This weekend I got into a surprisingly long and involved conversation with a Simming friend about what I meant by "good" or "bad" traits.  She hadn't thought about the traits beyond which ones she found funny.  Admittedly I tend to overthink this game from time to time.  (Not possible!)  But taking a high-level look at traits can give your overall gaming strategy a big boost.

I define a good trait as one that:

1.    Kicks out Wishes that you can fulfill for Happy Points.  The easier these Wishes are to fulfill, the better!
2.    Results in behaviors or increased abilities that are useful to your gaming.  

Handy Sims are a good example of the first category.  A Handy Sim is always getting the urge to upgrade something.  And the instant an appliance breaks, a Handy Sim gets a Wish to fix it.  Talk about a win-win!  "Hates the Outdoors" is another good one for Wishes.  Any time your Sim goes outside, they get a Wish to come inside.  Super easy!

My #1 favorite trait, "Tidy," hits both categories.  A Neat sim gets a lot of wishes like "Clean the dishes" and "Make bed."  You can rack up a lot of happy points for a Neat Sim!  Sims with the Neat trait are also more likely to autonomously clean things as they go about their day.  And they get the "Clean House" action, which is incredibly useful.

Some of my favorite "good" traits are career-specific.  Artistic, Angler, Handy, and Virtuoso are all incredibly useful.  These fall under category #2, because each one lets your Sim do their chosen activity better, faster, and easier.   Artistic gives you better paintings, Anglers catch better and more fish faster, Handy Sims learn the Handiness skill faster, and Virtuoso Sims play musical instruments better.

Another of my favorites is "Kleptomaniac," because you get the opportunity to bring home stuff your Sims can't otherwise buy.  And let's admit it, it's fun to steal stuff!

By comparison, a bad trait is one that:

1.    Apparently does nothing useful.
2.    Actively makes playing difficult.

There are a lot of junk traits that fall under category 1.  "Easily Impressed" is one I seem to get assigned frequently.  "Never Nude," "No Sense of Humor," and "Daredevil" are some good examples of relatively useless traits.

The canonical example of a "bad" trait that makes it difficult to play is "Absent Minded."  I always groan when the game rolls this trait for one of my Sims.   I'm playing an "Absent Minded" Sim now, and he drives me crazy - randomly canceling actions out of his queue, scrubbing the toilets when his Hunger need has gone red, etc.

I used to be "meh" about raising children, but the more attention I paid to traits, the more important I realized it was.  Luckily all is not lost if you botch the growth stages!  Just save up some points and cash them in on the "Midlife Crisis" Lifetime Reward.