The Sims 4 glitch is turning everyone's Sims into total a-holes

(Image credit: EA)

The Sims 4 must have woken up on the wrong side of the bed every day for the last month, because ever since a patch in early October, sims have been a whole lot meaner than usual.

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As noted by SimsCommunity, there's an entire thread on EA's forum dedicated to people flagging how bitchy their Sims have become. It was first flagged on the day of the patch, October 11, with the initial report reading: "My Sims are suddenly incessantly insulting each other autonomously. They are a family that are all good friends, no mischief traits or skills, no previous issues whatsoever. I've never had a sim insult anyone autonomously, and now it happens several times per minute of play."

Yep, it appears that for some reason Sims are deciding to be nasty to each other of their own volition. Usually, without any mischievous or rude traits, you'll have to prod them yourself to get any kind of mean behaviour out of them. It's looking likely due to the Loyal trait that was recently added to the base game. There are now a whopping 81 pages of players also sharing their spiteful Sim stories, with families falling apart and players having to babysit their households' every move as a result. The original post also has over 1,000 people who have hit the "me too" button, signifying they're also experiencing the issue.

After weeks of Sims yelling at each other, insulting each other and picking fights, EA has now acknowledged that the rampant bitchiness is an open issue. A post on the forum thread says the team is "actively working on a fix," which will hopefully arrive sooner rather than later.

I'm more of a builder than a gameplay gal so thankfully haven't dealt with the frustration. But for many it's proven to be a game-breaking bug as relationships are being tanked and negative moodlets and sentiments are piling up. Hopefully, all our Sims grab a bite to eat, have a cosy nap and wake up feeling refreshed and much kinder after a hotfix.

Mollie spent her early childhood deeply invested in games like Killer Instinct, Toontown and Audition Online, which continue to form the pillars of her personality today. She joined PC Gamer in 2020 as a news writer and now lends her expertise to write a wealth of features, guides and reviews with a dash of chaos. She can often be found causing mischief in Final Fantasy 14, using those experiences to write neat things about her favourite MMO. When she's not staring at her bunny girl she can be found sweating out rhythm games, pretending to be good at fighting games or spending far too much money at her local arcade.