More Awesome Than You!

In all the years I've been playing TS2, this is the first time I've seen a sim spontaneously talk to an inanimate object -- in this case, the Cheat.

(http://www.speakeasy.org/~jsalemi/talk_to_cheat.jpg)

(yes, that's H.L. Baratron's self sim explaining why the Cheat is so much better to kick than a flamingo. :))

LOL now all you need is for another sim to come up and make the cuckoo gesture. ;)

Surprisingly, none did -- they just walked on by...

That sim must be an F. A T would have just kicked it and laughed.

Yea, that's what they normally do.  Her social was about 1/2 full, and talking to the Cheat raised it, so I guess it was her secondary Popularity asp kicking in.  But still, never saw that before, even with sims with Pop as their primary asp.

I think I need to get the Cheat.  Anything to stop sims doing sensible life-affirming stuff.

LOL! Looks like someone's found a new friend! ::)

I've always wished they could talk to the snowman, just like the penguin does. I don't think I've ever seen a sim talk to an object.

Sims talk to art objects, or rather about art objects. At least, they do if two sims view an art object together. I think they talk sometimes when viewing art solo, or at least I *hear* them talk; can't remember if they do speech balloons when viewing solo or just thought balloons. But one of the speech/thought balloons is always the flamingo or the neon flamingo sign, it seems. So that's what's happening here: the sim is viewing the Cheat and discoursing on its artistic qualities, possibly because the game is confused and thinks the sim at the door is also viewing the Cheat.

No, I'm sorry -- that's the wrong answer, but thanks for playing.  She was talking to the Cheat, as her action icon said.  The "conversation" went on for a good sim hour or so.  The maid had just arrived, and the sim by the door was just passing by -- she had not acknowledged him at all.

If you click on the Cheat, there's a "Talk" menu options. I never noticed if it was also there on gnomes; I'll have to check later.

Now that you mention it, I think I've seen sims talk to a gnome like the one in your picture is doing with the Cheat. Which reminds me of that decorative kitty sculpture that apparently raises Fun in some way, does anyone know anything about it? I mean, can you interact with it in ways other than "View"?

Is it just me, or does that sim in the background have a shrunken head?

No, his head is odd.  He's one of the Maxis downtownies -- this is in the original Downtown attached to my original Pleasantview, which is still my main hood all these years on...

Do personality points affect which Sims can talk to decorative items? I was doing a photo shoot a while back and I had used the Sim Modder to make one of the Sims I was using full playful. That gave her the option to play with The Cheat. He turns back into a gnome halfway through the animation though. *points to avatar* :D

Edit: I just noticed I wrote outgoing instead of playful. I must remember to not post when I am tired. xD

Weird. I'll look into that to see why that happens.

Actually, the sim seems quite fit, to my estimation  :P

Are you saying the Cheat *isn't* based at least partially on the flamingo? I thought it was just a cloned flamingo with modifications to allow it to be placed indoors.

Pescado can answer this for sure (I don't have SimPE handy ATM), but I'm quite sure it was cloned from the gnome. Like Blueblood, I had a 9-10 points playful sim autonomously play with it and it turned gnome-shaped during the animation.

Same diff, then. The gnome's an art object.

Not quite; sim's can't play with or talk to the flamingos, but they can with the gnomes (and the Cheat, which is based on the gnome).

That doesn't make the gnome "not an art object". That makes it an extra special art object. The flamingo itself is an extra special art object, since most of the art objects can't be kicked. No matter which object it was cloned from, sims can talk while viewing an art object, so even if the "Talk to" action itself isn't available as an autonomous action, there's still another route to get to the observed behavior.

At least the cheat can't be stolen.  That always annoyed the hell out of me with gnomes.  It was cute the first few times, then it was just bloody annoying.
I remember downloading a small decorative windmill from somewhere, but as it turned out, it was cloned from the gnome, so it was stolen the first day.
Another time I had a gnome in front of the house, pretty close to the mailbox.  Some passer by stole it just as the kids were about to get on the school bus, resulting in them all dropping their queue to yell at the thief and thus missing their ride.

I was going to continue arguing the point that you can't get the observed behavior any other way, but since you seem to believe it, my only response is, 'yea, whatever'.

MATY-- where funny screenshots turn into debates about "extra special art objects!"

(http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll123/mount_tazneen/zpopcorn.gif)

Don't forget about sim color preferences. Did you know that sims prefer red?
 :-\

Joe!!!!  Anyway, that was funny.  I think I see a bunny with a pancake on its head.

For me, the big thing about the cheat is not its inability to be stolen. Gnome/Chicken theft is  pretty easily prevented with a lockable gate.

It's the Sentrybot angle.

Every lot I routinely play has a Sentrybot. The newspaper exists to attempt to be stolen by the various Grouchy Sims I have wandering my neighborhood, and the Sentrybot tasers them before they can take it. The sentrybot will also taser any visitor or walkby Sim after he has kicked over the trashcan (not before).

THe problem is that the Sentrybots will also go after any visitor who decides to steal a stealable chicken or gnome,  or kick a flamingo, gnome, or chicken. It does not matter if the visitor could not possibly reach the item, the mere act of putting it in queue alerts the Sentrybot. And a zapped Visiting Sim Sim leaves the lot after being zapped.

This is inconvenient if the Sim who decided to kick a flamingo is someone Sims in the household are trying to befriend. This can be rather undesirable if the Sim who decides to kick a gnome is a Nanny holding guarding a home alone Baby or Toddler.

... except that THAT argument was with someone who was making an extreme, unsupported statement and not doing a good job of offering any proof.

Now, it's always possible that the Cheat isn't an art object and doesn't have the View interaction... so I popped the Cheat into SimPE just now and looked at the TTAB. Because, you know, I might be wrong.

Well, what do you know. There's a View function in the TTAB. And the semi-global file is FlamingoGlobals.

Obviously someone has proof that the Cheat was cloned from the gnome and had flamingo globals added to it.  It is a fucking hacked object. 

Flamingo isn't the only object that uses FlamingoGlobals. All kickable sculptures like Chicken or Gnome use FlamingoGlobals as well.

Cheat seems to be cloned from Gnome. Steal/Steal Back options were removed, and custom sound effect was added.
Gnome has hidden interactions "Talk" and "Play", which are only available as autonomous actions for outgoing/playful Sims, respectively. I guess the Sim in screenshot is a very outgoing Sim.



It's not the behaviour that can be observed in View interaction, it's hidden Talk interaction that's only available for Gnomes.


ETA: Checked in-game to be sure. For very playful Sims, "Play" interaction shows up. But for very outgoing Sims, "Talk" does not, it's only available as an autonomous interaction. It seems that Sims won't autonomously talk to gnomes unless they're alone.

My comment was in response to Kazzandra's
"Screenshots" + "extra special" = Gali's failure to recognize the merits of the scientific method to me. The cheat is cloned from a decorative object and so, of course, has the view function. I've looked at it in SimPE before because I was contemplating recoloring it.

Right. My point was, it's an art object. Whether it's cloned from the gnome or from the flamingo, it has the standard art object actions.

I don't know which interaction it is, because he's claiming it's some new unprecedented behavior. The screenshot shows the sim with a speech balloon with the image of the flamingo; that happens a lot with View. On the other hand, the sim isn't standing, which is unusual for View, which suggests Talk ... but you've just researched it and found out Talk doesn't appear autonomously unless they're alone, and this sim isn't alone. So either a glitch made the game call View from a crouching position, or a glitch made the game call Talk when not alone.

Either way, it's a function that's already in the game. Not magical. Just occuring under unusual circumstances.

Ok, I'll say this slowly, in a nice numbered list, at the risk of boring other readers to tears since I'm mostly repeating myself:

1) The sim lives alone. 
2) The maid just arrived, and the other sim in the picture is a walk-by who was not acknowledged, as the sim was busy talking to the cheat.
3) You're assuming the interaction just started; it had actually been going on a while, when I decided it would be neat to get a picture (I think I took more than one, actually -- her talking about the flamingo to the cheat just seemed to be the perfect one to post).  The other two sims in the picture arrived a good 20+ sim-minutes after the interaction started.
4) There was no glitch.
5) The interaction was autonomous. It was the first thing she did after getting out of the shower.
6) The sim's action icon said "Talk".
7) See # 4.
8 ) I never said it was "magical" or not there in the game code somewhere, or some mysterious super-secret unprecedented behavior that's triggered by the phase of the moon. If you read the first message of the thread, all I said was that "In all the years I've been playing TS2, this is the first time I've seen a sim spontaneously talk to an inanimate object".
9) So, in simple English, "I've just never seen it before."
10)The only claim I made that was in error in this thread was that the Cheat had a "Talk" menu option -- I have since checked, and it doesn't, as LD confirmed.
11) So reread the thread, stop putting words in my mouth, or saying I made claims I didn't, and arguing with me about them.
12) Oh, and see #4.


What that simple enough for you, you fucking moron?

Trans:  All I wanted to do was share something I found amusing.  I didn't expect the Spanish Inquisition.

In the future, then, if you don't want people to think you aren't suggesting something magical, I would suggest that you not start talking about how your sim's second Popularity aspiration must have kicked in. It didn't. It's an interaction that was always part of the object, and it advertised itself at the right moment. You should also probably not flip out when people suggest that something may actually be part of the game already, or argue that the Cheat can't be an art object, because it's not cloned from a flamingo. What kind of retarded argument is that?

Maybe I'm too mean for MATY, but if someone says something kind of ditzy, I'm going to assume they're a ditz, especially if they come back with irrational counterarguments. Sorry I hurt your feelings, Joe.

NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquisition!

(http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a92/lizziecup/boardmisc/spanish.gif)

You just continue putting words in my mouth, arguing those words are wrong, and then you say I'M the ditz?  Fuck off, you fucking troll -- I done with you and your 12-ness.

PS -- you think you're "too mean for MATY"?  You really are 12, aren't you? I've been here way longer than you, and you haven't BEGUN to see mean.  Heck, I'm just at the annoyed stage -- you don't want to see me mean...

Brilliant!  Talk about crime prevention.  I've not really used those - I think I'm going to make one now.  My husband would love it if I gave him one of those for his birthday.

*Emma P&L @ talysman

I'd shut up if I were you. Joe is one of the most easy-going people on this site, but if you piss him off he will tear you a new one. And smile while doing it.

Run, Run!  It's the magical gnome conspiracy!
Save yourself!  Women and children last!

Hur. And the rest of us will probably be grinning like loons as well.

This is right up there with ASSlynh and her RAMS.

Our chief weapon is fear -- fear and surprise.  Our TWO weapons are fear, surprise and torture.  Our three, three weapons are fear, surprise, torture, and a fanatical devotion to the pope...

Argghh!


I'll come in again....

Thank you, Cardinal Biggles.

Don't forget the soft cushions
(http://orangecow.org/pythonet/linus/photos/noparrot/spanish6.jpg)

...and the rack.
(http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/2438/tt6.jpg)

LOL!

I am torn between not wanting to see Joe's head asplode and seeing MOAR FIGHT and MOAR MEENNIS.

Of course, Joe has the pointiest sticks around. He keeps them well-maintained and rarely dulls them on lamers, so they don't get blunt and need sharpening quite as soon as everyone else's.