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Test Subject
Original Poster
#1 Old 6th Aug 2019 at 5:13 PM
Default How do YOU play Sims 2?
Hey everyone! I just got back into playing Sims 2 a lot and wanted to come here and discuss gameplay styles with you guys for fun. So, how do you play Sims 2?

For the first time I've decided to do a wants based gameplay. This means I only do things my Sims want to do. Like if they don't want a baby they won't have one, even if I really want them to start a family (although I do have a risky WooHoo mod, so there's always the chance when they roll the want to WooHoo lol)

My biggest challenge so far has been my college sims, sometimes they will roll wants to write their term papers and do their assignments but not to improve their skills so they end up on academic probation or flunking out entirely! I do like this though because it adds some realism, not every sim should be a Dean's List student. I've noticed so far the Popularity sims are the hardest ones for me to get through college, all they want to do is party!
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Scholar
#2 Old 6th Aug 2019 at 5:35 PM
Interesting. I like to play against type so I often don't fulfill wants until my Sims start rolling them based on their gameplay. I don't play every single sim this way either, I have my favorites and they tend to live pretty happy fulfilling lives.

A fortune sim that constantly rolls wants for new or high priced items does not get that stuff fulfilled. They will eventually start to roll different wants with only the occasional "buy" want here and there. When they do buy something new then suddenly all the wants go back to "buy" items and you have to go through the process again.

I find this challenging and also if they happen to hit a fear they are far more likely to redline than a sim that is almost always gold or platinum in aspiration.

I find the romance sims the hardest because if you are really not fulfilling those date/kiss/woohoo wants you are very unlikely to ever get a high scoring want. They will eventually stop rolling them of course but every time they meet someone new they are attracted to they will start again. It's impossible if you don't at least get them married so they have some love in their life.

Try making a knowledge sim into casanova type and see how hard that is. My personal tendencies when playing are to make everyone an overachieving super happy sim that never even gets close to an aspiration failure. So playing against type for me is one way to keep it interesting and a bit more challenging. I also do it based on personality, especially with born in game sims. If I have a super shy sim you can bet they will end up being one of the aspirations that require lots of social interactions.
Forum Resident
#3 Old 6th Aug 2019 at 5:57 PM
I use Phaenoh's randomizer for choosing turn ons/offs and primary and secondary aspirations. I also roll a die if my sim makes it to Jr year of college to see if they end up changing aspirations. I use name randomizers for pet and sim names.

I also like to play based on wants. So same as you not all of my sims end up making it through uni which has actually really improved uni for me. I used to make everyone perfect students so it got really boring whenever sims went. I also use a mod so sims must pay $5000/year of college so it adds a debt for them. With no 20k handouts I've really had to use some cheap housing just so my college graduates can afford to live somewhere. Wants based play has also helped me not have families with a million kids except for family/family relationships. I just love having sims make babies so it has helped me to make varied family types. I do have risky woohoo and an orphanage so any sims that have a baby they can't or don't want to care for get sent to the orphanage. My family/family couples that want more kids but are too old to have more adopt from the orphanage. Also from wants based play in combination with the Education is Good mod I've stopped having every sim reach the top of their career. For example, Igbal Alvi never wants to skill or do anything that might help me get him a charisma point so he's been a Field Sales Rep for ages, but he's happy there.

One true hobbies play a big role in my sims character. If a sim needs to gain fun and don't have a specific want for anything I will have them do something related to their OTH. Only sims that have a gaming OTH can buy a handheld game. I also restrict what kind of hobby a sim does based on their OTH. For example, one sim with a OTH of arts and crafts might like painting, while another sim with the same OTH might enjoy going to the art museum to view art.

I also have the more deadly disease mod so when my sims get sick it seriously is intense because they could really die any moment. I keep any deaths final. I've had parents lose children and children lose parents so they end up in the orphanage. It really creates some fun storylines.
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#4 Old 7th Aug 2019 at 12:17 AM
The three main ways I play are Integrated, wants and motivation.

Integrated: Also known as sim to sim. This style focuses on sims running a town together. Some people do more or less, some people make it an entirely closed economy some people do a more open one. But the basic premise is what does it take to run a town? So food is a major part. Is your food grown locally, or some local and some imported or all imported? If local you need enough farms/food producers. or perhaps you will include imported food (grocery bins, freezers) So of course you need a grocery store no matter what type it stocks. Does the town have any services? For example in the case of a fire will there be a fire department or is it too small, will they have to deal with fire themselves? (so no smoke alarms) Most integrated hood players will make as many sims as possible playable and often the ones that have to be an NPC (mail carer) they make look like a playable. So no calling service> nanny, not unless this is a small city and you have a playable nanny. Instead, you would ring your friend or your mother and ask them to watch kids, or perhaps someone runs a daycare or your kids come to work with you. If this town is small and far-flung there is not going to be any handy school bus. The kids might be homeschooled or perhaps there will be a small local school -that will need at least 1 school teacher. My newest hood the school is ready to go as soon as the summer holidays are over. I decided it could open once there were 5 kids. education? Will you use the games school or will you run your own school? Then you decide will that be tax payer funded or privately funded? Will your teacher also go to a rabbit hole job or not? In this style, some sims may have regular jobs but many sims will also own shops or services. Hair dresser, clothing shop, restaurant, arcade-who runs these? In this style playables try and run everything. Every sim has a role to play in running the town. Most people who play this way use custom townies since its a little strange if townies (tourists/people passing through) are in higher numbers than your playables. Playing this way requires a lot of mods.

Wants: A lot of people play this way. If you only and very strictly play to wants and don't nudge or infer from them you may run into issues/a rut.
Wants depend on the aspiration, the season, the sims training, the sims personality and also what you place and where you go. The last two are important. If you place down a junker car then a sim may roll a want to work on it, but if you never place it down you will also get no wants. If you keep your sims at home all of the time you will get different wants to if you take them to community lots. A sim who has gone to a community lot nightclub may role hot tub, dance sphere, drink and dancing want, but if they only go to work and come home these wants will not be nudged.

Next with wants, I don't view everything they roll as something they really want to do. People have whims and pipe dreams or things they think they want but really don't. You can think someone but hot but not do anything to act on it. So a want to flirt with some other sim who isn't the spouse? Will the sim act on that or do they just think that sim is hot? I would look at their overall personality and aspiration.
The sim wants to be a rock god? Do they? or is that just a passing fancy?

A non family sim may roll a want to get married but this often does not includes an engagement want. Things like this have to be filled without the actual wants. The engagement is a given but not important to them. To the sim with that want to me that means this is more important and deserves perhaps a date and a bigger deal made over it. The sim who rolls a want for a toy may be saying they want a child, but perhaps not a baby, they may want to adopt or perhaps they just really want to see their nephew and a family get together is in order. Basically, I look at wants and try and think larger. Some things will never be rolled as wants because the game simply doesn't have them. Also by having lots of shops, my sims will buy things on free will and I also infer things from what I find in their inventory. Let's say the sim has bought some plants, I can infer from that they would like to landscape or do some gardening. They don't need to roll a want to buy a bush.

Motivation/free will: I use a method which is far too long to fully explain here called motivation. At toddlerhood, I calculate this from the sims personality points. Neatness+ activity -playfulness. 0 and below is low motivation. These sims are basically hands-off. I nudge them by placing objects, I can do ask to join but apart from making sure they fill their needs, these sims do as they want.
1-7 are average sims, these I play mostly to wants. My GP will probably stay as a GP since he never rolls any want to gain any cleaning points. He may slowly gain them since if something is dirty I will tell him to clean it, but I don't make him sit and study.
overachieving sims 8+ these sims I will direct to study or do whatever is needed. They are set as smart on the batbox. They don't need to roll a want.

With Uni. I again have a much larger involved method to simply write it all out here. But while all born in sims will become Young Adults not all go to UNI. Some will go to community college, some will open shops, some may loaf around. Going to uni requires at least 5 scholarships (I also have badge scholarships for things like gold gardening badge or sales) So sims who are not included to get scholarships most times don't end up at uni. If they have 3 scholerships they can do community (base hood uni from home) This is Squinges college pack of mods. There are also other ways to get grades at uni apart from studying. Again this depends on the sim's aspiration, but they can also romance professors, influence others to do their term paper or hack grades. Don't just get stuck on them rolling wants to do term papers, assignments. Again sims most times won't roll these wants, I don't think there is a hack grades want for them too roll but rather would this sim do that? Perhaps they want to make the Dean's list but not do any work to achieve it, would they be the type to cheat?

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Instructor
#5 Old 7th Aug 2019 at 1:40 AM
I'm very controlling. L like to control everything. Constantly making sure they all have something to do I want. And haven't had free will on at all for at least 13 years. I actually turn it off on the lot before I build the house.
Mad Poster
#6 Old 7th Aug 2019 at 8:42 AM
Quote: Originally posted by Clashfan
Try making a knowledge sim into casanova type and see how hard that is.


My very first cheater was a Knowledge sim. XD He did very well juggling his married girlfriend with more knowledgeable pursuits.

Quote: Originally posted by joandsarah77
The sim who rolls a want for a toy may be saying they want a child, but perhaps not a baby, they may want to adopt or perhaps they just really want to see their nephew and a family get together is in order.


Adult sims can roll the want for a toy? A children's toy or something that adults can play with?
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#7 Old 7th Aug 2019 at 9:51 AM
Quote: Originally posted by Charity
My very first cheater was a Knowledge sim. XD He did very well juggling his married girlfriend with more knowledgeable pursuits.



Adult sims can roll the want for a toy? A children's toy or something that adults can play with?


Yes, a toddlers toy.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Theorist
#8 Old 7th Aug 2019 at 11:04 AM
I've seen Pleasure Sims rolling the want to "Buy a Toy" fairly often. They also seem to roll wants for Babies on occasion, even if they aren't married. And if you have the mod that lets you buy the OFB toys from the Catalogue, then Adults can play with the Fire Engine X-D

As for how I play Sims 2. Well I play rotations tied to the Seasons (so 5 days long). I enjoy family play and having multiple generations live in the same house. The number of children is determined by the (Primary) Aspirations of the Couple (Family/Family gets up to 3, Family/Non-Family gets up to 2, and Non-Family/Non-Family gets 1, or twins) secondary aspirations are not considered. I don't wait for them to roll wants to have babies, but sometimes I allow for additional babies if they wish for it and I like the family enough.
I do not play wants based, rather I play story focused, I think up stories for my Sims to play out (sometimes on the fly, sometimes a generation or more in advance) though the storylines can also change from one moment to the next and I allow for a considerable amount of random chance and spontaneity. And if a Sim rolls a want that would cause interesting effects, then I might follow it and I often fulfill career-based LTWs (Though if I have a storyline in mind for a Sim, I will reroll their LTW until it matches)
I guess a lot of the time I play with my Sims like I would play with a dollhouse. I take care of them and have them play out stories. Sometimes those are storylines for individual Sims, sometimes they involve the whole family, sometimes multiple families or even the whole neighbourhood.
I love that you can play and control the whole hood in Sims 2, that way I can weave interconnected storylines through the households, have them react to events all that good stuff where the AI would just muck things up. I do have Free Will on though, since I often rely on Sims to take care of themselves for a time period and the game kinda gets boring and stressful without Free Will (imho)
I don't have any risky woohoo (I accidently click on Try for Baby when I really just mean woohoo enough as it is) I don't have any ACR (I can cause enough drama by myself, and frequently free will is enough to cause a scene at a party) but I do have the Romance Mod so that my Romance Sims can be Polyamorous.
That's the way I play.

Avatar by MasterRed
Taking an extended break from Sims stuff. Might be around, might not.
Mad Poster
#9 Old 7th Aug 2019 at 11:36 AM
That is a strange want if they don't have any children. Like toddlers wanting to buy a tree.
Mad Poster
#10 Old 7th Aug 2019 at 12:25 PM
In most of my game towns, there are 4 seasons of 3 days long. If a pixel is not a college graduate, they may hold a job they're vastly unqualified for but it will be a very hard slog to get to the top of that career. (Harder jobs by Pescado, "Educazion is good" by Cyjon) .
College is mandatory for all offspring thereafter.
They may roll wants as they like, and it's up to them to fulfill them, or not. I'll provide the tools, but they must make the effort.
Pixel couples are allowed to have two children. (birth control is very strict.) Children go to a public school, but in Tinsel Town they're required to go to private schools because they're special that way.
Pixels are required to have bank accounts. Every $5,000 they earn is put in there, where it will gain interest. They can only use it on buying either residential or community property-and when they die, it's divided between all the children.
Every town has a grocery store, where there is not only food but also beer available for sale. There is a garden shop as well, where they can buy flower plots to pretty up their homes with.
Yeah, so I'm a tiny bit controlling, but it's fun to watch and track pixels every day. Keeping a record of it is revealing when reading it afterwards. It makes the connections between everyone almost seamless.

Receptacle Refugee & Resident Polar Bear
"Get out of my way, young'un, I'm a ninja!"
Grave Matters: The funeral podium is available here: https://www.mediafire.com/file/e6tj...albits.zip/file
My other downloads are here: https://app.mediafire.com/myfiles
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#11 Old 7th Aug 2019 at 1:14 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Charity
That is a strange want if they don't have any children. Like toddlers wanting to buy a tree.


Most times they roll it after having a baby, but I have seen new grandparents roll it too.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Mad Poster
#12 Old 7th Aug 2019 at 5:38 PM
I use it mainly for decorating and creating neighborhoods and houses. I don't really play with the sims themselves that often.

Edit: Say, what happen to people's signatures?

Because the earth is standing still, and the truth becomes a lie
A choice profound is bittersweet, no one hears Cassandra Goth cry

Theorist
#13 Old 7th Aug 2019 at 5:46 PM
Quote: Originally posted by HarVee
I use it mainly for decorating and creating neighborhoods and houses. I don't really play with the sims themselves that often.

Edit: Say, what happen to people's signatures?


I always find it interesting that there's a whole group of Simmers who just build and furnish. Do you prefer the newer games to Sims 2 then, since they have better building tools?

And yeah signatures done gone?

Avatar by MasterRed
Taking an extended break from Sims stuff. Might be around, might not.
Alchemist
#14 Old 7th Aug 2019 at 5:52 PM
I set things up so that my sims can run almost autonomously and I create stories out of what they do. I play with aging off and no jealousy, in single hoods that are only connected logically and by story. I play fast and loose with chronology and sims practically never die. I really don't have rules, might do wants or not, never do rotations, don't keep records.... I just follow whatever whim I come up with as I create story. Set up is quite controlled, but play is not.
Forum Resident
#15 Old 8th Aug 2019 at 1:21 AM
I run a heavily modded game, to keep stupidity from happening and the game from being overrun with Sims. I use an aging mod that allows me control over who ages up and when (it's not that they don't age, it's that they age when I decide they do) - usually rush through the difficult baby and toddler stages (mod to teach toddler how to walk, talk and potty), let them be children for as long as I want them to, and only age up to Teen when I'm starting to consider having another round of University. (College is the only area where I have little to no control over their aging - have found they can be rushed, but setting them back is hit and miss as to whether it works or not). Then I just let the adults be adults and the elders be elders.

Made major changes to one household (the Grunts - very much my UNfavorites) and minor changes to two others (Beaker and Specter). In game terms, General Buzz Grunt and his oldest son Tank met sudden tragic deaths, and the court appointed a guardian for the remaining two boys who turned out to be just what they needed to get them turned around (no kidding, I designed him that way). The household is now "Grant" (though the guardian's name is Will Marshall - there are two sources for that name, and bonus points to anyone who comes up with either - double bonus points for anyone who gets both!), Ripp is now Rick and Buck is now Buddy. Rick is in college studying the Culinary track, with a Lifetime Want to be a Celebrity Chef, and Buddy is finishing up high school.

Olive Specter decided to became a Neutral Witch after her niece Ophelia Nigmos went off to college, and wants to become proficient enough to lay those pesky ghosts, at least temporarily. She's been getting an assist from a Neutral Warlock, August Patterson (spawned by the Gnome of Protection), who seems more than professionally interested in her. Nervous Subject ran away from the Beakers and found himself on Olive's doorstep, so she took him in, renamed him Nerval Specter, admitted she was his mother (she hasn't told him about his father the Grim Reaper yet), and has been working on healing him. Nerval has shown an interest in the magic arts, but it's too soon to tell if he wants to take them seriously. (Olive, in my game, isn't a serial killer - she's a multi-megawatt Weirdness Magnet.)

Strangetown is the only hood with the original complement of Sims and Townies - the others have been voided and aren't in play (I find their setups uninteresting.) I changed a few Townie names to get rid of the inevitable duplications (why would anyone want two Sims named Marion Almasizzedeh?). Most of the Downtownies have randomly assigned names, which means they needed less messing with. Any really Fugly Sims got plastic surgery to make them look at least sorta normal.

Undeepened the basement of the House of Fallen Trees (it's easy when you know how, but take everything out before you start and don't put it back till you're done), rounded up the six Tricou brats and sent them through college (putting them all in the same dorm so they became a playable family), then reunited them post-graduation and had them buy up the old homestead. Haven't done a lot with that yet except some redecorating.

I keep a firm enough hand on the pixel-people that they don't flunk out (unless I want them to, and that's only happened once so far - another one dropped out) and don't get into too much trouble (failed once when a dormie got eaten by the Cowplant at the Secret Society, but the Society ponied up and had him resurrected - the Cowplant's gate has since been locked). Sometimes I nudge, mostly I let relationships develop as they will.
Instructor
#16 Old 8th Aug 2019 at 2:34 AM
I don't know why people freak out so much at turning off Free Will. Everything they do with it on I hate. I will never have it on. I don't like them cancelling my instructions to do their stupid shit. Shut the fuck up, sit the fuck down and do what you're told. DO what I say! And get the fuck away from that damn TV!
Field Researcher
#17 Old 8th Aug 2019 at 2:38 AM
Quote: Originally posted by MattGo74
I don't know why people freak out so much at turning off Free Will. Everything they do with it on I hate. I will never have it on. I don't like them cancelling my instructions to do their stupid shit. Shut the fuck up, sit the fuck down and do what you're told. DO what I say! And get the fuck away from that damn TV!
I hear you there. I've tried playing with Free Will on a few times... all it did was remind me why I don't.

WARNING: Professional Lurker Alert!
Quote:
"Ew, trees [WooHoo-ing]."

-- "Oral Pollination", Not Always Right
Test Subject
#18 Old 8th Aug 2019 at 3:02 AM
Is that okay to add a question to the thread?
I wonder how do you want based gamers deal with toddlers? I try to play based on my Sims wants and personalities but I still don’t know exactly how to deal with toddler skills. They usually want to learn how to walk, how to speak. So do you fulfill their wants or only if the parents roll the wants for teaching them?

I usually feel bad and I end up making the parents teach everything maybe I’ change that

Like sometimes my family Sims won’t roll any wants about teaching skills. I don’t know how to interpret that.

I’m still working on my gameplay style so maybe I shouldn’t contribute to this thread right now
Field Researcher
#19 Old 8th Aug 2019 at 3:25 AM
Quote: Originally posted by Woxxey
Is that okay to add a question to the thread?
I wonder how do you want based gamers deal with toddlers? I try to play based on my Sims wants and personalities but I still don’t know exactly how to deal with toddler skills. They usually want to learn how to walk, how to speak. So do you fulfill their wants or only if the parents roll the wants for teaching them?

I usually feel bad and I end up making the parents teach everything maybe I’ change that

Like sometimes my family Sims won’t roll any wants about teaching skills. I don’t know how to interpret that.

I’m still working on my gameplay style so maybe I shouldn’t contribute to this thread right now


Game play styles are always evolving - that's the beauty of it. If you want to share what you've got going on, please feel free.

I've been playing wants-based and I love a lot of aspects of it. I love how it changes my style of play and how it makes more of my Sims struggle at life, which I have a hard time of allowing to happen anyway.

In my style, there are skill limits affected by whether toddlers learn their skills. The regular cap is 7 points, but if a toddler doesn't learn to walk, their body cap is then 5. If they don't learn to talk, charisma is capped at 5. If they don't learn to use the potty, cleaning is capped. So it's really not great for the toddlers to not get their skills.
I do interpret that if one Sim wants something, it isn't required for both to have it. I also choose to allow my Sim personalities to have an impact.

For instance, Angela (Pleasant) and her husband Jimmy Phoenix had 3 kids. Angela is a perfectionist. She's in show business and is also a famous novelist. She's always spending all their money to improve the appearance of their house. She's also not particularly interested in her kids, other than she wants a picture perfect relationship with them and she wants them to make her look good. Jimmy adores Angela. He's a lawyer, but he's not super committed to his career. Angela just likes being able to say that she's married to a lawyer. So he's the one who spent a lot more time with the kids, trying to teach them stuff because Angela expected it.

I also have a thread - http://modthesims.info/showthread.p...&highlight=vote - where people can vote on what's going to happen next in my game in certain scenarios. For instance, at the moment, Skipper Broke just got pregnant by Cyd Roseland. Neither of them have the want to marry each other, but in the vote there are 3 potential scenarios for what's going to happen next, and whichever gets the most votes is what is going to happen, regardless of wants.

I am also experimenting with adding traits and goals in order to allow my sims to do things that aren't necessarily Wants-Based. Like Jay Zaide was dating Karen Grof for a long time, but even though they have 2 lightning bolts and he's a family sim, he never wanted to marry her. But he wants to get married. So I ended up breaking them up even though there were not wants for that because I interpreted his lack of want as a desire to move on a find someone else.
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#20 Old 8th Aug 2019 at 4:00 AM
Quote: Originally posted by Woxxey
Is that okay to add a question to the thread?
I wonder how do you want based gamers deal with toddlers? I try to play based on my Sims wants and personalities but I still don’t know exactly how to deal with toddler skills. They usually want to learn how to walk, how to speak. So do you fulfill their wants or only if the parents roll the wants for teaching them?(


I handle this with motivation levels.
So if the toddler is highly motivated and has a want to learn to speak but his parents are low motivation then the toddler gets neglected (for want of a better word) No teaching. They may be able to coax another adult into helping them if they have 3 charisma points and can become friends with this other adult. The other adult needs to be at least average motivation.
If the overachieving toddler has average motivation parents with no want to teach him and the toddler has 3 charisma points I will have the toddler 'bug them' awhile and have them teach him begrudgingly but will minus some relationship points. You know how kids will whine for sweets and get their way but the parent isn't at all happy about it.
If the average parent rolls a want to teach I get them onto the teaching right away.
Highly motivated toddlers get a smart boost from the batbox so skills are learnt easily.

If the toddler is average motivation with low parents, it's the same deal, no teaching.
Average toddler with average parents. If the toddler has 2 charisma points and is BFF with the parent, he can also wear his parents down.
If the parent rolls the want I get them onto it right away.
Average toddlers get no smart boost

If the toddler is low motivation with low parents no teaching.
Low toddler with average parents, needs the parents to roll the want.
Low toddler with high parents. The parents will teach all the skills but it will take longer as the toddler does not have the smart boost. The high parent will have the smart boost which helps a little.

Probably sounds complicated But basically HM toddlers can get their own way most of the time, Average Toddlers can get there way some of the time and LT are left to play and do what they like but don't get taught skills unless there is a highly motivated adult in their life.

If there is a highly motivated grandparent they may just sweep in and do all the teaching anyway.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Undead Molten Llama
#21 Old 8th Aug 2019 at 4:20 AM
I like simple. I go by the toddlers' wants, not their parents' wants. I primarily play according to wants, and generally, the only Sims who'll roll wants to teach their kids stuff are Family Sims and occasionally Knowledge ones. I don't think that's really realistic. I don't think there's a real parent alive that doesn't want their kid potty-trained as soon as humanly possible. And the walking and talking thing most real parents find adorable, and I've never met a parent who hasn't actively interacted with their kid(s) to work on that.

So, I figure it's more on the toddlers to really want to learn stuff. (As opposed to not giving a crap, like my son who took for-freaking-ever to potty train.) So for me, I go by the toddler's wants. I lock the first one they roll up and there's an extra rule that says that one has to be accomplished before the next one they roll up can be worked on, just for a little more variety and challenge. (I have expanded lifestages -- toddlers have 16 days -- so there's plenty of time to learn stuff. ) I've actually had toddlers who've not rolled wants to learn all the skills. Like if you've got a really lazy or shy one, they might not ever roll up the want to learn to walk or talk, respectively. And I believe ones with lots of Neat points are more likely to roll up potty-training wants.

I'm mostly found on (and mostly upload to) Tumblr these days because, alas, there are only 24 hours in a day.
Muh Simblr! | An index of my downloads on Tumblr.
Mad Poster
#22 Old 8th Aug 2019 at 7:46 AM
Sim wants are important to me, but not as important as my wants So I take their wants into account when I play. I don't try to fulfill every single one, but I regard my hood as a community, the general well-being of my sims are very important to me.

The wants of sims can also change drastically, depending on what you give them to do. A simple example: a sim will only roll the want to make pottery once he has a pottery wheel.

My game revolves around community lots, and each sim plays a small part in the community. The more things a sim experiences, the more his wants may change.

Toddlers - they are normally potty trained in my game, i don't care so much about the learning to walk/talk - they do that anyway once they grow up. I like them to play in the snow/chase butterflies/ hug the other toddler if there is one/ ask people for attention And this is basically the thing - there are so much a sim can do in the game, by going just according to their wants, they miss out on things. And so do I
Mad Poster
#23 Old 8th Aug 2019 at 8:27 AM
Quote: Originally posted by MattGo74
I don't know why people freak out so much at turning off Free Will. Everything they do with it on I hate. I will never have it on. I don't like them cancelling my instructions to do their stupid shit. Shut the fuck up, sit the fuck down and do what you're told. DO what I say! And get the fuck away from that damn TV!


I feel very sorry for your sims.
Mad Poster
#24 Old 8th Aug 2019 at 10:30 AM
Free will off? Of course, it is a choice, but personally, I feel that:
How can you not be surprised if sim A suddenly flirt with totally inappropriate Sim B? (That's vanilla, by the way, some sims like to flirt).
Or when Mr No Nice Points suddenly beats up a townie?
Or when Mr Rock God, who can't do the bow properly, insists on bowing to every sim he see in a ridiculously cute and awkward way?
Or when young Miles plays cops and robbers or Mary Mack with his cousin, all on their own?
Undead Molten Llama
#25 Old 8th Aug 2019 at 2:22 PM
Free will: I can see why some people don't want it on. I mean, obviously if you're setting up to take a specific picture, you don't want the little jerks dodging off to do whatever. Also, some people are very story-oriented, so they only want specific things to happen at certain times. They don't want the randomness of Sim A out of the blue deciding to flirt inappropriately with their mother-in-law because that messes up the story/plans they have in their head. And some people are just...control-freaky by nature. They hate certain actions in game and not everything can be modded and/or they are not interested in mods (I know that's an alien-level concept on this board, but such people DO exist! ), so they take control by not letting the pixels have any choices at all. It's a mindset I don't understand, myself, but if they're happy with their game, who am I to say "boo" to them?

Also, from what I've observed over the years, people who like free will off tend to be newer players. They're figuring out how the game works, so they don't necessarily want the distraction of the nutty things Sims will do randomly. People who've been playing consistently for years, OTOH, kinda know the score and are usually looking more for ways to not be bored or to not always do the same things in the same way all the time. They're looking to get out of ruts. Letting the Sims take control of their own actions and letting random things happen are a good way to do that. So....I'm not judgmental about it. I don't understand why anyone would want to or enjoy playing with free will off long-term, but it's their game, not mine.

Wants: I don't really believe there's anyone who plays ONLY by wants all the time. They might in certain situations and/or more short-term, but practically speaking it'd be really boring to do so long-term, mostly because of the "training" thing. You'd end up with Sims who just roll the same wants over and over if you ONLY played according to rolled wants. Plus, some wants you can't actively fulfill. Like if a Sim rolls a want to be BFFs with someone. There's nothing you can do to make that happen, beyond getting them to best friends. After that, it's just a matter of time before they become BFFs.

Me, I call myself a wants-based player, but really I see wants as more of a guide. The wants they roll plus the things they choose to do autonomously tell me about the kind of person they are. Some people do mathy-formula things to assign characteristics to Sims, and that's fine, but I'm not a fan of numbers and math, so I prefer to figure things out more...organically, I guess. The only math thing in my playing is used to determine whether or not teens will do homework (in those neighborhoods where I use the normal school, which I don't use often) because I've never had a teen roll a want to do homework and I don't want them ALL to flunk. So what I usually do is lock one want the Sim rolls up, and I concentrate on accomplishing that one, like I do with the toddler skills in the other post I made in this thread. I pick the one that seems most "like them," which is totally a subjective thing. It can be a long-term one (like having 10 kids) that might take a good chunk of a Sim's lifetime to accomplish, or it can be a shorter-term one, like that fishing want for the one who's a workaholic and it's hard to get them to chill the hell out but you swear to god that on their next day off they're going to RELAX, dammit! Or there's that party one for that Pleasure/Popularity one who works a boring regular job to make ends meet, so they're really looking forward to throwing that party, but they have to wait for their next day off to throw it. Once they've accomplished their locked goal, I see what rolls up and pick one from that group to lock. Sometimes they roll up nothing I can actively fill -- like the Popularity Sim who rolls up a panel of wants to be BFFs with different people, or nothing really appeals to me (Like, no, you already 5 cats in a one-bedroom apartment, YOU'RE NOT GETTING ANOTHER!), so I might fill the odd little want -- like maybe a want to talk about a hobby -- but mostly I just let them free-will until they roll up something more interesting either to them or to me...and then sometimes they fulfill their little piddly wants all by themselves.

And then there's the LTW, which I tend to view as an overall guide. If they have one for a career, then I might just put them in that career or I might make them wait for it to come up on the newspaper/computer. If they don't have a career LTW, then I have a large list of things they can do to make money instead, and I'll either choose one of them randomly using a random number generator (Usually for CAS-made Sims whom I don't really "know") or I'll pick the option that seems most "like them" or that fits their LTW best. (Like, if they want to woohoo with 20 people, then it would make sense to make them an "escort." ) Most of those other options mean that they will never have a "regular" job at all because IMO having them have regular jobs is kind of boring and un-challenging and forced skilling is not my idea of fun in the game, so...Yeah, I'm happier if they DON'T have a career LTW.

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