Aspiration bar

The Aspiration bar is a bar showing a Sim's overall mental happiness. When the player puts their cursor upon the bar, information will be shown, and the Lifetime Want will also be shown if The Sims 2: University or later is installed.

Daily Aspiration
Sims can fill the bar by fulfilling wants. A Sim's daily aspiration bar will decrease gradually over time, unless he or she is sleeping or meditating. Also, the aspiration bar does not appear to decrease while the Sim is at work or school, or in class. Fulfilling fears also decreases the aspiration bar. The aspiration bar has a finite capacity, which increases as the Sim ages.

There are 6 aspiration levels. Each has its own name and description, which depends on the Sim's aspiration and life stage. The 6 levels are as follows, starting from the lowest to the highest:

When the daily aspiration bar stays too low for too long, the Sim will perform desperate actions. If it hits bottom, the Sim Shrink will come to heal the Sim, and the aspiration bar will rise a little bit. Until FreeTime, accomplishing a Lifetime Want gives a Sim Perma-platinum status, in which the Sim's bar will remain at platinum until he or she dies. With FreeTime, fulfilling a Lifetime Want boosts the bar to platinum, and causes it to decay very slowly. As long as the Sim occasionally fulfills some wants and avoids major fears, he or she may be able to maintain platinum aspiration indefinitely.

When viewing a Sim in SimPE's Sim Browser, the level of his or her aspiration bar is shown by two scales. One, labeled "Blized", shows the current level of the aspiration bar, and runs from 0 to 1200. For toddlers, children, teens, and adults, it shows one-tenth of the Sim's current aspiration score. The other, labeled "Current", appears to reflect how long the bar will remain at its current level, and runs from 0 to 100. A Sim who has attained Perma-platinum will have scores of 1200 and 100. This is useful because a Sim's aspiration bar will occasionally be reset to a low green level when he or she is moved into a new lot, even if he or she had attained Perma-platinum. If this happens, the player can use SimPE to reset the Sim's aspiration level.

Lifetime Aspiration
As of The Sims 2: FreeTime, a Lifetime Aspiration bar is added. It accumulates points throughout a Sim's lifetime, and as it fills, the Sim will occasionally receive points which can be spent on Aspiration Benefits. A Sim gains (or loses) Lifetime Aspiration points each hour. How many points are gained or lost depends on the Sim's aspiration level and life stage. In general, the shorter the life stage, the greater the hourly adjustment will be, so the level of a toddler's aspiration bar will have more of an impact than the level of an adult's. Young adults are a special case. Regardless of his or her aspiration level, a young adult's aspiration bar will barely change from hour to hour. Sims also receive points for certain important milestones, such as learning to walk, getting married, having a child, or advancing to a new life stage. If The Sims 2: University is installed, Sims receive points when they graduate from college.

Filling a Sim's Lifetime Aspiration bar to its top will give a Perma-platinum status, as well as a special memory.

This is the list of milestones that can be achieved for a boosted Lifetime Aspiration.


 * Having a Child/Adopting
 * Having first Best Friend
 * Getting Married/Joined Union
 * First Kiss
 * First WooHoo
 * Potty Trained
 * Learned to Walk
 * Learned to Talk


 * Growing Up into Adult
 * Graduating from University
 * Reaching Top of the Career
 * Maximizing Enthusiasm
 * Fulfilling Lifetime Want
 * Reaching Top Business
 * Wishing for Peace of Mind

Despite what the Prima Guide says, getting all Vacation mementos, learning the Nursery Rhyme, and falling in love don't contribute to the Lifetime Aspiration at all. The milestones can only be achieved once, so repeating them does not help. CAS Sims, as well as Pre-FreeTime Sims, will receive a default amount of Lifetime Aspiration points by age:
 * Baby and Toddler: 0
 * Child: 2
 * Teen: 3
 * Young Adult and Adult: 5
 * Newly initialized Servos also receive 5 points.
 * Elder: 6

This can make pre-FreeTime Sims who have achieved milestones lose benefits. It should also be noted that although CAS Sims have the default points, they have never achieved any of the milestones even if in theory they have. For example, a CAS parents who already have a child will never earn the Having a Best Friend, First Kiss, First WooHoo, Growing Up to Adult, nor Having a Child. This will be a large drawback compared to single CAS Sims. The most beneficial life stage to start to earn the most milestones is toddler only.