Aspiration bar

The Aspiration bar is a bar showing the mental happiness for a Sim. 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.

Sims can fill the bar by fulfilling wants. A Sim's 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 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 also raise the Aspiration bar to its top (sometimes requiring some kind of reset like the Sim leaving the lot and coming back) and keep the Sim in platinum mood for the rest of his or her life.