In The Sims 2,do the Sims have the ability to learn to be more independent?

Question

Will they be able to know to use the toilet on their own. Rest when they are tired,eat when they are hungry,turn the tv on, be on time for carpools and school buses etc. or will they always be so stupid and boring?

Answer 1

Yes, they do learn their stuff. Kids don't want to do their homework, adult sims don't want to study for their skills in their books either, and sloppy sims will not clean up after themselves enough but here are some details that may interest you:

How the game works by Will Wright:
"How does the game work? The game is programmed to let objects in the environment advertise their capabilities and "draw" the Sims to them. "What we did was make the people really dumb," explains Wright, "and make the environment and objects really smart." Objects will always advertise to the Sims about what they can do for them. Depending on your character's personality needs relative to what the objects can offer, it will make a selection about how to spend time. "This all happens behind the scenes," explains Wright, "but basically the fridge yells at the player, 'I can satisfy hunger five!' and the bath says, 'Hygiene seven right here!'" In the end, all these factors tie into the happiness of the character."
- source - http://www.will-wright.com/willshistory12.php

When all my sim kids have good grades and the adults have done well in their jobs, I can sometimes just fastforward the game for several days before one of the sims accidently sets the kitchen on fire or something.

Answer 2

Try turning on "Free Will" to correct some of these things, but most sim children will not automatically do their homework.

Answer 3

yeah, they'll do those things on their own if they don't have other items in their queue. like, if bladder motivation gets too low, they'll stop what they're doing and race off to the toilet. I can'tt ell you why it takes 30-40 minutes of game time for one of them to brush its teeth, though.