With a game as open as The Sims 3, you're liable to run into bugs. And I don't just mean the ones you can collect, name, and sell to the Science Center, Animal Crossing-style. I mean the ones like the phantom fireplace that's been keeping my sim cozy. Of course, with a game as open as The Sims 3, you're also liable to not understand what's going on and make assumptions about bugs.

Which, as you'll see after the jump, is exactly what I did.

Okay, so here's the moodlet window from the lower left corner of the screen, with the tooltip you get when you hold the cursor over one of the icons:

It shows all the positive and negative effects that influence your sim's mood. The six moodlets currently affecting Harlan Whyte are as follows, from the top left:

• Filthy Surroundings, -30 mood. It's Harlan's day off. He hasn't really been cleaning. There are dirty plates of pancakes all over the house. And his girlfriend is playing computer games instead of cleaning up. What a slacker.
• Humiliated, 15 mood. Nothing like getting in a fight to bum you out for a while. This is going to last for a couple of hours. Again, I blame the psycho girlfriend.
• Disgusted, -5 mood. So it turns out the leftover pancakes didn't keep very well.
• Very Fulfilled, +75 mood. This almost single-handedly explains why Harlan's mood bar is nearly filled to the brim, and has been for the last several days. He finally fulfilled his lifetime wish, a goal that you set when you create a sim. For Harlan, this was to reach the top of the science career.
• Having a Blast, +40 mood. This is left over from what Harlan and his psycho girlfriend did before they had an argument. I don't want to get too explicit, so I'll just say it's a six-letter word that starts with "W".
• Flattered, +10 mood. Okay, so not everything in the last conversation/argument with his psycho girlfriend went awry.

But wait, that's not all. As you can see from the little arrow, there are more moodlets lower down:

Again, from the top left:

• Decorated, +5 mood. Harlan has some pretty nice furniture. And a houseplant. And a $900 painting.
• Fascinated, +10 mood. The tooltip says this is "From Contemplating Interesting Object", which must be something Harlan did on his own while I wasn't paying attention. I'm not sure what fascinating object did this. Perhaps Harlan's scientifically enhanced laptop? Perhaps the little gnome statue Harlan found while he was fishing, which now lives out in the garden? Or perhaps the psycho girlfriend herself? The tooltips are mostly good, but they don't always tell to the whole story.
• Enjoying Music, +10 mood. As long as Harlan is in the same room as his stereo, and as long as it's turned on, he gets this bonus.
• Squeaky Clean, +10 mood. This last for a couple of hours after a nice long shower or bath.
• Cozy Fire, +5 mood. More on this in a second.
• Comfy, +5 mood. This always happens when a sim is sitting down, but the actual bonus depends on the chair or couch. The + rating adds 5 points to mood, the ++ rating adds 20 points to mood, and the +++ rating adds 30 points to mood. But it only lasts as long as the sim is seated. However, since sims in a better mood learn faster, it behooves you to get a fancy reading chair or couch.

So what's the deal with the cozy fire? Harlan Whyte has no fireplace in his house. Neither is anything burning. I checked. The moodlet seemed permanent, and it affected Harlan wherever he went. I figured it was a bug. These things happen. But then it was mysteriously gone. Later, it was back. Stupid inconsistent bugs.

Of course, I was the dummy for not looking more closely at the tooltip. As you can see, it clearly says the Cozy Fire moodlet comes "From Flame Fruit". Harlan keeps a garden, which helps develop a skill he needs to advance up the science career track. When I give him the order to Tend Garden, he putters around for a while, weeding, watering, and harvesting as needed. Occasionally, I sell all the harvested food for money.

Among the plants in the garden is a Flame Fruit bush. Once Harlan has harvested a Flame Fruit, carrying it around gives him the Cozy Fire moodlet bonus. Sending Harlan to the grocery store to sell all his fruits and vegetables naturally sells all his Flame Fruit as well. So long as he keeps one in his pocket, it's exactly enough of a boost to offset, say, eating spoiled pancakes.

Tomorrow: Find out why scientists have dirty knees.
(Click here for the previous Sims 3 game diary.)