A Sim's interests are randomly generated when the Sim is created or born in The Sims and The Sims 2. The more points in an interest, the more interested a Sim is in the particular subject. The interests that a Sim has the most points in are the ones they will usually talk about when they initiate a conversation, or be interested in when being talked to. For the most lengthy and constructive conversations, it's best to talk to Sims that have similar interests. Specific interests can be increased by reading magazines,^[TS:HD][TS2] but increasing certain interests will force other interests to decrease. Interests in The Sims 2 can also be changed in SimPE.

The Sims[]

In the original release of The Sims, there were 8 interests; travel, money, politics, 60's, weather, sports, music, and outdoors. For children, the first four were replaced by toys, aliens, pets, and school. Interests were initially hidden, and could only be viewed with a cheat code. The Sims: Hot Date expansion pack added 7 more interests that were only available to adults; exercise, food, parties, style, Hollywood, technology, and romance. Interests are viewable via the Interests tab on the lower HUD. Hot Date also introduced magazines, which adult Sims can read to change their interests. Gaining an interest point in one subject will cause the Sim to lose an interest point in another.

Interests run on a 10-point scale, from 0 to 10.00. If a Sim has between 0 and 3.0 points in an interest, they will react negatively to it, and will lose relationship points with the speaker. They are likely to end the conversation, but may just change the subject. Either way, the thought bubble for the interest will have a red X through it. If a Sim has between 3.01 and 6.0 points, They will react positively enough to continue the conversation and gain relationship points with the speaker, but is likely to change the subject. The thought bubble for the interest will still have a red X through it. If the Sim has at least 6.01 points in an interest, they will react positively, and the thought bubble will not have a red X.

All interests that the Sim has at least 6.01 points in will appear when the player uses the change topic interaction. Only adults can use the change topic interaction, and they can only use it when they're involved in a group activity. It is not available when two Sims are talking face-to-face or over the phone.

Interests
Travel	Money	Politics
The 60's	Weather	Sports
Music	Outdoors	Exercise
Food	Parties	Style
Hollywood	Technology	Romance

Child Interests
Toys	Aliens	Pets
School	Weather	Sports
Music	Outdoors

Interests and Maxis-made Sims[]

In general, Maxis-made Sims have one or two strong interests, and little or no interest in other topics. Taking these Sims to a community lot seems to "unlock" them, so that they will have a full range of interests. Old Town is useful for this, as going there is a family affair, and is free.

The Sims 2[]

The Sims 2 shipped with 18 interests, and they're the same for all ages. The interests are paranormal, sci-fi, health, politics, culture, environment, food, travel, weather, crime, money, work, entertainment, fashion, sports, animals, school, and toys. A controllable Sim's interests can be found on the simology panel.

Interests run on a 10-point scale, from 0 to 10.00. In general, Sims with at least four points in an interest will react positively to it. Sims can use the change topic interaction, and it is available when they are just chatting with one another, as well as chatting over the phone, or in group activities. When using the change topic interaction, the player will be able to choose any interest, regardless of how many points the Sim has in it. However, if several Sims are involved in the conversation, they may also attempt to change the topic, and the Sim who was told to change the topic may not be able to do so instantly.

Sims can and do talk about things other than the 18 interests, but they only do this autonomously. The player can attempt to change the topic back to one of the interests, but cannot attempt to change it to one of these other areas.

Most pre-made playable Sims in The Sims 2 have approximately 90 interest points in total, while most pre-made townies and NPCs, as well as Sims generated either by the player, or the game have approximately 80 interest points in total. However most pre-made playable Sims' interests are not in decimals, while most other Sims' interests are.

Most pre-made young adult, adult, and elder townies in The Sims 2 have exactly 4 interest points in school, toys, and sci-fi, and a 4 or lower in animals.

There is a glitch where aging a teen into an adult using cheats may cause their interests to change.

When one Sim talks to another, the player can see which interest they are talking about by looking in the speech bubble. Each interest is represented by a set of icons, as shown in the table below.

Interests
Environment	Food
Weather	Culture
Money	Politics
Paranormal	Health
Fashion	Travel
Crime	Sports
Entertainment	Animals
Work	School
Toys	Sci-Fi

Interests are unlike personality points. It is impossible to have 10 in every single interest because once an interest is increased by one point another one will decrease by 1 point.^[1]

Interests can be changed by reading magazines or through the "share interests" interaction. In The Sims 2: FreeTime, they are also affected by gaining or losing enthusiasm in certain hobbies.^[2] Interest change corresponds to the amount of enthusiasm that is gained or lost.

The Sims 2: Pets[]

Pets in The Sims 2: Pets also have interests in their petology. These interests are what cats and dogs bark and meow about. There are 9 interests for pets: pets, scary things, food, outside, sleeping, playtime, weather, toys, and animals.

Interests
Pets	Scary Things
Food	Outside
Sleeping	Playtime
Weather	Toys
Animals

The Sims 2 (PSP)[]

In The Sims 2 for PlayStation Portable, there are 73 topics that are used in conversations with the player and between NPCs. Many of these topics are pooled into interests, which are used in conversations to determine what responses are valid given a current topic. Sims pull from these pools of topics based on the current level of conversation and the location they can be found at. The following table lists the grouping of topics in conversations, according to the game's files.

Interests
Art	Astronomy	Books	Business
Classical	Cooking	Crime	Entertainment
Environment	Fashion	Food	Health
Jail	Money	Paranormal	Pets
Politics	Pollution	School	Sci-Fi
Sports	Toys	Travel	Video Games
War	Weather	Work	Wrestling
Generic	Deadtree	Kine Society	Division 47

Each character, regardless of if they are actually able to be conversed with or not, have a set of topics assigned to them, although it's not clear what these are used for.

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The Urbz: Sims in the City (handheld)[]

In the handheld version of The Urbz: Sims in the City, interests are conversational topics that appear when talking to an NPC. Out of the 67 topics in the game, three will appear at a time. Choosing each interest will cause two reactions by the Sim: a text dialogue will appear, and the relationship will change by a set amount, depending on the interest chosen.

The "jibba jabba" interaction, however, is locked under a Xizzle. There was meant to be a "talk about pets" interaction, but it went unused in the final game.

Interests
Aliens	Annoy	Apologize	Art	Tell Bad Pun	Bayou	Books	Brag
Call Name	Carnival	Cars	Cheer Up	Coffee Shop	Complain	Compliment	Computers
Construction	Cooking	Cosmos	Crime	Cry	Dancing	Entertain	Exercise
Flirt	Games	Gossip	Graveyard	Health	Hobbies	Home	Home Décor
Hug	Hygiene	Insult	Intimidate	Jail	Jibba Jabba	Jobs	Joke
Kiss	Law	The Lounge	Market	Miniopolis	Movies	Museum	Music
Nature	Newspaper	Ninjas	Give Opinion	Politics	Rep Groups	River	Rude Gesture
Science	Tell Secret	Shopping	Simoleons	Sleep	Sports	Supernatural	Tease
Television	Theater	Travel	University	Weather	Work	The World

References[]