Days 29 and 30 of the 30 day Sim challenge

Day 29 - The reason you started playing Sims in the beginning


I avoided Sims 1, heard that it was an addicting and a huge time sink.
Finally got Sims 2 and discovered that it really was addicting. I almost lost interest when I had only the base game but then I got Open for Business and that had just the elements I needed.

Day 30 - The reason you are still a Sims fan today

Sims as a story telling medium and

More than anything else, all of you. The people who comment/read/blog, who share Sims and our stories. I treasure each of you, your posts, your comments and the Sims you share.

Thank you especially Dee, Chrysame, Sue, Kaleeko, MJ, Cheezy, Raisin, Amelia, Felicia and all the lurkers on this blog.

Hello

I just wanted to drop in and tell you all how great the stories still are. They are just so awesome.
I haven't stopped reading. I have read every single one in my email.
@ Pib: The Shrimp had me worried there for awhile. Now I just hope he makes it out of Egypt in one piece.
Such an awesome job there PiB. I've read all, but that is the one that sticks with me right now.

@ Kaleeko: For some strange reason I always really liked Shark. It was rough seeing him lying there like that. What are we going to do with Travis? I hope he makes it out of Lisa's house in one piece. I know that had to be Lisa. Like mother like daughter. I may be wrong but don't think so. Officer Walker has to be Wyatt. It's the eyes.

Love you guys. Keep on writing in all your awesomeness. :)

Also - Welcome Amelia and housekeeping time

I don't think there was ever a welcome Amelia post. Drat. And a very belated Welcome to Amelia

Housekeeping time - is the blog list up to date?
I've just added Amelia's main blog - do you want the Maltese Llama listed yet?
I've added Felicia's blogs.
Any other blogs that need to be removed, added?
Any new widgets we must have?
If anyone want to pretty this up in any way, it's more than time for a makeover.

Welcome Felicia

Our newest contributor
Author of The Braxton Legacy
Venus does Riverview
Sugar and Spice - Fairytales your mother never told you

One of my favorite bits from the Braxton Legacy

 

That's the best way to start your kid's school day off. I know I always loved to come downstairs to find my father writing a romance novel in his underpants - I knew that the day could only be a success from there.

I cannot begin to imagine how many of my Sim kids found parents in their unmentionables first thing in the morning. Most of them survived though.

Day 27 and 28

Day 27 - The cheat you use most commonly and a cheat you rarely/never use



Cheat I most commonly use? Well, I do sometimes change the relationships/relationship bars to get Sims to interact the way I need them to for photos.

Cheats I never use - motherlode or whatever the Sims 3 equal is. My Sims are expected to earn every cent. I did a bit of money fiddling to transfer the pub costs from Phillip Grant to Stephen Grant. But in the end, they had the totals that they deserved, it wasn't to give them a free ride in life.

Day 28 - An expansion pack you wish EA would make

Still hoping for an equal of Open for Business. Or something else that adds a bit more challenge if you want to take it on. But I'll take what they make. :)

Days 24 to 26

Day 24 - A video you made yourself with Sims

Well, that's easy -



It's the only one that's anything like done. Not that it's brilliant, or even terribly well shot but it is a video.

Day 25 - Something that happens in Sims you wish happened in real life

A Sim can go from long hair to short hair to long hair and it's all theirs. Me, if my hair is ever cut short, it's going to be a lifetime to get it back.


Day 26 - Favorite place to download Sims custom content


Still don't do CC. Mostly because I fear the search for CC will turn into this vast time sink - you can spend a lot of time finding just the right hair, clothes, etc. I'd rather spend the time working on the writing, not searching for CC.

Day 23 - The most awesome Sims you’ve ever had without cheating

Gosh um, so tough. Would you believe Sam Grant? LOL

Ok, that statement is a cheat cause there have been a dozen Sammy clones. But the most awesome of all



Indiana Sam. Why is he the most awesome Sam clone of them all?
He and wife Rachel both topped careers.
They had a pile of money.
They had 5 children - including triplets who did well at every life stage at home.
Sam topped several skills; athletics, cooking, and charisma.
He had level 3 visas in all locations.
He lived to over 110 on normal life span.
He had well over 200,000 reward points before he died.

No Sim could ever want a better life or family then he had. All it adds up to awesome in my book.

Your plans for when Generations is released

Before I will install Generations

1. I need to have finished the current short story with Jerod
2. I need to have finished screenshots for my Sam Grant story for SILC - that won't need generations at all - it's going to be a short short. :)
3. I'll be waiting to hear that the main of Twallan's mods are ready - most of them are updated within a week anyway.

After that's all ready, I'll be ready to fling Sam into the Generations and see what he and I can get up to. Obviously, he'll need a mate cause Generations will need kiddies. :)

BTW - What town should I fling Sam into for point 2? SV, Riverview, Twinbrook, or Bridgeport? It's not important to the story but I can start prep work once a decision is made.

Day 22 - The most scandalous thing you’ve done with Sims

In Sims 3? While some people may feel that the resulting family of the first short story is a bit scandalous - my happy little menage a trois were a set of consenting adults who loved each other.
The second short story, a bachelor challenge with a bisexual lead and all the participants hitting on each other at parts might be considered a bit scandalous. But again, they were all consenting adults...
Other than that, I have murdered 6 Sims for a story - still no.

So in Sims 3 - nothing that really registers as scandalous - nothing like the wild and crazy times my Romance Sims had in Sims 2. In Sims 2, I had one Sim after 50 1st dates who would date *anyone*. Toward the end, she seduced the oldest son, his dad and finally the oldest sister in one family (the sister was easiest, she was a friend before) Most of my romance Sims had multiple lovers, quite a lot of them were bi, including Don Lothario.

But the worst household of all was

Ok, this doesn't look too weird does it? The two elderly 'gentlemen' are Ricky and Bill Cormier - Ricky is a Pleasantview teen and Bill (name changes across games) was a standard University student at Academie Le Tour. Both romance, both have many many lovers in town. Male and female.

Ricky's love child Rachel is on the right of the photo. She was left on their doorstep by her maternal granddad as a baby and raised by Ricky and Bill (both splendid parents). The dark haired guy is Theodore, Rachel's husband and father of the toddler Rachel is holding. When he first arrived, both Ricky and Bill kept throwing romantic wants about Theo but they eventually got the idea that he was off limits.

Still not too bad? Well, the other female is Katherine. She's actually a lesbian, but Bill seduced her and got her preggy. Mostly because Bill had been so sweet over such a long time and helped raise two generations of Ricky's bloodline. So Bill has both his spouse and his lover and a illegitimate child in one house.

Did Katherine mind? Not really. Girl had almost zero personality and the guys had been keeping their affections behind closed doors for years because Rachel hated seeing her dad with someone other than her mom (I did fix that eventually.) Katherine's son took after his dad in both personality (good) and looks (very interesting, Bill was a common target for uglacy players.). She did finally move out when her son went to college and settled with some random female she took a fancy too.

I really really need an excuse to do something like this again. THAT is a proper scandalous household.

Day 21 - Something that happened/could happen that made you quit without saving

Basically, just major glitches on the part of the game itself.

I've let Sims die. I've had romances that I didn't like. I have killed Sims that dared romance when I didn't approve :) They get bad jobs, they have kids when I didn't expect them. And I keep going.

Every once in a while, my game throws a glitch that makes me quit without saving. But they have been very rare. Like once Thomas should have died but the Reaper glitched on the lot. So I reset and Thomas lived another few days.

Day 20 -

Hmm, kind of lacking a day 20 - so what's one thing I love about Sims?

Genetics through the generations. It is one of the things I truly love, and one reason I try very very hard to keep the World Adventure game in the original hood. I put a lot of our/Exchange Sims in there. I know the bloodlines of a massive (not all!) number of the Sims roaming around.

I do still add from time to time. During Phillip's time, the Kanes moved in. During Penny's time, the Pesces have moved to town.

If I start rambling too much about Sims no one knows/cares about (I try to keep it to sibs and offspring those sibs of current narrator) just remind me that I am the *only* one who knows them. Thanks. :)

Day 19 - One thing you would change about the game

From my point of view, I'd love it if the game were more challenging to play. A few of the tombs are difficult, if you use the World Adventures. A few of the careers in Ambitions are difficult.

But for the every day stuff. A parent never has to fetch a bottle for a baby, no dirty diapers, no bathing the baby/toddler. The fridge never runs out of base food. A Sim never has to buy clothes or a cell phone. In Sims 2, my just aged to teens always got to celebrate by going to a shop and buying a phone and new clothes. I miss some of that.

Day 18 - The longest family tree

In Sims 2 - I was following three family lines and two of the three had reached gen 5 when I last played.

Family tree document

In Sims 3 - I'm still very slow and so have only reached gen 4 in one save
Sam + Rachel -> Indiana
Indiana + Judy -> Phillip
Phillip + Vanessa -> Penny

I have too many Sims projects to do any of them quickly. :D

Day 17 - Your favorite “special” Sim species

I am officially skipping Day 16. I don't have any background music playing when Simming. Couldn't do it for Sims 2 and never developed the habit with Sims 3.

So my favorite special Sim species

Sims 2 Witch/warlock. They had good and evil versions. Each had unique and potentially useful spells. They could make new objects and potions. It's really the only species that I had multiple individuals and no intention of reverting them.

Second would be the vampires. I've always had a soft spot for vampires and both Sims 2 vampires and Sims 3 have a few interesting features. Plus they don't sparkle in day (not fond of Twilight vampires, I'm old school with my blood suckers.)

Question of the Day - what do you prefer doing with your elders?

My personal preference is that one of their offspring  stay home (or move back home from University in Sims 2). The elders do all the house stuff that needs to be done; cook, clean, garden, babysit. The parents can continue in their careers or pursue a life dream and do the most important part of raising a toddler without having to stress. Multiple generation households means that you can be pretty sure that someone will care for the baby without you having to step in.

I basically never ever have elders living on their own. Nor do I kill them off before their time. It's a holdover from how I played Sims 2 - I rotated between all my households so every one of them had extended or multiple families in it so that I had fewer to play (it was still over 20 by the end). My preference was child move home with parent. If the parents already had one adult offspring living there, second preference was siblings and families living together. If I couldn't manage that, it was down to cousins or good friends from college. :)

I know that is pretty much the way you are supposed to handle a legacy - but that's not the reason I do it. I just like having my elders still being very active in the family.

So what do you do and why?