What do YOU do with your platinum people?

[Kestran]

When you open the family tumbnail, you have 4 possible relations showed:
1) One sim kisses the other - sign of great love
2) One sim puts a "v" with his hand over the head of the other sim - sign of a cheating and not-reliable sim.
3) A couple hugging, with hands around the waist - stabile and faithful relation of both
4) Two separated sims, no touching each other - that the worst, usually it showes in couples which are "tired" of each other, mostly elders.

Actually Gali. I thought no. 2, where the Sim has that V sign behind his/her spouse' head, that that Sim was just Maxis way of showing their cheerful/playfulness. Not to indicate non reliability.

I also got another more fierce version of no. 4. The couple not only not touching each other, but both have their back turned AND glowering at each other over their shoulder. I get that each time after cheating.

And as for platinum people. If it is a Sim I really like. My favorite Sims, I don't really mind them having perm plat. True I don't have to keep their aspiration meters up but then I just find other things for them to do. Max up their skills, use them as a babysitters/tutors or concentrate on their social life. Or even get them another career to work on. One Sim for instance was an elder and widow and lived alone (all her kids had moved out to either College or to their own place).

That Sim had a childhood friend that lived next door to her and that household was packed with kids and grandkids and I just had her move in with her friend. She was never alone and was a wonderful babysitter. She was even able to help with teaching the toddler to walk and talk and potty train her and she died on that lot. I still miss her.

Kestran.

[bluecatvon]

oh, making versions of yourselves in the game isn't that bad. It helps me conquer my fear over death.

[baratron]

I read an article somewhere in the mists of simtime, apparently most people create their own family when first playing the sims game. I'm pretty sure this article was about sims 1, but I can't imagine it being different in sims 2.

I've never made myself or my partners, but I made quite a few of my friends in TS1. In fact, I played the family of my real-life best friends for more than 230 days - I saw the 100 days Easter egg twice.

Haven't made any real people in TS2 because - and this will make you laugh - the Create-A-Sim has too many options! There are so many ways you can tweak the face that, for me, it makes it harder to create sims that look like real-life people. With TS1, I just went for eye colour, hair colour and hairstyle, and presence/absence of glasses, and then imagined the faces looking right. With TS2, I need the sims to look *perfect*, and I'm not capable of achieving that .

[rohina]

I made my brother and his girlfriend, and then had them get married and have kids (something my brother refuses to do) - but that was purely to mess with him. 

[J. M. Pescado]

oh, making versions of yourselves in the game isn't that bad. It helps me conquer my fear over death.

The best way to conquer your fear of death is to actually try it. I've been killed 3 times already, so I can tell you it's really not that bad.

[Oddysey]

Zombie Pescado, mark II?

[vecki]

i've created sims of myself and my boyfriend as couples in the game. They're only 6 hrs of real time off to meeting dear Grimmy...kinda weird watching and waiting for yourselves to die

I'm still waiting for Simone Le Gassey to die, but I'm definitely going to be sad, as is the rest of her family - they all have fears of her dying!  They all know it's coming and it's not like she's bedridden or anything!  The ol' life bar is looking mighty slim, maybe a day or two left.

*sigh*  She passed away last night.  77 days young, 1 husband, 1 son, 2 grandsons, formerly Captain Hero and Business Tycoon (my first sim to reach the top of one career, never mind two! I guess I just wasn't trying before.  In other news, her son Adrian, who was previously the biggest doofus ever - even for a sim, has just hit the top of his fourth career.  He's been a Mad Scientist, Chief of Staff, Icon and now Ecological Guru).

Kennedy was crushed, but soon soothed by the purchase of a dj station.  I think the 20,000 simoleon inheritance has helped nudge him towards his own LTW of earning 100,000 as well (does inheritance count towards 'earnings'?).  He's a few days away from death so even if he does get there, he won't enjoy it for long.  He looks so lonely all alone in his bed!  And spends a lot of time sighing.

Adrian, on the other hand, got up in the middle of the night to have some pork chops, and then proceeded to spend about 3 hours crying.  Wuss.  Lucky he's also permaplat, so I can ignore him.

[RainbowTigress]

I've never made myself or my partners, but I made quite a few of my friends in TS1. In fact, I played the family of my real-life best friends for more than 230 days - I saw the 100 days Easter egg twice.

What is the 100 days Easter egg?  I have never heard of or seen this.  Is that 100 Sim days or real time?

[gynarchy]

In TS1, if you played the same house for 100 Sim days, you'd get a pop-up every day for the next few days telling you a little bit about some of the folks who worked on the game. There is a website somewhere that has all the cards on it, I can't recall offhand which one it was though. It was a cute little surprise to get after spending so much time with the same house.

EDIT: Found it! You can read all of the cards here on OddSim.

[RainbowTigress]

EDIT: Found it! You can read all of the cards here on OddSim.

Thanks, that's very interesting!

[witch]

Interesting also how much emphasis Maxis placed on testing and debugging. 

[bluecatvon]

oh, making versions of yourselves in the game isn't that bad. It helps me conquer my fear over death.

The best way to conquer your fear of death is to actually try it. I've been killed 3 times already, so I can tell you it's really not that bad.

actually try it = ask someone in real life to kill you?
man are you a vampire or a zombie or something? 

i've always have a fear of death. That's cause i haven't experience one before. my grandparents all died even before i was born, so yeah, no deaths of someone close has occured to me.

but whenever a person dies in my game, even if i'm not close to the sim, my heart always jump and my limbs went cold when i hear the sound of Grimmy coming. That's also why i only play houses with tombstones at daytime haha at night would be too scary for me.

[Hairfish]

I recreated my entire family right after Sims2 came out. My Sim-parents made great ghosts...but Sim-Me and Sim-Hubby are in their second phase (they're clones, since both were built in BodyShop before the game even came out...I'll probably reload them over and over again as they kick off) and having a grand time cheating on each other with all the neighbors. My husband isn't a Simmer, but he loves hearing about his Sim's latest conquests. After 27 years of marriage (as of yesterday), it's fun to have this outlet for fantasies we'd never fulfill in real life. With University, there's also the fantasy of both our kids going away to college...

I'll admit, it was rather creepy the first time around, watching "ourselves" get old, and then die. Not nearly as creepy as Sim-Hubby being a JUDGE, though. 

As for those PermaPlats, I generally have them move out once they're Elders and go live with some young family where both parents need to work. They're a hell of an improvement over Nannies! Now that Nighlife has brought garages onto most of my lots, I build them little apartments over the garage, and they spend a lot of time taking care of the gardens, and teaching skills and sharing interests with the little ones while the parents are at work.

[bluecatvon]

My husband isn't a Simmer, but he loves hearing about his Sim's latest conquests.

you're lucky. my boyfriend covers his ears and la-la-la like the sims does whenever i tried to tell him what he has accomplished in his grand sim life.

[Hook]

My husband isn't a Simmer, but he loves hearing about his Sim's latest conquests.

you're lucky. my boyfriend covers his ears and la-la-la like the sims does whenever i tried to tell him what he has accomplished in his grand sim life.

Yes, but is your boyfriend's Sim woohooing all the neighbors?  Guys tend to perk up a bit when they hear about such things.

Hook

[Regina]

First, let me say congratulations to Hairfish on 27 years of marriage!  I reached 21 myself this last August and my biggest question is where on earth has that 21 years gone?  It seems like only yesterday we were married! LOL

Now, back on topic.  Since I don't have University, the perma-plat thing was new to me when I git Nightlife.  Since installing NL I haven't done much except for play my Legacy family and my first generation is within a few days of death now.  I wasn't sure (especially after reading this thread the first time) how I would like this new aspect, but I have to say I honestly love it!  Trying to keep sims in a high aspiration was never one of my favorite features to begin with, so having some in perma-plat has taken much of the stress out of playing my game.  I still fulfill their wants--after all I don't see a good reason not to, and just enjoy playing with them.

It's also had a little different effect on how I play my non-pp sims.  I'm not stressing as much as I used to about trying to keep their aspiration meters as high as possible.  Oh yes, we still fulfill wants for good aspiration levels but I'm much more inclined to let them slide a bit, especially if they're not ready for a promotion.

[cwykes]

you're lucky. my boyfriend covers his ears and la-la-la like the sims does whenever i tried to tell him what he has accomplished in his grand sim life.

that's about the reaction I get from pretty much everyone.

Since I don't have Uni or NL, I don't have permaplat.  I have sims who would be permaplat though.  I use them as tutors and baby sitters to avoid nannies completely.  I moved a bunch of teen townies in with one romance sim who had got to 30 loves at once and concentrate on them not him.  The idea was to grow them up so he could flirt with them too.   He can't encourage, but he can use career objects.  In another house I had 1 knowledge sim who knew everything - I gave him a succession of boyfriends and had him make friends with all the kids and teach them things (thanks to JM's hacks).  He and a partner adopted a really ugly kid, then I had him marry the maid and start a family.  I wanted to have him max all his interests, but that's technically impossible I discovered.

I've only had 3 sims die - one by accident during the headmasters visit, one was an elder I created in CAS to live and die in a starter home, thus creating a starter home with a gravestone for other knowledge sims to move into.  it was on the sims2 site.  The other was also created to die and provide a gravestone.  I was trying to set up a sort of elder challenge... I can't bear to kill any others off, but I have quite a few elders now...

re grandma - Buntah made some non-saggy meshes for grandma on TSR.  They're better...

[Hairfish]

I wanted to have him max all his interests, but that's technically impossible I discovered.

Not if you use Merola's Multi-Painting. 

[Witches]

I've maxxed out people on skills and I've never used Merola's painting. It just takes time, and patience. It helps if they don't have kids.

It's just kind of boring to do. The easiest is to have two knowledge sims live together and work on maxxing out their skills. I had a husband and wife do it, and that wasn't even her ambition. Sure made becoming a mad scientist easy, though. So they were both maxxed out, permanent plat, and then they had a kid ...

Now, I don't worry about it. I'm not really interested in going "perma plat" for the most part so I just have them work in a different profression, if it's a professional goal. If it's a personal goal I don't worry about it too much ... especially the crazy ones.

My pleasure sim's lifetime want is 50 first dates. Since she's only dated one guy and is now happily married, I already know she's not going to even come close. Besides, 50? Holy crap. I'd have to invent people for her to date. Especially since she is firmly straight. Can't even get a spark for other girls. I'm not sure there are 50 eligilble male NPCs. OK, probably, but who wants to date Goopy?

[RainbowTigress]

I've maxxed out people on skills and I've never used Merola's painting. It just takes time, and patience. It helps if they don't have kids.

The previous poster was talking about maxing out interests, not skills.  Maxing out skills is easy once you know how to do it.  All of my sim kids are maxed out on skills before going to college.  Only the townies I have sent to college aren't, and if they work at it, they will be maxed out before they graduate.  The Skillinator helps here because you can set them skilling and forget about them and concentrate on your other sims.  But I have never tried maxing out interests.  I didn't know if it was possible, but I don't really pay attention to interests anyway. 

[bluecatvon]

i've just noticed that i haven't even answer the question of this post *ashamed*

nowadays i let them roam about, watch their antics and laugh and poke at them. if there are babies in the house they are the 24-7 nannies. other times they are tutors. sometimes it's boring, sometimes it's fun.

[Witches]

I've maxxed out people on skills and I've never used Merola's painting. It just takes time, and patience. It helps if they don't have kids.

The previous poster was talking about maxing out interests, not skills.  Maxing out skills is easy once you know how to do it.  All of my sim kids are maxed out on skills before going to college.  Only the townies I have sent to college aren't, and if they work at it, they will be maxed out before they graduate.  The Skillinator helps here because you can set them skilling and forget about them and concentrate on your other sims.  But I have never tried maxing out interests.  I didn't know if it was possible, but I don't really pay attention to interests anyway. 

Oh. My bad. Sorry. I don't pay much attention to interests, either ... though now that you can ask a sim their interests I'm thinking if you bone up on something your dream sim likes, maybe conversations would go better ... gonna check it out.

[bluecatvon]

I'm trying to get everyone to share their interests. will that increase their interests in various topics?

[cwykes]

There's a storage limit on interests.  You're good sharing interests until you hit that.  Once the game notices you are over the limit, it randomly chops things off other subjects until you are back within the limit.  So sharing interests or reading magazines can actually cause your sim to lose interest points!  Most people don't bother with share interests or magazines because of these random losses.  Otherwise share interests would be a really good interraction. - better than gossip which spreads corrupt and other memories around the place!  There's a thread here about efficient personalities which covered interests too.  Did you knwo interests change as sims age and you gain points at age transitions?
http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php?topic=323.0

[bluecatvon]

.  Did you knwo interests change as sims age and you gain points at age transitions?

well i guessed bout it. just never saw it personally. thanks for the link!