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esmeiolantheWell, it's July 9 where most of my readers are, and that means it's time for the Already in Progress Fifth Birthday Special. This year, I didn't get super far in the rotation because of Reasons, and last year's Who's Who is still perfectly valid, barring a couple Toddlers becoming Children. So instead, you get answers to questions about my playstyle from actual readers like you.
Okay, let's be honest. They probably are from you personally. If I miss something you always wanted to know, feel free to ask in the comments. Otherwise, pull up a chair, have some cake and ice cream, and listen to me witter on a bit.
Do you have a special way of documenting important details about your sims? For example, I have a spreadsheet filled with things like personalities, aspirations, etc.
Nothing as formal as a spreadsheet or database or anything, no. I make use of the little family bio box that pops up in the neighborhood screen to make notes to myself about things I want to do or need to remember the next time I come around to the family in rotation. I don't use the "Bio" box that individual sims have -- that's why I write stories!
When I need to rebuild, I have a standardized Word document that I print out and fill in by hand. That includes information about relatives, friends, skills, badges, zodiac, personality points, turn ons/turn offs, job level, and so on. I prefer to print it out because that way during a rebuild, I can check off each item as I restore it. Without the ability to check things off, I would forget.
Do you have a "system" or some "rules" for your playing, or do you rather do what feels best for each situation? I'm thinking about things like, determining aspirations, looks, turn ons and offs, or deciding who goes to college and what they might study, how many kids a family is going to have...
Yes. :)
It often depends on the specific household. For instance, in one of my challenge households, there are rules about how many pregnancies are mandatory, and you end up with however many children you get. In two others, there is a mandatory number of children specified for the challenge, with as many or as few pregnancies as needed to attain that number. Men who are abducted have a much higher chance of having twins than usual *coughcheesecakecough* because I like alien babies. Otherwise I'll usually let the parents try for baby (or adopt) if the both roll the want at the same time.
Sometimes I'll play a challenge that specifies that I must roll for aspiration, and then I roll. Otherwise, I try to get a "vibe" off the sim during childhood. For instance, a kid that's always wanting to talk to Mommy, play with Big Sister, and dance with Daddy is probably going to be Family. A kid that wanted to gain a lot of skill points as a toddler is probably going to grow up to be Knowledge. If I can't get a feel, I'll usually pick Pleasure and decide after they get to college.
Most of my sims go to college -- some are mandated by challenge rules, and some are mandated against college. So I'll always follow the ruleset for the household. Sometimes I'll get a feel off a certain sim that they wouldn't want to go to college. I'm actually getting that feel off Penny currently, but she has no marriage prospects, so she will go to college for her MRS. However, I'm going to play it as her going to a trade school, not an academic institution, because that fits her.
What a sim studies is usually determined by what they roll a want for, although I'm getting pretty sick of Art and Drama majors, so sometimes those get tweaked a bit to something they at least won't hate.
I let the game determine the genetic looks, and I let the genetic looks and personality determine the hair and clothing. I don't use plastic surgery to "fix" sims that come out looking odd, but when they do come out looking awesome by fish standards, there often aren't a lot of human hairstyles that flatter them.
Turn ons and turn offs are largely random, unless I have a specific pair going into an arranged marriage that I would like to get along (it happens) or unless I get a particular feel off a particular sim. For instance, Dante brought home a redheaded girl from school every day without fail for his entire child and teenhood (not the same redheaded girl -- just a redheaded girl, any redheaded girl) so of course one of his turn ons was red hair and he was female oriented.
For sexual orientation, I usually let the SimBlender choose unless a) I get a particular feel off a sim (like I did off Dante) or b) I have and arranged matter for reasons of Plot. As an example, one of the alien twins in my OWBC household, Deadeye, was betrothed before birth to the oldest child of his father's wife's sister, who also wasn't born yet. If the oldest child came out a girl, Deadeye would be straight. If the oldest child came out a boy, Deadeye would be gay. I know which it is, of course, but no spoilers! :X
Which sims have been your favourite over the last five years?
Do I have to pick just a few? :P
I was very fond of Jon and Emmy, because they picked each other. I was fond of Sarah Jane and Tim, because Sarah Jane picked Tim on her own. I was very fond of Descartes and Abbey, because they picked each other. (Are you sensing a theme here?) I was very fond of Eddie and Celeste, because they were so sweet together. I like Leonid a bunch too, and he was lots of fun to write, even if it was more "stage Russian" than real Russian.
Before I ever started the game that eventually became AiP, I had a sim called Christopher I was quite fond of who would run out to leap into his husband's arms every day when his husband came home from work. In fact, it was loss of that game that inspired me to start writing, so that sims like that would exist somewhere outside my memory.
In terms of current sims, I'm very fond of Old Adam from Ruth's -- well, who wouldn't be? I loved him together with Myrna, and he fit into his assigned Plots very well. I like Frederic, Isaac, and Helen; I like Sally; I even like Anastasia from 100 Days. She's not Nice at all -- she's selfish and cranky and rude, and writing her dialog is lots of fun. (But I wouldn't want to try to live with her in real life. It would probably come to blows sooner rather than later...)
What will you do about Goldberg & Silent Lady when Sally dies?
Okay, that wasn't asked by anyone, but I get asked that a lot. :)
The show will simply go into reruns, and you'll get to see the episodes you missed. (Actually, it's already in reruns, but you just haven't seen evidence of that yet.) I have basic ideas for 48 episodes total, and at the rate I'm going, I'll lose the ability to play the game before I run out of plot ideas. So never fear! Your poorly-staged, unnecessarily dramatic, and completely confusing spacers will be around for a good while yet.
Thank you all for reading through the years! Y'all are the BEST! (hugs everybody) :D
Okay, let's be honest. They probably are from you personally. If I miss something you always wanted to know, feel free to ask in the comments. Otherwise, pull up a chair, have some cake and ice cream, and listen to me witter on a bit.
Do you have a special way of documenting important details about your sims? For example, I have a spreadsheet filled with things like personalities, aspirations, etc.
Nothing as formal as a spreadsheet or database or anything, no. I make use of the little family bio box that pops up in the neighborhood screen to make notes to myself about things I want to do or need to remember the next time I come around to the family in rotation. I don't use the "Bio" box that individual sims have -- that's why I write stories!
When I need to rebuild, I have a standardized Word document that I print out and fill in by hand. That includes information about relatives, friends, skills, badges, zodiac, personality points, turn ons/turn offs, job level, and so on. I prefer to print it out because that way during a rebuild, I can check off each item as I restore it. Without the ability to check things off, I would forget.
Do you have a "system" or some "rules" for your playing, or do you rather do what feels best for each situation? I'm thinking about things like, determining aspirations, looks, turn ons and offs, or deciding who goes to college and what they might study, how many kids a family is going to have...
Yes. :)
It often depends on the specific household. For instance, in one of my challenge households, there are rules about how many pregnancies are mandatory, and you end up with however many children you get. In two others, there is a mandatory number of children specified for the challenge, with as many or as few pregnancies as needed to attain that number. Men who are abducted have a much higher chance of having twins than usual *coughcheesecakecough* because I like alien babies. Otherwise I'll usually let the parents try for baby (or adopt) if the both roll the want at the same time.
Sometimes I'll play a challenge that specifies that I must roll for aspiration, and then I roll. Otherwise, I try to get a "vibe" off the sim during childhood. For instance, a kid that's always wanting to talk to Mommy, play with Big Sister, and dance with Daddy is probably going to be Family. A kid that wanted to gain a lot of skill points as a toddler is probably going to grow up to be Knowledge. If I can't get a feel, I'll usually pick Pleasure and decide after they get to college.
Most of my sims go to college -- some are mandated by challenge rules, and some are mandated against college. So I'll always follow the ruleset for the household. Sometimes I'll get a feel off a certain sim that they wouldn't want to go to college. I'm actually getting that feel off Penny currently, but she has no marriage prospects, so she will go to college for her MRS. However, I'm going to play it as her going to a trade school, not an academic institution, because that fits her.
What a sim studies is usually determined by what they roll a want for, although I'm getting pretty sick of Art and Drama majors, so sometimes those get tweaked a bit to something they at least won't hate.
I let the game determine the genetic looks, and I let the genetic looks and personality determine the hair and clothing. I don't use plastic surgery to "fix" sims that come out looking odd, but when they do come out looking awesome by fish standards, there often aren't a lot of human hairstyles that flatter them.
Turn ons and turn offs are largely random, unless I have a specific pair going into an arranged marriage that I would like to get along (it happens) or unless I get a particular feel off a particular sim. For instance, Dante brought home a redheaded girl from school every day without fail for his entire child and teenhood (not the same redheaded girl -- just a redheaded girl, any redheaded girl) so of course one of his turn ons was red hair and he was female oriented.
For sexual orientation, I usually let the SimBlender choose unless a) I get a particular feel off a sim (like I did off Dante) or b) I have and arranged matter for reasons of Plot. As an example, one of the alien twins in my OWBC household, Deadeye, was betrothed before birth to the oldest child of his father's wife's sister, who also wasn't born yet. If the oldest child came out a girl, Deadeye would be straight. If the oldest child came out a boy, Deadeye would be gay. I know which it is, of course, but no spoilers! :X
Which sims have been your favourite over the last five years?
Do I have to pick just a few? :P
I was very fond of Jon and Emmy, because they picked each other. I was fond of Sarah Jane and Tim, because Sarah Jane picked Tim on her own. I was very fond of Descartes and Abbey, because they picked each other. (Are you sensing a theme here?) I was very fond of Eddie and Celeste, because they were so sweet together. I like Leonid a bunch too, and he was lots of fun to write, even if it was more "stage Russian" than real Russian.
Before I ever started the game that eventually became AiP, I had a sim called Christopher I was quite fond of who would run out to leap into his husband's arms every day when his husband came home from work. In fact, it was loss of that game that inspired me to start writing, so that sims like that would exist somewhere outside my memory.
In terms of current sims, I'm very fond of Old Adam from Ruth's -- well, who wouldn't be? I loved him together with Myrna, and he fit into his assigned Plots very well. I like Frederic, Isaac, and Helen; I like Sally; I even like Anastasia from 100 Days. She's not Nice at all -- she's selfish and cranky and rude, and writing her dialog is lots of fun. (But I wouldn't want to try to live with her in real life. It would probably come to blows sooner rather than later...)
What will you do about Goldberg & Silent Lady when Sally dies?
Okay, that wasn't asked by anyone, but I get asked that a lot. :)
The show will simply go into reruns, and you'll get to see the episodes you missed. (Actually, it's already in reruns, but you just haven't seen evidence of that yet.) I have basic ideas for 48 episodes total, and at the rate I'm going, I'll lose the ability to play the game before I run out of plot ideas. So never fear! Your poorly-staged, unnecessarily dramatic, and completely confusing spacers will be around for a good while yet.
Thank you all for reading through the years! Y'all are the BEST! (hugs everybody) :D
