More Awesome Than You!

I thought we could start posting ideas about what ground rules we would want to have in the shared neighborhood. Once we get several ideas together, we can do a vote to determine which ones will actually be in the game.

I'll start:

I'd like to ban the exlir of life from the neighborhood. I'd like us to develop and live out each sim "life" without artificially extending any age. This is something I started doing in my own game. Each simmie has a story: some can't get enough time to skill and take longer to get promotions. For some, their careers take a backseat to having children because - like in real life - they're not getting any younger and if they're going to pop out a couple of simmies, they better get started.

I agree with this except I feel like if a sim gets a want to drink someone we should be able to fullfill that want. What do you think about that?

No purposely deleting other peoples homes. And if someone does somehow get deleted, do not upload the neighborhood. Because if everyone downloaded that, nobody would have the lost family.

So basically, if the hood get's corrupted, don't upload it. Common sense.

And no, I don't mean dead Sims. If a sim dies, let 'em die.

How about an agreement not to maliciously kill off our created sims? I think there should be a ground rule about NPCs too...maybe to not kill ones who are engaged to our Sims? Other NPCs could be fair game.

I like the idea of creating stories as we go along, but maybe there can be small update to hand off to the next sim--"Joe Carr is in love with Motoki" or so-and-so is furious with Brynne.

Here's my take on some rules, feel free to disagree!

I think any non-playable sim that is not engaged to or going steady with a playable sim should be fair game to do whatever the heck we want to up to and including offing them. Playable sims should definitely be off limits for purposely offing. Natural death is fine and accidents are too and should be allowed to happen. I will trust that you guys won't arrange "accidents". :P

I think pleading for a sims life is okay but the resurrect-o-nomitron is not, otherwise what the heck's the point of death? Personally, I'm in favor of disallowing the aspiration rewards entirely as I find them too cheat-ish and they remove any challenge.

Hey Motoki -
I just noticed, you're "Lord of the Nannies".  HAs that always been there and I'm just blind?

I'm all for disallowing reward objects as the only one I still play with is the smart milk but I didn't think anyone would go for that.

I like a lot of the aspiration rewards!  I especially find the makeover surgery booth, at least in Pleasantview, since the Pleasant girls are ugly!  I also like the boxing bag for keeping children fit.

I meant the aspiration rewards, I've got no real problems with most of the career ones, but that energizer machine and the elixer of life etc are very cheaty to me.

I suppose the love tub could be okay. I use it more to give my poor sims a hot tub than for any effect it has. ;)

Ditto - as long as the career reward is earned and not gotten with a hack or a cheat.
But we shouldn't exclude the hot tub.  That means that dirt poor sims like the Brokes could have a hot tub. The should have to come up with the 5,000 simoleons (or whatever it costs) in order to have a hot tub.

Some of those rewards can't be gotten that way.  The only other way to keep kids fit is to take them swimming.  I generally don't have room for a private pool.  So unlock career rewards is one of my favorites.

re: nixing the love tub

That's fine with me. I can certainly live without it. I guess I would say any reward that involves skill building (besides the smartcap which I think is a cheat) is okay. I think the camera and the surgery machine are okay. Not sure how I feel about the cow plant. Sometimes they get wants to drink people etc and it's an easy way to get rid of townies or npcs lol.

the rules seem Fair enough to me. However I think game fixes like no whats this should be allowed. as well as custom make up and furniture etc but no cheat objects or hacks

I think that's fine so far.  Oh, so thaaat's what the cow plant does!  I was wondering???!!

Anything that fixes annoyances is fine with me. I know the phone hack is a bit cheaty with regard to making friends, but I simply cannot abide by that incessant phone ringing! Custom makeup and hair is fine with me too but I think we should start the sims we upload out with default Maxis content and then let everyone change their appearance later in the game.

Agreed.  How about the hacks from CBoy that help furious state?

I dont use taht so I dont know much about it

I think this would be a great project if we actually do it I would like to join in.  Been bored with my simmies lately need a reason to get back in. I play with CC and Mods but wouldn't miss too many of them since I use the coffe pot the most it would be the only hack I would have to have (I just hate how the whole promotion system works in expecting a dead ass tired sim to pull a double shift just because they got promo'd).  I could contribute a family and story for them, I love the hoods created so far and having a high end machine can play just about any size house without too much issue. The only real cheat I do is to initially make my sim have enough money to move into the house I want (motherload). I have tried to wait it out but find I end up with an entire hood full of poor folk and into 3rd generation before they break poverty. I do make them furnish the house the hard way though.  I saw mention of an original thread for this project? where is it? (or rather - whats its name?)

I agree .I just think most of us will change the appearance of the sims because lets Face it Maxis has the worst taste in hair and make up not to mention color yuck. and by CC furniture I was referring to recolored maxis items to avoid having to send too many meshes. hair meshes are generally small but furniture and other object meshes can be quite large in size.the same with skin meshs they tend to be huge. so Im thinking maxis default skins should be used

How about things that allow your sim family to work from home?

and custom careers?

I like to play "alternatively" to just get up, go to work, come home, make babies/dinner, sleep.

:-/

Also, wondering about Monique's computer, that allows skill building from it, but you still have to work for them, and you can write articles and get paid a reasonable amount of money.

I like Monique's computer and use it and in general I'm in favor of opportunities for working at home and really hope to see some in the next episode. I don't have a problem with custom careers either, but I don't think we should include them with the neighborhood but rather like people get them and other custom content at their leisure if they want. As long as the custom career doesn't give them a bajillion dollars a day I don't have a problem with it.

Here's what's been rolling around in my head.  Please comment on what you like and don't like.

1. Everyone participating contributes one family and one building. Everything at this point is ONLY Maxis made - no CC, no hacks. Every lot gets loaded into the neighborhood. All players agree to play at least two families - the one they created and another one. We spread it around to make sure that all families will be played by someone.

2. Some people who enjoy building can contribute other buildings: upscale homes for sims to "move up" to when they get more money, community lots. etc. Any shortfall in buidlings, we'll just use existing Maxis made ones. (Which I hope we don't do...I really hate them.)

3. All players install the same neighborhood and start at the same point. Each player will be responsible for updating stories for the two families they are assigned to. (Although free to post as many stories as they want.)

4. We come up with a weekly, semi-weekly, or some other rotation where each player gets to pick a "random" event that each player must make happen in the neighborhood. We could alternate - one time good, one time bad.

5. Once we start playing our neighborhoods, people are free to use custom content to alter appearances of sims (hair, clothes) and buildings.

6. Only agreed upon "behaviour mods" will be used by everyone. It is not mandated that you use the mod, but you shouldn't include any mods that the group hasn't agreed won't significantly alter behaviour / rewards.

7. Cheats are only allowed to correct system errors.

Mod's I have which I think might be ok:  abortbedmaking, breakupfix, doorbellquieter, marriagepostmortem, noagingswarm, noreunionmemory, nowhatsthis and removal of the censor blur.  Also, I think Inge's doors should be allowed. I know a lot of people have the phone hack. I don't, but I don't mind if other people want to use it.

Mods I also have that would like to use but won't mind if they're not allowed:  Crammyboy's nudist hack, Inteenimater, marriagetraditional, nodormieregen, nossrespawn, eatmoretalkless, nodriverwatchout.

As I proofread this, it looks like I'm giving pronouncements. I hope it doesn't come across this way. I just thought if I put down what I was thinking others can add to and subtract from it but at least we'd have a starting point to work with.

What does everyone think?

I'm just in love with you all ;D. The fact that you're having such a rational discussion about the rules:
"This is what I think"
"I agree. How about this?"
"I disagree. This is why."
"OK, that's a fair point. How about this other thing?"

Trying to imagine the mess that would result from trying to discuss ground rules in virtually any other Sims community I've ever been to... eeek ::).

OK, carry on ;).

I know some people won't like this because it will increase the file size of the download, but at this point I almost feel like we should just decide the plot, characters, what houses are to be used etc and premake the neighborhood in an original setup state like the Maxis ones, then everyone can build on it from there. It doesn't have to be super huge and have loads of lots and playable characters to start with, people can add more later.

I just like the idea that we can presetup relationships like so&so is enemies with such&such and I would really like everyone to have the same set of townies. I know we can use the default pleasantview ones but they are ugly and I am sick of them lol.

I agree, right now just getting the neighborhood set up will be a big thing.  I also like the idea of getting rid of the townies except for the ones that cannot be duplicated (can we make vampires?) and having everyone contribute some townies (am I wrong in asuming that the game will generate the NPC's as needed for shopping?). This is a great idea. Perhaps making the houses without wallpapers and just a default floor if needed for above ground floor building will decrease the filesize and allow users to add their own style yet have the same content in the basic start up.

Kids do get in shape by playing tags outside and they can also exercise with the stereo in case you did not know that.

Career rewards are fine to use since the Sims earns it, but it is the same for aspiration rewards they did earn it too.

What I would propose is that we can only use them once and we have to decide on which lot we want to use them.  What I mean is that the thinking cap for example can only place in 1 family, another family could use the elixir of life and another could use the energizer.  Once the item is used we cannot place back another one to replace it so we would have to use it wisely.

I like this idea - gives some strategy to it. Where would the smart milk be best used - the poor family that needs a leg up or will the rich family with the stay home mom better be able to take advantage of using the reward object.  Also, do you use them all in the first generation, or do you hold some in "reserve" for the next generation?

I'm going to be the party pooper than and say I don't think I care for it too much. I mean if one family can use the elixir of life as much as they want wouldn't that be kind of odd? Why not just make them vampires?

If they majority of people want it that way though, I'll go along with it.

What I took it to mean is that each family can use one reward item ONCE. So, if one family chooses the elixir of life, there are five "hits" (drinks) the family can use. Once that's gone, no repurchase of the elixir. Same thing for the smart milk. A family can choose to buy them smart milk, but once the bottles are used up, no repurchase of another set.

At least that's the way I understood it.

I like Monique's computer also. Like you stated, it's not like it just gives them skill points, they still have to work to get them.  I haven't noticed if they gain the skill any faster or slower than other objects. Anyone know?

I really like this idea, but.....I a little bit SimPE-phobic.  ::)  ??? I'm still trying to learn it and haven't been able to do much except change some existing relationships. I don't know anything about the memories. I'd need help with this sort of thing. I'm also suspecting that others that want to play may be in the same boat as me. Maybe someone -coughMotokicough- wouldn't mind actually putting the info in if we provided the details?

Oh, duh. *slaps head*

That makes more sense then, and I don't have a problem with it then.

We could even make it so that they don't get to use their one shot at the item until they reach a goal. Like earning a certain amount or reaching a LTW etc.

That is exactly the way I meant it.  Thank for explaining.  The goal idea is great, nice suggestions Motoki.

I think it would need to be the same with career rewards, no more than 2 can be used in a house.

We are getting somewhere  :D

Oh I don't mind. Or someone else can do it if they want. Once we get the terrain and all the sims together and figure a basic background story it really only takes one person to put it all together.

I have SimEnhancer and am happy to help with the setup.

I am still not seeing anything I disagree with...everything sounds fine to me.

As to Monique's computer, the skill is gained at the same rate. That computer does not allow one to cheat, as far as I understand it, but it does allow one more options in skill gaining then the "sit-there-read-a-book" option.

Any money gained from writing articles is proportionate and very reasonable, IMHO, and is great for work from home families.

A suggestion:

A forum for this project. A bb board is not too overhard to setup, from what I understand...does anyone know of a simmer who would let us set up a forum for this on his/her site? Would Pescado help us?

If there is enough interest, I could try setting one up. With Motoki's permission, we could call it:   www.simpotence.com    ;D

I'm putting together a personal sims 2 site, but I don't have it all set up yet. I'm looking for the best deal in adding a forum to it. I don't know, I may not have it ready quickly enough, though, since I'm brand-new at this web-site thing.

lmao, simpotence.com works for me. ;)

Wonder if we should call the neighborhood that too, haha!

Is that an offer I'm hearing?   ;D

Wherever you are at in the process, you'd be lightyears ahead of me. But if no one wants to host it or no one else is looking into, I'll start. But I know nothing about setting up a forum so it'd be quite a learning curve for me.

I'd love to do it, I just need advice in setting things up. Here's what I'm doing right now:

I have 2 yahoo groups I use to host the files of my sims. Membership has to be approved by me because I don't want the files spreading, and, like Motoki said, I don't have the time to run around begging creators for permission. I've given credit to all I can remember in the email each member receives. Just typed that up, yesterday, though.

I also have a sims 2 blog, but I cannot embed pictures into the story.

I would like more discussion on my site than the yahoo group offers. I just hate the way messages are displayed. It's not really chat-inducing.

I'm giving all this info in hopes that someone will point me in the right direction. What I want to do is have a site based primarily on my characters and stories. Just an outlet for my obsession with the game, and I don't expect that to be hugely popular. Very targeted audience. I want to still offer my files, but only at my discretion. I want to redo my story in a storybook fashion. It will contain some adult content, so the official site is not an option. I want to attach a forum so that others can chat away about their stories, as well. The Bayfields, along with their various incarnations, are the theme, but not the only subject matter.If I can find a way to do this easily I would be more than happy to add a sub-section dedicated to this challenge. If you don't mind seeing all the Bayfield crap, that is, lol.

So far I'm playing with the Yahoo Geocities site-builder tool. I'm getting pages set up. Nothing is published, no domain name has been established, it's just on my desktop right now. I'm looking at forum possibilities-does anyone have any experience with ezboard? I've moderated on a site there, before, but know nothing about actually setting one up. I don't want forum cops telling me I can't post this or that. Does anyone have experience with Geocities, either? I am using their software, but can choose to publish with someone else. Any ideas?

This seems to have moved on from my original idea somewhat!  In some ways, I'm not too keen on the way it's going in that I wasn't looking at a challenge situation, which is what it's sounding more like as it develops.  I had no intention of limiting mods & hacks (which I certainly have no intention of doing), but for all of us to play IN OUR NORMAL WAY, just using the same neighbourhood.  I didn't even envisage passing it around either, just all of us use the same neighbourhood and compare the different ways our families develop and the different events that happen to us.  In other words, rather than everyone's John Smith marrying everyone's Jane Brown, he will marry different people in different games and we can then say "Ooh, how come he married her, he HATES her in my game" - personally, I think that would be more interesting than repetition-repetition-repetition all along the line.

Somehow it seems to be being made more complicated than it needs to be, but I'm just a typical moaning old Brit, so you may prefer to ignore me totally. 

Ancient, that can be a problem with things like this, everyone has thier own ideas...and it may not go in a direction everyone likes...

So I am watching the thread, contributing where I can, offering my ideas, and then if I want to later, I can start my own shared hood experience that runs the way I wish it to.

The fact that the process has not broken down completely into niggling and/or anarchy and/or drama is a sheer miracle as far as I can see, in any case.

I only wanted to say Kudos to the brave Simmiecal for trying to bring this all together in a reasonably simiple manner. Good for you, SimmieCal!

:-)

Ancient Sim : That's the way I thought it would be, I just love the idea of playing sims that have been created by others, then sharing the different outcomes of every family.

Eventually my sims end up looking the same, and it gets monotonous playing the same way over and over.  Main reason why I haven't been playing for a couple of weeks, and this put some interest for me into the game.

I know I am new, as well as alot of other people I've noticed have recently shown an interest in this - so what I suggest is that you and Motoki and maybe a few others who know each other better and can work together decide, and the rest of us that wants to join will accept the rules as you all see fit.  This is just my humble opinion.

Bleh well here comes the dissent.

I think I will bow out for a while into the rest of you can figure things out. :P

I just sort of figured since the thread about making the game more challenging was so popular and everyone seemed to favor the idea, it wasn't a bad idea. I also thought some aspects of the Legacy Challenge were dumb like you can use the energizer machine as much as you want but can use any hacks even annoyance fixes like No What's This.

I guess this was too complicated to get everyone to agree on.

Oh well, I'm going to buy The Movies and play that for a while and maybe the rest of you can figure things out before then or maybe not. *shrug*

I have to say, I've been following the threads on this topic since they started, and it was a big part of why I decided to stop lurking and actually start posting, but I'm absolutely confused about what we're doing. I think there are as many ideas as there are people posting on the subject.

Brynne -- a livejournal community would be far better than a yahoo group. If you set it on moderated membership, people request to join and then the moderators approve them, and I think that's what you are looking for, isn't it? You could then make all of the posts with download links, etc friends-only, so no one except the members would be able to view them. Plus, you can put pictures in, and there are linked comments, so there's none of that yahoo-group "quote someone's entire original post in your reply" nonsense. People could host their pictures wherever they wished -- photobucket, imageshack, their own webspace, hotlink from the exchange if you can do that, whatever. Downloads of the lots could be hosted at either the exchange, or, if we agree that they should be completely private, on member's personal sites (with the links then only available on friends-only posts) or a gmail account where we all know the password (they're actually pretty good for filesharing).

This livejournal isn't a community, but community behaves pretty much the same way but with multiple posters: http://www.livejournal.com/users/cloudlessnights/55234.html#cutid1 (See, storylike! That's the kind of thing you mean, right?)
edited to add: whoops, I gave you the cutscene. The actual chapter is here: http://www.livejournal.com/users/cloudlessnights/53554.html#cutid1

Also, yes, I know livejournal has a reputation for being ... well, BBS-like, in terms of the immaturity of its posters, but if you only let people you knew join the community, that would all be eliminated.

On re-reading your post, Brynne, I'm now a bit confused about whether you were talking about for your own personal site or for the sharing thing, but either way. If you want it for your personal site, I'm pretty sure you can embed your journal in it. Somehow. I haven't ever done it because I'm lazy and only have a basic knowledge of HTML and haven't bothered to learn anything fancy.

Also, Ancient, as I've said elsewhere, I'm a fan of the original idea where everyone contributes a lot but then everyone plays the various lots in different ways and shares what they've done. Not shares as in shares the FILES, but shares as in shares pictures, anecdotes, etc. It's like reading about whoever had the Don Lothario with the billion million toddlers -- that was HILARIOUS, and mainly so because I know Don in my game has massive trouble with his two children by Cassandra (yes, they're married, and poor Cassandra has no idea that Don invites girls over every day while she's at work. Poor Cassandra. But it's okay because I've never really liked her anyway.)

I do think the idea of wildcards is good though, because it would make you do things that you otherwise might not have done with your sims. Like, although you wouldn't ordinarily have everyone's John Smith marrying everyone's Jane Brown, but what if your wildcard said they had to? What if they had already each gotten married ni your game, to different sims? You'd then have to make them do something like fall in love, get caught cheating by each of their respectives spouses, break up with the spouses, and get married. I know that I wouldn't ever have that happen in my neighborhood if I was controlling everything that happened, but with the wildcard I'd do it, and it would introduce an aspect to the gameplay that I don't see ordinarily.

*sigh*
Again, my post is far longer than I meant it to be, but I'm attempting to achieve some kind of clarity, and I'm not sure it's working out.

I've modded a couple of different ezboards and can help you with what I know. My understanding (and it's been awhile) is that a private board can have any rules they want. You'll need to password it, but you'd want to do that anyway. Personally, I rather like them for the free stuff, tho you'll have to put up with ads. If I was going to pay money though, I'd set up my own site - ez doesn't do anything you couldn't do yourself with server space.

On topic, I'm still concerned about the passing the neighborhoods back and forth thing... and I'm not quite sure what that entails (even tho I did finally read the original thread)  - a base neighborhood file I could handle, but something with a lot of houses and people and stuff in it, I'd just never get it downloaded and to need to upload at regular intervals would probably be too much for me. but I'd like to just hang out and read what's going on even if I don't play - is that ok?

Ancient, I posted on Motoki's first thread then deleted it because I was on the phone and didn't look at any other threads.  After hanging up,  I realised that half the things I'd listed had already been said and done on other threads and that your idea had really taken off and had got quite complicated.  I'm a Londoner so I can't be asked to stick to rules or challenges when I'm not being paid to do so, especially after a long working day. Simming for me still needs to be fun when I play.  I thought that your original idea could prove hilarious.  I like to keep things simple too.  So how about...
1.  Use an empty neighbourhood.
2.  Create your sim based loosely on yourself.  You can make it look like yourself or your alter ego.
3.  Load your sim onto the smallest lot, ensuring that the sim does not interact with anyone before you...
4.  Load your sim onto MySimPage
5.  Provide just 3 points about your character to amuse us.  Put this in their Sim Bio and household blog, so that we don't forget.
6.  Set an ambition for the rest of us to fulfill, include it in the Sim Bio and blog;  For instance, the goal for my sim (Sandi) would be to be to live in luxury as a lady of leisure with no work commitments.  So part of the game's goal would be to make that happen.  
7.  Let the rest of us know that you're taking part in the MATY neighbourhood challenge by registering on a separate thread on this website.
8.  When you register, list your MySimPage name so that we can download your sim.
9.  Keep us updated on what's happening in your MATY neighbourhood by either posting on the yet to be named MATY neighbourhood thread on this website - possibly in the Peasantry section
10. And by uploading your MATY neighbourhood story on the BBS (optional of course).

Be flexible about hacks and what you can and cannot use; everyone plays their game differently.
People could pick and choose who they want to download and add to their MATY neighbourhood.  With Uni/Nightlife, you can move people in and out of any household without building relationships, so you could easily set up households with any mix of characters from this website.  The challenge (for those who need it) could rise from trying to fulfill all those different and possibly conflicting ambitions.

The fun for me would come from doing the unthinkable, like housing JM with Rentech... just to see....  What ambitions would they have?  How long could they last without arguing?  Could I get them to be friends...a couple...even married?  Of course, someone would have to upload Rentech with the appropriate personality.  Who knows, JM might even upload his own sim, stranger things have happened.... :o

Hehe, that sounds like a fiery ball of doom just waiting to happen.

Yes, this is what I thought the original idea was too and was looking forward to it. I just want to play the way I normally play but with a situation/"soap opera" already set up and then the creator of that story to throw in some wild cards. I thought that sounded like loads of fun.

Maybe it hasn't moved all that much from the original idea.  :-\

Here's kind of the direction I was going in. We've talked about many options, so depending on what thread you're reading, you might get different ideas. Let's see how much we agree or disagree.

1. We set-up a neighborhood. The idea is that everyone starts at the same point, just like the Maxis neighborhoods. I'm pretty certain the concept of passing around a game after play has started in the neighborhood has been abandoned.

2. I think most people like Jade Elliot's style and the way she set-up the neighborhood. She has offered to place the lots in the neighborhood and to do the neighborhood decorations. Mention was made in a couple of threads about having different "neighborhoods" in the neighborhood: a good part of town and a "bad" part of town.

3. I threw out some ideas about rules to move discussion along, but nothing is set in stone. I don't think we want just one or two people making everything up? It would be nice to have several different people contributing lots and sims, but maybe I've made things overly complicated by saying everyone has to contribute a lot and family. Maybe a couple of people that are good with lots can make some lots and some people that are good with genetics can make some sims, etc.

4. Custom content and hacks: I think this is where the "sticking" point seems to be - but not really. I think for some of us that want a little something in the way of a challenge, we've come up with some good ideas about limiting the use of reward objects. Some of these "challenge" ideas might be woven into the original story for the characters to make things more interesting for some of us. BUT - those that don't want to play by the "challenge" rules, it will still be very interesting to see what you have done with your characters and storylines. Just like we can all discuss what we've done with the Pleasant family even if we are playing a legacy challenge. I guess I'm seeing this as a two-tiered thing: 1. creation of a shared neighborhood that we all have in common 2. a challenge with certain rules to motivate some us that are a little bored with the way we normally play the sims. (Having someone else dictate rules to you probably incorporates rules you normally don't impose on yourself when playing, thus, the game is different than you usually play.) Participating in tier#1 does not mean you have to do tier#2.

So what does everyone think? I don't think we're really that far apart on this and some "rules" we make certainly don't have to be followed by everyone that doesn't want to do the "Challenge" aspect of it. I still think it would be "awesome" if we could collaborate and come up with a neighborhood that was designed by a group of us.

I use livejournal: http://www.livejournal.com/community/baratronstories/ (http://www.livejournal.com/community/baratronstories/). Only just set it up this past weekend, so only one of my stories is up - but go to this post (http://www.livejournal.com/community/baratronstories/273.html) & click through. It's pretty easy to read, imo. I set up baratronstories as a community, because that allows people to friend the journal (so all entries appear on their friends page), or join the community (so they have it bookmarked from their own userinfo). However, there are issues with this, specifically that you can't make "backdated" entries in a community.

It's really difficult to explain all the ins & outs of how lj works to get to the point where I can explain what a "backdated" entry is without me typing in a lot of text and waving my hands around at the screen a lot :). Go to the feature overview (http://www.livejournal.com/site/about.bml) & start reading the FAQs. I admit to being a huge fan of livejournal and the lj code (which also powers deadjournal & Greatest Journal & a few other sites). I'm so keen on lj that I actually have a Permanent Account, which I paid $100 US for. However, you can set up an account for free, and these days even the free servers are still pretty fast.

In my community the only accounts that have posting access are mine, everyone else is restricted to comments, which go at the end of the entries and are semi-threaded (it's not brilliant, but it's not a total free-for-all like web forum posts are). You can set up livejournal comments so they are open to anyone (including anonymous), registered users only (must have a livejournal or OpenID account), or friends only. (Where you specifiy who is allowed). Individual tweaking can be done via the console, including banning specific named people or IP addresses.

Aww poop, Motoki bowed out for now. I do like the idea of titling it Simpotence. I have a small suggestion--how about the sims have our user names as last names so the family names can carry on.

thats a good I dea

I'm going to add my two-penn'orth here.

First, I'm happy to play without most hacks and fixes.  

Second, I agree that aspiration rewards should only be used once, but that should apply to each individual sim as far as the elixir is concerned - otherwise large families would be penalized as against small ones!  I would say that each sim can buy one bottle of elixir, but instead of being able to use it when they are gold, they should have to be platinum.

Third, Aging off should be allowed for three days after a family first moves into the house, but the player gets to choose exactly when, as if there are kids and teens, aging off I find prevents them from improving their grades at school.

Fourth, since I personally feel that the way sims motives fall so quickly is unrealistic, I would like to allow Gnohmon's flamingo of contentment to be used, since it doesn't completely stop sims from being tired, just allows them to have the energy to do a little more in the day.  The other flamingoes however should not be allowed.

Fifth, in order to prevent any copyright issues, I would suggest that anything we may at some future stage choose to share with other sims should only have custom content from file-share friendly sites.   In this respect, since so many of us are, I know, sick to death of Beachy Keen, could I possibly suggest that (in additon to Maxis ones) we all use Juniper Sun's walls and floors, as they are all in this category, and anyone who doesn't have them (and doesn;t want the bother of downloading them from FilePlanet) can PM me with their email address and I would gladly send them the files.

Sixth, I would rathr the rules were short and simple to  follow as some of us (at least one -yours truly) is getting a bit long-in-the-tooth, and remembering a lot of rules is just too difficult.

There, I;ve said what occurs to me but I'll no doubt think of something else later on!

I like the two tier idea.  I like the idea of having my own hacks and cc once I download the shared 'hood.  I would love to have the wild card though so I can move the game in a direction I might not have thought of going.  So I guess what I'm saying is this is coming along nicely.

Yes I like the 2 teir idea as well, gives choice to the matter of what direction you want to take your sims.  Naming it Simpotence is a great idea. I did start a thread for self-sims on Peasantry, with a little bit of info but otherwise sterile sim. regardless of how we decide to handle hacks I'm in, playing my way is getting boring so maybe playing someone elses way will be more stimulating. 

As far as the neighborhood goes make it empty to start and get the lots seperately. Will make it much easier for some to get them than one big package. Pictures of the terrain fully made should suffice as far as what goes where.

Any more thought as to the townies? I still like the thought of each contributing a few and replacing the ones in default.  Even if some are bizzare looking they would be more interesting than the same-ol-same-ol that the game gives to every single one you make.

Can we ban the intentional use of the name Goopy?

And no Marshas!  ;D

Goes without saying!

Well the idea of this whole thing seems interesting to me because I am bored with my game and to make it exciting I do need goals or scenario to play those families, it does not have to be rules.  If I don't have that I will not change the way I play and get bored with that within 1 week.

I agree we need to choose the same hood and download houses and families seperately.  Since I don't want extra stuff I would agree that people that have the tools to do so could modify the genetics and look of the Sim the way they want as long as they do not touch the aspiration and LTW the Sim have at the beginning.  Of course we can modify their physical appearance if wewish like new clothes, adding make-up or things like that.  As long as a blonde girl stays a blonde girl I don't personally mind what you do with them after you install them in the neighborhood.  As long as there are not only Barbie's and Ken's in my neighborhood I am happy  :P  Same goes with the house, if you wish to change the wallpaper afterward it is all up to us, nobody here have the same taste so it would be really hard to please everyone.

I am not saying that it can never be change later just that it is something not be touched with from the start.  In some families with certain goals or scenario we could specify if it is allowed or not to use rewards and how to use them.  But for other families it could be a lifetime goal a bit like the legacy challenge but with other types of goals. 

There is so many features I did not try in the game like having gay couples, having romantic sims with tons of lover, having vampires, having at least 5 ghosts on the same lot (which are not Maxis made lots) and the list do go on, hey believe it or not I never even had 1 wedding or birthday party though I play every day.... I am more into house party thing and not very much into the big families thing.

I spend the last 2 months preparings lots and neighborhoods rather than playing with my Sims and when I do, I do the same thing over and over (matching them, make them have a baby, etc), remember I mention I made 7 families find perfect match and then get pregnant, it took me 3 days to do that after the babies were born, I had no idea what to do with them anymore and just place back my back-up... Pathetic lol.  So basically I create families make them do a few things, scrap them and start over... I am sure you understand how boring a game can be that way....

EDIT:  I did not always plays like that, it more lately that I tend to do the same things over, I guess I just want the perfect family which I even find annoying lol

I used to do the maxis wedding Party thing but I didnt like that you were limited in time and guests allowed . till Brynne told me how she has such awesome weddings. I downloaded the mods Brynne Suggested and use Inge's teleporter Shrub to teleport in the guests I want at the wedding. I then make all the guests selectable and turn off free will in the house. and the first wedding I did after using Brynne's suggestions was awesome.I dont do the birthday parties. since most kids fear them anyway why bother?

I've never actually gone to that much trouble for weddings - if I have a party, I usually just invite sims who know each other well (ie mostly family members of the sim throwing the party or his/her fiance.)  then, after they've tied the knot, I buy the toasting set and let them get on with it!  It's usually a riot, unless there are plenty of toilets available!

in my sims case  He has a very large Family and tons of Friends.befor the reinstall he had 17 members in his familythat werent babies or toddlers.so a maxis scenario would have left the majority of his family excluded. there were toasts galore . guests were actually using bushes when the bathrooms were all in use

I can never get mine to do that!  Even the sloppy ones like don L!

I think it was Total desperation  after the ceremony and cake cutting I turned free will back on

Those bladder problems make for some interesting wedding photos, though!

Can you tell what Josh is doing back there at his own wedding?  :D

(http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y62/Brynne14/Joshpeesasgroom.jpg)

...and here's the post-champagne bladder desperation and Joe's brother Jeffrey's wedding:

(http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y62/Brynne14/bladderdesperationwedding.jpg)(http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y62/Brynne14/bladderdesperation2.jpg)

Yeah, word to this. I have two preschoolers which renders me practically senile at the moment. I am having senior moments at 28. "Now why did I come into this room again?"

Anyway, I also agree to the NO GOOPY. Hee.

The only problem with downloading the lots separately is that nothing can be set-up between households (e.g., we couldn't have Sim A in Lot 1 have a crush on Sim B in Lot 2, or make Sims in separate lots enemies for whatever reason), whereas if the neighbourhood was downloaded as a whole, we could do that.  It also means there can be no extended families, at least not to start with.  Those things aren't essential of course, but they do add to the overall established storyline feeling.  If one person were to create the neighbourhood, adding relationships like this in SimPE (which would be a surprise for everyone else), then the complete neighbourhood made available for download, I think that would be ideal. 

In other words, a storyline that involved the community as a whole, rather than separate storyilines for each family that only involved that family in isolation.

I'm just going to make a link to the other thread where I listed the things that I thought about this project. Don't really want to post it all again, but don't know if everyone in this thread saw it.

http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php?topic=1400.msg47776#msg47776 (http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php?topic=1400.msg47776#msg47776)

I'm still keen on building a home for any family I contribute, plus a posh home if it is wanted. :)

I'd definitely agree with you  on that one, Witch.  Otherwise, it would just be like any other challenge, and I just wouldn't be interested, I like to feel I'm involved in setting up a neighbourhood.  (Probably why I spend so much time in CAS and housebuilding!

I still like a simple idea. We all make a family of interest, add a bit of a story/backline. Family includes selfsim. Put them in a house or not depending whether you enjoy that or not. This is all Maxis default stuff.

Agree on a n'hhod - I still like simmiecal's - nice bare canvas - someone collates lots & families. Someone decorates n'hood - JadeElliot does that well.

Use a thread to discuss who's in love or hates who in the hood. Make the relationships to reflect this.

We all download the hood. We all share stories. I like the idea of wildcards too.

We use own custom contect or hacks we can't live without.

Well, personally I don't EVER play either self-sim or people I know!  Sorry, but I'm afraid I draw the line at that.  when you've lost people you care about in RL, to have it happen (even if it is a game) to others is just not something I care to participate in.

Did I just hear talk about DOWNLOADING INHABITED LOTS? Are you TRYING to cause your game to explode in a big fiery ball visible from space?

Well, if we are, then it will be an enormous bfbvfos if they all go together! ;D 

But if we all check in SimPE to make sure we haven't downloaded any unwanted sims, if the sims are created in entirely empty neighbourhoods with no sims other than themselves, the risk is surely minimised?

Doing what he did in My game all bathrooms occupied  the bush will do the job of relieving bladder desperation

Oh, well, when you invite in the normal manner, if they can't find a loo they go home!

True but the normal manner is  very limiting time wise and guest wise.and for those of us who enjoy the wedding Planning not real practical.

I would think that if they are freshly moved in, without playing the actual family or greeting the welcome wagon, they would know no one outside of their family and so wouldn't bring any unwanted sims along with them.

Also - when this was a neighbourhood swap I was interested but couldn't really get in on the action (due to slow modem), but now if it's just a one-off download I'd like to participate. Are there enough people already or are more participants welcome? And should the created sims we submit be singles or can we create more than one (like a family or group of friends living together) to submit?

Everyone's welcome. I don't think we have a final tally yet on who is participating.

What does everyone think about using the terrain I created and having Jade Elliot do the neighborhood decorations in it?
Please post if you are SERIOUSLY considering participating and what you would like to contribute to the neighborhood. This way, we can get an idea of how many sim families we will be starting with and how many lots.

What we need:
Builders - residential and community lots
Test tube incubators - sim family creators
SimPE knowledgeable - ability to help create memories and relationships to give the stories their backgrounds
Storytellers - people to come up with parts of the "neighborhood" story and the background for the characters
Simmers with immagination - ideas, ideas and more ideas to help develop the nieghborhood

Your terrain and JadeElliot's decorations are fine by me.  :)

I'll volunteer as an incubator and storyteller - I can also contribute houses, say smaller ones for the less affluent area of the neighbourhood. I've got about five that were built in the game from "starter home" plans.

I don't mind incubating families if someone else will come up with storylines.

I am able to work  in SimPe editing memories and Relationship. I just need the Sim relatives list and events based on the storyline to do that and I can place them in order of occurence and add family members. is Jane sim meets Joe sim  and on down the line to marriage or whatever else Jane sim has done .if Jane and Joe marry or become enemies or are furious  with one another according to the story line I can add the marker in memories it is called an invisible marker when a sim calls in sick or is furious or attraction occurs..

I like building unusual or classical styled houses and I always test them in game first as a general rule.  Obviously the houses I have copies of in the bin could be moved to an empty neighbourhood after disabling all custom content and refurbishing them, but I'd honestly like mine to come with a family (mainly because I haven't a clue how to upload a family without a house, and I'd like to contribute one family too, which was the original idea, that we each contribute one family living in a house. 

I would suggest that people who want to contribute more sims than that should work on producing the townies and NPCs for the game.

I am still in as hood decorator *if we can get this going fairly soon*. If you can edit memories and relationships in Simpe Banglenuts, then go for it, IMHO.

And just help me get clear on how we get the houses in the hood, dl them ourselves? or send them to me and I put them in the hood in the areas they belong, so they look good and then we all download one big hood already set up hood from megashare or some site like that?

My suggestion:

Simmiecal sends me the hood. You guys do your houses and/or make your families and their stories. Send me the houses and families and story background by email. I set up and decorate the hood. Send it to Banglenuts. She sets up the relationships and memories. Then she uploads it to a filesharing place. We dl it. We play. We talk about where things are going. Someone throws a wildcard every few weeks or so, we all play with said wildcard. We have fun.

I readily admit that I might have gotten something logistically wrong, so let me know what you all think.

Also, I am working on another shared hood project with a cool simmer, so if this does not get going too soon, I will bow out and work on our own little shared hood project.

:-)

I theorised such with Maple Valley. Deleteallcharacters first, and make sure the sims have no interactions with any sims outside their own lots. Kids are bitches, cause they meet Marsha at school.

Hey ZZ, your family doesn't have to include a selfsim but I liked the suggestion that we make a sim named with our own username as part of the family. This sim doesn't have to be you, could be a fantasy you, though I'm trying to make mine realistic and Man is she ugly.  :-\

But it's the contribution of characters to the hood that's important IMHO.

As for inhabited lots - I envisioned these sims as CAS sims, with some skills, attributes and relationships pre-set in simpe. I didn't think anyone was planning to play them before uploading them?

No one should play them. Only move them into your lot if you are going to send them as part of a lot but save the lot right away after moving them in. We don't want there to be any memories or interactions that will mess things up when we combine them. We will use SimPE to add any needed memories.

No one has talked about a theme for the neighborhood or a general story. I've come up with one, but feel free to come up with your own.

Matyville (or whatever we want to call it)
Once known throughout SimNation as a prosperous and thriving city, Matyville has recently fallen on hard times. Several key industries that once supported the local economy have moved overseas and left many jobless. There is a growing problem with unemployment and one part of town has already become an infamous slum. Added to this, immigrants are still coming to Matyville not realizing that job prospects are not what they used to be.

Having been a thriving and prosperous city for many years, Matyville has developed culturally and has several museums, parks, shopping centers and other sites that draw sims from not just Matyville but from all over SimNation. There are several families that have built fortunes in Matyville and aren't effected by the economic downturn. There are a few family "legacies" in the neighborhood and everyone knows them or at least, knows of them.

Will the rich and powerful of Matyville hold onto their fame and fortune or will they become victims of the same economic forces that have already effected so many in Matyville? Will those that are down and out be able to find jobs and improve their family's lives or will they continue to live on Simfare (sim welfare)? What about the tensions with the new immigrant families moving in? Will they be able to adapt and contribute to Matyville? Will they and their small home-based businesses revitalize the Matyville economy?

Oh no! Mitoki went away. That's to bad I thought a lot of His ideas were interesting.
I like the 2 tier idea as well. Wild Cards sound great! I also like the idea of dl an entire set up neighborhood with story props etc. Maybe we could run it so that it comes in two options? Whole neighborhood with a little story set up or individual sims with bios for those whos comp or connection can't handle the whole hood?
Also honestly I think no matter what "rules" there are everyone will play however they like in the end anyway. We are only limited by what we choose to follow.
I tried the Legacy challenge for a bit when it first came out and while some of the rules were difficult they were also fun. Others were just annoying so I dropped them and quit the official game. I would do the same here if I wasn't enjoying myself and it wouldn't effect any one else in the least.

That sounds like an excellent starting place simmiecal.  Good base scenario. I want to have a go at JM's bunker, but won't have any building time till next weekend. :(

Psst - Motoki is a male - in his early thirties I think, he just really likes the nannies in the game. ;)

I agree, that's why I think we create everything Maxis default & people apply their own hacks and custom content once they d/l the hood. I don't think we could agree otherwise.

Okay give me an address and I will email my family, a house and a back story.

I'm working it out with Jade Elliot and we'll post an address in a couple of days.

If you're going to allow the 'no rage' mod, not allowing the elixir is a bit pointless isn't it? You want realism, without realism?

Anyway, it's a bit pointless to make a ton of rules for something like this. After all, the in-game cheats are available to make you younger, smarter and better. Not to mention, anyone can open it up in SimPE.

I'd be content to start a neighbourhood without townies and populate it with ten or so other players, no custom content, play as you will.

Well, I don't mind contributing Zephyr Zodiac - you can have her husband and six housemates too, but I'll have to update them - they still live somewhere in Sims 1!  I think I can remember all their names, not so sure about their personalities though.  The Lyons are a bit easier to remember, they are all Leos, obviously!  And the Buckets are all - guess!

But I don't honestly think I could recreate Zephyr's house for sims2 - it was the work of several hundred sessions of gameplay, and grew slowly as the household grew!  And without those sims1 walls and floors, it just would never look the same!

But I could make a star house, even one with a basement swimming pool, if you like.

Works for me.
I'm pretty good with stories but some of my sims make the Maxis ones look good.  :o

Im in to create Sims and can come up with stories for each of them.

I still want to mention that I prefer the houses will not come with custom stuff, only Maxis made stuff can be use to share them.  Afterward we can modify the houses the way we want.  Same for Sims, no custom mesh, clothes or genetics please.

If the houses or Sims do come with custom stuff, it is important for me that it will be mention in the storytelling or bio of the Sim.

I can do everything except building, although my original idea would have meant that no building was actually necessary.  The idea was the story side of it, not having specific houses.  What I originally suggested was that the family was uploaded in any old Maxis house (as it doesn't appear possible to upload a family without a house) and then we put them wherever we wanted them.  As I said before, it all seems to have moved on beyond what my original idea was.  I think the main 'flavour' of my idea was "no rules", but this seems to have gone by the wayside!

I agree with you ancient sims that there is no real need to upload houses, the Sims are what makes the challenge interesting but in some cases they might need to be put in a house for the scenario to make sense.

I need a scenario to play them otherwise this thing is completely useless to me, I could go on the exchange and download random Sims there instead but it is not what I am looking for in all this.

Or just a family to be loaded into a house.  I don't care.  I just want the storyline and the wildcards.

I think we agreed,or at least I am moving forward with the two tier approach. By putting the people in the houses and placing them in lots in the neighborhood, we will be creating a situation like "Pleasantville". All of us will start with the same characters in the same houses with the same background story. All original creations will be with Maxis made only stuff but we will use SimPE to create a "backstory" - some enemies, some friends, extended family, etc. Just like with Pleasantville, each of us will then go our separate direction with the stories and whether we want to use custom content, immediately move them to another house, etc, but we will all have the same starting point.

The second tier is only for people who want to participate and has no effect on people that just want to play the neighborhood the way they want to. The second tier group will have some challenge rules that they will follow. There's no scoring, no competition, but sometimes when you keep the same playing style, each family turns out the same way and that becomes boring. If you follow rules not of your own making, there's a good chance that you will wind up playing the game differently than you usually do, and hopefully that will be interesting.

I'm working on getting some stuff together and a way for people to contribute. Some people only want to do sims, some only lots, some want to do both or several. Once we get things going, we can see where we need more contributions: story, lots, sims, SimPE, etc. I'd say, right now, work on whatever you want to contribute for the neighborhood. I think when all is said and done, we'll probably have fewer people actually participating than have expressed an interest, so there will probably be room for people to contribute as much as they want.

This sounds fun =) Can i join in too?

I can contribute some houses (not so good with businesses) and my story family.  I would also like to try to do a farm imigrant or hobo town lot. Just need to know how big you want them- Lot size limit? or Price limit to start? Can also make some townies.

I would like to contribute a family,

I was hoping I could
1. Create a new neighbourhood, delete all characters and create 2 families (fine, Maxis only) Family one is the family I'm sharing, Family two will be townies and put on an empty lot, given jobs then ignored.
2. I would play Family One a day or two to establish their bedrooms, relationships, a few memories, skills, and a bit of a story. I would promise to hire NO service people, their only 'friends' would be family 2.
3. Once a story is established, I use Inge's shrub to move family 2 in, and upload it with a note that X, Y, and Z (family 2) are actually townies and moved in to prevent the big fiery ball.
4. Whoever we upload or email this stuff to uses Inge's shrub to make X, Y, Z townies
That way, my family already knows people other than themselves, and as townies, X, Y and Z can possibly help introduce them around.
This way, we would have a nice variety of families and townies.

Typing this out now, I realize there would be a paperkid and mailman, but if nobody meets them, there shouldn't be a problem right? A family I'd moved to a different neighbourhood (before knowing what I know now) that didn't meet NPCs didn't bring them along, not even the maid.

Either way, I'd like to contribute a family, or townies and will follow whatever rules decided upon in doing so. Not a designer of spectacular homes (my sims have to earn them, and if they aren't played, how can they do that?) But I can certainly put them in a starter home. I also have a small but fairly efficient email community lot - heh heh.

Ancient Sim, I agree with you, I'd like to download a neighbourhood with a story, because the Maxis stuff didn't interest me. I  prefer playing without my hacks and mods limited, I want smartserv, homework in bedroom, tripletquads, Inge's doors and shrubs, I could go on but won't. I love the idea of the chance cards and will do them without 'cheating' to do them, as it will make things more interesting and like that we can discuss how our games differ...

I think a lot of what you say, Zeljka, makes sense to me too, but I think I'm happier just making one family in a house.  since it's been suggested that thre are some wealthy families in the hood, I could perhaps contribute a more expensive lot and A small family group living in it.

Or my original suggestion of a star house with a basement (the pool could be added later if desired) and a couple of floors with an observation platform.  Since I still have an installation with just Sims2, this house could be made in that, without hacks etc., very easily, and would be available to everyone, whether or not they have the EPs.

I would love to add such a house in my hoods, I never was really good at making houses with basement.

Well, if I make one for the game, then it would be available for you to put in your game - you'd just have to make a copy of the house/family in an empty neighbourhood, move the family out and then put the house into the houses bin,  then put the house back into the neighbourhood and package it.

I envy you guys that are able to build nice homes .my sims are lucky to get a 2 story box to live in when I build a house I just have no talent for building stuff

Here's another interested person. I mostly play with historical neighborhoods, so any lot I contribute would probably be a little old-fashioned, if that's acceptable. How about a poor farmer and his large family crammed into an aging farmhouse? If nothing else, you could use the kids as breeding stock or faux townies.

(I've been lurking here since the Big Move from VS, and haven't posted til now - that's how inspiring this thread is. ;) )

Well, I am very involved with my own shared hood with another talented simmer, but I still offer to decorate this hood and whatever else is needed in that department. So I am just going to watch the thread and wait and see if a decision is made and when it is, then let me know.

Hi. Yeah I dissappared for a while, went on holiday.

but I'm still interested. I can create families. I can also create relationships in SimPE though I don't want to try messing with memories because the last time I tried to add something to a sim in the memory panel it resulted in a BFBVFS and I had to delete the neighbourhood.

And as for the idea of "rules" I was thinking that if we used Ancient Sim's idea and each uploaded a self-sim the person that uploaded each sim could dictate the rules the wanted that sim to be played by (ie no Skillinator, no macrostatics etc. )

I think separate rules for each sim would cause tremendous problems!  Unless you have a memory to match the memory Man, you'd spend more time checking lists than playing!

well you could always stick the rules in the family bio.

memory recording in Sim PE is tedious and time consuming to do it right . I have spent many a day in simPE doing detiled memory for my sims that have large familys  and a long history.from birth to college the average sim has four columns of memories in Sim PE that actually belong to that sim. and thats after you delete the spam about A+'s. because the game records everysingle A+ in a sims memory  if you have 6 children in a family who all get A='s twice during childhood right there it adds 12 A+ memories to your sim's memories. I delete alot of that 1 A= per child per life stage is all I leave in. then you get memories in there that dont even belong to your sim or anyone in his family, case in point  MY JM Pescado has barely met Jon Smith Tricou but in his memories was Kernan moved out owned by Jennicor Tricou. those I deleted.JM could care less thatKiernan Tricou moved out of Brad Harper's house

Bangelnuts, I was referrring in my post to MY memory, not my sims' memory!  simply that, if I had to remember a list of rules which were different for each house, and sometimes each sim, I'd go totally mental!  And how about if a sim who has the rule "no hacks at all" marries a sim who hasn't?  And how on earth can you have rules AGAINST global hacks for one sim, but not others?  If a Global hack is disallowed for one sim, then it has to be disallowed for all of them!

And I'm afraid even if the rules are in the family bio, I'd still have better things to do than keep referrring back to them every time I enter a lot.

I dont think separate rules for each sim will work. most will forget  along the way which sims are allowed hacks and which ones arent. and constantly having to check the Bio takes away from letting the sim's story develop.in my game I use hacks and fixes .the insimenator and the teleport shrub saved my poor Sim from being stuck at Uni forever after graduation, he graduated and used the dorm phone to call a taxi numerous times and still couldnt transition to adulthood. I used the shrub to teleport him to his Brothers house in the neighborhood and move him in and the insimenator to transition him from YA to adulthood.. I clicked grow up the first time. he grew up all right . he became an instant elder. he went from YA to Elder no adult hood ;D I quickly reset his age and selected  adult.how would you fix the  move out bug if no Global hacks or fixes are allowed?. contrary to popular belief the patch really didnt fix much if anything. nannies still get stuck and  YA's still have trouble moving back to the neighborhood after  graduation.the only thing I see that was allowed by the patch is toddlers  can be served smart milk in their high chairs.but again this is just my opinion. and I do agree there should be one uniform rule in the shared neighborhood for all sims. either all can use global hacks and fixes  or none can.

I was thinking of family 2 more as perhaps an adult or 2 and a kid, just to allow friends, but again, the idea of this is so appealing that I will go with whatever is decided.
I am still cleaning out my game to install the EPs, so unless it happens in the next week, mine would be available to anyone with just the original game as well. I already have my Sims figured out. One of my first families in the game (pure Maxis) had 22 kids, but the last few were lost after a game crash. I managed to get them back but they have no memories, so I put them in Foster homes to grow them to teens. Seeing as they're orphans now, I'd like them to have a chance to grow up and have 'lives'. I cloned them because they're cute and fairly distinct, even though pure Maxis.

I think the general idea is to have sims start out in everyones game as if they'd been made in CAS in that game, but with the bonus that in fact someone else made them, and there would be subtle differences in how they have been put together and their stories composed. 

I agree ZZ. If we have sims we want to share, I reckon they should be cloned. I don't even think we should muck around with memories as has been suggested, too much risk of corruption IMHO. I think the storyline would be enough. If I know sim A is in love with sim B's husband, then I can make that happen in the story.

If we set up too elaborate a storyline at the beginning, it partly negates the point of developing different plots for the players of this hood. I'd be happy with a basic structure.

I agree that the memory part of it is probably too much. But, I don't think it'd be too difficult to have sim A know or have a relationship with sim B. For example, if someone was contributing two sims in different households, but the sims were friends, I think it'd be easy enough to set-up.  Like how Dina had a relationship with Don, etc.

As far as storyline, I'm thinking of it as more "background" info - some creative ideas for people to think about rather than just "here's a group of sims to play".

I suppose I was thinking more of background than story, and definately clones, not active Sims from a game.
I clone all my favourite Sims because I find it interesting to see how much of their 'personality' is actually them and how much is learned.
That surprisingly devoted Romance sim from neighbourhood 4, cloned and put into a different neighbourhood with identical personality can be a real dog.