Sims meme

Thank you for tagging me, @taylors-simblr !

When did you start playing Sims?

2007-ish? I was babysitting my neighbours’ handicapped son with his older sister, my best friend, (I was asked because my mom works in special ed… I have no idea why they thought that would qualify me, an eleven-year-old…) and she showed me that game she’s been playing: The Sims 2. I was hooked, borrowed the base game and bought Nightlife so I could play it on our ancient family PC. Played that on that one until Sims 3 came out and I wished for a laptop for Christmas so I could play Sims 3. Played it for like 2 months and then went back to Sims 2.

Have you been playing consistently or do you have breaks inbetween?

More or less consistently. There were some breaks whenever my laptops died, but I always came back. I don’t think there’s ever been a break that was longer than 2-3 months.

Do your family & friends know that you play The Sims?

Some do. My immediate family knows, of course. I don’t run around advocating that I play the Sims, but when I click with someone (or am close friends with them)… sure, it does come up.

Do you spend more time in build or live mode? Why?

Live mode, for sure. I’m slowly getting better at building and decorating, but for a long time, I just couldn’t stand it.

Do you play with supernatural creatures (like Vampires, Werewolves etc.)? Why not?

Well, there’s a witch, two plantsims and an alien in Middleground, so you tell me.

No, but really, I love playing the supernaturals. I think they add interest to the game. I’m especially fond of the vampires in this game (I like the concept of vampires in general- the more traditional ones, at least), mostly because they were the first supernaturals I’ve been introduced to. Although their immortality might pose a problem in multigenerational gameplay…)

Do you have one specific family you play with all the time (like a legacy of some sort) or do you rotate between a couple of households?

I got into rotational play pretty early on. I was enthralled of all the stories about huge cities full of Sims (I also got into the community pretty early- the German one, that is- although I’ve always been more of a lurker). I’ve tried legacies at times, but could never stick to it (what do I do with the spares?).

Do you like to create your own neighborhoods or do you play with the existing families? Tell us about your progress 🙂

I like not having to build a neighbourhood, but sometimes I do. Most of the time, though, I take an existing neighbourhood and just modify it to fit my needs.

I almost always use existing Sims. Whether that means playing in premade neighbourhoods like Veronaville, Strangetown or even neighbourhoods like the amazing Viper Canyon by meetmetotheriver, or just use premade Sims, like didilysims extracted College Sims, the Pleasantview townies (like in Middleground, duh), or even downloaded Sims like hambergersims that have a connection to the premade Sims. I’m just a big fan of Eaxis genetics, it seems.

Do you create custom content? If so, what keeps you motivated? (If not, would you like to? What stops you from learning it? For players that don’t use mods, why do you stay away from CC?) 

Not really. I sometimes upload a Sim or a house (very sporadically). I’m able to delete sandals from a Maxis mesh, but that’s about it. I think it would be a pretty cool skill to have, but I don’t really have the time to learn it. I’d much rather play the game.

If there was one piece of CC or (if you play without mods) one piece you wish the developers implemented, what would it be?

Only one piece, huh? Hm… maybe a subhood for supernaturals (that counts like one piece, right?). Someplace where they can do things connected to their supernatural state?

What other expansion and/or accessoires pack do you wish the developers would have come out with?

Uff… generally speaking, I would love if there was more generational stuff. It would be nice to have more activities for the different ages. I’ve read this on a couple other Sims memes and I can only agree with it. 

Lastly, tag 5 of your favorite simblrs!

And as always I’m late to the party. I know quite a few of you already did this… I’ll just tag a few of those that show up in my recent activities. So, @simspressionism@lilleputtu@mooseabides@littleblondesim and @hexagonal-bipyramid , tell us about your playstyle (if you haven’t already and feel like it)!

Replies

Pregnant Kaylynn

littleblondesim said: omg this family is too much 😀

It’s like a catastrophe… you can’t look (or in this case get) away.

BABIES!

eulaliasims said: oh my god, six sims and a dog in that house? Maybe Kaylynn can learn some kind of spell for magicking up house extensions.

No way that house is ever gonna fit all of them… but Leo already has come up with a plan, I hear.

Rufus, the asshole-in-training

holleyberry said: You’ll have your hands full with that one. Wow!

I love those extreme personalities. Cressida and he will tear up the neighbourhood once they’ll grow up.

Boyfriend and Sims

holleyberry said: He’ll get it when it takes his sims 5 hours to walk across it.

Ha! So far, he’s only been building. Can’t wait for the day he’ll create his first Sim.

WCIF

taylors-simblr said: A new one? I think @voleste made one a while back

How did I miss that! Thanks, that’s the one I was looking for! It’s this one.

Replies

Wait, she’s pregnant?

didilysims said: Dun dun dun

Dun, dun, dun indeed!

Paying off those loans… and wohooing

holleyberry said: Congrats you guys! Don’t ruin it by having another baby.

Oh, I think she’s getting too old to have another one.  

Cressida Copur

littleblondesim said: love the name!

Thanks, I’ve had a soft spot for that name ever since I watched Shakespeare’s “Troilus and Cressida”. And the name fit very nicely with both alien and plantsim naming schemes.

Baby Cressida… and Poppy

littleblondesim said: Loving how green and naturey this family is!

Well, they ARE plantsims after all!

Plantsim… behaviour

holleyberry said: It’s like Groot. She can grow that shit whenever she wants.

She probably is… and it’s not like we humans don’t pull out our own hair on occasion.

didilysims said: Eep I never thought of it like that before. D:

I was sitting in front of my PC, looked at Poppy playing that game and suddenly thought “Wait, what is she doing?”.

Jan and Komei’s relation

didilysims said: Sorry if you mentioned this and I forgot…did you make Komei and Jan related at all or is it coincidence they have the same last name? 

Eh, it’s the one thing I think of ret-conning. They are ex-husband and wife. Best friends which decided to get hitched for career reasons. They split up when Komei publicly came out as gay ( I’ve decided that Jan would be his ex-wife when I created this neighbourhood, determined to eventually add her to the mix. Stuck to it when Komei rolled gay (not a good idea in my opinion). Should’ve made them siblings or something.). Jan kept his last name as he was somewhat famous back then.

Jan’s announcement

didilysims said: I really like this–great pictures. You go, Jan!

Thanks! I’ve felt like doing some storytelling again.

The pool

didilysims said: I actually cringed. 😮 Maybe just switching the diving board and ladder would be enough?

Yeah, I might do that. It’s easier (and cheaper) than expanding the pool.

Replies

littleblondesim said: Interesting…seems like the more modern English names are frowned upon where you are, then. Like the ones American celebrities all name their kids. Emma might be popular because it’s simple and pretty cute. My list is probably a little biased because I’m a barista. So the people I see all the time are slightly older and have money to spend on silly coffee drinks. 🙂

That’s pretty much it. Many people are very prejudiced against the more modern English names like “Maddox”; meanwhile,  names like “John” and “Tom” actually have some sort of tradition in old trading towns like Hamburg or Bremen, where international merchants and sailor often visited. Emma is a very international name (it’s relatively easy to pronounce), and, to be fair, it IS cute. I can certainly understand why it is so popular.

Yeah, I’m very interested in how names and naming traditions change over time, including the current decade. I also lead a youth group (ages 8-12), so I know quite a lot of names that are popular right now.

holleyberry said: You know I’m a huge Sandy/Goopy shipper, but Brandon is a very close second. So happy these two are so happy…for now.

For now? What do you know that I don’t? (I’ll probably add Goopy at some point, but I don’t know whether it will be as a playable (when/if I feel like it) or if I’ll just add all of the remaining townies as… well, townies.)

eulaliasims said: One of my favourite houses in Middleground. 😀 That painting corner upstairs is cute!

Thanks! I really like how it turned out! I’m usually not very good at decorating houses…

holleyberry said: Perhaps they can get put of the weeds now.

Yeah, they really need the money… (At least I hope that’s what you’re saying. XD I still struggle with colloquialism.)

Replies, round 3

Even more replies!

hunnybunnysims said: Same thing happened to me in my first run of my megahood. They were alll over each other!

Now I’m tempted to strike up a romance between the two of them the next time I play a Veronaville. ^^

littleblondesim said: Interesting that English names are considered low class! What are some common names around where you live? I think the no. one name around here right now for babies is “Emma”. I know a lot of Marks, Stephanies, Saras, Jessicas and Matthews, though!

It’s actually not that easy. Some English names are actually seen as pretty neutral and international names are popular. So Elias is fine, but don’t you dare to name your kid Lennox unless you want your aunt Ulrike to ask you if you want to destroy your kid’s life… I guess the more common (old-fashioned) English names tend to be accepted more easily.

Popular names around here are Emma, Hannah and Mia for girls, and Ben, Jonas and Leon for boys (according to this list). Very non-offensive names and international. I can see the appeal in those names (I ALWAYS have to spell my name and it often get confused for better known “L”-names like Leonie, Lisa or Leona- “L” names were very popular back in the 90′s. Still are, actually.)

What is it with Emma that makes it such a popular baby name? Also, your list sounds somewhat old-fashioned to me. Here in Germany, some popular English names (as in, just English. Emma and the likes are also German, actually) are Henry, Liam, Aaron, Zoe, Emily/Emely/Emilie (I dunno what’s up with that) and Amy, or if you’re more daring, Jackson, Jaden/Jayden/Jadon/ etc., Cheyenne or  Joelle (now that I think of it, those are names Germans can’t actually pronounce right unless they do speak English rather well. Those are also names that are perceived as being lower-class. So maybe it’s not the name itself but the mother screaming for “Tschäkson” or “Schajenn” that stigmatises the name?)

Even more replies :D

Wow, you guys are very chatty today. XD

twofee said: water safety courses are awesome. had so much fun with my lifeguarding class in highschool. im jealous of your skin diving, ive never gotten to do anything cool like that.

Yeah, it is fun AND it is an important skill to learn. It’s very sad to see how many kids cannot swim or are very insecure when swimming. The people who taught me how to swim are doing a very important job (I believe they are actually volunteers, so… wow.).

I’m kind of sad that I’ll never get to use skin diving outside of pools (I’m not very fond of open water and all the things that live in there). But yeah, it’s a cool skill to have.

littleblondesim said: Names are so interesting, yes! The name I think is tainted the most around where I am is “Steven”. I also like looking at how a name changes based on when and where it is. Like, Mary/Maria, etc.

It’s really sad that “Kevin” became a ‘tainted’ name, because, it’s a nice name. But it was a name that was very en vogue around the time I was born. That and the fact that English-sounding names are often perceived as lower class names (class has become a huge factor in naming your kids- parents are afraid that they’ll disadvantage their kids if they give them the wrong names). Add in a discussion about a paper that claimed that teachers hate “Kevins” with a fiery passion because they are unruly, wild children and parents afraid of being associated with the lower class and ‘problematic’ children and you have effectively tainted a name for at least 50 years… Seriously, “Kevin” and “Chantal” are now the cliche names for poor, stupid, lower class people my age- and that paper that started all was basically bullshit from an academic point of view…

A currently popular variant of Mary/Maria in my country is “Mia”. It’s actually the number 1 girl name right now (depending which statistic you trust- there are several different ones out there, some counting first and middle names, some counting them separately). “Mila” is also becoming popular, and “Marie” is the most popular middle name here…

Yeah, as you can see, I’m very passionate about names. XD

littleblondesim said: Also, I found this yesterday which you might be interested in:time.com/3856405…

Aw, it doesn’t even know my name! To be fair it’s a very rare German name, only somewhat known among Catholics…

katatty-main said: haha, i was playing veronaville and he greeted her with a kiss even though theyre enemies!! nuts.

This could make for a very interesting story. And a very, very dysfunctional relationship…

Replies

Jan/ Leo break up

moocha-muses said: Maybe Jan should have just gotten him fixed. 

Your comment had me snorting out my drink. Nice! (Although I can assume that there are ethical concerns concerning the “fixing” of partners even in the Simworld).

littleblondesim said: Go Jan!

littleblondesim said: I adore your version of her and only want the best for her and I just don’t think Leo is going to give her that.

I agree with you. Their relationship just wouldn’t work out. They really are too different (I actually noticed that in-game- they roll completely different wishes). Jan just wants to be successful and meet new people (and woohoo them- she is a Romance sim, after all), while Leo was hellbent on settling down. So, in a way, Kaylynn’s pregnancy was exactly what they needed…

Lonely Jan/ Peptalk

littleblondesim said: i believe in you bby

If Jan can’t do it, who can?

Getting to know me

littleblondesim said: ooooh, I’d join a name enthusiast fandom!

Great, then we’re already two! Names are just so fascinating, like “Where did they come from?”, “What makes a name popular?” and “Why are people more biased against some names than others?” (Seriously, DO NOT name your child ‘Kevin’ in Germany. I’m sorry for all the Kevins out there, but it has become a tainted name here.)

twofee said: “swim team was weird” thats a large understatement! what was your best/fave event?

Eh, I should elaborate. It wasn’t a competitive swim team, it was actually an organisation that taught you to be a safe swimmer and how to rescue people (that was the fun part!). After training with them for almost ten years before stopping in 2012, I’m actually qualified to work as a lifeguard (well, I would be if I had bothered to renew my license). My favourite part was probably when I was taught how to skin-dive (I actually am a qualified skin-diver, too). I’m also not as crazily fast as actual competitive swimmers, but I’ve got a great stamina and can swim for a long time without getting tired.

I did, however, join the swim team at my school. We never did do competitive swimming, either, but we did a lot of fun stuff like learning how to play water polo. It was fun.

Long overdue replies

Joe, the idiot emotionally stumped sim

holleyberry said: You are a tool Joe.

Yeah he is. (I think, at this point, not even Joe himself would try to dispute that claim…)

moocha-muses said: There’s a difference between “emotionally stumped” and Romance Sim, Joe.

There definitely is. Putting the fact that Brandon has always had very healthy relationships and definitely isn’t emotionally stumped aside…

Pet breeds

hunnybunnysims said: It’s like they just barely tried. Jussstttt barelllyyy

plath-sims reblogged this from aondaneedles and added:

It has always been concerning. I deleted all of them lol.

Barely… I mean, that plush pug was like 8€. Can’t imagine a lot of designing effort went into that.

Yeah, might want to download some CC pet breeds. Had corgis once, they looked pretty nice.

It’s Poppy!

didilysims said: Poppy seems like a very sassy child. 😀 

She is. She is veeeery chatty and always ends up doing rather weird stuff/ reacts in interesting ways. She’s great.

Heated pools

littleblondesim said: sims are so spoiled that they all get heated pools

I love little details like this. The pools look so awesome in winter. Must resist the urge to build a pool in everyone’s backyard.

Jan and Leo

littleblondesim said: Does she know about the nooboo?

Well, now she knows! XD

Jan and Kaylynn

littleblondesim said: oh dear

This is going to end badly…

Replies

Exams are over and I only have one more term paper to write. Juchuu!

Aliens!

holleyberry said: Perfect gif use is perfect.

I was actually looking for that “Aliens.” guy, but when I found that gif, I knew I had to use it!

littleblondesim said: ooooooooooh, yes, now I remember!

I was sifting through my “Middleground” posts a few days ago and only then did I realise that even though my queue usually posts stuff every day, it can take a month before I return to a previously played family (well, posting-wise. I play two rounds straight whenever I feel like it (the joys of being a walking impaired person’s main caretaker- other than going to college and spending the weekend with my boyfriend, I end up spending a lot of time at home…)). Long story, short: I tend to forget that you don’t see things unfold in my game like I do. ^^

Pregnant women. Pregnant women everywhere.

holleyberry said: Oh! They are going to be very busy soon.

Yes, yes they are.

Plantsim Watergate

strangetomato said: Any liquid will do. 😛

Any liquid? *shudders*

Double clicking

littleblondesim said: yes!

Very exciting!

taylors-simblr said: I never knew that! But I did know that you can load a household by double clicking it

Oh, I knew about the lot double-clicking ages ago. But the neighbourhood clicking was completely new to me. Although now that I think about it, I could have probably guessed that if it works on lots, it also works on neighbourhoods…

Technically End of the year tag

didilysims said: Congrats on the job/career experience! That’s exciting!

Thank you! It is actually mandatory if you want to ‘master’ in Education and schools are required to take student/intern-teachers as long as they have the capacities (I guess they don’t want to end up with a bunch of teachers who quickly realise that they hate kids or something…) but yeah! I’m going to teach elementary school kids which will probably be very energy draining- but also very exciting.

Store sets

didilysims said: Wow you held out for a long time! The garbage cans were my favourite part of those too. 😀 Asian Fusion square garbage? *Everywhere.*

They are soooo awesome! The game seriously lacks any kind of trash can variety! (Can’t wait to redecorate half of Middleground with those furniture sets!)

Replies

Timothy the stalker

simsllama said: Awh bless him

He’s just so desperate to have friends that aren’t related to him, it seems. XD

Kaylynn x Leo

didilysims said: Sims are very good at proving us silly players wrong. *grabs popcorn*

They really are. Man, this is going to be so messy…

NOOOOOOO!

littleblondesim said: I promise I’m not laughing at your misfortune, but this is so hilarious.

moocha-muses said: I can’t believe they’re doing this to you.

I’m having very “good” luck with the sims in this neighbourhood. The only thing I’m remotely responsible for is Ivy becoming a plantsim (since I downloaded a mod that fixes the broken calculator for how many plants a sim must spray before he can become a plantsim) the rest is all the sims acting up and just “luck”. They are just… wow.

Simlish birth control

littleblondesim said: truer words have never been spoken

I always forget to put sims without a wohoo partner on birth control and it has finally come back to me…

The amazing vanishing Sims

littleblondesim said: so…is she still pregnant?

Yup. I had a backup from after this play session. How “lucky”. XD