#i didn’t like the look of ts3 so i never really played it

[fingertipsmp3]

You wouldn’t last an hour in the asylum where they raised me (the sims 1&2. And I’m talking to people who have only played ts4)

[amuhav]

Get to Know Me - Sims Style

tagged by @dandylion240 (if anyone else did too I’m sorry, I’m not seeming to get notifs for tags rn???)

tagging @keibea​ because we need more TS3 rep in tag games like this tbh.

What’s your favorite Sims death?

Old age. Because it means my sim actually made it that far and I just love seeing their life play out. Some of the more quirky, simsy ones are great though. Death by Jellybean or Cowplant come to mind lol.

Alpha CC or MaxisMatch?

I... really don’t like the TS4 MM aesthetic 😅 I really don’t like the clay hair look for my own sims, though think some people do wonderful things with it, and I do like certain Maxis Mix styles, good skin details with clay hair, certain stylised MM styles etc. but the default TS4 clay look is literally why I never moved over to TS4 in the first place, and it took too long for the Alpha scene to really take off in the beginning, so by the time there was enough CC for me to feel I would ever want to jump in, it felt too overwhelming to even try moving to essentially a new medium.

For TS3... I also am not a huge fan of the straight “MM” look either, though I think the distinction is less prominent as it is in TS4. You can easily make most “MM” stuff fit in an “alpha” game simply because they aren’t usually full-on clay the way TS4 MM is, they’re just not quite as detailed as full “alpha” CC. Whereas the other way around isn’t quite as true, intricately detailed alpha stuff might look out of place if most of your other content is vanilla or MM. So I think as well as preferring the aesthetic, I like the flexibility a more “alpha” leaning style can bring.

Do you cheat your sims weight?

Storywise, characters are obviously whatever size I make them lol. 

Uh. I don’t know about weight, because I don’t think any of my sims have put on a lot of weight during gameplay. I have definitely cheated muscle levels though. Traumatic flashbacks to Loch suddenly getting BULKED whilst I was letting him run free during Riv’s BC. Absolutely not you little twink.

Do you move objects?

For gameplay, I used to try to minimise doing so just cos it breaks so much routing and stuff. Now I don’t play so I go nuts with MOO. Who needs working doors or stairs or beds anyway?

Favourite Mod?

So many mods for TS3 are kinda essential to even be able to run the game lol, like almost the entire NRAAS suite. I think I’ll have to go with the Remove Stencil mod though, cos being able to undo EA’s weird obsession with shiny clothes by removing the specular is honestly so lifechanging LOL. no more shiny wool jumpers or oil slick jeans 🥰

First Expansion/Game Pack/Stuff Pack?

My first TS3 expansion was Ambitions, because I skipped World Adventures, in fact, I think it was one of the last expansions I bought lol. 

Believe it or not, I do actually own one EP, one GP, and one SP for TS4 lmao, back when I thought maybe, just MAYBE. the game might get better, and I was still trying so damn fuckin hard to force myself to enjoy the actual gameplay. So I have Get to Work, but don’t even ask me what the other two are because I haven’t a fuckin’ clueeeee. 

Do you pronounce live mode like aLIVE or LIVing?

...It just occurred to me maybe it is meant to be “LIV” mode because it’s... like. Living mode. Like, Alive Mode doesn’t make sense. But my brain won’t accept it. doesn’t sound right. Always been “LIVE” mod to me lol.

Who’s your favourite sim that you’ve made?

Oh, jeez. Uhhh, I can’t *really* claim most of my current legacy sims because I didn’t make them, they were born in-game, even if I have tweaked the hell out of them in recent years. So if we’re going for physical appearance, I wanna say actually maybe Sylvie for my TS3 sims? She took so long to get just right, especially because TS3 doesn’t really do curvier sims quite as well as TS4, especially not without a fuck ton of sliders, and I had a really specific look to her face in mind that took forever to get right, had to blend her a custom skin etc. But I am finally super happy with her cute lil sassy round face 🥰 Close runners up are probably Qu or Edge.

God, I’m gonna get so fucking shot for this but here goes. Physically, my fave TS4 sims I’ve made are actually both of Tay’s brothers, Ethryon and Ailos, and also probably father, Qariel. I think because I had a little more experience with using TS4 CAS by the time I got to them, more sliders, more skin details, just generally a fuck ton more CAS CC by then, and more time to tweak them etc. As much as Tay will always be my favourite sim OVERALL... yeah. plznoonekillmebye

Have you made a simself?

Ye. I used to update her like. all the timeee too, whenever I got a new haircut etc. And, ofc, Havoc was my alter ego so she’s like. simself adjacent lol.

Which is your favorite EA hair color?

God I hate EA’s hair colours in TS3. their blondes are so yellow, the highlights don’t blend well etc. always make my own. TS4 hair colours make me want to actually die, but then again, I hate the clay hair and cartoony colours of vanilla TS4 anyway, so.

Favourite EA hair?

Favourite life stage?

Young Adult, with Teens a close second. You can do the most with the YA age, but the chaos of teenage years are real fun too lol.

Are you a builder or are you in it for the gameplay?

I literally can’t play lmao. I have too much CC in TS3 for it to run well enough to play, and TS4... is it even possible to play TS4? joking joking... mostly. I’m in it for the story.

Are you a CC creator?

No. Never. I do not have a CC page I abandoned whatsoever no idea what you’re talking about goodbye. 💀

Do you have any Simblr friends or a Sim Squad?

RBSB represent. 

No I hate everyone equally.

@lazysunjade and @thesimperiuscurse have no choice but to be talked at by me every day. I’m inescapable. 

Do you have any sims merch?

I actually had the TS3 Collectors edition that came with the Plumbob USB and I was devastated when it got broken. Like legitimately heart broken lol. 

Miss her so much I just want her back

Do you have a YouTube for sims?

Ew.

How has your “Sims style” changed throughout your years of playing?

I used to try so hard to stick to whatever gameplay threw at me, following the actual legacy rules, not editing sims etc, all to the detriment of my actual enjoyment of storytelling. Now I care maybe a little too much about how posts look that I get into a rut of not posting oops bye 💀

What’s your origin id?

Probably the same as my username here lol, but I avoid origin at all costs so couldn’t tell you for sure tbh.

Who’s your favorite CC creator?

Oh, way too many to choose. For sims 3 CAS stuff, the still active converters like @rollo-rolls, @vmsims23, @simtanico etc. for build and clutter stuff @kerriganhouse, and @martassimsbookcc for conversions. Honestly, I’m kinda out of the loop atm, but there’s just way too many good creators.

How long have you had simblr?

uh. since 2015, I think? let’s not dwell on it 💀

How do you edit your pictures?

Dunno how to answer this? Photoshop, I guess lol? 

What expansion/ gamepack is your favorite?

It used to be pets, cos I loved having animals in the game. Now I always forget they exist oop lol. Probably Supernatural. 

[orphyd]

questions if you're bored cause i love your screens and wanna know more about

have you ever played sims 3?

if yes why did you switched to the sims 4?

pros cons about both games and whatever else you'd like to ramble about

I played TS3 from around release until about when City Living came out for TS4 but I think I never fully immersed myself in it because y’know my family never really owned the software necessary for it to not be horribly laggy so I don’t have the same kind of attachment to TS3 as I do to TS4 also as much as I love other aspects of TS3 I despise the CAS and it’s really hard for me to attached to sims that I don’t really love the look of one day I’ll most likely return to TS3 when I feel like setting all my mods up in it but I do enjoy TS4! I didn’t play it for a while after release cause I’ve done that with every sims game (it took me forever to switch from TS2) but I’ve come to enjoy what this community has done with it and that’s mostly why I keep playing :)

[nihilismtrcit]

I don't want to say TS3 is better than TS4 but it's fun and sooooo chaotic. A lot less predictable than TS4.

so I was BIG into ts2 and then when ts3 released I really didn’t like the look of the sims so I just…never played it lmao. but I’ve been told it’s really quite good and super fun!!! so i kinda wanna find out how to 🏴‍☠️ it

[aspl1tl1fe]

So I actually have 13 extra shots from this encounter that I didn’t use for the story. Here I posted my favorites and have confined the rest to the dungeons of my picture folder.

The first two are me playing around with shots and angles. Which is something I really wish I could do with TS3′s photography skill. Currently I struggle with both that and the still life option for painting. I just can never get it to capture anything I actually want, and it just makes me anxious and disappointed in the end.

The second to last shot looks a bit more tender than I decided to go with for the woohoo session, so I dropped it in the main posts. I’m posting it here because I think Conquer’s hand on his own thigh looks funny like he’s trying to hide a muscle cramp…. it’s so real life woohoo.

That last shot looks very stereotypically romantic to the point of parody. As I am the one who set everything up, I don’t know whether to be worried that I’ve super internalized Red Book tropes or proud that I can reveal in this level of absurdity… maybe I’ll bring this up to my therapist when I need to distract her from something I don’t actually want to address, lol.

----

If you saw this post for a split second yesterday at almost 2300, It’s because I mistook it for something that was supposed to post Thursday, panicked and hit post now. Then I panicked again, deleted.... and now we’re here.

[capygarden]

Sims in Bloom Legacy Challenge for TS3 (◕ᴗ◕✿)

Hello! I really liked playing this legacy challenge in TS4 but found it wasn’t converted to TS3, so I decided to do it myself hehe. Granted I didn’t look that thoroughly (...hehe...) so I do apologise if this has already been converted before! It’s not an exact copy, of course - there are things TS3 doesn’t have that TS4 has and vice versa, but I tried my best to stay true to the original TS4 rules, with a little bit of my own flair sprinkled in hehe. I am play testing this right now, so if there are any problems with this please let me know!

NOTE: As I’m still playtesting this, the rules are subject to change. Obviously if it’s too late to max a skill/complete a rule I added afterwards, you’re not obligated to do it! Sometimes the ideas don’t come to you until way later, and unfortunately I only have one brain cell :’)

Original TS4 rules can be found here. All credits go to @a-sims-garden for the original, I just converted it! ✿

GENERAL RULES

Complete the assigned aspiration and skills for each generation - career is optional if you have completed the aspiration and vice versa, You can complete both if you’re up to it!

There are two colours associated with every generation. These may be used for genetics (berry/banilla), or just clothes and house decor if that isn’t your kinda thing!

This was part of the rules of the original challenge but honestly I’m gonna ignore it, but if you want the extra challenge, here you go: Start each generation with a small house/apartment and 1000 simoleons. If you want to make the challenge harder, you can start each generation on an empty lot with 0 simoleons (rags to riches style!)

Play on any lifespan you wish, but short is not recommended. (I personally play on normal, long if I’m feeling edgy)

For some gens, there are only three to four traits assigned; the rest will be up to you!

I would love to see gameplay of this in TS3! If you want, @ me or use #s3ib or #Sims3InBloom (hehehehe) (◕ ɔ ◕✿)

Gen 1: Daisy (white, yellow)

Gardening has always been your passion. Owning a large, healthy garden is all you’ve ever wanted in life, even if your nails constantly have soil under them and you have so many broken pots you’ve lost count. However, as with many things, gardening also requires a pretty good grasp on the technical, science-y side of things! You find both to be rewarding - best of both worlds, right? You sit and wonder what your family will grow to do, and hope that they will flourish just as beautifully as your garden has. This is the start of your family legacy!

Aspiration: The Perfect Garden

Traits: Eco-Friendly, Clumsy, Loves the Outdoors, Green Thumb, Loner

Career: Gardening

Skills: Gardening, Science (for a PlantSim)

Try not to buy ingredients from the fridge/grocery store often - grow your own produce, go fishing, etc. 

Grow a PlantSim baby

Grow 5 perfect plants

Marry a Sim who shares the ‘Loves the Outdoors’ Trait

Gen 2: Buttercup (yellow, green)

From a young age you’ve always loved animals of all kinds, but you’ve always had a special connection with cats. You spent your childhood playing in your parents’ garden, bonding with stray cats that would wander onto the lot. As a teen you were gifted a laptop for your birthday and you spent most of your time attached to it, always playing video games. As an adult, your love for both video games and cats persisted. While you want to raise a child with love and care like you were, ‘romance’ and ‘marriage’ aren’t things you’re really interested in.

Aspiration: The Cat Herder

Traits: Cat Person, Unflirty, Computer Whiz, Genius

Career: Medicine (pretend you’re a vet)

Skills: Logic, Handiness

Be part of the Nerd social group. Reach the highest level if you can.

Always own at least 3-4 cats - adopting strays is highly recommended!

Never get into a relationship or marry (you can attempt to date for fun but they never work out)

Adopt at least 1 child

Gen 3: Lavender (lilac, dark purple)

You were adopted by your loving parent into a small family, and so you’ve never been much of a people person. Keeping to yourself in your room you discovered your love of inventing, and of course playing your beloved violin. You spend a lot of time on your inventions because every single one has to be perfect!

Aspiration: Monster Maker

Traits: Loner, Perfectionist, Eccentric, Virtuoso

Career: Inventor

Skills: Inventing, Violin (or any instrument you have)

Be part of the Ballet Club as a child and Music Club as a teen, where you pick up violin

Be BFFs with a pet as a child and/or teen

Only have one best friend as a child/teen, and eventually fall in love and marry them

Have a very cluttered house filled with your little inventions - and when you have kids, make all their toys!

Have very high relationships with your entire family and maintain them

 Gen 4: Rose (red, black)

Growing up surrounded by clutter made you crave a brand new scenery, so when you aged up you moved to the big city of Bridgeport to get away from your old home. You crave connection with others, unlike your fairly introverted parent, and so seek to forge many relationships through the wonderful medium of social media!

Aspiration: Super Popular

Traits: Schmoozer, Artistic, Athletic

Career: Blogger (+ any of your choosing bc my dumb ass only just realised this isn’t an actual ts3 career)

Skills: Charisma, Social Networking

Move to Bridgeport (or any city with apartments) and live in an apartment or penthouse for the entirety of your adulthood

Master the social networking skill

Meet your future spouse using the SimFinder app

Have at least 5 best friends (preferably met through online dating/SimFinder)

Gen 5: Forget-me-not (light blue, yellow)

There’s just something satisfying about knowing all eyes are on you. You were born to be in the spotlight; from a young age, you showed great talent in the performing arts! You dream of becoming famous, attending celebrity parties, and owning a large spotless house! But, of course, fame comes at a great cost - if it means you’ll be famous, you’ll even sacrifice the relationship you have with your children...

Aspiration: Superstar Actor

Traits: Commitment Issues, Natural Born Performer, Neat, Perfectionist

Career: Film (Actor Branch)

Skills: Charisma, any music skill 

Be part of the Music Club as a teen

Marry a Shy Sim

When you become a 3-star celebrity, throw a party at least once a week

When you become a 4-star celebrity, divorce your current partner and marry a co-worker

Become a 5-star celebrity

Have a poor relationship with your child/children

 Gen 6: Sakura/cherry blossom (pink, brown)

Witnessing your parents’ troubled marriage, knowing your world could be turned upside down any day…you vowed to never let your children suffer through the same childhood you did, and marry someone you genuinely loved. You spent a lot of time with your pet dog as a child, a distraction from the troubles at home and the constant hovering presence of the paparazzi. You dreamed of a quiet life without fame and fortune, growing old with the one you love.

Aspiration: Surrounded by Family

Traits: Dog Person, Hopeless Romantic, Neurotic, Nurturing

Career: Culinary

Skills: Cooking, Painting

Marry your first love

Always own a dog - have high relationships with all dogs you own

Go on a date at least once a week

Paint a painting for every room of your house

Have a mix of biological and adopted children (your decision to consider adopted children as heir or not!)

Gen 7: Tulip (orange, red)

You’re a wine connoisseur - you love all things nectar, and can tell good wine from bad with just a look. How, at your young age? Uhh… next question! Good nectar begins with good grapes. So you move out into the countryside to live in the middle of nowhere, determined to start a nectar collection all nectar enthusiasts would die for.

Aspiration: Bottomless Nectar Cellar

Traits: Vegetarian, Good, Snob

Career: None

Skills: Nectar Making, Handiness

Join the Scouts as a child

Move to a “rural” town - up to you which one, not really sure if any TS3 EPs comes with a rural town like Henford-on-Bagley lol (I believe Riverview is kind of a rural-ish town?)

Do not get a job

Earn money by selling nectar, and maybe some of your produce!

 Gen 8: Lily (white, green)

As a child you had an overactive imagination and were obsessed with the supernatural. However, even as an adult, this fascination with the arcane hasn’t waned. Determined to prove that your efforts to investigate supernaturals won’t be fruitless, you move to notoriously spooky Moonlight Falls in search of concrete answers.

Aspiration: Mystic Healer

Traits: Bookworm, Insane, Genius, Supernatural Fan

Career: None - sell your elixirs!

Skills: Logic, Alchemy

Be turned into a witch as soon as you move to Moonlight Falls

Earn money by selling your elixirs at the consignment store - you can have part time jobs but they never really work out

Live in Moonlight Falls your whole adult life

Have at least 1 friend of each supernatural species

Marry a werewolf, who helps you find ingredients for alchemy ;)

 Gen 9: Pansy (purple, yellow)

You were surrounded by trees for your entire childhood, and so you’ve always craved a change of scenery. You’ve never seen the ocean, until you spontaneously decide to move to the far off land of Isla Paradiso! Relaxing on the sand, immersed in island culture, partying till the sun comes up - what could be better? 

Aspiration: Grand Explorer

Traits: Lazy, Loves to Swim, Virtuoso, Party Animal

Career: Self-Employed Diver - but don’t work that often!

Skills: Guitar, Diving

Live on a houseboat

Fall in love with a merperson, but wait until you’re an elder to marry them

Host a party (pool party in summer, juice kegger...whatever floats your boat! pun intended) at least once a week

Earn some extra cash by playing for tips

 Gen 10: Hydrangea (dark blue, pink)

While your parent was content with spending all day relaxing on the beach, you’ve always had larger ambitions. The quaint island life is not for you, so as soon as you can you apply for university to build a reputable career for yourself. However, you’ve always found joy in things other people may think are childish, which may distract you from your career from time to time. You dream of living in a large house filled with love and family.

Aspiration: Mansion Baron

Traits: Ambitious, Family Oriented, Childish, Workaholic

Career: Any

Skills: Writing, Charisma 

Graduate University and earn the necessary degree for your career

Marry a sim who also has the Childish trait

Have at least 4 children

Help your children with homework as much as possible (or all the time!) 

[OPTIONAL] Gen 11: Death flower (dark red, white)

You’ve always known you were different from everyone else. Your siblings were always nice to you and had ambitions to do good in the world, but you were born with no such morals. You hear legends of powerful vampires, with inhuman strength and living for multiple lifetimes. You want that power, and will stop at nothing to get it.

Aspiration: Emperor of Evil

Traits: Evil, Kleptomaniac, Snob, Brooding

Career: Criminal

Skills: Mixology

Narrowly escape death twice. Have a loved one (the only one you love and who understands you #emo) revive you using a magic lamp!

After you die the first time, search high and low for a death flower. This can be obtained through various means...

Get turned into a vampire after your second time dying - fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me!

Always drink from sims, never plasma

Turn at least 5 sims into vampires

That’s all folks! Let me know how you go~ ✿

Last Edit: 18 November 2022 (changed gen 6 LTW)

[nectar-cellar]

Reminiscing about The Sims

Share how you discovered the Sims franchise & the very first sims game you played (e.g ts2). 

Thank you for tagging me @nocturnalazure !

Long, meandering post ahead 😂

Have some spicy pictures of Amir to make up for it. He’s thinking. It’s on theme.

@thesimperiuscurse you are responsible for pic 1 btw

The very first Sims game I ever played was The Sims 3, on the Xbox 360 console, when I was a teenager. Back then, TS3 was one of the bigger and newer EA games of the time, and it was everywhere. I spent hours in front of the TV, playing my households with no CC or DLC, wrapped up in my own imagination, no consideration for picture-taking, nothing! Just pure self-indulgent fun. I wasn’t a PC gamer and I had no idea CC or Simblr even existed. It was a much simpler time.

I think it was around the final year of high school when I first stumbled across sims CC somewhere on the internet. (Someone had posted screenshots of their very attractive male sim, that I do remember. Explains a lot doesn’t it?) I can’t remember the exact time. It might have been on my personal Tumblr account (all my friends had one and we thought we were so cool) or even Google Images lmao. My mind was blown. I never knew you could make hot sims. I immediately bought a Sims 3 CD and installed it on my Dad’s laptop. The PC version of TS3 was so much better. That was also when I started a Simblr, to follow others and share my own pics... this very same one!

After I discovered CC and Simblr, I never played the game the same way ever again. My interest shifted to character creation and ~fashion~ I guess. The endless amount of simspiration and CC spoiled me and ruined my appreciation for the game in its untouched form. I wanted my sims, my builds, my pictures, everything to look perfect, and I was never satisfied. I viewed my game and my content through other people’s eyes, not my own.

I remember being so in awe of everyone else on here. At the time, I only had the base game, I didn’t know how to torrent anything, my Dad’s laptop could barely run the game, I didn’t have money to buy dlc, and I had no idea how to make any kind of CC other than the simplest graphic edits. All I really did was make sims and pose them for photoshoots. Obsessively downloaded a shit ton of other people’s CC. Wrote a little bit here and there. Played my household once in a blue moon. Everyone else, with their cliques and fun legacies and bachelorette challenges and CC creations and intricate builds and amazing editing, seemed so much cooler than me. There were so many different websites and forums and blogs. The TS3 player base was huge. I was amazed by all of it. I couldn’t believe we were all playing the same game. I couldn’t believe people were so creative and talented. It was an odd mixture of admiration, envy, and feeling like an outsider compared to the “big” Simblrs of the time.

I made some simple cc here and there to contribute to the community, but I didn’t know what I was doing and I didn’t take it seriously. I wanted to create better things but it all seemed so complicated, and I didn’t think I was smart enough to learn.

Then, I went off to university. Away from my Dad’s laptop, I lost interest in the game, and became preoccupied with other life things and other console games. I wasn’t really around for the release of The Sims 4. I was busy, and it just didn’t have the same magic. For a few years, I didn’t even log into this Tumblr account. I didn’t pick up TS3 again until right before the pandemic happened, on a nostalgic whim. 

When I first started posting again in 2019/2020, I didn’t expect much. A lot of my previous Simblr mutuals/friends were no longer here. Every post on my dashboard was about TS4. Most of my followers from years ago were no longer active. There were only a few familiar faces left. It was lonely, coming back here only to see how everyone had moved on, and I was nobody. But still, the game was just as fun as I remembered it, with years’ worth of new CC to check out, so I kept playing and posting and catching up on all I had missed, and slowly I started finding community again.

Now that I’m a bit older, I find myself appreciating the game a lot more, in ways I couldn’t before. The beautiful scenery. The open world. The Create-a-Style tool. The maxis-match aesthetic. The humor. The dated yet charming look of the clothes and the townies and the worlds. The time in my life when the game was still new.

I also feel like it’s easier and less stressful to participate in the community now that I have a little bit more maturity than when I was 18. It feels freer and more fun. When I read posts by simmers talking about how they feel like their content is not good enough, or comparing themselves to others, I feel sad. I used to feel the same way. But being “good” at Simblr/social media, and having fun with the game (in whichever way you define fun), are two very different things. I hope that makes sense. It took me some time to learn how to not let comparison steal my joy, and give myself permission to just do what I wanted to do, regardless of whether other people might like it or not. When I look back on my older posts, I feel like I’ve grown so much, both as a simmer and a person.

Well, maybe I haven’t changed that much. I still love my hot pixel men.

I’m so glad I came back to Simblr. My simming hobby has turned into a much bigger thing than I ever thought it would. I mean, I learned how to make CC that other people like? I’ve made so many new connections? My sims have become OCs I’m attached to? I see the TS3 community being revived again as EA drives TS4 into the ground more and more each day? Who would’ve guessed 😆 

I love this game, I love the creativity it inspires in me, and I love the wonderful people that make up this little corner of the internet. ✨💛

[lickingyellowpaint]

THE SIMS 3 IS BEAUTIFUL AS FUCK.

I’ve only ever played TS4, and I’ve played it for a long time. But after 24 hours having this game, I think I’m in love, and maybe possibly may come to prefer it.

Here’s why I’m so pleasantly surprised:

1) The graphics are infinitely better than I expected. In many ways, they’re more realistic to me than TS4, and many items look close to what I seek out in alpha cc in TS4. It just looks good. Less cartoony. I’m really digging these towns.

2) Okay, now I understand why those who’ve played both games complain that TS4 doesn’t have enough lots. TS3 has so many, sometimes it’s hard to find your own gotdang house. With the open world aspect, it’s very cool to have so big a town to wander. (And the vehicles are fun. Sim go zoom!)

3) THE UNIVERSITY. No idea why, but I hated TS4′s DU pack. Played it for two game days and got tired of it and never touched it again. FOR WHATEVER REASON, I’m happy putting my TS3 guy through his classes. I am charmed by it. (He passed first term with all A’s, wahoo.) And I think it’s very cute that the game automatically gives Sims a day post-term to relax and make goodbyes, etc., and automatically takes them back to their hometown. Maybe I’m fascinated because I didn’t do the college thing myself? I dunno. Either way, I find the university campus gorgeous, and I am gonna get this lil homie through his courses.

4) The horses! The DEER! 😍 The pet squirrel! That Sims can just carry around in their pocket. 😭

5) D r u m s  - need I say more?

There are definitely some downsides to the game. Different towns being different saves, Sims unable to visit between towns aside from vacations, inability to switch households when someone’s in university, things like that that were obviously adjusted in the making of TS4. (And that I might be wrong about, given I’m still learning the game - tips and cheats appreciated.) I also haven’t been able to find quite as many mods/cc that appeal to me as I have for TS4 (and so many mods being older, lots of dead links in looking.)

But... yeah, this exceeded my TS4-snob expectations. It’s pretty great.

So is that banana sundae couch from the Katy Perry collection, ngl.

[fellowstrangetownappreciator]

Curious and autistic-coded

Hello there! April draws to an end and with that I think it’s high time to hurry up and write this. What does April have to do with anything, you ask? April is the Autism Acceptance Month. So what better month to do this?

Unfortunately I didn’t make it. I failed. It’s already 1. 5. when I’m posting this. But at least I tried to deliver on time.

In this mini essay I’ll present my case about why I think the Curious brothers from TS2 Strangetown display autistic-coded traits and my personal takes on it.

It’s basically your average headcanon post but with a funny top hat!

0: Preface: What do I mean by “autistic-coded”?

When a character is coded as something, it means that they have traits that are associated with the demographics in question to make the consumer knowingly or not link the character with the demographic, although the character's "label” is never explicitly disclosed.

In the nutshell, it means that there are canonical reasons to read the characters as autistic, although you won't find the word "autism" anywhere in the game nor in the developer's commentary.

In this particular case I do believe that the developer may not even be aware of the code, as there is no evidence to suggest otherwise. If there is, I’m not aware of it and I would be happy to learn.

So, let’s start!

1: “The white male who is very good at science”

Unfortunately autistic representation in pop-culture has a long history of being rather straightforward in which traits the characters often have. This stems from the belief that autism is “a boy’s disorder” (that’s why some autism charities to this day use blue in their symbols). Among popular examples of autistic-coded characters are Big Bang Theory’s Sheldon Cooper and Death Note’s L and Near. I’m sure you can think of more but you’ll find that most of them are men and either explicitly white or racially ambiguous white-passing. They also tend to be gifted in tech, logic or other science-y activities.

There’s nothing wrong with that! Nothing wrong with being an autistic with those “stereotypical” characteristics and there is nothing wrong with people being represented. What is wrong is the monotony and afab people/people of color being underrepresented which leads (among other factors) to harder access to diagnosis and resources for those people in real life. But! That’s a topic for a different day. (and not for a simbrl, mind you)

Back to the Curiouses! I just wanted to say that autism in media is traditionally associated with characters whose gender presentation, race and interests align with theirs. Those characteristic thus make a very convenient template for autistic-coding.

2: Inconsistent performance, huge gaps between strengths and weaknesses

Pascal, Vidcund and Lazlo are very skilled Sims by default, extraordinarily even for their age. Pascal has a skill maxed while his younger brothers both near maxing theirs.

But as you can see in Pascal’s default skill panel, apart from Creativity, all his other skills are extremely low, 0 points for Mechanical, Body and Charisma, 1 point for Cooking and Logic and his second best skill, Cleaning, has only 3 points. The same situation can be observed in Vidcund’s and Lazlo’s, except their strong suits are Logic and Cooking respectively.

Huge discrepancies within performance in different cognitive areas is a common trait found in those on the autism spectrum. We’re often talking extremes here and the scale of the difference is the defining factor. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses, it’s just in neurodivergent people those tend to be unusually noticeable.

I think that skills, simplified as they are, are the closest The Sims has to possibly simulate that because they track the character’s performance and expertise in different areas and allow comparison. In real life, of course, this comparison is not nearly as possible and exact, nor desired, but for all our analysis-loving enthusiasm, here we’re still talking fictional characters.

3: Struggle with social cues

It is widely known that one of autistic traits are difficulties with processing social situations, picking social cues and successfully replicating socially desired behavioral patterns.

But these three are Sims, are they not? They cannot possibly display this trait, since they’re programmed the same way as others.

Yes and no.

It is true that there is no specific in-game feature that would allow Sims to behave with explicit neurodivergency in mind* but with the right combination of traits they can simulate behavior that really hits close to home for neurodivergent players.

*at least not in TS2, TS3 has traits that simulate some possible neurodivergencies but their names tend to be rather... ableist unfortunate and they’re not relevant to this post since they’re not autism related, and even if they were, we’re focusing on TS2 exclusively

Let’s take look at Lazlo here. He is, indeed, a playful soul. He likes to goof around, tell jokes, make others laugh. And since he’s very close to his brother Vidcund, close enough even to Tell Dirty Joke (an interaction that needs quite a high relationship to unlock), he autonomously does just that.

And oh boy, does Vidcund disapprove.

From my personal experience playing them, their relationship usually takes quite a hit from every cheeky joke Lazlo throws Vid’s way. They usually autonomously repair it very quick but it happens often.

But that’s a standard behavior. Vidcund’s very serious, he doesn’t take well to jokes.

No. I mean technically yes, Vid is definitely a grumpy old plant dad but, at least in my game, he tends to accept Lazlo’s jokes. All kinds of them, actually, except for the dirty ones. And Pascal, who technically has even lower Playful points (0 in comparison to Vidcund’s 4), doesn’t seem to mind Lazlo’s poor attempts at grown-up humor.

But! What is it that makes Lazlo try still? What drives him to attempt to make Vidcund laugh with a dirty joke over and over again? (and fail?)

I my interpretation, Lazlo doesn’t do that on purpose, he is just really poor at evaluating “dirtiness” of a given joke and frequently misinterprets Vidcund’s cues. The animation of a dirty joke being rejected even supports that as Vid doesn’t signal his discomfort with any exaggerated easy-to-read facial expression until Lazlo gets to his punchline.

No only that but as I mentioned, the invisible lines between spicy and too vulgar are often hard to thread. I can recall many times I thought I was saying a witty quip on an “adult” topic and was met with awkward silence or someone shushing me because “that’s not how you speak in public”. I can well imagine myself in Lazlo’s shoes.

A situation of social cues being misinterpreted or ignored can be observed also in Vidcund. Programming-wise, those are just his low Niceness and extreme Shyness showing but combined they again paint a picture of a very neurodivergent-looking behavioral pattern.

He often behaves like the concept of politeness or social rules doesn’t exist because the combination of the aforementioned traits makes him come off very blunt (lecturing and shoving telescope-peepers with no warning whatsoever) and distant (having a high chance of rejecting simple small-talk socials).

(That’s Jasmine Rai casting the “Summon Vidcund” spell.)

Yes, I am fully aware that it makes a stronger case for him being an a**hole than autistic but... there’s no reason he can’t be both. Not all autistic people are sweet cinnamon buns, all personalities you can think of can be neurodiverse and, for some their neurodiversity can even amplify their inconsiderate ways, as I believe it is the case with our dear grouch Vidcund.

4. Their bios

“No matter what happens, Pascal believes there is a logical explanation for everything. In his free time, he practices home psychoanalysis and collects conspiracy theories.”

(that’s how I imagine practicing psychoanalysis looks like, sorry Freud)

“Serious and exact, Vidcund strives to fit the universe into a nice tidy package. He has an unnatural fondness for African violets.”

(let’s collectively pretend those are African violets)

“Not as studious as his older brothers, Lazlo got his degree in Phrenology. He likes to call phone psychics and spends hours trying to bend forks with his mind.”

*error: screenshot of Lazlo bending forks not found*

(but here he is hanging out with Erin Beaker, the closest thing to “calling phone psychics” you can actually do in-game)

Both Pascal’s and Vidcund’s bios point to a pattern-focused worldview with a strong emphasis on rationality as the center-point that anchors the way they understand the world around them and build their principles on. This “pattern-ization” of thinking is a common autistic trait, with rationality being a popular theme because emotions tend to be difficult to access and asses for many of us.

Lazlo’s biography is an outlier. But it still has something significant in common with those of his brothers: All three of their bios allude to a potential special interest of sorts.

Special interests as an autism-related term are very specific, in-depth and long-term hobbies or areas of expertise that make an autistic person happy and they tend to go to seemingly exhausting lengths, often at the cost of other areas of knowledge and most likely the person’s ability to talk about anything else for a long enough time. (a loving hyperbole, no disrespect meant) Mine are my characters and cats. An even more intense but a short(er)-term passion is called a hyperfixation.

Them potentially having a special interest is yet another possible autistic-coded feature.

5. Wait. Why does it matter?

Right. What does it matter if a Sim (A SIM) (or two or three) is autistic? What do I hope to achieve, pushing my autistic Curiouses agenda down your throats?

I got to write a long rant-piece about some of my favorite TS characters and I feel like I can finally die satisfied.

Apart from that and me sharing my happiness of finding some good pixels I can relate to, it is a matter of representation.

Remember by the very beginning I wrote how most of the representation our community gets in media tends to be just a one specific type of character?

And how the Curious brothers seem to fit the stereotype to a point?

There is something I omitted, something I saved for the last on purpose.

The role. The role in their story, the role in the society the piece of media portrays.

We often see neurodiverse, autistic or autistic-coded character as children, students, villains, lone savants, victims in distress, comedic relief sidekicks, either very vulnerable and needing protection, or detached and having their role defined only by their academic prowess or their special interest/profession.

What we rarely get to see them as, are... parents.

That’s what many of us autistics are or plan to be someday in the future. The dogma around autism has started to dwindle relatively recently and there are little to no examples of autistic adults being the care-givers for once in the media around us.

The Curious brothers are just that. They are chaotic, they are eccentric, they can be a little too much... but they are dutiful and loving fathers/uncles to their little aliens they raise.

They make it work. Even if they face difficulties, even if they don’t exactly fit the standard.

“Sometimes, a family truly can be three brothers raising alien babies, and it’s beautiful.”

It encourages us to define family by love rather than traditional structures and it shows us that portrait of a functional neurodiverse family we need to see.

And goodness, is it a powerful sight.

[bunnybananasims]

Sims World Tag Game

I was tagged by @treason-and-plot, thank you very much!

Rules: List your top 5 favorite Sims 4 Sims worlds. (Note: This list won’t be in a particular order, except for #1, it’s really my #1 lol because I love all of them and it’s so hard for me to rank them)

1. Roaring Heights - I love this town so much because of the vintage look and feel of the town. And the sims. The sims themselves have drama, and they’re all interesting! I’ve never got so attached in one town before playing Roaring Heights. I love anything history and the Art Deco and Streamline Moderne styles in general, so it’s very easy for me to love this town.

2. Dragon Valley - I never thought at first that I would like this. I didn’t even install this when I first setup my game, thinking that I wouldn’t have any use for the assets from this world and that I wouldn’t enjoy this because it’s too medieval and niche. Well... look at me now 🤣 The lore, the sims, and the world are so beautiful! Also, I started loving the iconic sims premades John and Jennifer Burb since I started playing in this town.

3. Isla Paradiso - I love this girl despite its bugs and faults. I don’t experience the lag myself, mostly just routing issues from sims living in houseboats, which can easily be remedied by moving them inland. The islands, the clear beaches, the dive spots, the resorts, and everything else are so beautiful, and I’m having a blast playing them! Special mention to the lore and the sims, because I feel like I’m watching a Mexican telenovela because of the drama 😂

4. Strangetown - I started loving this strange and mysterious desert town when I first played The Sims 2 for Gameboy Advance. I never got the chance to play The Sims 2 PC during its run because we didn’t have a PC back then, we couldn’t afford it, so I mostly play Gameboy games like The Sims: Bustin’ Out, The Urbz, and Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap, among others. The lore, the sims, and the map of Strangetown for GBA are everything to me. I’m a fan of mystery sci-fi series like Fringe and The X-files, so it’s easy for me to like this town. And I loved it even more after I started playing TS2 for PC last late 2019/early 2020.

5. Veronaville - I’m a fan of Romeo & Juliet in general (I even named my original sims for RH last 2013 after the characters from the play LOL), so this is a no-brainer for me. I like the crossover of my favorite play (along with other Shakespearean characters) with my favorite video game. This town introduced sims to me that were interesting to play, then became my ultimate favorites. For example, I started liking the Capps in VV, and eventually, started loving them in RH just because of how leveled up and more interesting they are in TS3 RH, even without the feud and the photo albums and memories from TS2. That’s just me.

I’m tagging @crystalvu, @lola-curious, @fishcemetery, @nectar-cellar, @simminglytimeladies, @thesims2psp, @madraynesims, @anais-simblr 😁 no pressure guys!

[itstrashheart]

Reminiscing about The Sims

📷 Share how you discovered the sims franchise & the very first sims game you played-- 

I was tagged by @sheepiling! Thank you! :) 

I was almost 10 when TS1 released in 2000. My best friend’s family had it (on one family PC in the living room), and everyone would take turns playing. I did a LOT of back-seat Sims gaming at that time, since I didn’t yet own it. My best friend and I would cheat as much money as possible and build our dream mansions, which were just awful and hilarious, looking back. 

A year or so later, I was able to play it for myself at my Dad’s house. I had a few expansion packs, most memorably House Party, Unleashed, and Superstar. I was obsessed with those three, I played them all the time. 

TS2 is when I finally discovered modding and the online Sims community... I went a little overboard. I had every expansion pack, and you could create empty maps and fill them up, and I built insane LOTR/vampire/angel fantasy worlds and my game was slooowwwwwww, but I LOVED it. I was 14 and my cringe stories have not really improved, let’s be honest. I made some attempts at machinima at this time that went nowhere. It was really fun. I was bad at anti-virus and where to download CC safely, so my computer got trashed. 

TS3 I was 19 and I started telling stories with pictures, kind of like how we do on Tumblr, but on my computer. I got really into worldbuilding with the Create a World tool, and I build some crazy custom maps. I built so many that I never really played one for too long, with only a few exceptions. I had a couple of very LONG, very cringe stories build up in TS3. I will never share them, but I miss horses so bad. 

TS4 I was reluctant to buy at first, but it kind of reminds me of TS2 in the way the maps function, and I really enjoyed TS2, so I decided to go for it. I really think it’s the most beautiful (visually) of all the Sims games so far, but I’m still finding my gameplay flow with it. I LOVE, LOVE the gallery tool, I’m absolutely obsessed with it, and I’ve found a million beautiful lots I didn’t have to build as a result. Sometimes the number of worlds and families I want to play can be overwhelming, but I’m working on that. 

It’s 2022, and I can say I’ve been playing The Sims for 22 years... wow. Yeah, idk it’s a lot of fun. 

I’m kinda shy as far as friends go, so I’ll tag some of the simblrs I like a lot or have interacted with-- you don’t have to play at all!! It’s your choice! @scopsowlsimmerr, @fataleromeo, @helloavocadooo, @thewickedwitchofwindenburg

[tainoodles]

Some of my ideas for how worlds could work in TS5

Kind of a lengthy post with pictures so keeping it under the read more :) 

So the basic gist of my idea is basically how the worlds in The Sims 2 worked but a bit updated. I’ve included some images from the TS2 create a neighborhood to help explain my point. 

1. Individual “Worlds”

I don’t know about you guys but I am falling out of love with how you can travel to any world in the Sims 4. It is convenient, but sims being able to travel anywhere in no time flat, celebrities always showing up in the middle of nowhere, the worlds being so small that after two generations I’m out of lots... that kind of stuff. Also just the fact that TS4 is very limited on customizability. The worlds always feel the same. I can’t realistically play a save where sims live in Mt. Komorebi because then I’m locked into only using that world. I would like to go back to the previous sims style of a more closed off worlds, and most importantly, the option to make your own custom ones. 

2. Custom Worlds

I think a mix between TS2 and TS3′s create a World/Neighborhood could work really well. The game could come packaged with some premade empty neighborhood layouts like the ones you see above, but they could also make a tool like TS3′s Create a World where you could make and upload your own layouts. They could even do the thing where most of the custom neighborhood bases are just empty versions of worlds released with the game. 

Also they should definitely include an option for different terrains like ts2 did, although it would be nice to have more varied options. This could help make it easier to create neighborhoods that actually look like they’re somewhere outside of the US, and would just really increase the customizability without having to do too much. 

3. Neighborhood Add-Ons

This is one of the biggest points for me. I always run into the issue in the sims 4 where after a generation or two my world becomes too small. But if you could add on “new areas” to your world, this could help alleviate that problem. Also, I just loved how in the sims 2 you could add new areas that attached to your world for a downtown, or a shopping district, or even universities. 

I also always loved how they came with a premade option for if you just wanted a downtown and you didn’t want to put the work into it, but also the option to make a completely custom one as well. So it really caters to your play style, and how in depth you want to go. 

Also as another note, I feel like individual “areas” in a world could be in a ts3 open world style. I would imagine they would be a bit smaller than a whole ts3 “world”, so hopefully lighter on your computer, but larger than a TS4 “neighborhood” and one where you could go to your next door neighbor’s house without a loading screen. 

4. Townie Sets

This I don’t have an image for, but in TS2 there was a set of townies for each of the ea created worlds, and a separate set that repeated for every custom world. I have never liked the random townie generation in ts4, so I think it would be nice to have maybe a few options of sets of townies (mail delivery people, firefighters, pizza guy, maid, other teens and children at school) and the option to make sets of your own if you want. I think it would be really nice to be able to make your own set so that, for example, you made a world that’s supposed to be a specific country, you could make sure that all of your townies would actually look like people who would live there. No more randomly generated townie mess and you could make a world that feels cohesive. 

5. Miscellaneous 

I think they should really bring back the option to place our own lots. 

And to place scenic objects around. Really anything to add to customizability is A+ in my book. 

6. TLDR? 

I think in the sims 5 we should have a lot of options to customize the places our sims are going to live. I think it would be nice to have the option built into the game that you can create a world basically from scratch (with some options that require less work if you’re not interested), and to build onto it as your sims grow, while keeping areas sectioned off so there can be some openness to the world and less loading screens. Basically, don’t force me to buy a new pack to get a new world because I’m so bored. 

But these are just some shower thoughts I’ve had. I’d like to know what you guys think, what ideas you have, and whatever else this brings to mind. Happy Simming!

[wildmeadowsbackup]

Let’s Review The Sims 4 “My Wedding Stories”

So, I’m not the type of person who likes to wait for packs and for the last few years I’ve mostly gotten the items for the CAS elements because I hadn’t properly played the game since like 2015.

I’ll be honest, I’m slightly disappointed. I hate that they gave use the same hair three times, I understand it was because of the veil but for the love of god just make that a hat and let us pick what colour we want it. It would have been so much nicer. Hair with attached hats is what I hated most about TS3. Which is why when they announced way back before TS4 released that we would be able to put hats on any hair and that hairs wouldn’t have hats locked to them, I was excited.

This man Camille was engaged to? Dude is gone. Like I had a look and I couldn’t find him in the game, now he could be there just I missed it but I wanted to have him and his wife have a child that was married to the daughters I gave Camille and Dominique. (Who are called Donna (blue hair) and Norah (red skirt). Donna has teen Daughter Noemi and Norah has the kids, Sienna, Pedro and Alfred) (I might put them up for download if people are interested)

So I went to Tartosa, which btw is so pretty but I have some issues with it. First of all, it took me a good few minutes of searching to find a public toilet in the city hall area. (I haven’t exported the other areas of the map yet due to being busy or tired)

Second issue I had was, it was 4pm on a saturday and the stalls for the cake and flowers were closed. It legit said one the option to visit the stalls that it’s open from 9am to 6pm. Now unless Tartosa has some whacky daylight savings, then 4pm has never been 6pm. I found this very annoying.

Cakes.... they are soooooo pretty but they spoiled within hours of having it in my inventory. I had to cheat to fix it. Not to mention that Andromeda, the bride, just eat some of it at the engagement dinner.... before the wedding which was the next evening even though I'd set it was the wedding cake.

The actually events? uhhhh..... 

So I tried two events today and haven’t had time to do others. It’s currently almost 5 am as I write this. (Proof reading was done at 6:09am... it’s taken me like almost two hours to make this whole post including editing) I tried the Engagement party and the Wedding Ceremony. 

Only like 5 of the invited Guests turned up for either of the events and for both the events, they turned up in the everyday wear. The only thing that really made it a little easier was the teleport mod. The Engagement party was over so quick and barely worked for me. Asking sims to give speeches does not mean all sims will come listen, super annoying even with the “come listen to speeches” option.

As for the actual wedding, again guests didn’t show up until I teleported/summoned them in and then I had to MC dresser them all and even then some guests just straight up left even though they’d been invited because the little red “guest” didn’t appear above their heads...

I played musical chairs at my Aunt’s wedding. The musical chairs at this wedding was nothing like that and far less fun...

So as expected, no one stayed at their seat after I used the “take your seats” option. And yes, autonomy is off in my game. I used that option about 10 times and everyone kept switching seats when all I was trying to do is make the others that were still standing sit.

The most annoying part? When you finally have the couple, struggle down the aisle as soon as you have the couple getting married actually do so everyone stands up in the middle of the aisle or crowds around the arch. Like I’m here to take nice screenshots, please sit the fck down. It took me so long to get Geoffrey to escort his daughter Andromeda down the aisle, only to have everyone crowd them at the end.

here's the nice pictures I did manage to get :)

He’s a very proud dad <3 (he cried half way down the aisle and I cried too)

Oh and here's a shot I got after I teleported the guest out the way of the couple.

Anyway I moved on, couldn’t get people to dance where I wanted them to but they did do the bubble blowing which was good. So then it was time for the cake and it let me down....

First of all, that nice little serving table? yeah you can’t cut the cake on it. and once you can cut the cake with your partner, just like in the live stream, it doesn’t work. Like it queues, then as the action goes into play it just straight up disappears? Not to mention guests just take the cake in the ceremony when they feel like it and it’s not just the cake, they leave to get food, or dance in a random corner or go jogging?!?! oh and I love when they decide to do something different for a second and then T pose randomly as they get sucked back to the lot.

Final thoughts brought to you by Grace Gardner

Honestly if you are like me and want the pack simply for the Build/Buy or Cas items, then go for it. If you’re looking for gameplay, I’d say wait cos it’s still broken even with this Mod installed. The hairs are pretty but there could have been more? Like where are the veils? and the outfits are a definite plus to the game, personally I just wish there’d be more cultures add for that. (Click here for some african CC). 

The Items seem nice and they definitely added some beautiful features to the game. However basically all the rainbow/pride stuff they updated or added to the game makes me wanna scream. It’s cringe and some of it is just down right horrible, as a queer person myself I would never be seen dead wearing any of those horrible rainbow swatches and I can’t wait to see creators fix them. Like they did here

Are the weddings doable? Sure, if you’re willing to sit there for a while and really give it a go.  Do I think it would be doable without the mods? Fck no. Getting it to work on console? I wouldn’t even wanna try. Worth the price of I think $29.99 AUD? No, probably not. Did I expect any different? Absolutely not. Dine out is the same as this, and Get To Work doesn’t even work properly anymore, of course I didn’t expect any better.

Anyway that’s all I have to say for now, thanks for stopping by Gamers!

(if theres any spelling mistakes im so sorry! it’s dyslexia and being tired af rn)

[echoweaver]

Your thoughts on the Sims 1-4

Guess I’m in the mood to do these. Grabbing a tag from @mosneakers​.

Sims 1: The big thing I remember about this game is that it could take your sim hours to cross from one end of the house to the other. Thus, if the sim got up at the normal one-hour-before-work, they often wouldn’t have time to both pee and eat. I got obsessed with designing and efficient house, with the kitchen right outside the bedroom door, so that my sims could get to work with the best mood. 

Then I let the garden go bad, and it would destroy my sims’ mood on the way to the carpool, and it took me forever to figure out what was going on :-D

Sim 2: I remember being thrilled by how much easier it was for sims to get around their house. The introduction of lifespans intrigued me. However, I hadn’t really figured out what I wanted to DO with this sandbox game yet. Playing Sims gets boring if you don’t have some kind of a goal. I’d never heard of a generational challenge, much less rotational gameplay, and I hadn’t plugged into the fan community yet.

I did dabble in mods -- mostly the mod to drastically increase the chance of a sim being abducted when using the telescope so I could make alien babies. I built a household from two CAS-built sisters who were of different races. One of them married a man, and the other a woman, and then I got frustrated that the lesbian couple couldn’t make babies. They adopted, but I was annoyed by how genetically boring their adopted son was. Then I got obsessed with trying to get one of the lesbians to cheat on her spouse to make a baby without being discovered. Where is artificial insemination when you need it?

Later, I created a new sim who married into the Broke family. I got bored and tried to starve Dustin to death to make a ghost. when I removed the door to his bedroom and his needs got very low, he got down on his knees to beg the Watcher for his life. I felt so guilty that I actually turned off the game and never went back!

Sims 3:  This is where it happened for me. Open world and a town that aged with my active household just better matches the way I imagine playing. I even figured out generational play, at least somewhat, before really plugging into the fan community.

I didn’t realize until reading @mosneakers and @natolesims‘s memes that there was so much hate floating around for Sims 3 art style! I admit that I do dislike the child faces. I thought Sims 2 faces were too long and thin. Sims 3 faces seem to have overcompensated by being just a bit too round. Otherwise, I’m quite sure I don’t know what you guys are talking about. LOL.

I don’t think I’d still be playing if it weren’t for NRaas, though. Sims 3′s open world was pretty ambitious, and their data management was totally not up to the task. I spent years offering tech support on people’s blogs when they started to suffer data corruption in generation 2 or 3. You just can’t play without at least minimal mods to clean up save files. It’s unintuitive that a modded game is more stable than vanilla, but it’s just true. Sad, but true.

Sims 4: I have played this very little, not because I hate it but because I am stubbornly determined to finish my 10-generation legacy. A lot of folks just rebuilt their household in Sims 4 and continued to play. At the time Sims 4 came out, I was playing supernatural-heavy games with custom skintones, so I’d lose almost everything if I ported them over. It also turns out that it’s hard to face going from a heavily-modded, 11-expansion experience to a game with base or just one expansion. I have a lot more sympathy for Sims 2 players who skipped Sims 3 entirely.

I have a hard time facing the color presets and closed world, but the game in its current state really seems to have done great things with gameplay. If/when I get the Samples done, I’ll take a look at making the switch. Of course, by then Sims 5 will likely be out, so maybe I’ll skip....

What is your favorite Expansion pack

Generations and/or Seasons. But it’s really hard to choose.

Small pets or Horses?

I really,  really love Sims 3 horses. Since I’m modding pets, it can probably be guessed that I like the animals in general :).

What is your favorite active career?

Yes.

I have had a ton of fun with almost all active careers. If forced to choose, I might go for firefighter.

What is your favorite Lifetime Wish?

Buh. I really dug the Photography one I guess. I just like doing different ones.

Whims or Wants?

I’m sorry. I have no idea what this question even means (blush).

What is your favorite Occult?

I feel like all the occults in TS3 are kind of underdeveloped. That said, witches are pretty cool.

Cowplants, Bonehilda, or the Social Bunny?

Bonehilda

How do you pick your sims names?

I am absolutely OBSESSED with names. I’m sorry I only got to name one flesh-and-blood child, so I let it all out in naming my simmies. I get into the head of the parent(s) and come up with lists from whatever they would like. My saves are very gameplay-directed, and tend to randomize most traits, so I intentionally don’t build a sim to a name or try to make a sim’s name suit their personality at all. After all, when we name our children, we get no say over who they eventually become :).

Do you create a spouse for a sim, or do you go after a townie?

Townie! My gaming style is heavily gameplay-oriented. I want my sims to choose their partner using wishes and attraction and whatever else the game provides. However, I also am incredibly interested in genetic experimentation, so I do allow myself to change the physical appearance of some sims before making babies with them if they are too bland. I populated my Samples save from scratch, largely using downloaded simalikes of real people. I have NRaas set to use existing sims in the town or in my sim bin, to generate new ones. So basically I do my best to have the most interesting genetics pool I can so I don’t need to edit faces.

Do you prefer to follow storytelling Simblrs, or do your prefer gameplay Simblrs?

I’m not totally sure what this is asking either :-D. Are “storytelling” simblrs the ones that largely use the game as an artistic medium for screenshots using poses and whatnot? My play style is to play the game and build stories from it, so I’m not entirely sure what category I fall into myself.

I suppose it doesn’t matter because I follow both. I’m not terribly drawn to dressup challenges and lookbooks.

What year did you join Tumblr/Simblr?

I have absolutely no friggin idea. I tried to look back in my email archive to track notifications, and that failed. I came back after three years, so it has to be at least for years before I returned....?

[locktobre]

it’s been a long time since I played just the sims 3 basegame (I bought the expansions slowly, over many years, mind you. like I bought the last one just this year lmao) but everything I love about the game is present in the basegame.

I love the open world, the open neighborhoods in ts4 just are not the same. and bc of the way ts4 sims travel between the worlds, you get random sims showing up everywhere your sim is, instead of just seeing the ppl who live in that world around town (not that visiting another the world is out of the question, but seeing, say, Bella Goth in Mt Komorebi and San Myshuno and Del Sol Valley on the same day? c’mon). and you can see families around town together in ts3! parents will bring their kids to the park or the library and hang out for a few hours! together! I feel like that doesn’t happen in ts4, if you see parents and kids together it’s like, by coincidence lmao, there’s so many random kids just walking around by themselves.

I like the rabbithole careers and venues, I don’t really need active careers (altho some ts3 expansions have them), and it’s better than them just disappearing offscreen the way they do in ts4 (and ts2, for that matter).

I like the color wheel and the patterns you can put on things, I can make everything very matchy-matchy the way I like it. or just use the default swatches bc I’m lazy, but the option is there! all the wood tones can match, I don’t have to deal with “close enough” at all.

the collections are way more fun, maybe bc they’re not so easy to find. I feel like there’s too many collectibles laying around in every neighborhood in ts4. you can find collectibles lots of places in ts3, but it doesn’t feel so... idk, convenient? 

there’s also skill challenges! and so many stats kept in your skill journal (and your collection journal, for that matter).

and the TRAITS... you get 5 traits, instead of a measly 3. they actually feel like they do something, too. and the aspirations aren’t just tutorials to walk you through the pack, there’s no steps laid out for you to complete. maybe that’s what I love most about ts3, it doesn’t hold your goddamn hand the way ts4 does. I mean, I’ve been playing sims since I was like... 11 or 12, so it’s been at least 15 years, and I know that’s not every player, but ts4 just feels so... idk. I don’t need my hand held. ts3 and ts2 had actual tutorials for you to play or look at if you needed them, they didn’t turn the game into the tutorial until ts4 and it bothers me so much. and I hate the phrase “you don’t know what you’re missing” but I really feel like ts4 players don’t know what they’re missing, in terms of gameplay. and maybe I just think that bc I don’t have any expansions, except... the base game should be fun. it should be fun all by itself. I’ve played ts2 basegame and ts3 basegame, and they were fun. the expansions only added to that, they didn’t provide fun in the first place!!!

anyway ts3 is always gonna be where my heart is. I just love it so much. ts2 is a good game, too, but it’s so much more fiddly than ts3. I always use mods and cc when I play ts2, but I’ve been playing ts3 basically... since it came out, and never used any mods or cc for it. I’ve never really felt like I needed it. it’s my HOME.

[cyazurai]

Thank you to @sixelasimss and @pommebob for tagging me! 💖

Rate in order favorite to least favorite, Sims 1, Sims 2, Sims 3, Sims 4:

Uhhh, for actual gameplay?

Sims 3, Sims 2, Sims 4, Sims 1.

Sims 3 is my favorite because it’s the one I played the most, and it had SO much I loved to do. If it worked better on my laptop, I’d still play it the most - even the numerous glitches have a place in my heart.

Sims 2 is my second favorite because it’s just AMAZING. Everything about it was great. But, I didn’t play it as much as I played Sims 3, and it takes way too many mods to make it look good and run well now.

Sims 4 is in third, despite it being the one I play the most, because without the mods and everything it’s... pretty bland. I have so many mods just to add extra autonomy and randomness to the game - the randomness was my favorite things about 2 and 3, you never really knew what was going to happen. Plus, you can’t have babies with ghosts or Grim without a mod, and as someone whose very first legacy in TS3 was co-founded with a ghost my sim literally stole from the graveyard, that disappoints me.

Sims 1 is in fourth because.. I never properly played it because when it first came out my Dad thought it looked like a bad game for a kid. 

Favorite expansion:

Sims 2 - Freetime, simply because I LOVED the randomness of the hobby choice. Most of my sims liked tinkering best for some reason, haha!

Sims 3 - Supernatural, because I’m a sucker for the occults.

Sims 4 - Cottage Living, because it’s so sweet and cute and I really love the gameplay.

Small pets or horses:

Horses! I love small pets, but honestly? I’m hoping we get a game pack in TS4 dedicated to horses and equestrianism. 

Favorite active career:

Sims 3 - Ghost hunter! I’ve done that career a lot, but it never gets old. Especially when you can woohoo the ghosts. 😏

Sims 4 - Actor! Again, one I’ve done a lot, but I love it anyway. 

Favorite LTW/Aspiration:

Sims 3 - Seasoned Traveler! I’ve always really enjoyed the traveling from World Adventures.

Sims 4 - Strangerville Mystery! What can I say? I love solving the Strangerville mystery even if I’ve done it like 5 times already and know what’s coming.

Whims, wishes or wants and fears:

Wants and Fears, hands down. I love the consequences of doing something your sim fears doing. I was disappointed with both TS3 and TS4 that they didn’t add fears back in.

Favorite occult:

Fairies, absolutely. My simself in TS3 is always a fairy.

Cowplants, Bonehilda or Social Bunny:

This is a hard one.. but I think I’ll have to say Cowplants. 

Favorite non-PC Sims game:

The Sims 2 Castaway for PS2, it was the second sims game I actually ever got. The first one was Sims 2 Pets for PS2. I loved them both, but honestly? I want them to remaster Castaway and bring it back out again.

Favorite spin off game:

Sims Medieval! I still play it frequently, haha.

How do you pick the names for your Sims:

It depends on my mood, honestly. For my legacies that aren’t NSB or Berry, I use Behind the Name - either the random name generator, or I search for a name by the letter for my Rask legacy (since they’re alphabetical). 

For NSB or Berry I search for names that correspond to the color they represent. Emotions, fruits, animals, elements, drinks, foods, all sorts of things.

Create a spouse or find them in game (townies):

Both! Normally, I find one in game, though.

Do you prefer following storytelling simblrs or gameplay simblrs:

Both! I follow both, and I love reading both.

What year did you join simblr:

I joined Simblr at the end of 2020. I was always an unofficial part of it, just lurking, but didn’t get active until then.

I’m going to tag: @melsie-sims, @landgraabbed, @gutsberries, @witheringsims, @falsetochild, @bloomful-ccfinds, and @aleksa-sims!