So I haven't been playing The Sims for nearly as long as many of you guys, but while browsing this forum and pretty much any other TS-related site, I've come across something people talk about a lot - perfectionism.
I think a lot of us have been there at some point. Maybe you're trying out a new gameplay aspect or are playing through a storyline you came up with. You're excited to see where it all goes - until you realize it's heading in the "wrong" direction real fast. Perhaps your Sim finally managed to save up for a stove, only to immediately start a fire and destroy both it and the counter when trying to make eggs and toast for breakfast. Or maybe you found a cute townie to marry your Sim to, but it just won't click between them, and all their meetings end in embarrassment. Some of you may have made it past the initial struggles, only to have the goofball bride die of laughter at her own wedding. Oh, but do you hear that? That's the sound of the husband getting abducted by Aliens. Fast forward three days, and you're stuck with Alien twins.
Sounds familiar? Well, then you might have had the thought that the storyline you so carefully planned is essentially ruined. Sure, you can cheat the wife back to life and send the babies back to Sixam, but there's no denying what happened. Oh, you've reloaded the save? Turns out you haven't saved in four hours and your starter Sim is back in her tent, complaining about being dirty because you cannot afford a tub, and her only skill being video gaming because she won't do anything productive on her own.
Might as well trash the save altogether, huh?
And that's where the problem lies. For a lot of people, everything must go according to plan. Sims must quickly advance in their careers, marry a handsome / beautiful townie and have babies. Of course, they absolutely mustn't look ugly, so they usually get sent to CAS as soon as they age up. Many people can't seem to just let go, and, as I've found, that's often where it all stops being fun.
Even if The Sims isn't particularly realistic in many regards, it's still a life simulator, and life rarely goes according to plan. As frustrating as it can be to have your story messed up by random events, it doesn't have to turn out all bad. In fact, it's what's spiced up my past saves. It's those situations that lead to the truly wacky stories and spicy drama that a lot of us love. The problem is that we only seem to accept it when
we are the ones causing it, but let's be real - you knew it was going to happen, how, and when. It was all laid out before you were even done in CAS. It takes away the excitement and soon replaces it with monotony. You've seen these things before, you played through stories like this before. Not on purpose, perhaps, but all stories seem to follow the same formula, more or less. It gets tiring.
Even if you deem yourself a control freak (like I used to be), try to be less strict with everything. Just let go and see where life takes your Sims. Not all events may be good, but something amazing will still develop from the messy remnants of what you've planned. You just have to let it be. Perhaps you'll find yourself insanely attached to this particular household soon. And why shouldn't you? You've seen it all and gently helped them through it all - the stove fires, the failed holidays, the alien abductions and bladder failures. But you've also experienced all the good things with them. When your Sim finally got together with their sweetheart and they were wed (even if everyone else was busy doing sit-ups, painting on the easel in the studio, and baking eight white cakes). When they settled in in their cute, comfy micro home, only to be blessed with the birth of triplets. Sure, that was rough, but they are the family you've cared for, the one that will be leaving behind in an incredible legacy - whatever form it may take. And a couple generations later, you'll look back on how it all started, and you'll be thankful for the time you didn't send back the baby great-great-great-grandpa had after his abduction, because it's that event that led to your current heir, the one you managed to actually fulfill that one Challenge with that made you struggle in the past, because it all just seemed to finally line up.
And while we're talking about growing attached to Sims - there's another aspect that ties in with this.
Let Sims be ugly. Seriously.
Of course, it's fun to make an absolute dreamboat and dress them in clothes you'd like to have, but probably couldn't even afford IRL. But think of all the times you've stressed about your Sim's spouse's absolutely horrible wardrobe, or how their grandkids lost the genetic lottery and ended up looking like you could start a Prettacy with them. (Actually, that's still a great prompt. See where I'm going with this?)
You've stressed about "fixing" them before, but honestly, is that really worth it? Why not try to just let them be, just this one generation to try it, perhaps? I get the desire to have a visually appealing Sim, I really do. But hey, everyone's got their imperfections, so why not let your Sims have them? Point being, don't stress yourself out about having attractive Sims. Sometimes, it's the ugly ones we grow to love. Plus, it's even better when that one Sim actually ends up looking good for once.
But maybe CAS and Live Mode aren't an issue for you at all. Maybe you're a builder, or just starting getting into this game mode. Either way, you probably know that feeling too, then.
As many of us have (I know I did), you probably started with shoeboxes. Sure, they had everything - a roof, some doors and windows, and home necessities, of course. Enough bedrooms for everyone, maybe even an office. But these houses were, well, boxes. Nothing more, nothing less.
A lot of people advise you to not do that and instead give your house a more interesting shape. And sure, they often look amazing (which is the point of houses, aside from keeping you dry, I guess). But honestly? That's not realistic, either.
Now, this depends on where you live, too, but look around you when you're out, and you realize a lot of houses are boxes IRL too. Sometimes, the window placement is funky, too, just like in the build you've worked on for seven hours only to trash it eventually. Not every house looks like it was personally built by (insert your favourite builder here). In fact, most look pretty average, if even boring. A gray or brick box, a couple windows, a door and a mailbox. Done. Oh, and a roof or a flat top, of course. But that's life.
What I'm trying to say is that not every build has to be this incredibly detailed, beautiful dream house. Sometimes, you work and work on it for hours, and it still looks like that tiny gray shoebox across the street. That's fine, and that's realistic. Not everyone can afford to live in some sort of mansion, and why not start out small and work your way up? Firstly, you won't stress too much about building a pretty house instead of enjoying Live Mode, too. Secondly, you get to take your time, overhaul it when you feel like it and get to practice along the way (bonus points if your Sim becomes an interior designer and gets to renovate that very build later). And last but not least, you'll be spending more time bonding with your Sim if not everything is available and achievable from the start. More actual gameplay! Yay!
In a nutshell, don't stress. Just let things take their course.
1. Life rarely goes according to plan. Let it inspire you, not bring you down.
2. Not everyone looks like a model, and some people naturally have zero fashion sense. It's natural, and it can be quite endearing. Let it be a quirk. They'll grow on you.
3. If your newly built house looks lame, go back to Live Mode. Let your Sim work their way up, practice a bit as you expand. And by the time you've achieved what you wanted in Live Mode and need to move on, you're ready to create a build that's at least a little better than the last. I promise.
Don't let your perfectionism get in the way of experiencing the beautiful wackiness of The Sims! It's really what makes it so endearing.
I know this post got insanely long, but I really wanted to get that out there. I've seen so many people say they've gotten bored, keep doing the same things, or feel discouraged because they aren't good at building or whatever.
Don't waste your time brooding about the things that didn't go as planned. Work with what you have, and I assure you, it's going to be infinitely more entertaining to raise a normal kid and alien twins in a micro home meant for two people without your husband because he drowned in the neighbour's pool, than the cookie cutter story you've already played through a million times.
The motto is to play with life, but honestly - just let life play with your Sims sometimes.
Also, if anyone would like to share their own experiences with this, feel free to do so! Would love to hear from you all (and if anyone needs some advice because everything in their save has gone just SO wrong, I'm here)!
Comments
But, if things don't go the way I want I usually just roll with the punches. Only catch is I play with aging off. :P
My sims age up when I want them to, lol.
And as for aging, I don't think it has that much impact on normal gameplay, anyway - it just helps you play at a pace you're comfortable with. If you get bored of the same Sims quickly, play on Short. If you want to spend more time with them to get attached to them, pick Normal or Long. There's something for everyone.
Kind of feel the same way you do now. Forced myself to keep the same file regardless of updates, bugs, deaths, etc. It's been a year. The result, it's a more entertaining way of challenging yourself & surprisingly less stressful not overhauling everything.
My 'super-sim' matriarch was supposed to wait til adulthood before kids but she just adopted one of the 3 from Too Many Toddlers, because I fell in love with her & wanted more gameplay.
Oh, forgot to take pictures of that amazing night out? Guess I'll snap one of her stumbling home & faceplanting right by the bed.
Oops, forgot to turn aging off and lost Dennis Kim & the Elderberry's before I played with them? I'm still grieving over that, but now it's part of their history.
I'm bored. Rng, who gets deleted? I mean, dies or moves away. Matriarch & family excluded.
Ughh, here comes that eyesore again at every bar & cafe my sim frequents! Only change a pair of pants or makeup, but leave the rest. The ugliest thing, I select as their favorite color preference.
Over the year, I've started humanizing them. They slouch, get adult acne, start balding & get flat butts now. Especially if it matches their traits. Some of them have noticeable under/overbites, crooked teeth, big noses, thin lips & bad/dated hairstyles.
In a nutshell (haha), after your post, I'm encouraged to keep up with my wacky way of gameplay.
Someone's getting a make-under today...
Well, you could try meeting halfway. Say have them have a baby, then when it ages up, after giving it a cosmetic makeover, allow yourself to change 1-3 small things, keeping in the general look. Like making an extremely large nose just regularly large. You can slowly get used to being not perfect.
In a nutshell, don't stress. Just let things take their course.
1. Life rarely goes according to plan. Let it inspire you, not bring you down.
2. Not everyone looks like a model, and some people naturally have zero fashion sense. It's natural, and it can be quite endearing. Let it be a quirk. They'll grow on you.
3. If your newly built house looks lame, go back to Live Mode. Let your Sim work their way up, practice a bit as you expand. And by the time you've achieved what you wanted in Live Mode and need to move on, you're ready to create a build that's at least a little better than the last. I promise.
I like the idea of not getting stressed with what you started out with and what happens in game.
I often get very frustrated with my Sims and sometimes the house I build doesn’t fit what’s occurring, like they have kids so it’s too small! 🤦🏼♂️.
Tonight I downloaded Simproved’s Pride and Prejudice house but the only Sims who can afford it are a couple and the lot is too big for them! 😢.
I will try to be inspired when they things go awry rather than stress.
Thanks 😊.
1, I have autonomy off but I mainly play as the Sims wanna do, so I complete a lot of their whims for them, let them do as they please while I sort out another Sim in the family, and then I'm looking around the house for them, wondering, "where did he go?", and he's taken himself off to jog for a bit. Maybe it's because I enjoy writing fiction, and I can only write what my characters tell me (fellow writers may relate), so I don't force it, I let it flow naturally. That's exactly how life is. Even if you plan ahead and attempt to prevent a catastrophe, that attempt could in-fact create a catastrophe. You don't know how real life will go, so how can you expect a game like The Sims to go just as you plan? I play the MMORPG RuneScape which has tons to do in it but it's obviously still very rigid in gameplay, but you can still make mistakes with your character and accidentally get them killed during a fight if you've run out of food for them (or in my case, keep forgetting their runes for magic spells, happen to be miles away from a bank, and then they're running for their life because they can't teleport during combat and you also forgot any means to quickly teleport away...)
2, May be controversial but I'm tired of seeing visually "perfect" Sims. I guess they're pretty if you like that kinda thing, but where are the ordinary Sims? Which is funny to say because these "perfect" Sims look ordinary to me, having no unique character to their features, which leaves them looking quite dull and lifeless. (To be honest, I feel that about real faces as well.) My Sims aren't supermodels and I wouldn't want them to be. When I made my first new family when I got back into playing Sims4 last month, I clicked ONCE on the randomiser and got, who I named, 'Joshua'. He's the one in my profile pic. I think I changed his face a little bit but he cropped up pretty much exactly like that. He's got a cheeky, playful looking face that's full of character, and he's a bit podgy and cuddly. I fell in love with him straight away!
3, Where I live, houses are mostly a box with a roof. That's what I know so that's what I design. I would like to design something a bit more elaborate and fancy eventually, but I'm still starting out and can appreciate I've a long way to go. The process of learning is part of the fun for me. To quote the Doctor (Doctor Who), "the day I know everything, might as well stop".
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This is how I play Sims 2 also. But somehow most of my Sims still end up keeping 4.0 in University because I play to fulfill Wants, keep GPA up, and build relationships in my game. I have once played a household where a Sim got expelled and didn't enjoy it though. I just reinstalled the game after a few unfortunate events happened and my game didn't work anymore and I am now playing without my College Adjuster mod (stopped working and I don't know if TwoJeffs updated it). I used to be afraid of having final exams at the end of the semester occur in the middle of the night so I always moved them to 8 AM the following morning. I am now actually enjoying not having to do that.
Can I add to your list and suggest playing with random traits? It's so easy to give your sim all good traits or add one mild negative trait however it is a lot more fun to randomise traits and play with what you get. I have seen many things in the game that I hadn't seen before because I was always playing with the same handful of traits.
I only made Nanny Ogg and her cat Gweebo as I was experimenting with the CAS that came with Realm of Magic and then went back to building a house for her. I made a mistake with Gweebo her cat though as I forgot to make her male!
I think I might go back and give her a makeover, change Gweebo's sex and create the other two witches as I think they'd live well in Henford on Bagley, keeping chickens and a cow. I wish there were sheep as well. There's some CAS there that would suit Magrat.