How to change Lifetime Wants in The Sims 2

Lifetime Wants were introduced with The Sims 2: University, giving your Sims a lifetime goal to achieve depending on their aspiration. These can range from making large swathes of money and having numerous grandchildren to reaching the top of specific careers.

Sims are automatically assigned a Lifetime Want whenever you select their Aspiration, but sometimes the assigned Lifetime Want just doesn’t work for a selected Sim. There are three ways – both modded and unmodded – for you to change their Lifetime Want, some easier than others. I’ll show you each method and let you know which I prefer for its simplicity and ease of use.

Sim Modder (Unmodded)

The Sim Modder is an in-game object represented by a baby that allows you to change certain aspects of your Sims. You can use it to cycle through ALL of the game’s Lifetime Wants to select one for your Sim, although you will have to manually click the cycle option each time until you can finally assign the Lifetime Want you’d like, which I find to be very time-consuming and annoying.

To spawn the Sim Modder:

1. Hold Shift + Control + C to open the cheat command box
2. Type “boolprop testingcheatsenabled true” in the box without quotation marks
3. Hold Shift and click on a Sim
4. Select Spawn → More → Sim Modder
5. Click on the Sim Modder
6. Select Wants and Fears → Lifetime → Cycle Wants

You’ll need to unpause the game to get the Sim Modder to cycle your Lifetime Want, and the Sim Modder allows you to cycle through all Lifetime Wants, including those out of your Sim’s aspiration. This is a good way to change a Sim’s Lifetime Want without having to mod your game, but I find it the most frustrating and cumbersome as I like my Sims to have Lifetime Wants within their aspiration.

Lifewant Want Chooser (Modded)

The best way to change your Sim’s Lifetime Want is by downloading Lamare’s Lifetime Want Chooser mod, which allows you to quickly select a Lifetime Want from a pop-up window listing all Lifetime Wants either unrestricted or restricted to their Aspiration.

Once installed into your game, just head to Miscellaneous → Miscellaneous and purchase the Dream Catcher. From there, click the object and then choose from Unrestricted or Restricted to select from a list of Lifetime Wants.

Using the Lifetime Want Chooser is the easiest way to change Lifetime Wants. You can download it from Modthesims.com, and it’s compatible with Lamare’s 50 New Lifetime Wants mod, which I highly suggest you download to give your Sims a little more variety.

Sim Blender (Modded)

Another great way of changing a Lifetime Want is by using the Sim Blender, a mod you’ll want to have in your game regardless of Lifetime Wants, since you can use it to teleport Sims, make changes to your Sims age, relationships, skills, talent badges, and plenty more. You can find the Sim Blender on TwoJeffs’ Tumblr.

Once you’ve installed it, head to Miscellaneous → Miscellaneous and purchase the potted ficus. Click it, and then Wants → Cycle My LTW. Unlike the Sim Modder, you do not need to unpause the game to cycle through Lifetime Wants, but you are limited to the Lifetime Wants within your Sim’s aspiration.

I hope this helped you, let me know if there are any other ways of changing your Sim’s Lifetime Want or whether you found this helpful. While here, why not check out my Occult guide to The Sims 2 or find out how to make the game harder. Happy Simming!