Shared neighborhood - ground rules

[simmiecal]

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.

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?

[Motoki]

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.

[simmiecal]

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.

[simmiecal]

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.

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?

[simmiecal]

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 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?

[Motoki]

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.

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.

[MissDoh]

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.

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 

[Motoki]

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 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.

[Bangelnuts]

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 can use neighborhood memory with ease  in SimPE     so I could help out there  

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?

[JadeEliott]

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?

[simmiecal]

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


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   

[Brynne]

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.

[Motoki]

lmao, simpotence.com works for me.

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

[simmiecal]

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.

Is that an offer I'm hearing?   

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.

[Brynne]

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?

[Ancient Sim]

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. 

[JadeEliott]

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!

:-)

[Issy]

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.

[Motoki]

Bleh well here comes the dissent.

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

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*

[eaglezero]

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.

[Sagana]

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?

[Sandilou]

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....

[BlueSoup]

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....

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

[KellyQ]

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. 

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.

[simmiecal]

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.