Midlife crisis

Midlife crisis

An adult who is experiencing a midlife crisis.

A midlife crisis is an event that occurs in The Sims 3: Generations, triggered when a young adult Sim transitions to an adult Sim, and is shown by a moodlet. This event doesn't affect every Sim that becomes an adult.

Before a midlife crisis

There are a few ways to calculate if a Sim will experience a midlife crisis. The first (and somewhat easier) option is through a tuning mod. The second way is a point system, listed below.

Point system

Every Sim has a 10% base chance to experience midlife crisis once they age up to adult. Several factors will add up the percentage if Sims encounter them during young adulthood. Below is the factors that may increase the chance of getting a midlife crisis.

• Low career level or unemployment adds 20%
• Getting married early adds 10%
• Never getting married adds 10%
• Having children early adds 10%
• Having skills at level 1 adds 10%
• If the Sim never moved houses, it adds 10%
• For every breakup, 5% is added
• For every divorce, 10% is added
• For every death experienced, 20% is added
• Having a relationship below the midline (in the red) adds 20%
• Having the ambitious or commitment issues traits each add 10%

'Early' means at the beginning of the young adult life stage. Any time after that and the amount of percentage added are less.

During a midlife crisis

The moodlets

These are the moodlets that a Sim will experience when going through a midlife crisis:

Image	Moodlet Name	Mood Effect	Time Period	From	Game Dialog/Description
	Having A Midlife Crisis	No Mood Effect	Varied	Transition from young adult to adult.	A midlife crisis? No... this can't be! Why, it seemed like just last week that (Sim Name) was still getting a student discount at the movies on his/her looks alone. If you fight to recapture your youth, you can still cling to it, right?? He/She has completed X midlife crisis wishes.
	Having A Midlife Crisis	-20	Until all promised midlife crisis wishes are fulfilled.	Having a Midlife Crisis Wish awaiting fulfillment	The weight of responsibility is heavy on your shoulders. It's time to pull yourself away from checking for wrinkles in the mirror and do something about it. Your youth is out there, you just have to keep living it, right? Then why do you feel like you're right on the edge of a nervous breakdown! (Sim Name) has completed X midlife crisis wishes.
	Feeling Alive!	+20	1 Hour	Riding a motorcycle/§50,000+ car during a midlife crisis.	Aww yeah... check out this RIDE! Is it sick or what? That's what the kids are saying these days, right? Sick? Whatever... pedal to the metal baby!

Midlife crisis length

The length of a midlife crisis is the quarter of adult stage lifespan, truncated to the ceiling. In a normal lifespan, a midlife crisis lasts for 6 days. The length will be changed if the player adjusts the lifespan and adult age length in the game option. A Sim who has lifespan multiplier will have the midlife crisis length extended. For example, a vampire will have five times the length, and Sims who have wished for long life from a genie will have twice the length. The midlife crisis will never end for a vampire with Immortal lifetime reward,^{[confirmation needed]} so it is better to get therapy from the hospital to end the crisis.

Midlife crisis wishes

An example of a midlife crisis wish.

Once or twice a day, Sims will get a midlife crisis wish. The wishes look the same as regular wishes, but they have a red starburst background. Players may or may not promise these wishes. Be wary that once the players promise a midlife crisis wish to the Sims, it cannot be cancelled, and will disappear after the midlife crisis is over. Moreover, when a midlife crisis wish has been promised, the midlife crisis moodlet will turn negative until the wish is fulfilled. Wishes may vary from extreme to basic, but some will include getting a divorce, quitting work or moving house.

Having more than one midlife crisis wish promised at the same time does not multiply or decrease the negative mood effect of the moodlet.

Post-midlife crisis

Once Sim's midlife crisis is over, they will get a moodlet depending on how many wishes were fulfilled.

Image	Moodlet Name	Mood Effect	Time Period	From	Game Dialog/Description	Lifetime Happiness Points Gained
	Barely Fulfilled	+10	10 Days	Fulfilling 1 midlife crisis wish.	The past is the past and there's no going back, but that's not to say you got nothing done.	250
	Pleasantly Fulfilled	+20	10 Days	Fulfilling 3 midlife crisis wishes.	(Sim Name)'s feeling large and in charge! She may be headed into the latter half of life, but she can always look back on her youth with a smile.	750
	Supremely Fulfilled	+30	10 Days	Fulfilling 6 midlife crisis wishes.	40 is the new 20! Midlife crisis? Hah... Regrets are for those who haven't lived their life to the fullest, and you've got your best years ahead of you now!	1250

Avoiding midlife crisis

There are currently three known ways to interrupt a midlife crisis in progress.

• Try to make sure the Sim experiences as few events from the percentage system listed above to reduce the chance of a midlife crisis.
• Sims can go to the hospital to "Get Therapy" to cure the in progress crisis. The payment in order to be cured is §2,000.
• Promise the Sim a random midlife crisis wish then get a witch to cast a Sunlight Charm on him/her. This will eliminate the midlife crisis and the wish can thus be cancelled.
• When traveling to Egypt, France, or China, the midlife crisis will be canceled.