Forum Announcement, Click Here to Read More From EA_Cade.
What makes your simworld truly your own compared to other players?
ACruelButLovingGod
Posts: 708 Member
One thing I've noticed about the what-happened-in-your-game threads is just how many different playstyles there are in terms of how folks choose to frame the story of their world. Premades get put into a wide variety of roles, for example. Folks with the magic pack tend to make Cassandra Goth a spellcaster, for example, but in my world, she's a tragic figure whose teenage gloom spiraled into an adult depression that led to her offering her woohoo services to men in need of a boost to fun and social.
On another front, aliens face brutal xenophobia from my human sims, with absolutely no civil rights of any kind. They're technically forbidden from stepping foot on earth at all, giving entirely new meaning to the phrase "illegal aliens." Yet some folks embrace aliens (and vampires, and mages, and whatever else lovely weirdness the game offers in packs I don't own) and love to craft stories about them. I just see them as an unwelcome nuisance that came with the active careers in Get to Work.
My sims also enjoy a strange balance between complete gender equity in public life and rigid gender roles in the home. Women enjoy the same rights as men in terms of opportunity and civil rights, but marriages and parenting and social norms are '50s sitcom traditional. There are single mothers, either because their "baby daddy" is a scoundrel (the "Koivonen Kids", nine kids by seven women from one male sim who has since died) or because I tend to overuse "having a one-night stand led to her getting pregnant" as a plot device, but they're a small minority compared to the relatively high amount of single-parent homes in the real world (at least in the US, where I live.)
How about everyone else here? What makes your simworld truly your own? Strange uses for premades? Unorthodox (or rigidly orthodox!) social norms? An overarching story that all else in your world is in service of? Tell folks about your "canon"!
On another front, aliens face brutal xenophobia from my human sims, with absolutely no civil rights of any kind. They're technically forbidden from stepping foot on earth at all, giving entirely new meaning to the phrase "illegal aliens." Yet some folks embrace aliens (and vampires, and mages, and whatever else lovely weirdness the game offers in packs I don't own) and love to craft stories about them. I just see them as an unwelcome nuisance that came with the active careers in Get to Work.
My sims also enjoy a strange balance between complete gender equity in public life and rigid gender roles in the home. Women enjoy the same rights as men in terms of opportunity and civil rights, but marriages and parenting and social norms are '50s sitcom traditional. There are single mothers, either because their "baby daddy" is a scoundrel (the "Koivonen Kids", nine kids by seven women from one male sim who has since died) or because I tend to overuse "having a one-night stand led to her getting pregnant" as a plot device, but they're a small minority compared to the relatively high amount of single-parent homes in the real world (at least in the US, where I live.)
How about everyone else here? What makes your simworld truly your own? Strange uses for premades? Unorthodox (or rigidly orthodox!) social norms? An overarching story that all else in your world is in service of? Tell folks about your "canon"!
(he/him)
And remember this above all. Our Roman gods are watching. Make sure they are not ashamed!
My NBA site, Pace and Space
And remember this above all. Our Roman gods are watching. Make sure they are not ashamed!
My NBA site, Pace and Space
18
Comments
The only thing I can think to add to the conversation is all the builds are my own. In my current save, all of the premades have gotten makeovers. I usually ignore them anyway. A few of them have been pawns for my sim, Jack, to sow his wild oats, so to speak.
Then I just... play that one household and let the premades do their things. That doesn't mean I don't love some of them; Bella and Bob of course, but also Ulrike, Nalani, Sara Scott (my newest favorite), are some of my favorite pre-mades that I always protect so the game doesn't do anything stupid to. Other than that the only thing I focus on is my (most of the time) single Sim living alone with all premades just better looking townies basically. Cardboard set pieces to make the world look good.
This current save is probably my most controversial since my very very first one in 2014, since I am actually actively seducing a married man (Sara's husband, since he best looking man in that expansion world and I want a kid eventually).
I play pretty much improvisationally, where I have story ideas and then the game does random things and I really have fun changing my story to include whatever random thing happened.
I might lean into the weirdness offered by the game more often than some players, but not to an extent that is unique.
My characters range from traditional to libertine to villain-ish. I haven't played an out-and-out evil character yet- it could happen, although I'd have to play it in a way that didn't depress me.
All magic creatures on the planet Symm have become victims of human persecution. As a result, they have withdrawn from human civilization (represented by Willow Creek, Windenburg, Brindleton Bay and President Alex Moyer) and isolated themselves into their own land, now called The Myst (represented by Glimmerbrook, Sulani, HOB and Newcrest). Aliens, who were stranded on the world after a crash several generations ago, are also in hiding in the desert of Oasis Springs. All the spellcasters, mermaids, pseudo fairies, gnomes, elves and Bigfoots (feet?) have joined together to create their own thriving society, with San Myshuno as a neutral zone where they still mingle with sympathetic humans. Conflict comes from hostile groups determined to break through the magic barrier that separates the human world from The Myst.
To make my story work, I downloaded the original trailer Sages and Morgyn Ember from the Gallery so they could be played, and deleted the HQ sages. The original sages are now the Council of All Magic, overseeing the affairs of The Myst. Training of Spellcasters falls to replacement sages. Morgyn is my protagonist. I decided he isn't really a spellcaster, at all, but is the last of an ancient race that preceded the spellcasters, and imparted the secrets of magic to them. He is very powerful, and the humans view him as their biggest threat.
Cue opening credits. LOL!
Tales From The Myst
The Blue Moon Jukebox
All the sims err'day
Juliette, Isabel, and Hannah started out as triplets. I aged Hannah to child and Juliette to teen so I could play each age group. I aged Juliette to young adult back in May and her story is here.
THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU RAISE A TEEN FOR 4 YEARS https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/17872607#Comment_17872607
Juliette has moved out of the family home, gotten her own place, and is running her own shop while working on a Spa Day Aspiration.
I started my second save with Juliette's story and I'll probably rotate between her and her mom to complete goals.
Isabel aged up to child and she and Hannah are now twins and living in the family home with their dad and dog. They'll reunite with their mom soon and I'll age them to teen.
I play a chaotic, rotational game and switch households depending on who I feel like playing at the time. (It's getting hard with the aggressive relationship culling and Sims "forgetting" friendships and relationships. ☹️) I like to let the game sort of dictate the direction of the gameplay so if something unexpected pops up that I normally didn't want to happen, I run with it to take the challenge and change how things will play out.
For example, I recently jumped in my game to find that one of my longest running Sims had her mind and relationships wiped by some Vampire (I don't use mods) and she no longer knew any of her family, who she had been very close to. I was kind of upset at first because this was a Sim I played pretty regularly but then I decided there must have been a reason. Maybe she got too close to a guarded secret and something is looking for her. Her family is working to reacquaint with her and they might have to start exploring some "forbidden" areas. I will look for omens in my gameplay to help direct that story and see where it ends up. If one of my vampires ends up showing up a lot to the same places she goes, I'll take it as a "sign". Maybe her best friend will start to get cozy with her boyfriend now that she's forgotten them. They all live together, lol.
Anyway, pretty much anything goes in my game. The more unpredictable the better.
otherwise it does not feel like my save file no matter how much id like it to
Then again I wouldn't say the way I play is all too unique but there is certain stories that will keep on repeating without my notice
and I surely tend to find evil ,strange, gothy and occult sims quite more interesting and loveable than the rest though they're definitely not only ones I play
and if sim is too cheerful,pretty,popular,
happy with perfect life,lives in utopia...
they usually have bad fate or at least a horrible secret or 2 to cover by the time i close the game
summed up:
Simmingal: *notices happy sim*
Also Simmingal: *plays x-files theme*
Simmingal: *notice gothy evil sim*
Also Simmingal: a friend? perhaps?
🏡 Gallery 📖 Stories 🌍 World Project 🥔 MOD/CC Free
I tend to make the same calendar adjustments (adding Spooky Day and some summer holidays, making them all a day off work, Love Day becomes an Easter combo, etc.) as well and I have favorite places for placing restaurants, vet clinics, and spas. They are often adjusted to fit that spot, especially if I built them myself.
Other things are more save by save habits. For example, I tend to start tailoring the main world and neighborhood to have more life in it. Adding Sims to connect family trees, adding lot traits and adjusting builds, giving families pets, etc. It doesn't start out much at first, but the longer I play a save the more I change the worlds.
Because I can't; I keep all sigs turned off.
*raises hand* Essay-length post please!
And remember this above all. Our Roman gods are watching. Make sure they are not ashamed!
My NBA site, Pace and Space
The way I've been playing is where San Myshuno is the central hub of the world. Then each biome type is connected somewhere around it and they stay near their biome. I include the vacation worlds as my regular worlds, too.
With premades, I mostly keep them where they are unless their lot is needed for a community lot or something else. Then I evict them, but they can still be in the game. I give them makeovers and some of them get played in my rotation, but most get ignored except for friendships and stuff.
With my own sims, I play them like they live in a town. Every sim plays a part, whether it's in the government or just an average simizen. My government workers do campaign events, take pills on what other sims want, debate each other and some are truly corrupt while others really want to make it a better place to live. Average simizens work and focus on different things like family, friends, careers, and/or hobbies. I make sure there are clubs set up for everyone and community lots for them to be able to get out and have fun. I also have workplace lots for my work from home sims to get out of the house and skill at "work".
In the previous games, I used to let the game control the narrative. Now in TS4 it's more like I have to role play in order for my sims to behave differently. So I've taken on that role and made sims behave according to their traits and personality. I have sims that are friendly and others who are sarcastic. They speak different languages. They don't generally meet sims outside of their towns unless they go to conferences or while they're in San Myshuno. I have some grandma's who despise the city and their kids love it. Bad parents and good parents. Criminals. Some sims have special stories like one kid in Willow Creek is trying to get the mayor to clean up the park in his neighborhood so he needs to get 25 signatures to do it. Some are having coming of age stories. Some are super rich and getting into trouble or getting into philanthropy. I have architects and artists who design the city. They simizens vote on different changes to their towns, some towns focus on tech, others farming, others the arts, others touristy stuff.
Since I started playing this way, I'm having a lot of fun.
Because I can't; I keep all sigs turned off.
I suppose the only rule I apply would be to a legacy-type family, where I would make sure that they have at least one child to carry on that legacy. I've got about 10 of those.
I play a mix of legacy with town planning game. I start in an empty save (no other sims besides my founder, no other houses, no community lots) and i develop my family and build community lots as i need them, in a slow pace, generation after generation.
I change anything I want and make it how I want to. Even if it seems a little boring to someone else, I don't care. It's mine because it's mine. Sometimes I want drama and sometimes I just don't. I make use of the whole extended world and edit anything I want to. I added a bunch of lots, renovated others and created community spaces for my sims to go to but there is a lot of variety so that I can change things up.
Anyway, I have a large rotation with a bunch of households, characters and ongoing plots. I'm multiple generations in and have characters with distinct personalities. There are so many varied households with differences from each other and backstories. I can go into detail about my headcanon but for a while, I played with a lot of pre-mades while I established the game. Now, I play with fewer and I'm mostly several generations down. Some characters really only exist in my game.
At any given time, I play a rotation by concentrating on a certain household until it gets to its stopping point when I switch to the next. Usually there are some major life events or goals for that play or time period. I base where the sim visits on where they live, their interests and things such as their family or social network.
At some point I might start up one or two other saves, a supernatural or historic one and another that spins off from my main save. I haven't gotten there though and I have a lot going on. It's hard to describe it without going into talking about everyone and it might not sound as interesting. I think of it as a kind of "Our Town" in The Sims. All of these numerous characters run into each other, interact and go on with their lives. I do create some drama and it's not all happy endings. Sometimes I'll play a lot of happy families but I mix it up. Other times, I'll set a goal for my play such as adding a new building, moving in a group of random roommates to see what happens or coming up with some other event. For example, I have so many happy families that seem perfect that I may set the goal that one of those picture perfect families is going to fail - I don't know which one but I'll go in and pick one unsuspecting house.
There's a lot that has happened. I had a founder who had descendants in the game. There's a musical family that is passing on their musicality to each generation. There are descendants of pre-mades to varying degrees. Rich sims, poor sims, middle class. I could go on.
Most of my households are chill about gender roles though I have some stay-at-home parents - sometimes mom, sometimes dad or an alternative. There are also an increasing number of religious sims which has nothing to do with me; it's like a wave of religiosity going through the world. For a while, there was a cult that was then banned. There's a legal system and rules but there are also criminals and some adult themes. I could get detailed about explaining the headcanon but it's so varied that the variations are really the theme. If I want to do something different, I'll either change details about a household or I'll switch to another house. I always know when it is time to move on. It's about hitting a point in their lives or picking what I want to play at that time. I change anything until I want to play it.
That's how I play sims 3!
My Families Via PlumTree App
I also try to play as realistically as possible according to my "canon". For example, a sim living in Mt Komorebi cannot just pop into Sulani for the afternoon and then hit up Windenburg in the evening. Sims are pretty much locked to the world I've placed them in, unless they go on vacation or something. Exception is given to a few worlds I consider close enough to qualify for a "days trip". I also use mods to limit sims to the world they live in and each world is assigned a native language. This has expanded my gameplay greatly as it requires me to put in more effort if I want to have sims from different worlds meet and form a meaningful relationship.
Sim households are made up of families/friends/clubmates/roommates/business partners/singles/challenge households/explorers/etc to mix things up while I rotate. Don't really play with occults.
Townies are given makeovers to give them more of a personality when they become by sims friend/significant other. But this has become a bit of an obsession in that all sims who spawn MUST receive a makeover now. I'm sure I've done over 1500 makeovers at this point. At least sims look like they belong to a region they spawn in.
My biggest challenge with this save is finding when to move on. Be it having sims age, get married, have kids, break up. It's like I'm stuck in this weird status quo. Although every now and again I am inspired to shake things up or find a interesting storyline to pursue.
*:.｡."It's great being ((Queen Bee))!".｡.:*
★・・・・・・★・・・・・・★・・・・・・★
✧ :-"As long as I continue to believe then one day my ((dreams)) really will come true."✧ :-
I keep my main families and long term background sims' sim count under 150. I think I look at that number whenever I look at my households. I'm uneasy if it gets close to 150 and happy when it goes down
I'm not strict about aging my sims in a rational order. Some of them live much longer than the others and age slower. I mainly play on the long lifespan (but sometimes I switch to normal for short period of time, age sims with a cake or turn aging off). I play following my own feelings, I mean, I play whichever sim I want to, age them when it feels like it's time to do that and don't let them die until I'm ready for it (unless they die by accident which has happened twice. I'd like to say that most of the time I adapt to the outcome, but I did roll back my save when my celebrity Sofia Bjergsen froze to death in gym clothes...). I don't like to roll back my save and so far I've only done it once.
I don't think my sim stories are that special or follow some kind of pattern, and I'm still working on neighbourhood lores, but I'm quite happy with the one for Sulani. My Sulani has a tightknit community and they have a village club that decides on the things that happen in the islands. Only one representative per family is allowed. Nalani desires to join the club, but she lives with the village elder so she isn't allowed (she stole poor Lia's place as a pupil by drowning her). Nalani has a secret plan to claim the islands back to the merfolk. One of my main families (the one on gen 2) lives in Sulani.