above all; example: Puck Summerdream.
Schmoozer: Likes to kiss up to people, meet celebrities, and pursue careers like politics or show business; example: General Buzz Grunt.
Social Butterfly: Always going from one party or outing to the next and knows everybody; example: Erin Beaker.

ROMANCE TYPES:
Commitment Issues: Can't get tied down to just one woman or man; example: Don Lothario, who else?
Flirty: Has the most fun when out meeting new people and flirting around; examples: Chloe Curious, Daniel Pleasant, Herb Oldie.
Hopeless Romantic: In love with love and looking for the great love of their life; examples: Nina Caliente; Ripp Grunt.

PLEASURE TYPES:
Childish: Peter Pan type who never really grew up; loves toys and playing games.
Couch Potato: Loves to veg out and watch TV or get on the bubble blower.
Party Animal: Always down for a party or a date; stays out all night.

Of course, there can be various permutations. Some Sims might cross multiple types. For example, Jennifer Burb is both Ambitious and a Workaholic. Some might have types for two aspirations, indicating a secondary aspiration if I had those in my game, which I don't--but it helps me determine how to play them. For example, Oberon Summerdream is Eccentric but also Flirty and a Hopeless Romantic, so he would have a Romance secondary aspiration, which is how I would play him (well, he does that on his own in my game anyway). Some might not fall neatly into any of the types, in which case their aspiration tendencies wouldn't be as strong and they'd be more likely to tend toward other aspirations as well. For example, Lazlo Curious is not a strong Knowledge Sim, in my opinion, so I gave him the trait of Computer Whiz, which suggests Knowledge, and he strongly leans Pleasure, so he's a Couch Potato as well.

I thought I'd post this in case anyone wants to adapt my system to their own gameplay, and of course if you use traits, I'd like to hear your thoughts and comments on whether you relate them to aspirations and how.

That's a really helpful idea! I use random traits and separately assign aspirations. Maybe I ought to go through all of my pixels to figure out which ones need to change their aspirations.

But I thought the traits were dependent on personality mostly anyway-and also if they're genetic.

Because aspirations are sometimes tied to personalities, too. It's a good combining of the whole concept.

I am also starting to do a similar thing though commitment issues might also fit with Pleasure aspiration like childish and a few other traits and asprirations are like that.Romance ones might have family oriented and family aspritations might have romance traits along with family oriented.

Yes, you definitely could have these traits with other aspirations. I have quite a few hopeless romantics who aren't romance sims. So it's not rigid, but more a system to help me figure out what a Sim's dominant type is to help me remember to play them that way.