Lifetime want

Introduced in The Sims 2: University, a Sim's Lifetime Want (or LTW) is a special want that represents the Sim's ultimate goal or something that would make his or her life "complete".

Children and toddlers do not have Lifetime Wants. After a child (or a PlantSim toddler) grows up, and his or her aspiration is chosen, he or she will receive a randomly selected Lifetime Want. As a rule, the Lifetime Want will not be selected until:
 * 1) One of the Sim's wants is fulfilled
 * 2) The player saves, exits to the neighborhood screen, and returns to that household.

Lifetime Wants tend to be very difficult to complete during a Sim's natural lifetime. When one is fulfilled, a Sim will receive a very large amount of aspiration and influence points. Once a Sim has fulfilled a Lifetime Want, they will receive another Lifetime Want.

Without the FreeTime expansion pack, Sims who achieved a Lifetime Want will also receive a permanently platinum Aspiration bar. This in turn causes that Sim to have a permanently platinum mood and reach perma-platinum status.

If the FreeTime expansion pack has been added, the first Lifetime Want realized by a Sim will contribute to that Sim's Lifetime Aspiration score, but will not create perma-plat status unless the Sim is close to maxing out his or her Lifetime Aspiration Meter. It will, however, max out the Sim's aspiration bar, and cause that platinum aspiration to decay very slowly.

List of Lifetime Wants
A Sim's Lifetime Want is based on their aspiration. For example, a Sim with the Family aspiration will tend to have a family-related LTW, such as having a specific number of children or grandchildren, whereas a Sim with the Fortune aspiration will tend to want to earn a certain amount of money during his or her lifetime.

If FreeTime is installed, selecting a secondary aspiration for a Sim will not change the Lifetime Want, but will make the Lifetime Wants for the secondary aspiration available if the player uses a cheat or mod that allows the LTW to be reselected. If the player selects a secondary aspiration before a Sim's Lifetime Want appears, the randomly selected LTW may be one of those for the secondary aspiration. Also, if a Sim with a secondary aspiration fulfills his or her LTW, the next LTW may be related to the secondary aspiration; for example, a Family Sim with Romance as a secondary aspiration may start out with the LTW of graduating three children from college, but after that is fulfilled, he or she may get the LTW of woohooing with twenty different Sims.

University had Lifetime Wants to reach the top levels of the Artist, Natural Science, Paranormal, and Show Business careers, but later expansion packs "stepped" on these. They can be restored through the use of mods.

Removed Lifetime Wants
These lifetime wants used to be available in the corresponding expansion packs, but they were later removed in the newer ones. Then, they only exist in the game strings with the icons. The Lifetime Wants from University include reaching the top of college careers, but premade adults cannot achieve them. The Lifetime Wants from Pets are the same wants as the existing Lifetime Want, but with different variables.

Player Tips & Tricks

 * Theoretically, it is possible to have any individual Sim complete all of the Lifetime Wants without breaking the rules of the game, though this would take a fair amount of effort and liberal use of Aspiration rewards. This would also require some luck; for example, "Reach Golden Anniversary" can only be accomplished by elders, and elders cannot reach the top of a new career.
 * When a child Sim grows up, the player has to pick their Aspiration, but their Lifetime Want won't be shown right away. In order to see it, the player has to a) fulfill one of the Sim's wants, or b) save, go to the neighborhood screen, and return to that household. The neat thing is that a player who doesn't like the Lifetime Want is Sim is given can go right back to the neighborhood screen (without saving) and return to the household to get a different Lifetime Want. This is a cheat-free way to pick Lifetime Wants. (However, it has not been tested.)
 * Children generally do not have Lifetime Wants, and in most cases a child or toddler with an LTW is a sign of a problem in the neighborhood. It could be a sign of corruption, generally caused by deleting Sims from the Sim Bin, deleting gravestones or urns, or making certain NPCs such as the Repo Man or Social Worker playable, or it could be caused by some other less-serious glitch.
 * Downtownie children from the Nightlife expansion pack, and several child Sims from Desiderata Valley, are pre-created with lifetime wants. This is not a sign of neighborhood corruption, and is no cause for alarm.