Outing

Outing is a gathering group of Sims who stick, hang around, and do activities together. Outing is one of the main features in The Sims 2: Nightlife and The Sims 3: Late Night. Traditionally, in The Sims 2, Sims can bring a friend along to a community lot, but he/she would rather mind their own business instead of hanging out with the Sims who bring them. The outing system makes it possible to the groups to be together most of the times.

The Sims 2: Nightlife
Outing is a mini-game scenario involving many Sims. The member of the groups will follow wherever the playable Sims go. They will also do group activities together, such as dining out and go bowling. Members of the outing will have a small blue PlumbBob above their head. It doesn't indicate their mood, unlike normal PlumbBobs and employee PlumBobs. Pleasure Sims will usually want to have an outing.

Outing is the generic term of the gathering group. There are two kinds of outing, i.e. casual group and timed outing. A casual group is an untimed gathering of Sims, while timed outing is a scored gathering with a timer. Scored outing has similar aspects to dating. Sims cannot have a date and an outing at the same time.

Managing a Group
A group can be managed by using a phone or cell phone. By managing a group, Sims can easily form an outing with a preset outing members, either playable or non-playable. Sims can add or remove the members with Sims whom they know. Names that have green PlumbBob icon mean that they are playable Sims of any family. A managed group can be named, but no groups can share the same name, even if the groups contain different outing members.

After a group is managed, any of the member can edit the group, add or remove the members, and delete the group. Sims can invite out or meet the outing members on community lot by phone for a casual group or a timed outing. Their attendance depends on how well they know the caller, whether they are asleep, at work, and have a phone. The outing members who can attend might be all, some, or none of them. Coming late to an outing on community lot will stand up others and make them furious at the Sim.

Even though a managed group has a preset members of outing, it doesn't mean the members are limited to that group only. Sims can still ask others in person to join the outing. They just have to do it manually. Occasionally, any members of the group will call Sims to go for an outing with that particular group.

Forming a Group in Person
In addition to managing a group, Sims can also ask other Sims in person by using Ask... To Form Casual Group. Sims can choose "Just for Fun" (untimed outing) or "For an Outing" (timed outing) to determine which kind of outing Sims want. Just for Fun outing doesn't fulfill the want to ask Sim for an outing. After any of the outing is formed, Sims can invite more Sims to the outing by asking them to join the group.

A casual group isn't limited to timer. Sims can do anything what they want only until the group is over. The group can be disbanded if the playable Sims end it themselves or ask each member to leave the group. The group member will autonomously leave if their mood or need is low. There are some benefits of forming a group. They will dine out together, won't scatter around when invited in a community lot, and won't go home after midnight if the outing occurs at home.

A timed outing is a scored outing, and works much similar to dating. An outing meter will show up on the upper right of the screen, and it displays the remaining time of the outing. An outing score ranges within seven tiers:
 * 1) Rockin'
 * 2) Super
 * Fun
 * 1) So-So
 * 2) Boring
 * 3) A Real Drag
 * 4) Disaster

Raising the outing meter takes a little harder effort than dating. As the score accumulates by the average fun activities all members gain, it might be easier if there are few members of the outing. The outing meter will get a score boost if outing members gain friends and best friends relationship. Shortly, scoring for outings work similarly to scoring for parties.

Outings will have an initial time of 3 Sim hours. Time expands every time player reaches the higher threshold of the outing meter. Sims will get additional time of 2:30 for reaching Fun Outing, 2:00 for Super Outing, and 1:30 for Rockin' Outing, and nothing more thereafter. Sims will not get a time penalty if their outing score drops to a lower threshold, nor will they get more time extension for reaching the same tier if they have reached it once.

Invitation
Similar to a Welcome Wagon, there will always be an invitation for a casual group the first night a family is played after Nightlife is installed. The caller might be a random Downtownie or someone that Sim knows. There won't be any invitation if Downtown isn't installed to the neighborhood.

Other than the first night invitation, there are other kinds of invitation as well. A member of the managed group might ask for an outing, an invitation as a reward of a good outing, or an invitation from a contact. All the latter three invitations are scored outings, while the former one is always a casual group.

Coming late or failing to arrive at the community lot will cause the inviter to be furious at the Sim, which will last for 48 hours.

Outing Rewards
Outing members will get a mood boost every time they reach the higher threshold of the scored outing. Conversely, they will get a mood drop every time the outing score worsens to lower threshold. Ending an outing will also boost mood if the outing is good, and drop mood if the outing is bad.

After an outing ends, Sims might or might not receive a reward. The possibility and quality of the reward depends on how well the outing was. The outing rewards are similar to date rewards:
 * Instant Promotion. If the members of the outing are on the same career track with higher level, Sims may be rewarded instant promotion. Sims will be notified if they have been helped after they go home from work. The chance is higher for more Sims at the same career track.
 * Restaurant Coupon. If the outing involves dining at a restaurant, there's a chance that Sims will be given a restaurant coupon the next day.
 * Skill Point Award. If members of the outings have high particular skills, Sims may get an instant skill point just after the outing ends. The chance is higher if there are more Sims who are expert at a particular skill.
 * Another Outing. If the outing is good, Sims might be called for another one by any member of the previous outing. The members might be any of the groups if the he/she has a managed group, or random friends of the inviter.
 * Contact. A friend of a Sims' friend might make a call for an outing to get to know each others.
 * Surprise Gift. A random object from Buy Mode catalog will be delivered to Sims' house in addition to reward objects.

Compatibility with other Expansion Packs
As other Expansion Packs are also installed along with Nightlife, several of the features cause some glitches or additions to the outing feature.
 * Sims who have Head for Numbers business perk is able to add special NPCs to groups via phone that are not supposed to be added. This includes NPCs like Grim Reaper, Spectral Assistant, Therapist, and Social Bunny. There's hardly any chance that they will appear when player invites them, but it might be problematic to the game.
 * Sims can bring outing members to a vacation without any additional airfare cost, but the outing must be formed before the airport shuttle arrives. The outing will be continued at the Vacation Destination once Sims have left home. However, because they are not included as travel party, after the outing is over, they'll just "leave" the Vacation Destination and will not stay at the hotel or vacation home. They will not gain Vacation Benefits either.
 * Player cannot grab or move a surprise gift as an outing reward if they live in an apartment, because they are placed outside the apartment slot. Sims can still use the objects, but they might block the way. The object, however, won't show up if player plays other families in the same apartment.
 * If Sims who live in an apartment have an outing which one of its members is their apartment neighbor, it will be tricky to go out to a community lot. The neighbor must be present on the lot and must be available to go to the community lot. Otherwise, Sims must wait for them until they can. One example, if the outing occurs after 10 PM, if player's Sims are leaving for the outing by taxi, the taxi will remain unmoved until morning when the neighbor is awake. Or, if they go to work in the morning, the taxi will have to wait until they go home. This will waste Sims' time only to wait for the neighbor. The outing, however, is not considered to be stood up.
 * Having a Reputable Resident reputation will boost the initial outing score by +15.

The Sims 3: Late Night
Outings return in The Sims 3: Late Night as a new way of keeping a group of Sims together. It is an enhanced version of the outings from The Sims 2: Nightlife. In Late Night, grouping is a very easy option to use, but it is only available when two Sims have a medium/high relationship or are related to one other. When Sims group, they will have small blue PlumbBobs hovering over the top of their head. A group of two to eight Sims can go to bars, lounges, clubs, swimming pools, etc., but apparently cannot go to a Sim's house. There cannot be two separate Sims with two different groups. When the Sim who formed the group is tired, going to work/school, or somewhere by themselves, the group will disband. However, a Sim with the Party Animal trait may want to continue the group and might remain.