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How do you keep it interesting?

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I oftentimes will set out to do a big challenge like the legacy challenge, or even just have a great idea for a household, then in a few days get bored of them and want to move on. How do you guys keep your households interesting enough to not move on from them?

Also, when you guys are wanting to play the sims but uninspired for what to make or how to play, what do you usually turn to for inspiration?

I find that I always end up watching let's plays, being interested in a particular storyline from it, then pursue it and start feeling guilty for just copying :#:D so what do you guys do?

Comments

  • citysimmercitysimmer Posts: 5,950 Member
    I play rotationally so when this happens I can switch to another household. It's also really interesting for me to see how all the relationships from my different households connect.
    Proud black simmer 🖤
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  • MorkovkaMorkovka Posts: 662 Member
    Yep, swtching households and setting long-term goals for Sims and households to slowly work towards.
    But it really depends on what you like to do, whether you build or not, whether you have aging on or off etc.
  • sueplayssimssueplayssims Posts: 126 Member
    Definitely agree on playing on rotation. By the time I start to get bored, it's time to move on and work on the goals of a different family.
    I also try and encourage myself to incorporate things in to my game play that I otherwise wouldn't have, like certain aspirations, trying to fulfil whims to see where that takes me.
    Writing the story of my legacy helps too as as soon as one chapter is done I want to then start the next one and see what else happens in my characters' lives
  • TomasGrizzlyTomasGrizzly Posts: 736 Member
    I just play something else for a while.
    I like fantasy and a bit of Sci-Fi. Want to know what I'm reading?
    I also like wandering the hills.
  • calaprfycalaprfy Posts: 3,927 Member
    Rotational play. Having as many households as possible not only keeps the population from dwindling but gives you variety. Purchase Get Together and create clubs (I couldn't live without this expansion) to keep sims connected.
  • Becka28Becka28 Posts: 1,870 Member
    I rotationally play saves rather than within a game. That way I slowly finish the challenges I start (a lot of them can be quite a grind so you need a break). I also have happy family saves and everything goes wrong drama saves and play what I need to suit my mood on the day. I never erase saves because I never know when inspiration will strike for those particular sims.
  • RedDestiny92RedDestiny92 Posts: 7,819 Member
    I like a story, sure the reality is if you dedicate some time to a reasonably sized family you should see everything but for those of us that find the thing we prefer that doesn't matter. Maybe for you, you need a story from a let's play to stick to copying doesn't mean anything everyone can have a family, start up some drama or stay chill..stick to building or creating sims or content whatever, that's just how the game is. Maybe try a story that appeals to you but keep everything on short if you have seasons pick the shortest amount and turn aging on short so you're only with sims a limited time and almost always preparing to move on. Then of course maybe that's also just what you like starting over getting in some play time then moving on completely that's fine too.
    Reddestiny921 on the gallery...still not sure if I capitalized the second d..lol
    All the sims err'day
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  • simlimbsimlimb Posts: 52 Member
    When I start to get bored, I look up other challenges I can do to keep myself entertained and also explore other aspects of the game that I haven't explored much or at all.

    ...and if there is a sale going on or I'm doing okay financially, I will treat myself to a new pack! Okay...that's kind of cheating because I'm basically buying myself out of boredom, but it works!
  • ChazzzyChazzzy Posts: 7,166 Member
    Take long gaps in between play sessions, I’m talking weeks/months.
  • SharoniaSharonia Posts: 4,853 Member
    edited July 2019
    I play rotational and also I have a few occult families in my rotation just to change things up every now and then.
  • alan650111alan650111 Posts: 3,295 Member
    MODS! Lots of mods~
  • joyofliving37joyofliving37 Posts: 106 Member
    edited July 2019
    I’m a rotational player as well, play with aging off, and slowly develop my sims’ stories. I never spend more than a sim week playing one household before I move to the next because I get bored playing one family for an extended period of time. Also, I’m always coming up with ideas for new sims/families, so there are constantly new sims added to my game.

    For instance, I just expanded (again) one of the first families that I created. This time I made all of the parents of the married couples because I wanted my family trees to show how all the children, cousins, etc., were related to each other and I wanted the kids to have grandparents. The back story for one set of parents is that they moved to Sulani after their daughters went to college. In Sulani, they became conservationists and had a twin boy and girl. I’m starting their story with the parents as elders and the twins as homeschooled teens. The twins will live a carefree island life, which will differ greatly from the structured life their older sisters had as members of high society and debutantes of Willow Creek. I also created Sulani families with teens so the twins will have their circle of friends.
  • DoloresGreyDoloresGrey Posts: 3,490 Member
    edited July 2019
    I am a rotational legacy player. This way I can never lose my interest. There is always something happening in my families. Some have toddlers, some have teenagers. Some are childless and like to party a lot. Some are adventurers. Some are wealthy and some are struggling with paying their bills. There is always something happening if you play rotationally. Don't be afraid to add drama to your game. Also it is good to set some goals and have a scenario, script on your mind, in your head.

    Why not to have your sim divorce and let the kids visit the other parent on weekends via manage households?
    -probably just playing Phasmophobia :p
  • purplexbutterflypurplexbutterfly Posts: 597 Member
    I used to be a family player only and I would get to gen 3 and get bored but the past couple of saves I've built Newcrest from scratch and I create my main sim then add other sims in it who I want them to have relationships with (friends, lovers, enemies etc). I always have a main legacy sim but when I fancy a change I just play another household in the save. I've also experimented with play styles that I've not done before so I'm finding that I'm really enjoying my sims atm. I also sometimes nip in to premade sims saves, give them new looks and manipulate their lives ie. Make them have affairs, get them pregnant etc. I do like it when they have children because when my main legacy sim is ready to have babies then I know theres other children for them to make friends with.
  • izecsonizecson Posts: 2,875 Member
    usually switch another household but it's hard nowadays because lack of gameplays, I dont like playing challenge.
    ihavemultiplegamertags
  • QueenofMyshunoQueenofMyshuno Posts: 1,506 Member
    1. Play in age groups. Have a group of kids, group of teens, group of elders, etc. Use clubs to have those groups do things age appropriate together, including your elders. Age everyone up together, so they always have their friend group throughout life (except for elders who will die off at their own rate). If you're using premades to start, choose a neighborhood and go in and age all the non-grownups to the same age (toddler, child, or teen) so that they all grow up together as a group (siblings can be twins).

    2. Make places that the game doesn't have a setup for. Be creative. Like make a teen center or after-school center for kids and have the group go there, or just set it so it's off limits to everyone but the group and maybe an "employee" like the cool kids counselor or something. If you have more teens than will fit in a group, you can make 2 teen groups and give them both access. Or make offices for your adults to go work at. You can even set up cubicles with half walls. I guarantee you that if you bring a group of people to a place full of computers, they will all immediately "get to work," haha. Or at least it will look like they're working while they play games or whatever. Have a manager's office that is locked to everyone but the manager. It's especially fun to have an office in a highrise because it makes for some great screenshots. You can also do this with residential lots. Right now, I'm playing a Victorian era game and I have a factory where everyone works (using woodworking tables), but it's actually a residence, so they also all sleep there in dorm-style rooms. Use your imagination to set up different venues and use groups and door locks to control it.

    3. Set up entire worlds based on a theme. Delete all the premade sims and any buildings that don't match your theme. You can play an era, like the 70s, or the 1800s, or even the future. It's challenging but also fun to try to find all the right cc and to populate your world with the right types of buildings, clutter, people, hairstyles, etc. Just make sure you don't try to build the entire world first before playing any sims because it will take forever. Do it in stages and build a little more on with each generation.

    4. Use reward trait cheats and also additional traits that you can download. The sims' personalities are lacking, so I pad them out as much as I can to make things more realistic and choose reward traits that I think would fit their personality.

    5. Don't make your sims perfect. If every sim is beautiful and nice, that gets boring. For personality, go to one of the sites that let you randomly role personality traits and then just put in whatever you rolled. Or pick your own traits but always do 2 positive and 1 negative. For looks, I like to generate 2 random sims, then use them to create a teen child (so I can see what he/she will look like), then delete the random sims and change the age of the teen to whatever I need. While I'm randomly generating the teen, I stop at the one who looks the most realistic, rather than the one who looks the most beautiful (unless I happen to roll a raving beauty or something, which is rare).
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    On EA forum Stories and Legacies board and on QueenOfMyshuno.tumblr.com
  • KayeStarKayeStar Posts: 6,715 Member
    I can't watch Let's Plays. I get bored and fall asleep.

    I have a legacy in Sims 3. When I get bored of it, I take a break from it for a few days or weeks and play with another family in either 3 or 4. Sometimes, I'll take a break from the game entirely.

    Sometimes, I like trying to reach a certain goal, like getting to the top of a career or achieving a certain lifetime wish.
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  • QueenofMyshunoQueenofMyshuno Posts: 1,506 Member
    6. Oh and I forgot to mention hierarchies. So in my Victorian game, I have lower, middle, and upper class. They're not supposed to marry outside of class, and there are consequences if they do. Also, I restrict access to different parts of the house (only servants can go in the kitchen or laundry room, things like that) and to different commercial venues. For instance, upper and middle class women can't be seen hanging out at the pub (it would ruin their reputation!), but lower class women can. In addition to past eras, you could also set up a fantasy world or future world where there are hierarchies of your making with rules of your choosing.
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    On EA forum Stories and Legacies board and on QueenOfMyshuno.tumblr.com
  • aprilroseaprilrose Posts: 1,832 Member
    Like some have already said, rotational play is what keeps it interesting for me.
    Simming for 19 years!
    Family Tree
    Playing Mod & CC Free



  • RouensimsRouensims Posts: 4,858 Member
    I am constantly creating new characters. There are some I have never actually played but enjoy having in my world. It's also fun to challenge yourself to create a house or a Sim who looks just like a real-life counterpart. For example, I created Spock, Uhura, and Kirk, then created rooms for Spock and Uhura that look like their rooms on the show. Then I made their house look sort of like the Enterprise but still with easy routing and fun playability. Then I decided that Kirk went insane and wandered off alone into the jungles of Selvadora, with McCoy and Chapel following to keep him safe. Things like this are very engrossing for me and take many, many hours. Then the next day I get bored of this and played Jem from the 80s cartoon show as a mermaid. Now I want her to run a daycare because Jem cared for foster children on the show. Then I got obsessed with creating children who look nothing like any Sim children I've ever seen before.

    Allowing myself to be weird and accepting my short attention span keeps it exciting for me everyday. 😁
    Ooh Be Gah!! Whipna Choba-Dog? Whipna Choba-Dog!! :smiley:
  • amp107amp107 Posts: 205 Member
    >>>Becca28 said: I rotationally play saves rather >than within a game. That way I slowly finish the >challenges I start (a lot of them can be quite a >grind so you need a break). I also have happy >family saves and everything goes wrong drama >saves and play what I need to suit my mood on >the day. I never erase saves because I never >know when inspiration will strike for those >particular sims.

    I do this as well! Right now, I have 5 saves that I play rotationally. In my main save, I’m playing about 30 different households rotationally. I play each family for about a sim week and then switch families. When I’m bored in my main save, I switch over to one of my other saves which include different themed families I play on rotation and one save that is only for building and play testing my builds (for when I’m just in a building/world development mood).

    Also, I usually don’t play challenges because I don’t like following the rules, but instead set my own long term story goals for my sims. For example, with my Caliente family my first goal in story was to have Katrina madly in love with Don and naive to the fact that he is only after her money and is cheating on her with both daughters. I wanted her to get engaged to him and then catch him cheating on her with Nina, kicking them both out. It was so much fun to play through that (I would share photos of it if I wasn’t still in new member status) and then when that was finished I started on my next round of story/drama goals for each character (Katrina, Nina, Dina, don, etc.). When I started getting bored in the down time of playing them through before I was ready to complete/start the next story arc, I switched over to a different save and worked on my stories there. Playing this way makes me feel like I’m a writer on day time dramas or soap operas lol and I can come back to each story when I’m ready to so I never feel stuck or disengaged.

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  • amp107amp107 Posts: 205 Member
    Also, @QueenofMyshuno I love your ideas and might create a couple new saves to try some of them! Thanks for sharing :)

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  • coolsim9999999coolsim9999999 Posts: 5,032 Member
    I take my main family to a different world each weekend, and have them hang out with friends and family at their home lot during the week. The kids and adults also have clubs, in which I can adjust their activities :).

    I also have several "sometimes" games with different types of characters, and I love to build, as well B)!
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  • FurSimsOfficialFurSimsOfficial Posts: 2,362 Member
    You really need life long goals, not just goals for a day. Same in RL. You need to create a personality, ID, background story, interests, hobbies, lifegoal and THEN you can go with these little daily aspirations.

    Playing generations is the best thing for me. I have one main household and every generation is something new. New characters, new worlds, sims and features to explore and if I desire to play with a certain story I have in mind that does not fit into the life's of my generation households, I am allowed to create this desired sim (or household) and add it to my rotational play. If I ever feel I am done with them, I can cancel them and just let them be as long as I keep playing with my generation household. Love it!
  • gretchend417gretchend417 Posts: 41 Member
    Create your favorite celebrity(s) or famous person(s), and play their life. Keep the storytelling real, or add a little bit of twist or two.

    I've done it a few years back, and it was fun. :)
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