The Sims 2: FreeTime/Hobby Mechanics

Hobbies organize all the activities in your sim’s life and let them excel at what they love. It helps to understand how hobbies work. This article explains this all.

Gaining Hobby Enthusiasm
Each hobby has ten levels of enthusiasm. These levels are gained by doing activities relating to the hobby (e.g. Painting gives Arts & Crafts enthusiasm and playing soccer gives Sports enthusiasm). Your sim's level of enthusiasm can be viewed in the new hobby sub-panel within the simology panel. Hover over the hobby name to see a description of the hobby and the unlockables within that hobby.

Your sims can also gain enthusiasm by watching another sim do a hobby-related activity. This occurs if both sims are in the same room. Note that this doesn't get sims to level one or any subsequent level, it just helps them their. When they try out the hobby, you'll notice they get to the level quicker than other sims. This applies until they reach level five for a hobby. Once they're there any hobby gaining must come from performing activities themselves.

Speeding Enthusiasm Gain
There are several ways to speed enthusiasm gain for a hobby. First of all, each hobby has a skill tied to it. The level of gain is fixed on three levels. Having five or more skill points for the correct skill increases gain by 25% and having 8 or more points increases gain by 50%.

Secondly, having an interest in hobby-related topics also speeds enthusiasm gain. Being interested in Food increases Cuisine enthusiasm gain. Interests are not as strong as skill gain but still gives you an advantage. Five or more interest points increase gain by 20% and eight or more points increase gain by 33%.

Finally, all sims are created with a natural flair for a certain hobby. This is called the predestined hobby. This hobby may seem random but it can be decided indirectly. Part of the way of choosing is based on your sim’s personality. This personality is usually related to the skill booster. So if you've got an active sim, their predestined hobby is more likely to be Sports or Fitness. The second method of determining the hobby is the sim’s interests. The interests your sims have at the time of installing the expansion pack in conjunction with the sim’s personality decides the hobby. Because sim’s interests are randomly generated at birth, you won't be able to have as much control over sims created in-game. You'll know what a sim’s predestined hobby is by looking in the hobby panel. The highlighted hobby is the one your sim is good at. If none of the hobbies are highlighted, it means that your sim hasn't found his or her true passion yet. Participating in a variety of activities should unlock the hobby.

Decay
Enthusiasm decays over time. As well, the higher your level is, the faster you decay. So, if you want to keep a sim in level 10 of a hobby, make sure that that sim performs activities relating to the hobby. When your loses part of a hobby, a pop-up will warn you about it. If you want your sim to enjoy that hobby, heed the warning. Hobby decay doesn't happen on these lots, however. These lots don't build enthusiasm either. Secret Hobby Lots, however, do. That's just one of their many benefits.
 * Community Lots
 * Vacation Lots that haven't been checked in
 * Secret Societies
 * Secret Vacation Lots

Hobby Unlockables
Each hobby has several unlockables. While some are related to the hobby, others are universal to all hobbies.

Level 1
When sims reach level one, they gain the Talk About Hobby social which lets them discuss their new-found enthusiasm in the hobby. If there are multiple hobbies at that level, then you can choose the hobby to talk about.

Level 2
Sims now unlock a section of the newspaper related to their hobby. Multiple hobbies allow for more sections to read. It also helps to know which hobby corresponds to which section. For example, the Entertainment section corresponds to Games, not Music & Dance. Luckily, the hobby panel tells you what section corresponds to what hobby. You may also get a visit from a hobby member, congratulating you and telling you to keep up your enthusiasm to gain membership to a special club.

Level 3
Sims start to dream about their hobby. The main unlock, however comes from being able to subscribe to magazines. To subscribe, initiate a call on the new Subscribe to Magazine menu on the phone. From there, choose the hobby, if there are multiple hobbies and then click on yes. The magazine will then be delivered weekly. Each magazine is delivered on a certain day of the week along with the paper. Hobby magazines also can only be read a certain amount of times. After that, they have to be disposed of. Hobby magazines can also be placed for sale if you own Open for Business.

Level 4
The next benefit comes from your home computer. Before, you could gain enthusiasm by reading newspapers and magazines. Now you have a new medium for gaining enthusiasm. You'll now notice the Browse the Web interaction that lets you gain further enthusiasm. The more you browse the web, the more enthusiasm you gain.

Level 5
Level 5 doesn't have an obvious benefit for some hobbies but it is in fact, the level at which you gain hobby membership. Once you reach that level, a sim from the club comes to your house, greets your sim and presents you with a membership card. This card gives you access to the secret lot, even if your enthusiasm drops to 0. What's more, you can take anyone with you to the lot and enjoy all of its facilities. The guests you take with you can also gain enthusiasm on the lot. You can get to the lot by any means; taxi, driving, walking. Once you're there, your greeted by the member and have access to all the objects there. When you get back, you'll see that no time has passed, just like community lots allowing you to gain extra enthusiasm in the time your sims have.

Level 6
Share Hobby Tips is the next benefit. However, it isn't plainly obvious at first. First of all, you need a second sim. Next the second sim must be using a proper object. When the sim is using the correct object, click on him or her and select this interaction. This interaction, however isn't available on all hobby objects.

Level 7
Level 7 gives you another computer interaction. But instead of searching about the hobby, you're telling other people about the hobby. This time, your sims can blog about the hobby. Choosing which hobby to blog about is just like choosing the newspaper section to read about or which hobby to talk about.

Level 8
Level 8 only gives some hobbies unlockables. Others don't have any. However there are two features of hobbies you should be aware of. Gaining enthusiasm in a hobby gives sims opportunities for chance cards. These chance cards appear, during both school and work. Their benefits include hobby membership before level 5 and extra hobby gain. Their loses include work-related losses and hobby decay.

The next feature you should be aware of are mannerisms. Each hobby has a mannerism that sims perform while looking for something to do and these mannerisms increase as you gain more enthusiasm. As well, sims will be more inclined to do activities relating to their hobby. e.g. If a Music & Dance sim is forced to choose between playing the piano and painting at an easel, he or she'll more likely go for the piano. These helps you gain further enthusiasm autonomously. Don't rely on it though. Sims primarily go for their needs.

Level 9
Sims now have the Instruct in interaction at this level. Usually because this is so high up, you only get one choice for this interaction. There are however some other prerequisites that must be met for this hobby. The only exception to this rule is that hobby leaders always can instruct. In fact, sims of any level can ask the hobby leaders for instruction in the hobby.
 * 1) The recipient must have done this hobby before.
 * 2) The recipient must be below level 7.

Level 10
Level 10 unlocks being in the Zone You know a sim is in the zone by the white glow around him or her. As well some hobbies have some special audio effects that make you feel absorbed in the hobby. Being in the zone slows down need decay allowing your sims to do any activity relating to the hobby for longer, they can play piano longer, birdwatch longer, paint longer, any activity that relates to the hobby. Finally, to commerate reaching this level, the hobby leader will present your sim with a plaque for their devotion to the hobby. This plaque is gold and has the hobby icon on it. It can be placed on the wall just like any hobby object or it can be sold.