Do you play differently over the years? «123...Next Go

Conclue

Hey all,

I was just in another thread and it got me to thinking... has your play style drifted or changed a bit with time as each series is released?

In Sims 2 I was such a micro manager that I never really enjoyed that generational gameplay that Sims 2 was built for because I was always busy playing each household by season in a "pattern" that simulated what we ended up having with story progression in Sims 3. For instance, there was a time back in the Sims 2 days when if a Sim died in a fire or anyway other than "times up" I would opt to loose hours of gameplay rather than save. However, I noticed that has changed. I was playing one of my favorite families in Sims 2 who own a grocery business. Well, Alvin was baking some goods for the bakery section of the store and their on lot kitchen caught on fire. Well, he didn't make it. Suprisingly, I thought his wife would pass too but I was able (With the help of some nice townies) extinguish the flames before they consumed her to. Now, in 2008, I would have just exited to the neighborhood. This time, I thought "why am I so controlling? There's 4 Sims game series to choose from?" So I just continued on with the game. The ironic thing is that Nancy's first husband died and then her second. But now I have a single mother with a huge gorgeous home with a toddler who just grew up to a teen and a very top notch, hardwork type of business. So now that gameplay is completely altered and different. I like that.

See I would have never allowed that back in the day.

With Sims 3 - I became more obssessed with how the worlds *looked* then the story that was going on in it.

I'm hoping that at some point Sims 4 will be a blend of that for me.

Do you all find habbits you've had have changed over the years and how so with Sims 4 if any?

JoxerTM22

Me... Not really.
Didn't cheat the game back then, don't cheat now either.

Rukola_Schaaf

.....

mikmaker

I never change

king_of_simcity7

My method of gameplay was different from the start of TS2 to TS3. By the time TS3 came out I carried most of my old ways over but that changed and improved. Even compared to a couple of years ago I am much faster at playing in TS3.

Niekibear

Nope, creating chaos in the sims world since 2000

jaxie086

I am a family player and a story teller. That has never changed, but the way I go about playing with families and telling stories may change from time to time, depending on the tools I have/don't have in each sequel of the game.

Rflong7

Hi

Yes, it's changed over the series... Not the starting over with a new family when one bores me though- that continues.

With The Sims I just played because it was a new game. I moved to a new family when I wanted to try something else- from a full house to one Sim.

With The Sims 2 I learned to let the Sims have some personality of their own and not just my own imagination (which I might or might not have). Then I learned to expand the families and play in rotation. I became more micro in my management to where each family had a story even if I let the game toss me surprises now and then. I don't mind bad things happening, especially if it tosses in a twist along the storyline I've already started.

Along came The Sims 3 and I lost my rotation play- because of the baby spawning and the wish drops and the game removing my families. I learned to play only one family and to let the children I move go with the SP stream and it wasn't so bad. I started just liking my one family and liking that my modded SP would give fun stories I could check out with my nonplaying families.

Now, with The Sims 4... I don't know if I want to go back to full rotation. I kinda really liked the SP for families I didn't want to play. I haven't liked the teens and loved Uni in TS2 because I didn't have to keep them around for so long- off to Uni with you! XD

I also miss the NPCs because they were such a big, stable part of the families Ive played since TS2. I liked marrying them in both TS2 and TS3 because they were more random and weren't just pretty pretty Sims.

So, moving on... I haven't found a new way to play yet. I don't want the family of my founder to just sit in their houses if I don't want to play them and I don't want to feel like I have to play them.... was hoping for the best of all the games. Options!

Oh, well. I can wait for this iteration to get more developed and see how the game play will expand. It might catch up to what I hoped in a few years.

GalacticGal

I started 'gaming' with the Sims2. In the beginning (being tutored by my very controlling daughter) I learned to use the pause key. A lot. I also turned off Free Will, on her advice. Big mistake. I never once had the joy or hilarity of seeing a Sim swing from the fridge door. I also took the advice from the little gaming instruction pamphlet that came with the disk (remember those?) and played with Aging Off. This was to help us Noobs, come to grips with gameplay. I used it more as a crutch. I wanted more time with my babies and toddlers than the game normally allowed. So, I would only turn Aging back on to age the little darlings up, then turn it off again until I was ready for them to age up again. This allowed me more time to add siblings, too. And by consequence, more time with the entire family. I finally discovered it was fun to have Free Will On, too. Also, since we had no control over the gender of offspring, I would simply save when my Sim went into labor and if the anticipated gender didn't arrive, I would exit, without saving and replay the birth until the desired gender was born.

I was very excited about the sliders we had in Sims3, wherein we could tailor the amount of time each age level was to be. This made me happy and I had so hoped this would carry over to TS4. But, alas, it has not. Here's to hoping they make this change sometime in the future. Long life is far too long the way it is set up now. I had a mod to fix it, however, it no longer functions properly (or I should say, the game no longer functions properly with it activated.) I have since removed my Mods folder. In Sims3, I found myself able to relax my style of game play. I used several of NRaas' mods Relativity being a huge advantage. Since I could slow the progress of a Sims' day (and not tamper with the rate things got done, overall) I found I had more time for my Sims to just be. I was finally able to have a particular family of mine gather in the evenings to hold a jam session together. I continued playing with Free Will slammed all the way to the top. I played Epic lifespan, with some tailoring to certain age levels. I liked this very much. However, instead of just exiting the game after a mishap, I began the unfortunate habit of starting my Sim(s) completely over. I became the Queen of the Reset. I also stuck with this game for many of the features, hoping that what seemed to be 'missing' would ultimately return via an EP. Not so.

Originally, I had no interest in Sims4. It was first introduced as an online game, of which I wanted no part. When it became clear that idea was scrapped, I looked into what Sims4 had to offer and found myself excited, though wary. I recall how our Sims in TS3 were supposed to be more intelligent, and the Trait System more vibrant than it turned out to be. Big disappointment. I believed them when they suggested a technophobe would come into a room and autonomously snap off the TV. It never happened, not in my game, anyway. So, I took what EA said about EMOTIONS with a huge grain of salt. Still, I liked what they said about the CAS and how with the smaller town and load screens, they hoped to bypass some of the trouble TS3 had. In my opinion, that game was a hot mess. In between, I played Sims Medieval. That game was interesting, but I missed the free play of the regular Sims games. The parts I did enjoy (and please don't throw that tomato at me, rotten or otherwise) was the 'daily tasks' my character had to perform. Now, we have that in the regular Sims game. Even so, to me, it's like a combination of free play and guided play. Do I need guidance? Not really. But, if we're to be totally honest, our Sims had to grind skills and gain friends to gain promotions in TS2 and TS3, too. This is just a little more directed. We also had Aspirations in both 2 and 3, to fulfill. I'm playing this game about the same way I did TS3. More relaxed. Free Will is on high, too and I play Long lifespan. I'm building stories in my head for my households, like normal. I did play Rotation Style back in Sims2, to age everyone up evenly, but it no longer matters in this game. The children don't bring friends home from school. What is up with that? Not only that, but I found my Sims (in the latter portion of my rotation) would have illicit relationships behind my back, for which I abhor. This was also a problem with TS3's Story Progression. Everybody was always calling my Sim for a date. Even in-laws. And sometimes, even in front of my Sim. Shocking. I was completely scandalized by the whole thing. EA, not everybody today has affairs!

To answer the OP's query more directly, yes, my game play style has evolved over the years, in a good way.

Shadecaster101

Yes. In TS1, 90% of my Sims died.

KayeStar

Not as far as I can tell. It's more or less the same.

Scobre

Nope. I've been playing since the Sims 1 and I still find myself a doll house player. I'm a rotational player, so the Sims 3 made it hard to adjust to before the NRAAs mods came out. I think of all the games the Sims 2 cater the most towards my play styles. But with the Sims 4, it is the polar opposite of how I like to play my Sims games. I don't think mods or patches can fix the base game for me this time and I've learned to accept that.

Proteus42

Only partially ...
I have always a one family player since Sims 1 ... basically hasn´t changed over the years.

The only difference is that in TS 2 if my next generation Sim moved out of the parental home, I would usually split my gameplay between the parents and the child ... but only because I wanted to avoid the age paradoxon (i.e. the child being older than the parents).
In TS 3 in this situation I would just have my parents get simulated by story progression (and would continue to play full time with the child Sim after him/her moved out from home).

In Sims 4 so far (due to no story progression and no inheritance) I avoid having child Sims moving out from home and instead have the home as generational home in which both generations of Sims live and die

NOVEMBER_11SARAH

Yes my play style has changed.

I was child when I played Sims 1, so I just used to kill them all in different ways.

In Sims 2, I would play every family, so rotational play.

In Sims 3, I always tried to get to 10 generations, but I always failed.

In Sims 4, I just like building houses and sticking them on the gallery.

nazak

In TS1 money cheat was really cool, now not so much. I never use it anymore, I like to have my sims earn their money. From TS2-TS4 my game play has not changed much.

blueasbutterfly

I think my gameplay has changed as I've grown up and my worldview has altered. I never had most of the content for ts1 so all I really did was take care of my people. Typical dollhouse I guess. Sims 2, I was a major control freak, and I was always worried that my Sims would die or cheat or something. Back then I was way more obsessed with having a perfect, happy world. Then 3 came out, and I focused more on one single family, because I didn't like losing the micromanagement xD but I've learned that flaws aren't always bad and that sometimes bad things happen and my Sims get back up and move on. I've become a less restrictive parent, I guess. :P and it has made my games much more interesting and involved. I still usually play one family per neighborhood >.>

I do have ts4 but I don't like it, so I went back to 2 and 3, and I appreciate them much more now.

Sha2520032003

My play style has always been centered around family style play/rotational & making money, for the most part. But each series is a bit different, so I think I'm forced to change how I play to some extent. In TS2, the family interactions were super cute, so I was big on making sure my kids got into private school, etc. & once OFB came out, it was all about making money. In TS3, I still played a family (but I quit rotational play), & I started to add the element of drama into my game, considering we had an open world, I could go to someone's house (& strike up a love relationship/maybe an affair) just to see what would happen in my game. When Island Paradise came out, again, I was all about making $$, by running hotels & building my own. We could own multiple houses and invest in any business. I was big on making potions from Supernatural & finding collectibles & selling them at the consignment store. I was obsessed with seeing how much $$ I could make starting from nothing and building my way to the top.

& now with TS4...it's been really weird for me. I bought the game in Sept, when it 1st came out & I literally couldn't connect with it. I didn't start playing again until February & now I'm hooked. I'm back to family/rotational play. & I start a Sim from scratch and try and build her/his family, as well as make money (without cheats). What's really cool, is that there are so many unexpected events in this game, then what I recall from previous Sims games. So, I'm more inclined to create a storyline as I go & what's happening in my game, versus me making things happen.

EasyToRead

My play style didn't really change that much over the years except when I got to Sims 4. Sims 4 forced me to change the way I play with how linear the gameplay can get and with all the missing features and content like CAST and toddlers. I just stopped playing that half baked game.... and I have never done that with the other 3 games.

CowPlantForHire

EasyToRead wrote: »

My play style didn't really change that much over the years except when I got to Sims 4. Sims 4 forced me to change the way I play with how linear the gameplay can get and with all the missing features and content like CAST and toddlers. I just stopped playing that half baked game.... and I have never done that with the other 3 games.

rudolpha

The challenge for me with every new version of the sims is to fit my gameplay style to what's on the plate from EA. But I enjoy challenges.

ASDF0716

When I do still try to play The Sims 4, now that I'm past 30, I find I'm more focused on families now than I have been in previous iterations which is why missing toddlers is something I keep holding onto with my teeth.

As for the game itself, I find that I'm writing my own stories more and more in an effort to find some form of enjoyment in it.

CK213

I can't really define a play style yet for TS4 until I feel the desire to play families, or to play at all. I am waiting for more EPs and game packs. The linear game play really put me off because I am more of a sandbox/scenario player and don't like the game telling me explicitly what to do and how many times to do it.

TS3 did affect my play style as I did not feel the need to play every sim to keep everyone's age in sync like I had in TS2, but story progression changes and lost items in inventories did put a leash on rotational play for me. Story progression was my main objection when I first started playing TS3. I did not mind the concept of story progression, I just disliked the lack of control over sims important to my plans and scenarios. I still managed to play rotational in TS3 and did enjoy the game nonetheless. I did enjoy telling stories more with my sims because that made TS3 sims come alive for me.

Cabelle1863

Although I've tried to adapt to the changes, I find that I gravitate back toward what I like the most, which is rotational play. I tried TS3, but the limits on rotational play, even with mods, would frustrate me and I'd quit playing. I'm trying to give TS4 a fair chance but I find myself losing interest quickly. Perhaps I will stay interested longer once a few EPS are out, I'm not sure. But I find that when I'm in the mood for a simming marathon, I load TS2. It's what I enjoy the most.

fullspiral

rudolpha wrote: »

The challenge for me with every new version of the sims is to fit my gameplay style to what's on the plate from EA. But I enjoy challenges.

I agree. I adapt to the game.

OneAdorkableGirl

Oh definitely.

I started playing The Sims since Sims 1. Literally remember it like it was yesterday. I was 12 and my brother tells me about this game that you can create these people and then build them a house, and control their lives and stuff; and tells me that he thinks I'd really love it. So, we beg our mom to take us to Walmart to see if it's on the shelf and he shows me it and I just remember holding the box in my hand and .. I was so excited. It was my first PC game that I got to buy. Oh the days of getting an allowance from chores. That day we bought the game, took it home and immediately installed it on my step-dad's computer.

For the Sims 1.. my play-style was all about learning about the game. Trying to figure out how to actually play it, and how I was supposed to "win/complete it", eventually I got the expansion packs as I learned more about the game and I basically became obsessed with it....eventually I started to look online.. and I found out about the Sims 1's BBS; Oh boy.. was that a mistake. I started discovering Stories that people would write and use the Sims they created as Characters.. and one of my passions/hobbies was writing.. --no way, I can play my favorite game and do something I absolutely love as well?--. (My mom always thought my stories were silly... and that I should put my "Sim story writing" to better use for the real world, instead of a video game...)

I found this one story that I could not stop reading. I cannot remember the author, or the title, but I remember bits and pieces of the story.. and then I found out about Custom Content. There was no turning back. This was probably my true obsession with the game. I was totally done for.

I could not stop downloading Custom content; and eventually I started thinking of plot ideas of my own and my whole goal was to take my game and my expansion packs and create my own stories and even upload them for others to read. Next thing I knew I was getting really into computers and needing a new computer so I could play The Sims on... because my world came crashing down when I tried to install The Sims Makin' Magic and my game would just not work/load; and it always crashed. I was so devastated. Then they announced The Sims 2! Sims with expressions and you could see their faces, and their emotions, and they had real hands...

And so I followed up on all the Sims 2 information I could get; and started planning my next story. I started writing stories instead of actually playing the game. I did play Sims 2 for a bit to get the hang of it and figure out all its features, but mostly my play-style was writing.

Then I started exploring the community, getting a newer computer.. to be able to handle the game, my love for CC, and for future content(expansion packs); eventually as my CC folder grew.. I started making Sims. Trying to make Sims unique and different looking from one another and giving them personalities and uncommon names and what not (still with the whole story making thing, but..) I ended up creating Sims and thinking of plots than actually playing and creating the stories in game. (lol). I then moved to the Sims 2 BBS; and from there.. I learned about "Challenges". The Legacy Challenge. O_O I never played the legacy challenge to the T, because I never kept points and I always loved making my own Sims..and wanting my Sims that I created to be married instead of townies being in my families.. but I always disliked cheats.. especially after doing that in The Sims 1 and becoming bored with the game... and that's pretty much what made me explore the game and what it's potential actually was.. and how I learned that the game had so many different ways to play. That's what I loved about this game.

The fact that I could play my way; and that every players games are/were different. The players. The ones that actually play the game for its content and explores the game to the fullest, trying or evening succeeding in doing everything that you could in the game. Completing collections, aspirations, goals, careers, etc, etc.. the story-tellers. The ones that create families, drama, action, and all kinds of genres to tell their stories about their Sims in their own ways. The Movie-Makers. Oh my gosh. Some talented Simmers indeed. & the builders. Once again. Some talented Simmers.. who I envied so much because I could not build for the life of me, lol. And then, of course, the CC-Makers. Who my game would not be, my experience would not be, if not for these talented Simmers because I need my FIX of CC. It just makes my game, my play-style so much more exciting. ♥

Then the Sims 3. My play-style for writing faded. Because Sims 3 was just too different. The story-progression, not having control of all my families like in the Sims 2.. not having the Open community lots that I needed for certain scenes, etc.. I was so excited about the Sims 3, but when it first came out.. I was so bored of the base game. Because, I was so spoiled from all the Sims 2 expansion packs and because I could not get used to the whole wishes thing and what not and the lack of community lots we had in the base game.. and I just kept going back to The Sims 2 until the expansion packs started opening up the game more for Sims 3.

I finally came back to The Sims 3 when Generations was released. I got every expansion pack that was released, but.. my "play-style" just wasn't there yet.. because I was really into family-play once I learned about Legacies. In The Sims 2, I had started to put writing as a side thing because I got really into creating a legacy and even actually tried creating a legacy story.. but I never released it.. I just kept making changes to it and what not.. was never satisfied with it and didn't think it was good enough, lol. I was a silly teenager. .

Anyways.. I went back to Sims 3 once custom content started to get released more. Instead of playing Sims 3, I just created Sims. Downloading all kinds of sliders to make my Sims unique and different once again. Tried playing several Sims.. never became attached to any of them.. until I made Elijah and Freya; they became my main Sims. I fell in love with them. I couldn't stop playing them. I didn't want to play any other family.

They became my legacy Sims.. and I still have them and their save. But due to my 4 year old computer...being complicated... and probably needed yet ANOTHER motherboard... >_< I am unable to play The Sims 3. Due to some horrible ghosting/motion blur issues when I pan my camera. I think it does it in Sims 4.. but it's not as bad and it's still playable. But my Sims 3 isn't.

So yeah... wow.. this was much longer than it needed to be. *hides*. But I can definitely say over the years... my play-style has changed quite a bit. I'm still very much into creating Sims in CAS. I still very much into creating/writing stories. But as of right now.. I'm just mainly about playing the game, learning about all it's features, and just playing through a legacy and actually experiencing the game-play. I still have not experienced everything in The Sims 2! or The Sims 3. And as soon as I can get my new computer I will be installing the Sims 3 again because I absolutely love it and miss my "Main family", and would like to explore the Sims 3 more as I wait for The Sims 4 expansion packs/game-packs and other content to be released.

Because, sadly, just like The Sims 3 base game. Sims 4 is holding me a bit better than Sims 3 did, but I do get bored at times.. and end up shutting it off. But I'm totally psyched for The Sims 4 Get To Work! And I think it'll be some nice game-play to hold me over until the next set of content comes out. *Crossed fingers*. xD

Jessa_Dakkar

My play style is unchanged from when I first began simming. It probably makes a difference that I was an adult when I first played the game.