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Sticking with a household

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Hi guys, hope you all are well!

I have a really bad problem with committing to sims' family households. I always say I'll get back to playing a certain household at another time, but then I end up deleting them anyways. I go through playing households like wildfire! I even annoy myself with this habit, LOL. I really have admiration for those of you who are able to do Legacy challenges and play through entire generations!

So I'm left wondering...How do you guys stick with one household and really commit to seeing their story through? I'm all over the place and feel so disorganized with my gameplay...I know that there is no "wrong" or "right" way to play, but I'm having serious commitment issues here!

, \

Comments

  • elanorbretonelanorbreton Posts: 14,518 Member
    Who would want to stick with one household when you can have a whole heap of different varieties? 😉
  • babajaynebabajayne Posts: 1,866 Member
    I get bored playing the same household constantly - bored of those sims, their house, the neighborhood and the world. That’s why I haven’t gotten very far in a legacy, either. Plus, they accumulate so much money and it’s too easy to run out of things to spend it on. By the second generation, house goals have been met and it feels stale.

    Have you tried playing multiple households on a rotational basis? That’s what keeps me interested in a save. They’ll often befriend each other and hang out together, their kids grow up and date one another, etc. Then some kids might stay in the family home but others will start their lives elsewhere. For me, playing 8-12 households offers enough variety while still being manageable. By the time I play each of them for a week or so, I’m ready to start over at the top and it keeps things feeling fresh. It also makes their social lives feel more alive and real.
  • DaWaterRatDaWaterRat Posts: 3,351 Member
    One thing I've done for a few saves is when my "heir" ages up to young adult, they aren't the heir to the house, but rather the heir to my playing. I move them out with just enough money to purchase a new lot (sometimes that's a starter house, sometimes it's an empty lot) and then "start over" with the new generation that has to build itself up again. So I'm still playing the same family, just a different household.

    I've tried to play rotationally, but I actually get caught up in whatever my current active household is doing/their story so I end up forgetting about whatever I set up in other households.
  • SimmervilleSimmerville Posts: 11,644 Member
    I play on rotation for the sake of variety. I follow a list making sure I stop by them all, but some I play for a few simdays, others for just a few sim hours. Some times when playing a house I did not really want to play, I find something to develop or build on, making me play them for a few days instead. So, I recommend entering each house on a list, but not forcing yourself to stay there for long ;)
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  • HeathertibbHeathertibb Posts: 153 Member
    Who would want to stick with one household when you can have a whole heap of different varieties? 😉

    @elanorbreton, exactly! LOL
  • HeathertibbHeathertibb Posts: 153 Member
    edited November 2021
    babajayne wrote: »
    I get bored playing the same household constantly - bored of those sims, their house, the neighborhood and the world. That’s why I haven’t gotten very far in a legacy, either. Plus, they accumulate so much money and it’s too easy to run out of things to spend it on. By the second generation, house goals have been met and it feels stale.

    Have you tried playing multiple households on a rotational basis? That’s what keeps me interested in a save. They’ll often befriend each other and hang out together, their kids grow up and date one another, etc. Then some kids might stay in the family home but others will start their lives elsewhere. For me, playing 8-12 households offers enough variety while still being manageable. By the time I play each of them for a week or so, I’m ready to start over at the top and it keeps things feeling fresh. It also makes their social lives feel more alive and real.

    @babajayne and @Simmerville , rotational play does sound like a good idea. I think I'll try that!
  • HeathertibbHeathertibb Posts: 153 Member
    DaWaterRat wrote: »
    One thing I've done for a few saves is when my "heir" ages up to young adult, they aren't the heir to the house, but rather the heir to my playing. I move them out with just enough money to purchase a new lot (sometimes that's a starter house, sometimes it's an empty lot) and then "start over" with the new generation that has to build itself up again. So I'm still playing the same family, just a different household.

    I've tried to play rotationally, but I actually get caught up in whatever my current active household is doing/their story so I end up forgetting about whatever I set up in other households.

    @DaWaterRat, very insightful!
  • SimmingalSimmingal Posts: 8,885 Member
    for this exact reason ive started playing multiple households in same save

    can't for life of me stay with one household for long but this keeps me from the delete button and having sims ive played before just kinda hanging out at background is fun

    also like i can always continue where i left off if i feel like it
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  • simgirl1010simgirl1010 Posts: 35,701 Member
    I've been playing the same family for the last five years. The three kids started out as triplets and I aged Hannah to child and Juliette to teen. My sim mom is my main playable character and with the release of each pack I've moved her out to focus on the new pack features. She's completed a lot of the aspirations, skills, careers, collections, etc.

    vmGdwDH.png

    After about four years I aged Juliette to young adult. She remained in the family home for a few months while I decided how to play her. With the release of the Spa Day refresh I moved her out to her own place in Winderburg. She is currently working on the new aspirations and also owns a shop selling spa related products. Juliette was my first ever second save game.

    3eSraEi.png

    Shortly after I aged Isabel to child. Not sure when I'll age them to teen.

    0si7kPa.png

    Mom has been living on a farm in Windenberg since Cottage Living released in July.

    jrFsDuJ.png

    Hannah and Isabel reside in the family home with Dad and Coco. I'm not playing them at all right now.

    1RWjhhZ.png

    I'll be moving Mom back in in the near future and then renovate their home to include space for farm animals. This is when I'll probably age up Hannah and Isabel to teen. Then young adult and move them out. They'll probably share an apartment in San Myshuno since I've never played a sim in an apartment or done the City Native aspiration.


    And for anyone interested this is Juliette's teenage story.

    https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/17872598#Comment_17872598
  • Umbreon12Umbreon12 Posts: 877 Member
    I tend to make more than one family in each save file. Each of my families slightly differ in their dynamics.
    For me it enables me to switch to another family if I am getting bored of the one I am playing nonstop. It also gives me an idea of what to do with the families later on.
  • Karababy52Karababy52 Posts: 5,952 Member
    I have never had much luck sticking with one family for a Legacy type game play with a couple exceptions. I love the Drifter challenge because the heir starts over in a different world and has different goals to reach than the previous heir. It's fun because I get to build since they usually start from scratch and it never gets stale in the same house. Unfortunately, that save file has been on hold since gardening was bugged out due to the Eco pack. I made a vow back then I wouldn't play the challenge again until it was COMPLETELY fixed. Hasn't happened yet.

    The other exception is a save I started on January 1st of this year. I made up a challenge for myself called One Month One World One Year. The basic rules at the beginning involved posting one daily screenshot every day for a year, similar to other photography challenges I've seen on different sites. The screenshot would be something the challenge Sim did that day, a landscape, or something else pertaining to the current world and it's aspiration(s) she was working on to complete. A short text synopsis would also be included. Each month the challenge Sim moves to a different world.

    Whether they move to an empty lot, Rags to Riches style, build a house from scratch using funds they've acquired, or download one from the Gallery to use or modify is optional. The challenge Sim starts as a teen with aging off. Aging is done manually every 3 months. They can get married, have children, etc., but that's purely optional. I didn't really plan to make a story with my challenge Sim, but slowly it morphed into that and the adventures she's had with her friends, family and now husband has been incredibly fun! It sounds like a simple challenge, but it really isn't. It's tough posting and playing every, single day!

    Money is not really a factor in this challenge. She's had millions for months now, it's about the daily pic post and the aspirations. And, of course the story. It's been fun trying to come up with reasons why she would need to move each month and then make a story about it involving the aspirations in the world for every month of this year. Next year I plan to simply do the challenge with one Sim and not have him get married, not tell much of a story and just work on aspirations for each month to make it simpler so I will have time to play other Sims and packs that I've put on hold for this challenge. That's the plan anyway, I have a feeling I won't be able to resist again telling stories with him. We'll see how it goes. :)

    Note that in each of these ways I've played with one household per save. I do not rotate and have never played that way. Just a personal preference since I'm a micromanager and it would drive me crazy not being able to control what my Sims are doing when I'm not playing with them. I am thoroughly in the minority of Simmers that does not enjoy story progression for ALL Sims. Only my own. Sometimes I'll manually go into their friends or family households to do something that progresses the challenge Sims story, or just for fun. But that's it.

    Before this year long challenge, my normal way of playing was/is challenges! I love them, especially Rags to Riches, the Asylum Challenge, Just One Sim, Apocalypse, and many, many others including build challenges. There isn't many listed here on the site, other than Legacies, that I haven't tried to complete. Some I have, over and over, others are on hiatus until another time, or I got bored with the repetition and just quit playing it. I have a very nasty case of restartitis. A new pack comes out and I want to play a challenge for it, or I get an idea from a thread here, a YT LP, etc. and just have to try it! The Drifter challenge and my own personal challenge are the ones I've played the longest since the beginning of Sims in 2000. So, that's my long-winded way of sharing how I have stuck to playing one household in two different challenges, but mostly this current one since January 1st.

    Thanks to anyone that read this far and Happy Simming! <3
  • simgirl1010simgirl1010 Posts: 35,701 Member
    Karababy52 wrote: »
    Next year I plan to simply do the challenge with one Sim and not have him get married, not tell much of a story and just work on aspirations for each month to make it simpler so I will have time to play other Sims and packs that I've put on hold for this challenge. That's the plan anyway, I have a feeling I won't be able to resist again telling stories with him. We'll see how it goes.

    @Karababy52 I read it all! 😄
    So glad to hear you're continuing your challenge next year. I've enjoyed reading all the stories.
  • wylmite1986wylmite1986 Posts: 1,771 Member
    Oh I thought I was the only one who had this problem! I am the same as well. I feel like I always do the same thing over and over again, so I get bored very quickly and then move on but then get annoyed with myself for not sticking to a sim. But I too want to figure out something different I just don't know what.
    Hi guys, hope you all are well!

    I have a really bad problem with committing to sims' family households. I always say I'll get back to playing a certain household at another time, but then I end up deleting them anyways. I go through playing households like wildfire! I even annoy myself with this habit, LOL. I really have admiration for those of you who are able to do Legacy challenges and play through entire generations!

    So I'm left wondering...How do you guys stick with one household and really commit to seeing their story through? I'm all over the place and feel so disorganized with my gameplay...I know that there is no "wrong" or "right" way to play, but I'm having serious commitment issues here!

    , \

    sims_zpswwzalnus.jpg
  • Karababy52Karababy52 Posts: 5,952 Member
    @simgirl1010 Thank you for reading it all and for reading our challenge stories. I had no idea you were reading them! Knowing that you do now made my day! :) I hope you enjoy our updates next year, if you decide to read them as well. *Hugs* <3
  • sulfurstylesssulfurstyless Posts: 100 Member
    I love making new households because I like experimenting with different Sim designs and bios too. I cannot stick to only one household because it'd bore me.
    Ambitions > Island Paradise > World Adventures > Generations > Showtime > Seasons > Supernatural > University Life > Pets > Late Night > Into The Future
  • PreCiiousPreCiious Posts: 353 Member
    Hi guys, hope you all are well!

    I have a really bad problem with committing to sims' family households. I always say I'll get back to playing a certain household at another time, but then I end up deleting them anyways. I go through playing households like wildfire! I even annoy myself with this habit, LOL. I really have admiration for those of you who are able to do Legacy challenges and play through entire generations!

    So I'm left wondering...How do you guys stick with one household and really commit to seeing their story through? I'm all over the place and feel so disorganized with my gameplay...I know that there is no "wrong" or "right" way to play, but I'm having serious commitment issues here!

    , \

    * Well playing with aging on. If you get bored quickly the shorter the age span should be. That way things dont stay the same and it also challenges you. Because they die quicker

    * Play some life changing events... Break Up / Affairs / another baby / loosing the job / moving /

    I had once a story line where the parents wanted to move from san myshuno to sulani and that gave it a fresh start. Because i made the kid new friends in sulani and gave her new hobbies.

    As far as staying conneceted
    * * Come with little goals and differente ones
    * Taking pictures and invision the personality. Helps me get attached to a sim and that makes me wanna continue playing
    *
  • HeathertibbHeathertibb Posts: 153 Member
    Karababy52 wrote: »
    I have never had much luck sticking with one family for a Legacy type game play with a couple exceptions. I love the Drifter challenge because the heir starts over in a different world and has different goals to reach than the previous heir. It's fun because I get to build since they usually start from scratch and it never gets stale in the same house. Unfortunately, that save file has been on hold since gardening was bugged out due to the Eco pack. I made a vow back then I wouldn't play the challenge again until it was COMPLETELY fixed. Hasn't happened yet.

    The other exception is a save I started on January 1st of this year. I made up a challenge for myself called One Month One World One Year. The basic rules at the beginning involved posting one daily screenshot every day for a year, similar to other photography challenges I've seen on different sites. The screenshot would be something the challenge Sim did that day, a landscape, or something else pertaining to the current world and it's aspiration(s) she was working on to complete. A short text synopsis would also be included. Each month the challenge Sim moves to a different world.

    Whether they move to an empty lot, Rags to Riches style, build a house from scratch using funds they've acquired, or download one from the Gallery to use or modify is optional. The challenge Sim starts as a teen with aging off. Aging is done manually every 3 months. They can get married, have children, etc., but that's purely optional. I didn't really plan to make a story with my challenge Sim, but slowly it morphed into that and the adventures she's had with her friends, family and now husband has been incredibly fun! It sounds like a simple challenge, but it really isn't. It's tough posting and playing every, single day!

    Money is not really a factor in this challenge. She's had millions for months now, it's about the daily pic post and the aspirations. And, of course the story. It's been fun trying to come up with reasons why she would need to move each month and then make a story about it involving the aspirations in the world for every month of this year. Next year I plan to simply do the challenge with one Sim and not have him get married, not tell much of a story and just work on aspirations for each month to make it simpler so I will have time to play other Sims and packs that I've put on hold for this challenge. That's the plan anyway, I have a feeling I won't be able to resist again telling stories with him. We'll see how it goes. :)

    Note that in each of these ways I've played with one household per save. I do not rotate and have never played that way. Just a personal preference since I'm a micromanager and it would drive me crazy not being able to control what my Sims are doing when I'm not playing with them. I am thoroughly in the minority of Simmers that does not enjoy story progression for ALL Sims. Only my own. Sometimes I'll manually go into their friends or family households to do something that progresses the challenge Sims story, or just for fun. But that's it.

    Before this year long challenge, my normal way of playing was/is challenges! I love them, especially Rags to Riches, the Asylum Challenge, Just One Sim, Apocalypse, and many, many others including build challenges. There isn't many listed here on the site, other than Legacies, that I haven't tried to complete. Some I have, over and over, others are on hiatus until another time, or I got bored with the repetition and just quit playing it. I have a very nasty case of restartitis. A new pack comes out and I want to play a challenge for it, or I get an idea from a thread here, a YT LP, etc. and just have to try it! The Drifter challenge and my own personal challenge are the ones I've played the longest since the beginning of Sims in 2000. So, that's my long-winded way of sharing how I have stuck to playing one household in two different challenges, but mostly this current one since January 1st.

    Thanks to anyone that read this far and Happy Simming! <3

    @Karababy52, it's funny that you mention challenges because yesterday I decided to start playing an off the grid combined with simple living challenge. It is a whole different kind of gameplay! It's challenging, exciting, and unlike anything I've ever done with a household. It also kept my interest. I'm heavily considering trying more challenges in the future because I noticed I'm more motivated to stick with the same family to complete the challenge. Thanks so much for your input!!!
  • HeathertibbHeathertibb Posts: 153 Member
    PreCiious wrote: »
    Hi guys, hope you all are well!

    I have a really bad problem with committing to sims' family households. I always say I'll get back to playing a certain household at another time, but then I end up deleting them anyways. I go through playing households like wildfire! I even annoy myself with this habit, LOL. I really have admiration for those of you who are able to do Legacy challenges and play through entire generations!

    So I'm left wondering...How do you guys stick with one household and really commit to seeing their story through? I'm all over the place and feel so disorganized with my gameplay...I know that there is no "wrong" or "right" way to play, but I'm having serious commitment issues here!

    , \

    * Well playing with aging on. If you get bored quickly the shorter the age span should be. That way things dont stay the same and it also challenges you. Because they die quicker

    * Play some life changing events... Break Up / Affairs / another baby / loosing the job / moving /

    I had once a story line where the parents wanted to move from san myshuno to sulani and that gave it a fresh start. Because i made the kid new friends in sulani and gave her new hobbies.

    As far as staying conneceted
    * * Come with little goals and differente ones
    * Taking pictures and invision the personality. Helps me get attached to a sim and that makes me wanna continue playing
    *

    @PreCiious, thanks for your input! I never even thought about setting the age span to short to make the story progress quicker. Great idea!
  • GalacticGalGalacticGal Posts: 28,284 Member
    For me, I create the characters in CAS that I wish to play. In fact, I created the Cantrell family for the mini-series in my siggie below. Since the only daughter is my O/C (Original character, for those not familiar with fan fiction), her brothers never got much attention being in the background. Bit parts. Erik is her favorite brother and I made him an aspiring musician in the story. Now, it's his time to shine. I have to use a mod for it, but he came into his own in Sims3 with Showtime. I'm very invested in him, to the point when things go wonky, as in the file gets corrupted, or he dies unexpectedly, or a new mod totally breaks the save, I simply re-start them.

    And I swear to goodness that as soon as I get close to where things left off after the save collapsed on me, another patch drops. Face/palm. He is still in high school in my current save, just found his girlfriend (yes, I place the same families back in each time I have to start anew). This time, I've had some great help from other players. There is a way for him to win Starlight Accolades for his music. A little mod that squelches the cool-down on licensing songs. And it has to be a song, no lyrics it seems. That limits him to the violin. But, that's okay, he's level 10 on all instruments. He is a Musical Genius, after all.

    I agree that Legacy play can be a bore. I did finally complete Pinstar's Legacy Challenge for Sims4. I did it in Sims2 and it opened a whole new world for me. I learned things about that game I never knew. Plus, I had many firsts occur. A Sim got abducted by aliens, for instance and had a male child as a result. He became my heir and in Uni was kidnapped and brought into the Secret Society. Way cool stuff. It took a solid year for me to get through the Sims4 version, only because I wasn't playing every single day. But even though Erik was my Founder, he still couldn't sing. We didn't get that ability as a real skill until City Living. I got totally hooked on Erik. I think I'm addicted, in fact. LOL

    Longer story short, find or create a Sim you 'fall in love' with, essentially so that everything that happens to them matters to you, too. That's how I stay in the game.
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  • haneulhaneul Posts: 1,952 Member
    I play legacy-ish style and only one household. It keeps my attention because I love my Sims and I find that it's hard to have in-depth backstories for entire worlds. If I rotated my gameplay would get same-y anyway and there's enough variety of personality in one household to keep me happy. My Sims are rich, but I find that creates opportunities for different types of gameplay instead of no gameplay. It's not hard to come up with creative ways to spend cash.

    I find that playing slowly and deeply instead of widely helps my enjoyment. I keep my Sims very busy. They have lots of hobbies, jobs, friends, and relatives. They're always going out and doing things. It's not boring to me at all because my Sims always have stuff they're trying to accomplish.
  • RedDestiny92RedDestiny92 Posts: 7,819 Member
    edited November 2021
    I go through that but for me as a simmer it's just a phase, when I don't think I'll stay with a family I might think of how to get rid of them and if it keeps me there I'd add another family on the side that gets a normal life which is one way I've kept some families. Sometimes it's challenges I have mentioned challenge families over and over off and on, one of my favorites was playing on long life with twenty-eight day seasons I put a couple or single sim down in a run down house, made by cheating or using their available funds then cheat way the remainders. They can only renovate with money made from being a klepto or of course any collectibles they find. However you must find someone to have children with and you have to give them the best you can afford up to baby tablets and plenty of toys, beginning in Winter. Aside from that any old random story that I build on as I go plans are nice but if you only think about it in little groups it can hold your attention then before you know it you have multiple saves to rotate in all of them which can also help keep you coming back.

    Otherwise, maybe you're just that type of simmer and you might enjoy just creating families then sharing them on the gallery for others to play with :smile:
    Reddestiny921 on the gallery...still not sure if I capitalized the second d..lol
    All the sims err'day
    PmyCqgA.png
  • ReaganboganReaganbogan Posts: 277 Member
    Playing origin stories from my main save has kept me playing one central family in a couple of saves. I'll harvest sims from my main save, with too many sims and stories going on. I'm planning to play out everyone eventually but the time it takes rotating...I've realised I can't do all stories justice so I transfer them to other saves or their own. I've done this a few of times.

    Recently in my large save I've been enjoying playing adult Zoe Patel and her family so I transferred them to their own save. Now I'll play out the "House of Patel" fashion empire inspired by the new Gucci movie and the Fashion Street kit. I'll be starting Zoe in toddlerhood, giving her siblings, and going into her parents background before they started as fashion retailers. Zoe will be competing with a brother to run the fashion empire when she gets of age and after she goes through uni(never did uni with Zoe in the other save). Not sure if I'll have her marry Salim again(I might because they already have tons of photos in the main save :p ).

    Using sims from other saves and starting them at a different life stage and either following their pervious story or giving them a new path might keep you more intrested, especially of you've played a sim to old age or death. I've been able to stick with a single family longer than my norm doing it this way.
  • jennieeffinjennieeffin Posts: 184 Member
    I was able to make it to generation of 5 of this last legacy before getting bored, and I think that's been my longest streak--and I've been trying legacy style challenges since Sims 2. So--I get it! I think for me it has less to do with the gameplay or the sims but that I'm very much a perfectionist and I always notice something about the game I'm playing that I could have done differently. For example, I let this last save that contains my legacy get too bloated with townies, I now know a better way to manage them.

    What worked for me to at least keep me to legacy 5 was to do a mix of rotational and legacy. Each generation had a few branches and I followed them in a regular rotation. When that got a little boring, I also started folding in some family friends, etc.

    For this new save, I'm challenging myself to only play premades and create lore and relationships between all of them. The only new households will be for scenarios, and once the scenario is complete I won't play them anymore. The goal is to create an interesting, fleshed out "base save" that I can then back up and boot up whenever I finally decide to restart my legacy.
  • NightlyCoffeeNightlyCoffee Posts: 455 Member
    I have a legacy play style. I start with one character, the founder, and then stick with the family each generation. I like playing rotationally, but lately I've just stuck to one household. I also play on a custom life settings so I play one household... for a very, very long time. For example, my YA age span is 112 days and adults are 224 days.

    I find it really helps creating stories with the sims I'm playing. When making my stories, I'll always play the long game and build up to certain points. Every day my sims are working on something, whether it be key story-related events, managing relationships and careers, or working on hobbies... but everything they do I make a story out of. Maybe my sim woke up tense, let's make a story out of it! What happened in their life lately that would potentially cause them stress? How are they going to manage their emotion, and how will their loved ones in the house react? Let's say my sims peed themselves, I'll try to make a story out of that too. What if they are getting sick and will they try to hide it? Or what if a friend came over to visit and they kicked over a trash can... maybe they have something important going on in their life? What if their spouse was caught cheating? What if they got a demotion at work? Sometimes these random events inspire me to do something even bigger with it.

    I'm never bored playing just one household because I feel like there is always something happening. I improvise stories from the events happening in their day to day lives. When I was playing rotationally, I'd do the same thing but then I'd also be juggling about 20 different storylines. I found it challenging (in a good way) not only to manage them but also trying to tie them together.

    I'll make little things in my world for extra story potential and more management, like a grocery store and make my sims have to manage groceries. My singer physically goes to a recording studio to work on their music instead of just whipping out the guitar wherever they are standing. I don't allow my sims to buy books from the bookshelf. They have to go to the bookstore in town if they want a new book. I feel like if I just solely focused on gameplay I'd get bored sticking to one household.
  • marcel21marcel21 Posts: 12,341 Member
    Who would want to stick with one household when you can have a whole heap of different varieties? 😉

    or when some of us like to create so many <3
    Origin ID MichaelUKingdon


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