Motive

Motives are the basic needs of Sims in The Sims, The Sims 2, The Sims 3 and The Sims Social games. In The Sims 2 and The Sims 3, Sims in different life states will have different motives, and some motives will drop faster or slower depending on a Sim's life stage.

Basic motives
In The Sims Social, fulfilling motives/needs will make the Sim inspired, and inspired Sims will earn more simoleons.
 * Hunger/Thirst (Replaces hunger for vampires in TS3)
 * Comfort (Moodlets in TS3)
 * Social
 * Hygiene
 * Fun
 * Room/Environment (Moodlets in TS3)
 * Energy
 * Bladder
 * Sunlight exposure (Hidden motive for vampires in TS3 that is shown with moodlets, such as fatigue)

Servo motives

 * Power (Replaces energy)
 * Social
 * Fun
 * Environment

PlantSim motives

 * Water
 * Love (Replaces Social)
 * Sunlight

Pet motives
All large pets in The Sims: Unleashed, The Sims 2: Pets and The Sims 3: Pets share these motives:
 * Hunger
 * Energy
 * Bladder
 * Social

Other pet motives are:
 * Comfort
 * Hygiene
 * Fun (cats and dogs, not horses)
 * Scratch (cats)
 * Chew (dogs)
 * Destruction (dogs)
 * Training (horses)
 * Thirst (adult horses)

Small pets have no visible needs, but will die if not fed for too long.

SimBot motives

 * Scrap Reserves (Replaces hunger)
 * Waste Buildup (Replaces bladder)
 * Charge (Replaces energy)
 * Human Interaction (Replaces social)
 * Trivial Entertainment (Replaces fun)

Cut motives

 * Family (TS2, reverted to Social)
 * Friends (TS2, reverted to Social)

Player Tips
Some motives are connected to death, like if the player let the sim's hunger motive got lower and lower, it may starve to death, energy need dropped while in the swimming pool may drown the sim, or letting a sim pee under a broken TV and direct the sim to fix it may electrocute the sim.