# Some notes on programming objects in The Sims

*Source* · `src-forbus-2001-programming-objects-sims` · status: **n/a**

| field | value |
|---|---|
| kind | Technical report / blog |
| authors | Kenneth D. Forbus, Will Wright |
| venue | Qualitative Reasoning Group, Northwestern University (course notes) |
| date | 2001-05-31 |
| url | https://www.qrg.northwestern.edu/papers/Files/Programming_Objects_in_The_Sims.pdf |
| accessed | 2026-10-24 |

## Notes

Objects hold behaviors whose advertisements state which of nine motives (energy, comfort, hunger, hygiene, bladder, room, social, fun, mood) they satisfy; values fixed or scaled by personality points in opposing pairs such as nice/grouchy; distance attenuation presets high, moderate, low, none; check trees hide unavailable interactions; Sims choose the behavior that maximizes happiness. Examples: toilet 0-70 Bladder, Feed Fish 1-11 Fun by Playful.

## Backlinks (computed)

**cited by:** [Personality traits](../mechanic/personality-traits.md), [Smart objects](../mechanic/smart-objects.md), [Utility action selection](../mechanic/utility-action-selection.md)

## Citation

Kenneth D. Forbus, Will Wright (2001-05-31). *Some notes on programming objects in The Sims*. Qualitative Reasoning Group, Northwestern University (course notes) https://www.qrg.northwestern.edu/papers/Files/Programming_Objects_in_The_Sims.pdf

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Provenance: created in run `2026-10-24-taxonomy-m3`.